“Black Light” by Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan & Stephen Romano (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Official Black Light Facebook Page

Official Stephen Romano Website

Order “Black Light” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan have written the screenplays for Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI, Saw 3D, and The Collector, which Dunstan also directed. Currently, they are filming The Collection—a sequel to The Collector—and wrote Piranha 3DD, which comes out this Thanksgiving from Dimension Films. Black Light is their debut novel.

Stephen Romano is an acclaimed author, screenwriter and illustrator. His works include the illustrated novel Shock Festival and adapting Joe R. Lansdale’s Incident On and Off a Mountain Road for Showtime’s Emmy Award-winning series Masters Of Horror.

PLOT SUMMARY: If you have a supernatural problem that won't go away, you need Buck Carlsbad: private eye, exorcist, and last resort. Buck's got a way with spirits that no one else can match, and a lot of questions that only spirits can answer.

Buck has spent years using his Gift to look into the Blacklight on the other side of death, trying to piece together the mystery of his parents and why he can’t remember anything before the age of seven. His quest for answers led him to the Blacklight Triangle, a stretch of unforgiving desert known for the most deadly paranormal events in history. A place where Buck almost died a few years ago, and where he swore he would never return.

But then Buck takes a call from billionaire Sidney Jaeger, and finds himself working the most harrowing case of his career. One that will either reveal the shocking secrets of his life, or end it forever...

FORMAT/INFO: Black Light is 336 pages long divided over twenty-three titled chapters. Narration is in the first-person, exclusively via the protagonist Buck Carlsbad. Black Light is self-contained, but is the first volume in a proposed series. October 5, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of Black Light via Mulholland Books. The UK version (see below) will be published on October 13, 2011 via Mulholland UK.

ANALYSIS: On the surface, Black Light features many of the same traits regularly employed in the urban fantasy genre including a contemporary setting, a first-person narrative, a cynical protagonist, et cetera. However, the book possesses some key ingredients that help differentiate the novel.

First and foremost is Buck Carlsbad’s unique Gift, which allows him to Pull a ghost/spirit into his body—imagine a human version of the proton pack and trap from Ghostbusters. Once a spirit is ingested, Buck can then see into the Blacklight, the world of the dead. Not only that, but he also has the ability to pull Artifacts from the Blacklight back into the real world, which plays an important role in the novel. Containment meanwhile, is a whole different matter involving regurgitation and silver urns.

Next, Black Light is immensely entertaining, fueled by breakneck pacing and an action-packed story. Granted, things take a little while to get going after the initial introduction to Buck Carlsbad and his Gift, but once Buck finds himself on a maglev train facing off against the Blackjack Nine, Black Light goes into overdrive for the rest of the novel, highlighted by surprising twists and nearly nonstop excitement. What makes Black Light even more fun to read is the book’s refreshing mix of noir-influenced urban fantasy and in-your-face, R-rated horror. We’re talking grisly violence, profanity, explicit gore, a high body count, the works.

Finally, the prose in Black Light, particularly the scenes where Buck is using his Gift and looking into the Blacklight, is visceral and gripping:

“The heat washes over my body, weaker than ever before, but then I tighten my grip on the madness, giving myself to it . . . and the madness is good, the madness fuels my body in a dreamtime sizzle, bursting and flashing, energizing. The dark blue glow intensifies. The voices of a million billion angry bastards rip off in my ears, thundering in the infinite spaces set before me, the neon-striped outlines of the real world just outside the menagerie of slithering zero gravity shapes, like half-formed moray eels and faces filled with burning eyes and cursing tongues.”

As impressive as the prose might be, the rest of the authors’ performance is uneven. Characterization for example, is shallow and unemotional. So as badass as Buck Carlsbad is with his powers and martial arts skills, I never really sympathized with the protagonist or his plight. And don’t even get me started on the one-dimensional supporting cast. Dialogue and plotting on the other hand, are both fairly solid, if not conventional, specifically the banter and various plot devices used throughout the narrative. Creatively, I loved Buck’s Gift and the Blacklight, but things do get a little far-fetched, especially towards the end of the novel when events venture into comic book-like territory.

CONCLUSION: Black Light may be rough around the edges due to weak characterization and uneven writing, but the novel’s action-packed story and refreshing mix of horror & urban fantasy helped mask the book’s shortcomings, while delivering a thrilling reading experience. In the end, Black Light entertained the hell out of me and I sincerely hope Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan & Stephen Romano offer up another serving of Buck Carlsbad in the very near future...

