“The Burning Soul” by John Connolly (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official John Connolly Website

Order “The Burning Soul” HERE

Read An Excerpt HERE

Read FBC Review’s of “The Lovers”

Read FBC Review’s of “The Whisperers”

AUTHOR INFORMATION: John Connolly earned a B.A. in English from Trinity College and a M.A. in Journalism from Dublin City University. His bibliography includes the long-running Charlie Parker thriller series which began with the Shamus Award-winning Every Dead Thing, The Book of Lost Things fantasy novel, various short stories, and YA fiction—The Gates and The Infernals. He is also a regular contributor to The Irish Times and currently lives in Dublin, Ireland.

PLOT SUMMARY: Randall Haight has a secret: when he was a teenager, he and his friend killed a 14-year-old girl.

Randall did his time and built a new life in the small Maine town of Pastor's Bay, but somebody has discovered the truth about Randall. He is being tormented by anonymous messages, haunting reminders of his past crime, and he wants private detective Charlie Parker to make it stop.

But another 14-year-old girl has gone missing, this time from Pastor's Bay, and the missing girl's family has its own secrets to protect. Now Parker must unravel a web of deceit involving the police, the FBI, a doomed mobster named Tommy Morris, and Randall Haight himself.

Because Randall Haight is telling lies . . .

CLASSIFICATION: John Connolly's novels combine the noir quality of thrillers with the mystical aspect of supernatural fiction, to create a sub-genre of their own.

FORMAT/INFO: The Burning Soul is 406 pages long divided over six Parts and forty-one chapters. However, there is no prologue or epilogue which is a first for the Charlie Parker series. Narration is in the first-person via Charlie Parker and in the third-person via Randall Haight, Tommy Morris, Martin Dempsey and Frank Ryan. Like the previous books, the narrative alternates each chapter between Parker and the rest of the cast. The Burning Soul is completely self-contained and can be read as a standalone novel, although there are a few references to the previous books, but nothing major or spoiler-ish. The Burning Soul is the tenth Charlie Parker novel after The Whisperers.

September 6, 2011 marked the North American Hardcover publication of The Burning Soul via Atria Books. The UK edition was published by Hodder & Stoughton on September 1, 2011.

ANALYSIS: I’m a major fan of John Connolly’s Charlie Parker novels, which have become part of my yearly reading routine, and I anxiously await each new release to see where the author takes us next. Last year’s Charlie Parker novel, The Whisperers, while a good book, had something missing in it that made it seem a bit inferior compared to earlier stalwarts such as The Lovers, The Black Angel, et cetera. So I was curious to see how the new Charlie Parker novel would measure up to the rest of the series.

The Burning Soul is a bit different in plot structure from the previous Charlie Parker novels as there is no Prologue. Instead, the tale begins immediately as readers are introduced to the town of Pastor’s Bay where a teenager named Anna Kore has gone missing.  While the state and local police go about their normal routines, it’s obvious there is something different about this case due to the involvement of the FBI. Charlie soon becomes involved himself when Aimee Price, his attorney and some time employer, asks him to help her with a client: Randall Haight, who killed a 14-year-old girl with his friend when they were teenagers. Randall has done his time, accepted his part in the crime and is living peacefully in Pastor’s Bay, but now someone is sending him messages about his past and blackmailing him. On a separate track, readers follow the downward spiral of Boston gangster Tommy Morris who is being hunted by his former associates. Helping Tommy out are Martin Dempsey & Frankie Ryan, two men who will do whatever Tommy asks of them. From here, The Burning Soul follows these two separate threads, providing clues along the way as to how everything might be connected...

Plot-wise, The Burning Soul hearkens back to the earlier mystery-filled plots of the first four Charlie Parker novels. More specifically, the book features a frequently used mystery trope about a missing person in a small town with its own dark secrets. It’s a trope that John Connolly excels at, while giving it his own spin thanks to the Boston gangsters storyline and numerous plot twists that will keep readers on their toes, particularly during the climax. At the same time, The Burning Soul is kind of a throwback to the earlier Charlie Parker thrillers where the supernatural wasn’t as prevalent as it is in the previous few books. That’s not to say the novel is completely devoid of supernatural elements, but the focus of the book is mainly on the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Anna Kore and whether Randall Haight is guilty or not. Humor meanwhile, is more pronounced in this book thanks to the presence of Angel, Louis and the Fulcis.

