Retribution Falls - Book Review

Retribution Falls
by Chris Wooding

Sky piracy is a bit out of Darian Frey’s league. Fate has not been kind to the captain of the airship Ketty Jay—or his motley crew. They are all running from something. Crake is a daemonist in hiding, traveling with an armored golem and burdened by guilt. Jez is the new navigator, desperate to keep her secret from the rest of the crew. Malvery is a disgraced doctor, drinking himself to death. So when an opportunity arises to steal a chest of gems from a vulnerable airship, Frey can’t pass it up. It’s an easy take—and the payoff will finally make him a rich man.

But when the attack goes horribly wrong, Frey suddenly finds himself the most wanted man in Vardia, trailed by bounty hunters, the elite Century Knights, and the dread queen of the skies, Trinica Dracken. Frey realizes that they’ve been set up to take a fall but doesn’t know the endgame. And the ultimate answer for captain and crew may lie in the legendary hidden pirate town of Retribution Falls. That’s if they can get there without getting blown out of the sky. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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Retribution Falls is a really fun story. Really fun. Pirates, airships, a steampunkish feel, magic, demons, adventure, conspiracy... it has all the elements that let you know you’re in for a quick, exciting read. It’s an extremely fast paced book, barely pausing at any point for filler or downtime, and yet there are a surprising amount of back stories thrown in, all of them interesting. Chris Wooding is an expert at worldbuilding, slipping in facts and fascinating details that give such a vivid feeling of the world, without ever slowing down the plot or distracting from the story.

The rag-tag crew of the Ketty Jay will draw inevitable comparisons with the TV series Firefly. The book has a similar kind of roguish-twinkle feel to Firefly; they’re pirates, but they’re not the really bad kind of pirates, and there’s something unavoidably lovable about their underdog position and their attempts to stay ahead of everyone who’s out to get them. The characters in Retribution Falls can be a little one-note – they’re a character type and in general they stick to it – but the back stories here do add a little more depth to certain people. In particular I liked Crake, the daemonist who aids the crew with his daemon-based magic, and Jez, the new navigator and the ship’s only woman. I found these two the most human of the characters, and I really felt for Crake. The more minor characters were less explored but did add some tension and humour. I liked the doctor the best of the side-character bunch and would like to learn more about him in later books.

The captain, Darian Frey, was a hard character to like, but felt like a very honest portrayal of the kind of man that might end up in his position. He’s always running away, always trying to find someone else to blame for his problems. There were points where I became very frustrated with him, and other points where I honestly hoped Draken would capture him and the rest of the crew would get away. However, though Darian is often unlikeable, his slightly car-crash approach to life is fascinating to read about.

As the book goes on, most of the crew members begin to reveal a darker side, aspects that make the reader question whether they are really the good guys. This isn’t explored very deeply in this book; we’re still supposed to want them to come out on top, but I’m hoping this may be touched on a bit more later in the series. The book also succeeds in making the reader feel sympathy for Draken, the woman chasing down the Ketty Jay, though it perhaps succeeded a little too well with me. There were points where I honestly wanted her to win, but then, perhaps that was the point. This is a book about pirates, and I like that lines of morality were hard to draw. No-one should feel like they are entirely the good or bad guys here.

With an interesting storyline involving conspiracy, pirates and murder, memorable characters, action, plenty of humour, adventure, airships, daemon-magic, and a malevolent ship’s cat, Retribution Falls is a quick, fun read. There isn’t really anything surprising in the book, with some elements being quite predictable, but it’s done so well there is a great amount of satisfaction in how the events roll out. There is a lot about this world that I love, and I’m looking forward to exploring more of it with the Ketty Jay’s crew in later books.

I listened to this as an audiobook, so wanted to quickly mention the narrator, Rupert Degas, who does an absolutely fantastic job and really brings the book to life. Each character felt pitch-perfect to me, and his reading combined with Chris Wooding's excellent writing kept me engrossed throughout. I'll be looking for more of Rupert Degas' work too!