"Debris" By Jo Anderton (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Jo Anderton Website
Order Debris HERE

INTRODUCTION: When I saw the blurb below for Debris in the Angry Robot fall 2011 lineup, I was intrigued, so I took a fast look when I got the e-arc from the publisher. At that very short glance, I thought "I've seen this story hundreds of times before and this does not stand out", but the first person voice of the novel unexpectedly stayed with me, so some days later I got back to the novel and once I opened it, I had to read it before I could move on to something else.
Debris is advertised as the first book in the Veiled Worlds trilogy.

"Tanyana is among the highest ranking in her far-future society – a skilled pionner, able to use a mixture of ritual and innate talent to manipulate the particles that hold all matter together. But an accident brings her life crashing down around her ears. She is cast down amongst the lowest of the low, little more than a garbage collector. But who did this to her, and for what sinister purpose? Her quest to find out will take her to parts of the city she never knew existed, and open the door to a world she could never have imagined. "

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Debris has been a surprisingly entertaining book that took over my reading a bit unexpectedly. All because of the compelling narration from the main heroine, showing once again that when first person narration works, it really does so.

As mentioned above, the storyline is very standard at least in the first half of the novel - well off, high achiever but from a family that is not really important, Tanyana, a respected professional is set up to spectacularly and expensively fail in an important task and is thrown out of her job, so she has to start doing some nasty low-level work instead. There she meets a crew of oddballs, tough, rough but ultimately likeable, and from then on she presumably works towards getting her revenge, finding the dark secrets that her dismissal covered etc - you've seen it I bet many times either in sff or in thrillers/crime...

The setup is covered in the blurb above and it has two main characteristics: urban action and a far future technology that allows people with the right talents and training to manipulate matter at its basic level. While considering the second part of the novel, there is a case for considering Debris as fantasy, especially that the novel focuses on people, their interactions and abilities rather than on technology, its ethos is clearly modern and science fictional, based on rationality and technology however advanced and unexplained, with the backward looking and conservative elements associated with fantasy - destined ones, bloodlines, etc - missing.

So the strengths of the novel are in the voice, the characters - both the heroine and the supporting cast - and the mysteries of the universe. There is action, romance, some twists and the story ends at a good point while I really want the sequel and further adventures of Tanyana and her friends.

Another aspect I enjoyed about Debris, was its fast moving style that flows well on the page and compelled me to turn the pages once I got hooked by the narrator's voice:

“Enough of this,” I told the pions. My pions. Stern, but kind, I was a mother, a teacher, a firm hand. “We have a job to do. Enough.”

But they couldn’t hear me, or wouldn’t. So I approached them, balancing on hot steel beams wet with condensation. I reached up to the closest finger bone, placed my hand against its stretching, writhing not-quite-metal-anymore form so the pions in me and the pions in it could touch, could mingle.

“Listen–”

But then, only then, so connected to the finger bone, so focused, did I see them.

Pions, yes, but not like any pions I had never known. Red, painfully red, and buried so deep inside reality that even the collective skill in the building site below hadn’t seen them. When I tried to communicate with them they burned like tiny suns and heat washed over me, and anger, such a terrible tearing anger I could feel from my head to my chest and deep, deep inside me. In my own pion systems."

Overall, Debris (A+) is a fascinating sff adventure that grabs you from the first page and does not let go till the end, delivering a tale of fall and redemption as narrated by a very intriguing heroine. One of my highly recommended novels of 2011 for which the sequel has become another read on receive book.

Interview with Matt Roeser (Interviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Matt Roeser is a graphic designer who likes reading books and then designing new covers for them. He first came to my attention thanks to this post run over at Mad Hatter’s Blog, which features covers that Matt had designed for George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Awestruck by the ingenuity and variety of the covers he had created for both ASOIAF and those found on his website, I approached Matt about doing answering some questions. Thankfully, he agreed and goes on to talk about his views on art, passion and books in the following interview:

Q: Hi Matt! Thanks for agreeing to do this interview. To begin with, could you tell us a bit about yourself and explain what attracted you towards designing book covers?

Matt: Since I was a child, I've always enjoyed reading and in high school and college, I fell in love with graphic design. In the back of my mind, designing covers for books has always been a sort of dream job for me as it melds these two passions. After graduating college, I went to work for Atomicdust, a graphic design agency in St. Louis. For the past five years, I’ve been making creative matter with them, and a few months ago, I decided that if I'm going to pursue my dream of cover design, I would need to actually focus on creating some covers.