John Connolly’s writing is once again excellent, highlighted by prose that is dark, descriptive and haunting. Of particular note are these three passages which pertain to the title of the book, life’s terrible truths, and the vagaries of fortune:

“Here is a truth, a truth by which to live: there is hope. There is always hope. If we choose to abandon it, our souls will turn to ash and blow away. But the soul can burn and not be damned. The Soul can burn with a bright fire, and never turn to ash.”

“There are some truths so terrible that they should not be spoken aloud, so appalling that even to acknowledge them is to risk sacrificing a crucial part of one’s humanity, to exist in a colder, crueler world.”

“You have to be careful what lies you tell. You have to be careful in case your lies are heard, and the gods of the underworld mock you by turning them to truths.”

Characterization is another of the author’s strengths. This is best exemplified by scene-stealer Martin Dempsey, a violent man prone to philosophical ramblings, frank observations and both cruelty & loyalty toward his gang mates, which made his chapters fun to read. Then there’s Randall Haight, a man caught between his past and his present, a duality wonderfully captured in his chapters through intimate thoughts and memories that portray a man haunted and partly destroyed by guilt.

Drawbacks are few, but the way The Burning Soul completely sidesteps the plot developments of Charlie Parker’s previous 3-4 books is a major concern. For instance, a possible new partner to Charlie was introduced in The Lovers, but there is no mention of that character in The Burning Soul or its predecessor. A disappointing omission since I was interested to see how that subplot might develop.

CONCLUSION: Apart from a few minor niggles, The Burning Soul is another excellent entry in the Charlie Parker series and will certainly appeal to fans of the private detective, while also acting as a wonderful starting point for readers who have yet to discover why John Connolly is such a popular author on both sides of the Atlantic...

"The Islanders" and "The Dream Archipelago" by Christopher Priest (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Christopher Priest Website
Order The Islanders HERE
Order The Dream Archipelago HERE

INTRODUCTION: Christopher Priest is probably best known for The Prestige since the movie adaption of the book has been a reasonably successful and talked about 2006 film. While I have heard of the author before I watched the movie, the lack of easy availability of his titles in the US in the 90's when I widely explored the sff genre, prevented me from giving his work a try, while in the 00's when easy online availability came about, I tended to focus - as today - on new authors and books unless something really motivated me to check older works.

But I was sufficiently impressed by the movie to start reading Mr. Priest's oeuvre, and while The Prestige, the novel, was interesting but lacked the dramatic flair of the film to a large extent - one of the few cases where an adaptation is better in many ways than the original - and his most recent novel from 2002, The Separation, left me somewhat cold with its strong dollops of British nationalism, The Affirmation and The Glamour are two of the most awesome novels I've ever read which got the author a place on my all time favorite books list.

The Affirmation which has one of the most mind blowing ending of all times, partly takes place in the Dream Archipelago, a world circling sequence of islands which is the topic of the collection with the same title and of the novel The Islanders. The reissue of a complete Dream Archipelago stories collection in 2009 and the present publication of The Islanders offer the readers a superb glimpse at one of the most fascinating secondary worlds in current sff.

I strongly recommended to get both and read them together since the stories from The Dream Archipelago are sequels, prequels, in one case identical but for a shift in narrative style from third to first person, or more generally just related by characters and setting to various chapters in The Islanders and the two fit perfectly together as one superb creation, with the more dramatic style of the earlier work adding the "zing" I felt missing on my first solo read of the present novel.



OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Before starting my discussion of The Dream Archipelago sequence composed of the collection of the same name and of The Islanders, I will remark that there is a case to be made - and there are some reviews around that actually do that - to treat at least the novel as a literary game. As I tend to strongly believe that a novel has value only if it is "alive" and I dislike literary games and literary cleverness for its sake as an empty sterile endeavor, I will treat both books as "living", or in other words as referring to possible real places, real people, etc.

Part of that requires that the "author-reader" implied covenant of suspending the disbelief holds and I will touch on how The Islanders by itself failed on occasion there for me, but on reading it together with the more dynamic collection, that failure disappeared.