Best Served Cold - Book Review

Best Served Cold
by Joe Abercrombie

Springtime in Styria. And that means war.

There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers and priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.

War may be hell, but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso’s employ, it’s a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular – a shade too popular for her employers' taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto’s reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.

Her allies include Styria’s least reliable drunkard, Styria’s most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Barbarian who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that’s all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started...

Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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I’ve been curious about Joe Abercrombie’s books for a while, and this one in particular has been recommended to me many times, so I decided to give it a try. I’m so glad I did! This is such a fantastic book – a great story, some amazing characters, and pretty much perfect plotting and pacing. This is definitely a new addition to my favourites shelf!

The story really centres around Monza and Shivers, two characters who are caught up in Monza’s revenge quest. There are other characters involved too (fantastic ones – I particularly loved the poisoner’s assistant Day, and Cosca, the drunken ex-mercenary), but Monza and Shivers are the two that most felt like this is their story. Monza is obsessed with revenge; she is set on killing the men responsible for her brother’s murder and her attempted murder. Shivers has moved to Styria from the north in order to be a better man. He doesn’t have a fixed idea how to go about this, just a vague notion that he needs to change his life, to get away from killing, and to have more faith in people. Ironically, he is almost immediately pulled into Monza’s revenge schemes, and he quickly becomes too attached to her to be able to back out.

I found both Monza and Shivers to be fascinating characters. Shivers begins with such high hopes about being a ‘better man’, and Monza scoffs at the sentiment. Monza has built such a thick wall around her that it is hard for anyone to see the real person and the real feelings beneath. As a mercenary leader, she has had to be tough, and has learned to rationalise any violent behaviour and to treat mercy as weakness. Through her cold pursuit of revenge, Shivers is sucked into this way of thinking and ‘good’ and ‘bad’ begin to lose meaning for him. On first reading, this could easily seem like Monza has ruined him, but I don’t think it is that simple at all. Shivers, underneath the surface, is a violent man. I think he is attempting to be a better person more out of an idea that this is what he should want to do, rather than out of genuine feelings of remorse or concerns about his choices. He seems very quick to accept Monza’s work, all too willing to continue on with her, and her protestations that mercy is a weakness seem to make a lot of sense to him. I got the feeling that he has been pretending, and that when Monza gives him an excuse to stop pretending, he is relieved.

Monza is also pretending. She is a better person than she believes herself to be, better than Shivers, but she has become so used to hiding this that she has begun to believe her own lies. In her quest for revenge, she still shows mercy and regret, and wants to avoid as much innocent suffering as possible. The gulf between her character and that of the poisoner Morveer, for example, is huge. When the inevitable collateral damage begins to escalate, she uses this pretence as a shield so that she doesn’t have to think about the consequences of her actions. It is therefore very interesting to see where both Monza and Shivers end up by the final chapter of the book. You could say that both have changed considerably, being led in completely different directions by Monza’s obsession with revenge. However, I believe that neither of them has really changed at all, but rather they have been shown their true selves, and come to realise who they really are and what they really want.

This is so cleverly written, turning what could have been a simple but enjoyable tale of revenge into something much deeper and quite fascinating. In amongst the fights and the schemes and the action scenes (very well written action scenes, which I can find a bit boring in some fantasy, but not here!) were comments on war, violence, power, addiction and obsession. Revenge is shown to be a never ending cycle that sucks in everyone around it, in a similar way to war and betrayal. Monza’s quest is going on against a backdrop of war and shifting loyalties that feels as inevitable as her own actions. Both seem doomed – fail or succeed, there’s no victory in either, not really.

If that sounds a bit depressing, remember that this is ‘grimdark’. Except that... well, I actually don’t think that it is. Weirdly, this is a very hopeful book, with an ending that suggests there is a certain amount of goodness in people. Yes, there is violence (a lot of it - this is quite a gory book), but there is also life and hope, and plenty of humour. I think Joe Abercrombie strikes the perfect balance here, actually. His story is realistic, brutally so, but also cheeringly so. In the real world, there is a lot of good swirling around with the bad; it’s messy, and it’s life.