So, I started taking some of my favorite books and giving them the covers I thought they deserved. As a lover of these books, nothing would bum me out more than someone walking past one of these titles in a bookstore because it happened to get stuck in a poorly designed cover. Thus, New Cover was born and my mantra was simple: I read books and then design new covers for them.

Q: Could you give us a rundown of the process behind designing a book cover from start to finish?

Matt: Whether I start fiddling around on the computer or sketching on a piece of paper, my process starts with trying to nail the idea I want to get across in my cover. Once that takes more shape, I try to show that idea through a variety of different styles, whether photography, illustration, or a combination of both.

As I read the book, I jot down passages and visuals that really stand out for each book, so that when I begin thinking about what the big idea will be, I have various starting points directly from the text. For New Cover projects, I typically give myself some sort of deadline and/or restraints. For example, on the Lemony Snicket redesigns, I experimented with what they could look like for an adult audience, as a way to wrangle in all of the possible directions those stories could go.

When do I know that I’ve nailed it? Hmm, sometimes I feel like, “Yes, that’s exactly what I was going for.” Other times, I could play around with the art files for another 5 years and still not think it’s ready to go. But part of New Cover was also about getting some of my work out there, so while there are things I would go back and change about particular covers, the focus is more on what new books am I going to tackle, as well as real paying clients.

Q: My introduction to your artwork was through the covers you had designed for George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Could you talk a bit more about these covers?

Matt: I decided to take on ASOIAF because I wanted to experiment with redesigning a series of books, rather than just a standalone title. I was halfway through book two of the series when I started working on the covers, and, loving the story so far (and also being unimpressed with the various iterations of the covers throughout the years) thought I’d take a crack at it. I had an old stock illustration CD that had tons of house crests on it, and since that’s one of the most important elements to the plot of the books, I used crests that went along with the title of each book, and gave each a color that, when stacked together, complement each other nicely. Some of my friends have said they don’t think they’re intense enough, so I have thought of going back in an adding some blood splattered across each :)

Q: What are some of your influences?

Matt: There are tons of incredibly talented cover designers out there working, and it’s seeing what they come up with that inspires me to continue to create new designs. But my biggest inspiration is Chip Kidd. He’s worked in the industry for years and has produced some of the most iconic covers around. His cover for Jurassic Park is still one of my favorites to this day and at age 10, it was one of the first “big people” books I read, and I just remember thinking, “That is such an awesome cover.”

Q: In your opinion, why is cover art important?

Matt: Some of the first designs I did for New Cover came from me telling friends about a great book that I read and then they’d look at the cover and have some variation of “That looks stupid (or boring, etc.)” And it was sort of a crusade to prove that great stories shouldn’t go un-read because they get stuck in a questionable wrapper. Ultimately, the cover of the book is what attracts someone to it and grabs your attention away from other books on the shelf, so if the cover is uninteresting, most people would just pass it by.

Q: Is there a particular book or author that you would love to design a cover for?

Matt: Through New Cover, I’ve gotten to pick a few of my favorite authors that I would love to work with, including Kurt Vonnegut, Roald Dahl, and Jasper Fforde. I’ve been fortunate to have some of the (still-living) authors I’ve done fake covers for comment on my work. Jasper Fforde liked my Shades of Grey cover and asked if he could print it on postcards that he hands out at his book signings, so that sort of blew my mind. And Lemony Snicket author Daniel Handler wrote me a nice email about the adult covers I created. Mary Roach and Bill Bryson are two of my favorite non-fiction authors that I would love to work with.

Q: Out of all the covers you have designed, which one is your favorite and why?

Matt: That’s pretty tough, as I’ve put time and effort into all of them, so it’s hard for me to play favorites, but some have come out more as I envisioned them over others. If I had to choose, I always lean more towards the covers that have a strong idea behind them that ties into the book and lingers with you after you put it down. An idea that, upon first looking at the cover, you may not fully understand what it has to do with the story, but after finishing the book, you see it in a new light. I think two of my covers that succeed at that are Shades of Grey and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

Shades of Grey takes place in a future version of our world where social class is determined by one’s ability to perceive a particular color. It follows the main character of Eddie Russett, a Red, as he begins to discover the truth behind the world he lives in. In the book, when a person turns 20, they take the Ishihara to determine what color and how high of a percentage of it they can see (the more you can see, the higher your rank will be).