So, what is The Dream Archipelago? Well, according to the preface from the novel, supposedly penned by renowned writer Chester Kammerton - one of the main human characters of The Islanders, it is:

"The Dream Archipelago is the largest geographical feature on our world. The islands are found around the whole girth of the planet, spreading across tropical, subtropical and temperate latitudes, both north and south of the equator. They are placed in the only ocean we have: this is known as the Midway Sea and it too is circumambient of the world. The sea with its islands occupies more than seventy per cent of the total surface area, and contains more than eighty per cent of all the world’s water"

Of course the reality is much subtler insofar there are a lot of peculiarities to both the world and the Archipelago itself, where the "main feature" of the rest of the world is the continual war between several Northern continent powers - Faiand and Glaund are the most notable - war that is mostly prosecuted on the icy, barren Southern continent, though of course the Archipelago is "in the way", being somewhat protected by the "Neutrality Covenant". Again from The Islanders:

"The political concerns of this world of ours are worrying. Many of the countries in the north are at war with each other – they have been at it for as long as I have been alive, they were at it for at least three centuries before I was born, and they show every eager sign of being at it for centuries more to come. The issues over which they violently disagree, and the alliances they have formed in an attempt to prevail, are often reported in our newspapers and on television, but few islanders seem to take much notice. This is largely because in an act of unusual, not to say unique, far-sightedness, the elders of the Dream Archipelago long ago drew up and agreed a document called the Covenant of Neutrality. The Covenant is just about the only matter on which the various peoples of the islands have ever agreed. It extends to every island, small or large, populated or unpopulated, and it was intended to guarantee that the belligerent concerns of the north should not affect the people of the Archipelago"

But of course the Archipelago has its unique features due to geography and biology, science and art and one of the most important such that essentially gave its "Dream" name and puts the narrative threads in the "guess what's reliable or not" category is:

"The problems of mapping the Dream Archipelago are well understood. High-altitude aerial cartography is more or less impossible because of the distortion caused by the temporal gradients. These gradients, impossible for me to explain here (there is an attempt later in the book), exist in every part of the world except at the magnetic poles."

So, this is the world the author asks us to accept when we embark on the journey of exploration that "The Islanders" offers. The structure of the novel consists of 53 chapters that offer an overview of individual or groups of islands in alphabetical order, though important ones like Muriseay or Derril have several successive chapters. Each chapter tends to start with a short description and end with an overview of local currency and main laws, but in-between you can have anything from a historical tale, to a part of the loose main thread that follow several artists and their relationships, as well as hinting at a murder mystery, to pure description, to first person narration.

On the other hand, The Dream Archipelago has a more traditional structure of eight stories, to which some of the chapters of The Islanders are prequels, sequels, or just related, while in one case the corresponding "A Trace of Him"/"The Trace" are almost identical except for a shift from third to first person narration and some sentence modifications.

When I first read the novel by itself, the thing that struck me the most was the change in the author's style from his earlier intense and dramatic narrations to a more detached style at least in most of The Islanders' chapters. I felt that did not work that well at least for me since it make me think about the book rather than being immersed and there are quite a few places where the world building does not really stand up to close scrutiny at least if you want to imagine it as a "potentially real place" rather than a literary game that's "clever scribbles on paper that are essentially meaningless". For example a character sculpts a mountains with paid help, but the locals seem blissfully unaware, which runs utterly contrary to human nature and its limitless capacity for gossip.

But when I started reading the novel and the collection together in the natural way - each story from The Dream Archipelago at its natural place in the structure of The Islanders, the more dramatic prose from the earlier stories perfectly countered the more detached tome of the novel and I finally could appreciate the books as they deserve to be.

Overall, I think that the Dream Archipelago experience the author presents in The Islanders and in the related story collection, is indeed a masterpiece of modern sff and I expect to be enchanted by it again and again across the years.

“Eyes To See” by Joseph Nassise (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Official Joseph Nassise Website

Order “Eyes To See” HERE

Read An Excerpt HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Joseph Nassise is the author of more than a dozen novels, including the internationally bestselling Templar Chronicles and several books in the Rogue Angel action/adventure series from Gold Eagle. He’s also a former president of the Horror Writers Association, and a two-time Bram Stoker Award and International Horror Guild Award nominee. He currently lives with his family in Phoenix, Arizona.

PLOT SUMMARY: Jeremiah Hunt was happily married, the father of a lovely young daughter, and successfully employed at Harvard. Then his life fell apart. One moment, his daughter was playing in her room; the next, she was gone without a trace. Within months, Hunt’s obsessive search for his daughter cost him everything else of value in his life: his marriage, his career, his reputation. Desperate to reclaim what was lost, he finally turns to the supernatural for justice.

Sacrificing his normal sight so that he can see the ‘unseen’, Jeremiah enters a world of ghosts and even more dangerous entities that stalk his worst nightmares. Doomed to walk between the light of day and the deepest darkness beyond night, Hunt now earns a meager living chasing away wayward spirits that are tormenting the living, while taking on the occasional consulting job for the Boston police department.