Another thing the author manages to get spot on is the pacing and plotting. There were several times that I didn’t know how he was ever going to resolve something, or where he could go at a particular point in the narrative, and every time he surprised me, and every time it felt exactly right. The twists and turns, the betrayals, the character changes, the reactions, and the weird quirks of fate, are all perfectly handled.

Have I gushed about this enough? :-) I enjoyed this book immensely, and will certainly be reading more of Joe Abercrombie’s books in future. Highly recommended!

The Stars My Destination - Book Review

Gully Foyle, Mechanic's Mate 3rd Class.

EDUCATION: none
SKILLS: none
MERITS: none
RECOMMENDATIONS: none

That's the official verdict on Gully Foyle, unskilled space crewman.

But right now he is the only survivor on his drifting, wrecked spaceship, and when another space vessel, the Vorga, ignores his distress flares and sails by, Gully becomes obsessed with revenge. He endures 170 days alone in deep space before finding refuge on the Sargasso Asteroid and returning to Earth to track down the crew and owners of the Vorga. But, as he works out his murderous grudge, Gully Foyle also uncovers a secret of momentous proportions... (Synopsis from Amazon UK. Click here for The Stars My Destination on Goodreads.)

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This is one of those sci-fi classics that you hear a lot about, that everyone says you should read, but that you never really get around to buying because there are so many new books coming out all the time. But thankfully my husband bought me this one for Christmas, and I’m so glad he did. This book is fantastic, packed full of ideas and such a gripping story; I can certainly understand why it’s considered a masterwork of science fiction.

At its most basic level, The Stars My Destination is a revenge story. Gully Foyle, left to die out in space, wants revenge on the ship that abandoned him to his fate. At first his revenge mission is basic and not very well thought through; he attacks the physical ship itself in its shipyard. But Gully soon learns patience and forces himself to get into a much longer game, determined to find the person responsible for the order to leave him. This not-so-simple mission of revenge pushes him to his limits, forcing him to learn and adapt, and to discover skills that seemed impossible.

I found the revenge mission itself interesting and compelling; when I thought about it, it’s actually quite a rare kind of revenge story. Most stories based on revenge involve a person trying to gain justice for what was done to another person – a wife or husband, girlfriend or boyfriend, brother or sister, mother or father (so many revenge stories are based on the death of parents) etc. It was fun to read about a victim trying to get some payback for himself, for once.

Having said that, Gully Foyle doesn’t stay a victim for long. He’s definitely an anti-hero, and he does enough things in the book to make him unlikeable, and yet, I couldn’t help wanting him to succeed. It also helped that while Gully started off a brute, he gradually began to grow a conscience and to see the bigger picture beyond his own petty quest. Though I’m sure reactions to him will vary (for some, he might have gone too far to ever be forgiven), his character arc is a very interesting and believable one. The author also does a great job of showing the collateral damage of Gully’s mission, unexpectedly reintroducing characters who had the misfortune to be brought into his circle of destruction, and showing how he has affected their lives for the worse. With sometimes surprising compassion, the collision of Gully’s story with others’ also explores how certain science fictional advances have disempowered various members of society.

Despite having a strong main character, the book isn’t simply character-driven, and it’s also about a lot more than revenge. Gully is more important than he realises, and soon there are several groups of people trying to find him, with intergalactic peace and perhaps even the fate of humanity at stake. There are so many ideas in this book, and so much happens, that it’s hard to believe it’s so short. There really isn’t any padding; the story shoots through years and space, exploring a number of different societies and people. It also explores how one development in human evolution – the ability to teleport large distances with the power of the mind (called ‘jaunting’) – has had incredible ramifications, and how this has affected all levels of society. The author really thinks this through, and the universe he has created is fascinating.

You also have to give it to the author for managing to begin the story with an entire chapter of infodump that is completely absorbing. This is pretty much Rule No.1 on the List of Writing Don’ts, and yet here it really works. This is probably due to the entertaining and conversational way that the information is given, avoiding the feeling of simply being presented with a history textbook.

