If epic fantasy spans the moment of a momentous change, this book is a tight prologue, setting the stage with precision for the promise of an emergingIf epic fantasy spans the moment of a momentous change, this book is a tight prologue, setting the stage with precision for the promise of an emerging quake that will fissure the cultures three characters know.
It follows two brothers, from a highly placed political family close to the throne, when the King's heir is murdered. The familiar dynamics of family, and two siblings with divergent destinies, taking arms, and another brother and sister, whose paths will emerge in books to come. Readers who enjoy elite training of warriors, beginning from boyhood through coming of age, with brutal edges, privation, and hard choices binding them will take to this book as familiar territory.
Bloodstones casts a wider net: following two twins from a tribal culture, and dedicated to the path of the warrior, where tragedy will bring an upheaval to a way of life established in tradition.
The tapestry of the focal characters will paint a shifting pattern of alliances gaining ominous overtones and foreshadowing, with remnants of past history threading the weave that foreshadow events yet to come. Add an emergent magic that throws taproots into a dark influence coming awake, and you have a book building toward the greater events yet to come in forthcoming installments.
Tori Tecken is strong on family ties, both what brings blood siblings together, and what binds found family to as deep a loyalty, and also the chafing between close held points of view and belief that make those relationships ineffably human.
The mix of character voices, cultures, and shifting political alliances poisoned by venal ambitions shape a tale that is told in close third person, competently done. Start this with the expectation the resounding finale will build in subsequent volumes, as the characters introduced here come into their own....more
Having heard a lot of buzz about this author, I was prepared and eager for an original voice in prose. Not for the impact of this book, which is stunnHaving heard a lot of buzz about this author, I was prepared and eager for an original voice in prose. Not for the impact of this book, which is stunning in scope and depth, cutting no corners and laying bare the deepest and darkest aspects of the psyche of women: in war, in peace, in child bearing, in conflict, mind and heart, with the biological role of childbearing and the mind's yearning in a love/hate push and pull that sounds depths few authors dare to tread.
This is a book of edges, an unvarnished look at the human drive to wage war, from the horror to the madness and thrill of glory in power, in all of its forms. Told with an incisive will to lay bare every base instinct in conflict with the ties of mothers and child, mothers and sons, family conflict, and hidden longings raised by dreams never realized, this is an unforgettable book.
Anna Smith Spark shares the brilliance of Gene Wolfe exploring the human psyche with unparalleled punch. Not a light read, but a book to raise questions and that in turn, questions, every myth attached to motherhood and the family dynamic.
Read this book. It is as serious a work of fiction as any novel ever gets, and in a genre where original voice in prose style is becoming increasingly rare, a true gem that shines for its individual character....more
This book was superbly well written, the finish on the prose and production shines in its class.
In a culture where twins are cursed and left to die, tThis book was superbly well written, the finish on the prose and production shines in its class.
In a culture where twins are cursed and left to die, the story begins with twin foundlings raised by loving foster parents, mother deceased, father a smith. Yet they are running away from their village, ill equipped for the wilds and headed for danger they cannot imagine as the order they know is thrown into upheaval by raiders, a hunted party on a quest with an outcast prince, and a mysterious master, half-wight, among them.
The plot to this story picks up as the underpinnings of the characters' histories emerge in the telling. The sister twin, born for weapons and violence, and her bookish, mild tempered brother pursue their personalities in full, living color, the thread holding them their constant devotion to each other.
This book plunges the reader into the intricacies and doubts of human relationships at a mature level seldom found in fantasy. The complexity of the plot, the unwinding of the factions' intents, the utterly amazing, jaw dropping settings, and the cultural nuance packed into a relatively short book is astounding, masterful, and stunning to behold.
The author handles edgy topics with the ease of a knife sliding into butter - unafraid to expose the gristle of violence and the nice, and the uglier side of some times raw, sensuous encounters with a finesse that described, but never tipped over the edge. Rape culture is handled with straightforward eyes, through the view point of a heroine having none of it, and unafraid to shed blood to defend herself. And as her tangled relationship with a master teacher of the blade, and her loyalty to her brother take us forward, we step into a wider, more far reaching plot that would seem to encompass a world.
This is a quest novel, a love story, with tender moments and sometimes vicious brutality, and a sensual edge I will not soon forget. If you are unafraid of a full spectrum experience, and some wonderfully complex characters, at odds and in company in complex situations, I highly recommend this book.
So much, I have ordered both sequels. Brava, Timandra Whitecastle, your writing is brilliant and satisfies with complexity on all levels....more
Gritty, dark, dystopian told in a blunt, stacatto style that does not soften the themes, which are deeper than first glance would seem.
What happens whGritty, dark, dystopian told in a blunt, stacatto style that does not soften the themes, which are deeper than first glance would seem.
What happens when a disillusioned war veteran (once with a moral compass) is broken down by events and the impacts of war leave him the only survivor in his once heroic company? How does a broken world, ruled by corruption and violence, make use of desperate people, cast down as society's refuse, as tools of the violent and the greedy? And what happens when a genuine, pampered rich boy turns psychopath and enters the arena to sate his rage?
This book handles a range of downtrodden characters and their lives with unfiltered eyes, first revolting us, then gradually unveiling the twists and humanity and even, the bravery twined through their characters as they seek to build something and make their way in a city so brutally violent, riddled with vice and corruption, they are thwarted and denied all but extremely limited choices?
This book surprised me as it went, with the sensitivity and the ruggedly loyal actions of characters once the story delved beneath surface appearances. Obviously the inaugural book of a series, it did not leave me hanging at the finish.