On his latest consulting job, Jeremiah is asked to investigate a series of brutal murders that leads him to new friends, new enemies and new clues about his daughter, propelling Hunt on a desperate search for answers. A search that will force Hunt to confront an ageless, malevolent entity that would use him for its own nefarious purposes...

FORMAT/INFO: Eyes To See is 320 pages long divided over fifty-six numbered chapters. Each chapter is subtitled either ‘Now’ to represent the present, or ‘Then’ to represent the past. For the most part, narration is in the first-person via Jeremiah Hunt, but the narrative switches to various third-person POVs (hedge witch Denise Clearwater, an unnamed creature, etc.) throughout the novel. Eyes To See wraps up some of the book’s main storylines, but it is the first volume in The Jeremiah Hunt Chronicle, which will be followed by King of the Dead in 2012. October 11, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of Eyes To See via Tor. Cover art is provided by Cliff Nielsen.

ANALYSIS: Urban fantasy is a genre I’ve almost completely sworn off due to reasons vented elsewhere. That said, I’m always on the lookout for titles that might bring something new to the table. In the case of Joseph Nassise’s Eyes To See, readers are promised an urban fantasy novel that “charts daring new territory in the field” if the synopsis and author blurbs are anything to go by, but does the book really deliver on that promise? The answer is yes . . . and no.

For the most part, Eyes To See is a typical urban fantasy novel. Between Jeremiah Hunt’s first-person narrative; his supernatural gifts—including the ability to see and communicate with ghosts; the contemporary urban setting where vampires, demons, angels, witches and the like all exist; and a story that mixes mystery & police procedural with the paranormal, Eyes To See offers very few surprises for anyone familiar with the genre. In fact, I was constantly reminded of Mike Carey’s Felix Castor series and The Dresden Files as I was reading the book, although there are a couple of neat ideas in the novel like Jeremiah’s ability to borrow attributes (sight and strength) from a ghost.

What separates Eyes To See from its competition is the disappearance of the protagonist’s daughter five years earlier, which not only precipitated the chain of events that resulted in Jeremiah Hunt developing supernatural abilities, but also acts as the driving element behind his current actions in the novel, whether it’s performing exorcisms or doing consulting work for the Boston PD. As a father of two young children, I was really moved by Jeremiah’s loss, which is relived in painful detail through gut-wrenching flashbacks that cover his daughter’s disappearance, the despairing search for the missing girl, Hunt’s descent into madness, and the Faustian deal that made him blind, while granting him ‘ghostsight’. It’s heartbreaking stuff, infusing Eyes To See with an emotional punch that is unusual for the genre, but refreshing.

Unfortunately, Joseph Nassise is unable to maintain this emotional impact for the entire novel. After the secondary characters have been fully introduced and the story kicks into high gear, the disappearance of Jeremiah’s daughter becomes overshadowed by more conventional urban fantasy fare, including a murder mystery, an attraction developing between Hunt and the hedge witch Denise Clearwater, and dealing with a supernatural threat. To make matters worse, the author’s execution is hit-and-miss over the last two-thirds of the novel, punctuated by third-person POVs that pale in comparison to Jeremiah Hunt’s first-person narrative, at the same time failing to flesh out any of the secondary characters, and a narrative plagued by inconsistencies (Why is the creature trying to frame Jeremiah which seems at odds with its original plan?), characters acting out of turn (Dmitri giving up on Denise so easily), improbable scenarios—Hunt’s effortless escape from the police, Detective Miles Stanton’s timely intervention, etc.—and a climax that feels rushed.

Joseph Nassise does redeem himself at the end of the novel when the fate of Jeremiah’s daughter is unveiled, but the revelation lacks the impact it could have had if the book hadn’t become sidetracked by murder mysteries, romantic developments and supernatural drama.

Writing-wise, apart from weak supporting characters and issues with the narrative, Eyes To See is a very polished urban fantasy novel, highlighted by Jeremiah Hunt’s compelling first-person narrative and skilled prose:

“A sudden, overwhelming sense of despair washed over us. One moment we were perfectly fine and the next, drowning in a sea of emotion. It was the helplessness of a young child lost at the county fair without a familiar face in sight, the horror of a prisoner facing a life sentence in a six-by-eight box of a cell, the utter hopelessness of watching your family slaughtered horribly before your eyes while you lay bound on the floor, unable to do anything to stop it, all rolled up into one neat little package.”