This book was surprising and unexpected in many ways – in the depth of the worldbuilding and the author’s observations on human behaviour and society, in the compelling anti-hero main character, in his simple yet exciting mission, and in the sheer amount of ideas and events in this short, fast-paced book. I didn’t always agree with the messages that I think the author was trying to get across, but I did find it an entertaining and thought-provoking read. This certainly deserves to be considered a science fiction masterwork, and has convinced me that I need to pick up more of sci-fi and fantasy’s older classics.

Bitten - Book Review

Elena Michaels seems like the typically strong and sexy modern woman. She lives with her architect boyfriend, writes for a popular newspaper, and works out at the gym. She's also a werewolf.

Elena has done all she can to assimilate to the human world, but the man whose bite changed her existence forever, and his legacy, continue to haunt her. Thrown into a desperate war for survival that tests her allegiance to a secret clan of werewolves, Elena must recon with who, and what, she is in this passionate, page-turning novel. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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It took me a while to get into Bitten, but when I did I was completely hooked. The first few chapters of the book were quite exposition heavy, with a lot of information about the werewolves, the Pack, Elena’s extended werewolf family and her relationship with each member. This can be quite a lot to take in, and at first I was a little confused by all the new names and exactly who was related to who. It doesn’t take long for the story to get going, however, and when it does it’s very well paced, with a lot of exciting action and the moments of down-time coming right when needed. I loved this book!

At first I wasn't too sure how I felt about Clay, Elena’s love interest, and it took some time for him to grow on me. I thought his past with Elena would be very hard to forgive. In fact, I didn’t want her to forgive him, and was rooting for her each time she gave him a piece of her mind. However, I didn’t necessarily want her to stay with Philip either; it was pretty obvious that they weren’t right for each other, and that Elena could not be herself around him (and not just the werewolf bits – her human self too). These kinds of love triangle stories can often be frustrating, but this one was utterly compelling. I understood the reasons why Elena was in too deep with both men, and I also completely understood why she was pulling away from both of them.

In the end, her story wasn’t so much about choosing between two men as learning to accept herself. She tries to deny her werewolf side so much that she doesn’t see she’s denying who she is. It’s not the werewolf in her that makes her argumentative, opinionated and a little wild; that's just Elena. By trying to deny the wolf in her, she also pushes away the home that she loves. It’s only when Elena realises all this that she finally picks a guy, and even then he has a lot of proving to do before she’ll forgive him. And prove himself he does! He's completely dedicated to her, and he won me round in the end too. I do love it when a book can make me change my mind.

The action in the novel is exciting and the story is incredibly addictive. It’s quite gory and graphic at points, and very sexy at others, giving the whole book a sense of wild freedom that suited the werewolf theme. I really believed that it would be both fun and liberating to run as a wolf, and to live as part of the Pack.

Aspects of the story did bother me a little. Paranormal creatures have a tendency to be rich recluses and these ones were no exception. One successful werewolf I can believe, but a huge corporation owner and his playboy son, a man who makes enough from selling one painting to keep an entire private estate going for a year, a successful magazine journalist, and a respected academic... it just struck me as unlikely that all the werewolves would have such enviable lives. I also didn’t understand why every single mutt (non-Pack werewolf) was a sly or half-rabid human-killer, when every Pack werewolf has no interest in killing humans for pleasure. We’re supposed to believe the latter is simply wolf nature, and that it is the human in a werewolf that will make him a murderer, but because there were equal numbers of mutt werewolves to Pack werewolves, this explanation didn't seem convincing. Mutts seemed to be either wolves who did not want to be part of the pack, or ones who were never given the chance because they were not born in the right place. Why these should necessarily be evil killers was beyond me, and it seemed like a slightly convenient ploy to make sure they were not sympathetic characters (as they might have been otherwise).

Still, these were minor points in an otherwise very entertaining novel. This book is fun, sexy and exciting, with characters you’ll want to punch one minute but adore the next, who you will be completely invested in, and who you cannot stop reading about, chapter after chapter, until it’s way past bedtime. Definitely recommended!