Not a happy go lucky beach read, but grim and scary and at times unafraid to stare down the ugliest motivations in human nature. Not for the squeamish, and not a read filled with joy and light, but a serious deep dive into the grim side told in a rough-cut, blunt, and quite admirable original style....more
A delightful tale of two closely bonded sisters, under threatening pressure to fit in and assimilate into human culture and manage the ups and downs oA delightful tale of two closely bonded sisters, under threatening pressure to fit in and assimilate into human culture and manage the ups and downs of a boarding school setting. The institutional threat hanging over their heads, and the difficulty of their werewolf nature sets an edge on their effort to make friends and the regimen placed on them by human society.
Stand the trope of Buffy on its head, throw in some bullying and sinister plotting, and you have a story of sibling love and loyalty, deep friendships in difficult straits, and a modern setting with young protagonists who wrestle with flaws and emotions born of a nightmare past trauma, and the uncertainties of growing up and the real fears of becoming institutionalized, and you have a story with tension aplenty brought to a suspenseful conclusion as some of the adults in control of the sisters' fates are not at all what they claim to be....more
The third and final volume in Philip Chase's Edan trilogy brings the clashes of warring factions to a head, as kingdom fights kingdom, and conquest thThe third and final volume in Philip Chase's Edan trilogy brings the clashes of warring factions to a head, as kingdom fights kingdom, and conquest threatens to roll over nations, leaving destruction in its wake.
Told in a tight third person style, in modern language with few frills, lovers of Norse style fantasy, bloody battle, and characters whose motivations are straightforwardly presented, but run deep with ambition, greed, desire, grasping politics - will clash with others, old and young, who are motivated by altruism.
At the center of this fury and clash of ethics and culture is Dayraven, touched by an 'elf shard' and twisted internally by his innate good nature and the desire of the power that strives to overturn his will in possession.
Readers who love Norse derived fantasy, broadscale clashes and bloody weapons, characters who champion sometimes tormented ideologies, and at the core, lasting friendships between companions thrown together by strife will enjoy this yarnspinning tale. Readers of John Gwynne in particular will find lots to love here.
This book turns on the core of a great mystery, as yet unexplained, and the most unusual presentation of fantasy elves I have ever encountered. Between rousing scenes of action, dungeon torments, and rambling introspection into the direct thoughts and unvarnished motives of characters, this is not a difficult epic, in that, the characters' interests are clearly delineated, and we see the build towards their ends creating the suspense leading into the desire for conquest, and the shock of encountering another perception beyond what they know, that turns power and redemption upside down as they encounter their weaknesses, cruelties and flaws.
A satisfying conclusion to what Chase set out to pursue. If you loved volume 1, this book well provides the finale and closure befitting the start to the series....more
A deft blend of dystopia, colonial oppression, ethnic bigotry and class stratification, told from the point of view of a PTSD war veteran upholding thA deft blend of dystopia, colonial oppression, ethnic bigotry and class stratification, told from the point of view of a PTSD war veteran upholding the Authority that records, oversees, and ultimiately oppresses people born with 'talent' - power that civilized society both fears, and requires to keep an emerging industrial economy functional. The dark tone of this novel, and its well realized poor quarter is brilliantly woven and fastened by the glue of human relationships, affairs of the heart, and a stunningly depicted romantic attraction between characters and their various friends, children, and the intricate relationships with each other, and with the well realized (if bleak) setting.
A tour de force marred only by the sticker shock of a cliffhanger ending that, full stop, sheared the story at what amounts to a lit fuse on an emotional powder keg...I recommend the book with that caveat: if you read through a third of this story, and don't want to be dangled by the throat at the finish, grab the sequel to have on hand to mitigate the jolt encountered at the last page.
Without knowing how many more books are to come in this series, or if volume two may finish in the same manner, no guarantees where to place trust on a last page perhaps less abrupt. Nonetheless, the story and characters commanded my attention with a mastery of detail seldom found. It was a joy to encounter such depth and dimension. On its merits and by the pure impetus of invention, this book kept me riveted and turning the pages, the frustrated dent in my wall notwithstanding, for my well documented response to cliffhangers....more
A solid build up to what promises to be a spectacular finale in a strikingly original setting. I have been delightfully surprised by the unpredictabilA solid build up to what promises to be a spectacular finale in a strikingly original setting. I have been delightfully surprised by the unpredictability of the plotting in this series, and a broad range of well rounded characters who are molded by their experiences and change - some for better and some for worse....more
Some books build in depth with great care, slowly drawing you into a complex world with complex civilizations and characters. This is one such book, aSome books build in depth with great care, slowly drawing you into a complex world with complex civilizations and characters. This is one such book, and the slow burn approach takes you on a journey until you are there, and the setting is realized.
Told in the first person, the first half of this story is written from a narrative stream of consciousness, shifting about at the half point into a more action and dialogue orientation. When things start to pop, the reader is thoroughly invested in the hero and the plight of his people.
First book in a series, the author is fearless in tackling many issues - from religion to cultural differences, to multiple civilizations and races. Second Prince Othrun begins the tale as the product of his background as second prince in an empire styled culture, civilized, and inculcated in the self-centric view that his kingdom and fiefdom is the best on earth. We, as reader, see just enough around the edges to know he has a lot of growth coming as the status quo breaks apart, and he must face the larger world, larger issues, and consider wider points of view to save his people.
A promising start to a series that is very likely to challenge assumptions on many levels, watch out, because by the ending you will be excited to see where the story will go from here - and beware of the cliffhanger, you will probably want the sequel in hand.
Complex character, complex problems and a clash of ideologies are my delight. Stories where the choices and actions are not cut and dried - and what sacred principles must be broken, reexamined, or rebuilt to save a people - this book would be for you.
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