“Parents experience a unique kind of fear. It is at once more visceral and more paralyzing than any other fear, a cold, clammy hand that squeezes your heart until your very blood starts to drip from between its fingers. It invades your mind like an alien presence, disrupts your thought processes and ratchets your emotions right off the scale, until you can’t possibly think straight and every second is an eternity, an eternity where all you can do is think about all of the terrible things that could have happened to your precious child.”

CONCLUSION: Because of the emotional punches landed by Jeremiah Hunt’s missing daughter, Joseph Nassise’s Eyes To See is partially successful in bringing something new to the genre, but in other areas, the novel doesn’t measure up to its peers due to one-dimensional supporting characters, narrative shortcomings, and relying too much on familiar urban fantasy trappings. Still, as far as the genre is concerned, Eyes To See is solidly entertaining, and I’m curious to see what happens in the next Jeremiah Hunt Chronicle, King of the Dead...

“The Emperor's Edge” by Lindsay Buroker (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Lindsay Buroker Website

Order “The Emperor’s Edge” HERE

Read An Excerpt HERE

Read FBC’s Review of “Encrpted”

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Lindsay Buroker is a writer who was influenced by J.A. Konrath to become a self-published author. She has a B.A from the University of Washington and also served in the military. Nowadays she works as an independent Internet professional and lives in the greater Seattle area. She has written six books so far including Encrypted and Flash Gold.

PLOT SUMMARY: Imperial law enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon is good at her job: she can deter thieves and pacify thugs, if not with a blade, then by toppling an eight-foot pile of coffee canisters onto their heads. But when ravaged bodies show up on the waterfront, an arson covers up human sacrifices, and a powerful business coalition plots to kill the emperor, she feels a tad overwhelmed.

Worse, Sicarius, the empire's most notorious assassin is in town. He's tied in with the chaos somehow, but Amaranthe would be a fool to cross his path. Unfortunately, her superiors order her to hunt him down. Either they have an unprecedented belief in her skills . . . or someone wants her dead.

FORMAT/INFO: The Kindle edition 318 pages long divided over twenty-one chapters and an Epilogue. Narration is evenly divided in the third-person omniscient chapters between Amaranthe Lokdon and Emperor Sespian Savarsin. The plot is completely self-contained, but is the first book of the Emperor’s Edge series.

ANALYSIS: Liviu Suciu previously reviewed Lindsay Buroker’s novel Encrypted on FBC, which is how I became interested in the author’s work. So when I heard about The Emperor’s Edge, a fantasy-steampunk hybrid, I immediately bought a copy on Amazon.

The Emperor’s Edge is set in the capital city of the Turgonian Empire, which is ruled by science and refutes magic as an unworthy practice. It is also facing tension across its borders from the country of Nuria where magic is given free rein. Into this backdrop, reader are immediately introduced to Amaranthe Lokdon, a lowly corporal stuck on patrol duty with her lazy partner Wholt. Readers are also introduced to Emperor Sespian Savarsin, who is trying to get back on his feet, while Commander Hollowcrest helps him rule the empire. During a routine patrol, Amaranthe and Wholt discover a suspicious fire that spirals out of control. Soon after, events occur which pull Amaranthe from her normal duties as an imperial enforcer to hunting down Sicarius, the most dangerous assassin in the world. And thus the plot to this fantastical story begins...

Instead of going for an all-original idea, Lindsay Buroker has taken an oft-used concept and presented it with her own additions. So even though The Emperor’s Edge is described as a “high fantasy novel in the era of steam”, the book comes across as a campy fantasy adventure hybrid . In fact, what I liked most about the novel was its campy feel, which includes characters and situations often cropping up to delude the protagonists of their well thought-out but slightly improper plans. This kept me chuckling constantly as the humor quotient is kept at a remarkably steady level. Granted, the story sometimes takes silly turns, but the plot twists and Lindsay Buroker’s writing make these moments entertaining rather than overtly stupid.

Another important factor for me was the great characterization. Even though there are only two POVs in The Emperor’s Edge, there are several supporting characters involved in the main plot and the author makes sure each one is unique, if not a bit stereotypical, but I think that was more for comedic effect. Amaranthe though is the most well-rounded character in the book, as readers are shown a close look at her down-to-earth, hard working personality; her thoughts; and using her tenacity and gift of persuasion to overcome the challenges in her life. Not only that, but Amaranthe is the emotional core of the book. Be it her interactions with Sicarius, Books, Maldynado, etc.; her calm nature; or her deductive ability; Amaranthe comes across as a heroic persona.