Because the Ishihara is an actual test created to determine color-blindness, I used that as the basis for my design, having the title appear in red as Eddie would see it, among a sea of grey.

So, while someone who hasn’t read the book can still get the idea of a color-based theme to the story, those that have completed the book more fully understand how it ties into the tale.

Likewise, with Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, an amazing novel that deals with two feuding magicians in 19th century England, I wanted to play with the idea of these two strong personalities. Because they’re always trying to one-up the other, I decided I would make dual covers, each showcasing one of the magicians, with the other being just out of the frame (and their name considerably smaller) allowing the reader to decide which character they prefer.

Q: You have designed covers for books from all genres, but the majority of them are in the speculative fiction genre. What draws you to speculative fiction?

Matt: I’m a big fan of stories that maybe start out normal or seem everyday and then have a weirdness factor thrown in. I think that’s why I’m such a huge fan of the TV show Lost, which on the surface is about a plane crashing on an island, but as it digs deeper, there’s a ton of weird stuff happening. And since speculative fiction allows for almost anything to happen, I find that very appealing as a lover of interesting stories.

Q: What are you currently working on?

Matt: Since New Cover has gotten in front of some publishers, they’ve sent me actual books to work on, which has been an awesome outcome to something that started out as just a fun side project. And while New Cover has slowed down a bit (because I’m working on real titles) there are still plenty of my favorite books that I will get to redesigning eventually.

Q: In conclusion,  what challenges are you looking forward to and what is your biggest goal for the future?

Matt: One of the biggest challenges I look forward to is working with Art Directors and publishing houses directly. Whereas I’m not the client anymore and I can have the cover look exactly how I want, when working on real titles, there are several levels of approval the covers have to get through, including sales, various editors, etc. so it’s an exciting challenge to create a cover that I think is unique, but has more mass appeal so that it ultimately attracts peoples’ attention and sells.

My biggest goal for the future is to make book cover design my career. It’s something I’m insanely passionate about and I think that no matter what happens in the realm of publishing in the future (ebooks, printed books, etc.) there will always be the need for cover artwork to differentiate each book from the hundreds of thousands of other books it’s up against.

“Son of Heaven” by David Wingrove (Reviewed by James Dunn)

Official Chung Kuo Website

Order “Son of Heaven” HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: David Wingrove is the Hugo Award-winning co-author of Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction (w/Brian Aldiss). He is also the co-author of the first three MYST books—novelizations of one of the world’s bestselling computer games. He lives in north London with his wife and four daughters.

OFFICIAL PLOT SYNOPSIS: The year is 2065, two decades after the great economic collapse that destroyed Western civilization. With its power broken and its cities ruined, life in the West continues in scattered communities. In rural Dorset, Jake Reed lives with his 14-year-old son and memories of the great collapse. Back in ’43, Jake was a rich young futures broker, immersed in the datscape of the world’s financial markets. He saw what was coming—and who was behind it. Forewarned, he was one of the few to escape the fall.

For 22 years he has lived in fear of the future, and finally it is coming—quite literally—across the plain towards him. Chinese airships are in the skies and a strange, glacial structure has begun to dominate the horizon. Jake finds himself forcibly incorporated into the ever-expanding `World of Levels`, a global city of some 34 billion souls, where social status is reflected by how far you live above the ground.

Here, under the rule of the mighty Tsao Ch’un, a resurgent China is seeking to abolish the past and bring about world peace through rigidly enforced order. But a civil war looms, and Jake will find himself at the heart of the struggle for the future...

CLASSIFICATION: Strongly science-fiction. Son of Heaven echoes the great Isaac Asimov in using his genre to draw attention to developing, and potentially alarming, trends within society.

FORMAT/INFO: Son of Heaven, in its Corvus hardback edition, stretches to 367 pages across eleven chapters. Written in the third person, the story follows the struggles of Jake Reed and his community as they are faced with the coming of a vengeful China. The Chung Kuo series was originally published between 1989 – 1999 and Son of Heaven was planned as a prequel novel. A necessity to the rest of the series.

Son of Heaven was published in the UK on March 1, 2011 via Corvus. A paperback edition will be released on November 1, 2011, the same day that Daylight on Iron Mountain—volume two of the Chung Kuo series—will be published. The cover for Son of Heaven includes artwork by Larry Rostant.