City of Bones - Book Review

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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City of Bones seems to be for Harry Potter what Shannara is for Lord of the Rings. It’s something written with an obvious deep love for the series, its characters and its themes. It’s certainly not a direct copy, and I’d say less derivative than Shannara, but the influence is clear. It’s something that the fans can devour when they’ve finished the original and are desperate for more. It therefore came as no surprise to me to learn that the author, Cassandra Clare, began by writing Harry Potter fan fiction.

This is the kind of story that Harry Potter fans will most likely love, but I think it’s very accessible to anyone, and because there’s no magical school or lessons, the focus is more on the action and the secrets that Clary is trying to unravel. Clary has a similar sense of ‘specialness’ about her that can grate in the same way that Harry’s does, but thankfully she does not appear to be the centre of any prophecies. The magic also has a very different feeling; it’s not wizards learning spells and fighting other wizards, but more paranormal and rooted in old folklore and legends. There are werewolves, vampires, nephilim, faeries, demons and other similar things (all the stories are true, we’re told), and there are Shadowhunters who protect the world from demons and forces of evil. Add to this a ‘dark lord’ character who has gathered a group of supporters to help him rid the world of the creatures he despises, and we basically have Harry Potter meets Buffy.

Being a big fan of both Buffy and Harry Potter, I found this a lot of fun. The book is very easy to enjoy; it reads quickly, there’s a lot of things happening, some great weaving of the magical world and the mundane world, and intriguing relationships between the characters. Clary’s companions are an interesting bunch. Isabelle at first appears to be the bitchy girl who’s jealous of Clary, but thankfully her character is more complicated, and the tension between them is addressed in quite an honest way. This is nice, though it’s a shame it didn’t happen much earlier in the book, as groups of friends in children’s and young adult novels rarely seem to involve two girls who actually get along.

I’m intrigued to see what will happen between Isabelle’s brother Alec, and Magnus, who has the potential to be a great character if he joins the team. Jace is obviously supposed to be the sarcastic jerk who we can’t help but love, but he’s pretty tame compared to others of his type, and I actually found him quite sweet a lot of the time. His tough-guy act is as transparent as glass, to both Clary and the reader. I found Jace and Clary’s relationship believable and endearing, and I’m sceptical that the ‘twist’ at the end is really what it seems, although I would be impressed if Cassandra Clare actually sticks to it. (I say ‘twist’ because I thought it was set up very obviously from quite early on, so it certainly wasn’t a shocker for me).

There isn’t really anything new here, but all the typical elements of paranormal urban fantasy are used well, and the story is exciting, well-paced, and extremely compelling. City of Bones is a fun book with a lot of potential to be a great series. I’m looking forward to catcing up on it and seeing where the series goes!

The Iron King - Book Review

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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I have to admit that I was put off reading this book for a long time because it says ‘the next Twilight’ on the cover. But I really have a thing for the fey, especially when faeries are sinister and just a bit sadistic like in the old stories, so, let’s be honest, I was always going to end up reading this one.

And first off, this book is nothing like Twilight. Well, I mean there’s a kind of love triangle (I imagine this will become more of a thing in later books; it was just suggested in this one), but that’s about it. Meghan can be a little damsel-in-distress in this book too, but she’s a much better character than Bella. Whereas Bella has a tendency to give in to despair, Meghan is determined to keep going. Naturally, she falls for the handsome, brooding stranger, but she also never loses sight of her goal – to save her brother. She puts family first, she’s brave and pro-active, and I found her an easily likeable character.