Sicarius is another intriguing character, but not many details are revealed about him. Hopefully the author will rectify this in the sequel. World-building is also very impressive with the world of The Emperor’s Edge brought to life through vivid descriptions. Lastly, there’s no quasi-European feel to this novel. So instead of the usual medieval routine, Lindsay Buroker offers readers a more tropical setting highlighted by racial diversity.

Not everything about The Emperor’s Edge is rosy however. The plot for instance, is very linear, not to mention predictable, while secondary characters possess clear-cut agendas and are pretty much black and white.

CONCLUSION: After reading just one book—the very fun and entertaining fantasy adventure hybrid that is The Emperor’s Edge—I’ve become a Lindsay Buroker fan and can’t wait to read the rest of her series. For anyone who loves David Eddings, Terry Brooks and Rachel Aaron, The Emperor’s Edge is a book I heartily recommend to you...

"A Shore Too Far" by Kevin Manus-Pennings (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Kevin Manus-Pennings Website
Order "A Shore Too Far" HERE or HERE
Read 20% of A Shore Too Far HERE

INTRODUCTION: Here at Fantasy Book Critic we get tens of indie review queries a week, some with the full ebook included, some with samples and I dutifully open all that are not UF or YA but very rarely something hits the special combination of content/style I look for in any book I try. Usually the indies fail on content since there is so much "ancient evil, destined boys/girls" or their science fictional analogs coming in that I almost stopped opening such, but in the few cases a book has an intriguing blurb, the writing style needs also to hit it with me and that is a very subjective thing.

When "A Shore Too Far" popped in the inbox, the blurb below was interesting enough to make me take a look and it turned out that the novel was a first person narration which a bit to my surprise grabbed me from the first paragraph you can also read in the sample linked above.

"Kara Asgrand, daughter of the king, is the greatest military mind of her time, but now a wondrous fleet has approached her people’s shores. When this new people arrive, the visitors’ tale of woe doesn’t add up, and their plea for help may be a prelude to invasion. Kara must decide if her warrior’s instincts are keeping her cautious or are they betraying her and endangering thousands."

"A Shore Too Far" is advertised as the first book in "The Daughters of Damendine" series.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "A Shore Too Far" is a very entertaining series debut which takes place on a secondary world with the usual pseudo-medieval society but with no magic so far. The novel is a first person narration from Kara Asgrand, daughter of the king of Avandi and commander in chief of the army.

Kara is also a rival to her two brothers, Eric, a very able administrator and current ruler of Abrigol, the most important city outside of the capital, and Kollus who is mostly a scholar, though as royalty he also rules a province - one of the conceits here is that in Kara's country the succession is decided by the king stepping down in favor of a successor that may or may not be one of his children - this is really unlikely to work and would lead to countless civil wars as history shows in any society without clear and accepted lines of succession and sometimes even in those, but that's more of a plot device so far to motivate the rivalry and subtext between Kara and her older brother Eric.

When a strange fleet is sighted close to Abringol, Kara summons her fastest cavalry and rides there to strengthen Eric's defenses, while the king and the rest of the army will tae some ten days or more to get there. What follows is a story of first contact between the Avandi and the mysterious strangers that call themselves the Kullobrini and claim they were blown off course to a colonization mission on some remote and less hospitable areas of the continent, while now a sickness developing on their fleet forced them to come ashore in the Avandi kingdom. Any misstep can lead to a deadly confrontation and Kara has to make the decisions as her father puts her unexpectedly in charge of the "alien diplomacy" over her governor brother

The main strength of the novel is in the first person narration of Kara. While the novel is predictable to some extent, the tension is maintained to the end and the pages turn by themselves since you do not want to stop until you find out the implied secrets of the Kullobrini and how things will turn out for both people.

As an added bonus there is some backstory recounted and we understand more about Kara's relationship with her siblings too. In addition to Eric, there are a few notable secondary characters - the Kullobrini leaders, a young ambitious and very wealthy merchant of Abrigol who is an on-and-off flame of Kara, while grizzled veteran Gonnaban plays well the role of the princess' master at arms and all around skeptic.

Overall, A Shore Too Far (A+) is another very promising indie series debut which I recommend for a fast and very enjoyable read. I also want to note that the novel wraps up its main storyline so it's a standalone from this point of view, but of course more is promised in the interesting universe created by the author.