ANALYIS: I’m going to have to put this out there straight away: Son of Heaven is a great book. This is my first review for the site, so that could come across as a bit strong. I should point out that I am normally quite reserved with my praise. Son of Heaven though, the first book of the Chung Kuo series, is a brilliant blend of skilful prose, characterization and philosophical musings.

The original Chung Kuo series was launched in 1989 as a smaller series of books, with David Wingrove reportedly being forced to finish the series in a hurry. He wasn’t happy with the ending, and a prequel had to be abandoned. I have never read the old books, but I cannot wait to read the newly printed series. Anyway, enough hyping up the book and onto the actual review.

The first section of the book focuses on Jake Reed, roughly twenty years after the fall of Western society, and the everyday struggle both he and his close-knit community endure to survive. Civilization had become so reliant upon technology that, when the attack came on their markets, life itself reverted to an almost pre-industrial society. Britain has again become a series of individual states, the old kingdom of Wessex revived after 1000 years. Communication between the old superpowers is impossible, and relations between even local villages almost as hard to maintain in a land rife with bandits, disease and suspicion of outsiders. The warning is clear—the human desire to dominate is stronger than technological unity and could still destroy our supposedly advanced societies. The rest of the book looks at Jake’s life before the attack came, as a man central to the advancement of technology, and his eventual capture as the Chinese sweep across Britain.

The message of the book looks to be initially grim. However, it is for precisely that reason that I think Son of Heaven is such an incredible book. Wingrove has taken topics that could be quite provocative. Outwardly blaming the Chinese for the destruction of Western society as a whole in a series of well-coordinated strikes (the assassination of the American President, agents collapsing world-wide markets, spreading murder, chaos and suspicion) would normally be viewed as too provocative. But the Chinese, through Jiang Lei, are a symbol of everything humanity can and do represent. A man forced to do a duty he resents, trying to make the best of a bad lot, and primarily a humanitarian. David Wingrove manages a message almost as strong, if not stronger, than T.S. Eliot. The Wasteland salvages an almost international cultural unity from the midst of the devastation of the First World War. In Son of Heaven, every civilisation has collapsed and yet humanity can still be united by a shared desire to learn and love.

I’ve already mentioned that the writing style is extremely strong. I think the only way that I can demonstrate that in a review is to look at Jake Reed. Well, any of the characters really. A couple of years back, my favourite author of all time died. This post on Fantasy Book Critic is an obituary for David Eddings and the author rightly mentions Eddings’ almost unmatched ability to bring a character to life. I haven’t found many authors who can do the same. James Barclay and Joe Abercrombie are new authors who have that talent, which could be why they are such big sellers. David Wingrove has the same talent. I constantly felt like I could sympathise with Jake, through any worries or hard-won triumphs.

Son of Heaven is a must read. The story line is superb, and a potentially hazardous storyline is qualified by a fantastic depth of emotion between the characters. Most importantly, the book has a message—do not become over-reliant on technology. The riot scenes strike a peculiarly pertinent chord with readers. I can’t wait for the next instalment.

ABOUT JAMES DUNN:

James Dunn is disgustingly passionate about books. Alongside studying English Literature—with a particular interest for medieval literature—James works for a national book chain, is getting as much possible experience with publishers, and is completely obsessed by fantasy literature. He is an armchair sports fanatic who lives in Cardiff, Great Britain.

James’ main interests are fantasy and science-fiction, paying close attention to new high fantasy novels. Historical fiction is another favourite of his, as well as the history of the Church.

His favourite authors include Raymond E. Feist, James Barclay, Robert Jordan, Joe Abercrombie, Tolkien, Scott Lynch, Bernard Cornwall and James Aitcheson. James is unequivocal in his belief that David Eddings is the one of the best writers of all time.

Alongside his studies and job, James writes regular posts for Fight Apathy, Or Don’t, a number of politics blogs and is worryingly addicted to Xbox RPG’s.

NOTE: James Dunn is the newest member of Fantasy Book Critic. We’re very excited to have him onboard and hope you’’ll give him a warm welcome...