Yes, there’s the deer-in-the-headlights issue. Meghan seems to be completely incapable of getting out of the way of danger. Her companions will be screaming ‘RUN’ or ‘HIDE’ and diving into nearby bushes or climbing convenient trees, while Meghan just stands there gawping at whichever monster is about to eat her this time. I can understand it once or twice, but this happens constantly throughout the book. However, although she can be a bit frustrating, I did understand why she would be scared and confused, and I thought her characterisation was convincing. I didn’t need her to be a powerful hero in this book; it’s enough that she keeps facing each new danger and refuses to be pushed around. She gets the hang of faerie deals quite quickly, and apart from the odd slip-up or learning how to run away when scary beasties charge right at her, I think she handles herself pretty well. I’m interested to see how she’ll grow through the series.

Also, although it seemed like they might be at first, the love interests weren’t too obnoxious. I have problems with many teen paranormal romance options, but these were actually okay. Puck (the Puck) is mischievous and sarcastic, and though he grated slightly at points, I thought he was an interesting character. Ash is presented as your typical brooding ‘bad boy’ (inverted commas because I’m not sure what makes him a bad boy beyond the fact that he happens to be on an opposing side of a feud. It would be like calling Romeo a bad boy). Ash has managed to come off completely non-creepy so far, though I hope he gets a little more personality in later books.

I thought the world of this book was perfect. All the great elements of faerie lore were woven in, and the faeries themselves were certainly not cute (well, apart from the packrat thingies). There’s a sense of menace throughout every incident involving the fey, and some bits were actually quite scary. I started reading this book at bedtime, largely because I didn’t want to read my other book (a ghost story) right before sleeping. Big mistake. Early on The Iron King features a monster in a child’s closet (is there anything scarier?). And the changeling freaked me out too.

Each new setting and character is described so well, and I enjoyed Julie Kagawa’s writing style. She creates an atmosphere that’s perfect for faerieland – a little sinister, weird and wonderful, beautiful but dangerous, scary but also sometimes funny, romantic and magical. I found the idea of the Iron Fey fascinating and really well thought out, giving a different twist to the typical stolen-child faery story.

Overall, a great start to the series, and I’m eager to read more to find out what will happen next.

TBR Pile January Mini-Challenge

The TBR Challenge sets monthly mini-challenges, and this month's is to create a book spine poem. This is hosted by Evie at Bookish.

I love book spine poems (though they're tricky to put together)! I'm going to go with the rule that bloggers sometimes give, that we can add as many extra words as we have books. Sorry if that's cheating a bit! ^^

Here goes:

The immortal rules our nation

with fire and hemlock.

Watchmen arrive from dark places

with swords in the mist

and life as we knew it is over.

Only you can save mankind.

The Case of the Good-Looking Corpse - Book Review

The Case of the Good-Looking Corpse, by Caroline Lawrence, is the second book in her Western Mysteries series, and the sequel to The Case of the Deadly Desperados:

My name is P.K. Pinkerton and I am a Private Eye operating out of Virginia City.

At the moment I am in Jail in the shadow of a hangman's noose. It is all because I tried to solve the biggest mystery here in Nevada Territory and protect a girl who witnessed a terrible crime.

If I write an account of what happened, then maybe I can convince the jury not to hang me by the neck until I am dead. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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You know how there are certain authors whose books you feel sure you’re going to enjoy, because you always do? Caroline Lawrence is one of those for me. She just gets stories. And this one didn’t disappoint.

The Red Knight - Book Review

The Red Knight, by K. T. Davies: A thousand years have passed since the Clan Lords and the Fey commanded dragons and raised mighty citadels. The remnants of their ancient power lie dormant and a new conflict threatens the kingdom of Antia...

King Daris rules a peaceful and prosperous land, but his conniving brother Jerim covets the throne and civil war looms. But there are worse threats to Antia than mere human greed.

Two people will stand against mortal and demonic enemies: Alyda Stenna, Captain of the Hammer of Antia returns from campaign to a hero’s welcome after prosecuting war abroad with brutal efficiency. Garian Tain, the spymaster’s apprentice, hunts for an assassin through the streets of the capital while the knights bask in the adoration of the crowds.

This is just the beginning.

Both will fight overwhelming odds in a bid to save the kingdom. War and betrayal will test them to their limits. One will rise; one will fall; both will be changed forever. (Synopsis from Goodreads)