“The Sacred Band” by David Anthony Durham (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Official David Anthony Durham Website
Order “The Sacred Band” HERE
Read FBC’s Review of “Acacia: The War with the Mein”

Read FBC’s Review of “The Other Lands”

Read A Conversation HERE between David Anthony Durham & Robert V.S. Redick

AUTHOR INFORMATION: David Anthony Durham has written such critically-acclaimed historical fiction novels as Walk Through Darkness, Pride of Carthage, and Gabriel’s Story—winner of two American Library Association awards and one of three novels by the author that have been optioned for film adaptation. He is also the author of The Acacia Trilogy epic fantasy saga and was awarded the 2009 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction & Fantasy. He currently teaches Popular Fiction at the Stonecoast Low-Residency MFA Program.

ABOUT THE SACRED BAND: With Acacia: The War with the Mein and The Other Lands, the first two books in The Acacia Trilogy, David Anthony Durham created a vast and engrossing canvas where the surviving children of a royal dynasty are struggling to find their place in a world full of turmoil.

As The Sacred Band begins, Queen Corinn Akaran looms over the Known World because of her mastery of spells found in the ancient Book of Elenet. Meanwhile, her younger brother Dariel has been sent on a perilous mis­sion to the Other Lands, as her sister Mena travels to the far north to confront an invasion from the feared Auldek. Their separate trajectories will converge in a series of world-shaping, earth-shattering battles that will realize the Akarans’ fates—and perhaps right ancient wrongs once and for all...

CLASSIFICATION: The Acacia Trilogy is epic fantasy fueled by compelling characters, realistic world-building and powerful storytelling. May contain elements reminiscent of George R.R. Martin, Tolkien, Stephen R. Donaldson, and Brian Ruckley, but the series is defined by David Anthony Durham’s unique historical fiction-influenced viewpoint...

FORMAT/INFO: The Sacred Band is 576 pages long divided over four Books, seventy-three numbered chapters and an Epilogue. Also includes a map of the Known World and the Other Lands and a detailed summary of the first two book in the trilogy. Narration is in the third person via several different characters including Corinn Akaran, her brother and sister Dariel & Mena, Corinn’s councilor Rialus Neptos, the leaguemen Sire Dagon, Barad the Lesser, Aliver’s former companion Kelis of Umae, Corinn’s informant Delivegu Lemardine, Mena’s husband Melio Sharratt, and a few others. The Sacred Band is the third and final volume in The Acacia Trilogy after Acacia: The War with the Mein and The Other Lands. It goes without saying that readers should finish the first two books in The Acacia Trilogy before attempting to read The Sacred Band.

October 4, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of The Sacred Band via Doubleday. A UK edition has not been announced yet, but the first two volumes of the trilogy were published by Transworld.

ANALYSIS: Over four years ago, David Anthony Durham burst onto the fantasy scene with Acacia: The War with the Mein, the impressive opening volume in The Acacia Trilogy. This was followed by The Other Lands in 2009, a respectable middle volume that was slightly disappointing compared to its predecessor, but set the stage for a potentially awesome conclusion to the trilogy. Which brings us to The Sacred Band.

In the third and final volume of The Acacia Trilogy, readers can expect a conclusion that not only fully answers questions about Tinhadin, the Santoth, the Song of Elenet, the League, the Lothan Aklun and the Auldek, but resolves major conflicts in a manner that was satisfactory, and occasionally surprising, while successfully wrapping up the trilogy’s numerous storylines—Elya and her children, the Free People of Ushen Brae and the Rhuin Fá, Corinn’s son Aaden and Aliver’s daughter Shen, the mist, the Numrek, et cetera.

Along the way, readers can also expect another well-written novel from David Anthony Durham,  highlighted by accomplished prose, rich characterization, morally ambiguous characters, creative world-building that reflects real history & social issues—slavery, forms of government, racial tensions, etc.—and an imagination that breathes new life into such classic fantasy tropes as dragons, prophesied heroes and war.

At the same time, The Sacred Band suffers from the same lethargic pacing issues that I had with The Other Lands. In this case however, I realized the pacing of the novel and its emphasis on characterization closely resembled Daniel Abraham’s The Long Price Quartet. Once I made that connection, I cared less about the book’s pacing and focused more on the characters and their compelling narratives—Corinn dealing with the pressures of leadership and trust issues, Rialus Neptos’ struggle for redemption, Dariel fulfilling his destiny, Mena’s warrior spirit, and so on.

CONCLUSION: Considering everything that occurred in the first two volumes of The Acacia Trilogy, The Sacred Band had a lot riding on its shoulders. Thankfully, David Anthony Durham was more than up to the task, delivering a rewarding conclusion in The Sacred Band that successfully wraps up The Acacia Trilogy...