"Guardians of the Desert" by Leona Wisoker (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu and Cindy Hannikman)

Official Leona Wisoker Website
Order Guardians of the Desert HERE
Read FBC Review of Secrets of the Sands

INTRODUCTION: The author's debut "Secrets of the Sands" was a novel I found more or less by chance and which was an unexpected hit. This meant of course that the second book in the Children of the Desert series would be a high expectations novel for 2011.

I will refer to our review of "Secrets of the Sands" for a general overview of the series setup and since any discussion of Guardians of the Desert will include some major spoilers for the first book, be warned!

"In this sequel to Wisoker's acclaimed debut Secrets of the Sands, the new desert lord Alyea Peysimun returns to Bright Bay in the company of ancient, mysterious Deiq, who has agreed to serve as her mentor, and the young Idisio, whose powers and history are only beginning to emerge. Alyea's changed status will upset a precarious balance in Bright Bay--but that is nothing compared to the hidden havoc her transition is already creating in the desert."

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Liviu: Guardians of the Desert continues the story from Secrets of the Sand essentially picking up where the other ends. While the first book was focused more or less equally on Lord Scratha and Idisio on one hand and Alyea on the other, this novel is 80% Alyea's and it deals with her acceptance of her role as Desert Lord and the consequences that flow from that.

I would not like to spoil Secrets of the Sands more than the minimum possible and a lot of the events that happen in the novel as well as the choices Alyea has to make and which essentially determine the direction both of the book and of the series can be understood only if you know the twists at the end of the first novel, so I will only remark that Guardians of the Desert brings full circle the story that started when the new king Oruen sent her to assume the Scratha's domain guardianship.

Both Lord Scratha through letters penned to Oruen about the nature of the South and Idisio appear too, though Deiq and several Southern lords - most notably Eredion Sessin the sort-of ambassador of the Desert Lords to the northern court and whose role Alyea may supersede - play a much more prominent role overall than the two main heroes of the debut.

Guardians of the Desert reads very much like its own novel too, not like a second half of a larger book and I think that is mostly due to the change of emphasis from a story of discovery and of venturing into the unfamiliar - both for the northern noble Alyea into the South and for the Desert Lord Scratha into the North - to a more traditional coming of age story, destined heroes and heroines and other standard tropes of the genre.

And here lies my main problem with the book - Guardians of the Desert offers the traditional story I expected and happily did not get in Secrets of the Sands, so a lot of the power and originality of the debut is lost. I still liked Guardians of the Desert due to the author' style that flows very well and kept me turning the pages, while the characters are quite vivid and you "root" for them - especially Alyea, but Idisio too - and I will recommend it unreservedly to anyone loving a good traditional fantasy novel, but I still wish for the "interesting-ness" of Secrets of the Sands.

The other issue I had with the novel - though less important since it is part and parcel of the experience of reading series - is that as a typical middle series book, Guardians of the Desert offers a story arc but there is no real resolution and it ends with a big to be continued.

Overall Guardians of the Desert (A) keeps the superb writing style of the author's debut and has in Alyea a powerful character one likes and roots for, but it is less innovative and considerably closer to following the "manual for writing genre fantasy" than Secrets of the Sands.

Cindy: I have been eagerly awaiting Guardians of the Desert. Secrets of the Sands was one of my favorite novels for the year and I couldn’t wait to see where Leona Wisoker was going to take the series.

Guardians of the Desert is a very middle series book. It develops the characters and furthers the plotline but it does so in a rather middle book way. While I don’t believe that this hurts the series it could be taken as a drawback to readers who were so enthralled with the unique features that came with Secrets of the Sands. Secrets of the Sands was so special and unique that it would be hard to live up to it in every single book.

While I loved Guardians of the Desert I did find it a little hard to jump into. It took me at least the first half of the book to recall events that happened and who each character was. I would have ideally liked to see more references to the previous book so it was easier for me to remember and recall events.

Overall I loved Guardians of the Desert and found it an engaging read. It was a great read, lovely plot but it definitely didn’t have the special flare that the first novel did which wasn’t the author’s fault but more my own expectations.

Interview with David Dalglish (Interviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Author Website

Read FBC review of "A Dance Of Cloaks"

A few months ago I had the pleasure of reading David Dalglish’s then-standalone book, to my surprise it was a great read and with the book ending the way it did, I was curious to see if there was more to follow. Apparently a lot of readers felt that way and so David decided that the story wasn’t over and there will be more of Aaron in the remaining two books of the Shadowdance trilogy. In this interview, David remarks upon his beginnings, the evolution of his writing and his fascination with George R.R. Martin’s works. Please note, there are a few mild spoilers in the interview, which might be a bit spoilerish for some but overall do not detract much for a new reader. Lastly, on behalf of Fantasy Book Critic, I would like to thank David for agreeing to answer my questions amidst his hectic life. Now on to the interview...

Q] Welcome to Fantasy Book Critic, so to begin with for someone who hasn't read any of your novels, how would you describe the type of stories that you write? Also could give us a brief bio?

A) Most of my books are in a similar vein to R. A. Salvatore, or the old Dragonlance novels by Weis and Hickman. Just imagine them a little darker, and a few more main characters killed. As for myself, I live in Southwest Missouri, and have a lovely wife and daughter. For the most part, I worked as a Pizza Hut delivery driver, and later manager, while writing all of these stories, except for Dance of Cloaks. By then I was a para-professional for a Spec-Ed student. Far and away the hardest job I ever had.

Q] I believe all your book covers have been done by the same artist, how did you approach him. Or was it the other way around? What was the clinching factor in this partnership? Could you give the readers a brief overview in to the process of making one of the covers?

A) One of the things I noticed was that many indie covers come across as…well, done by themselves. If I was going to try this self-publishing craziness, I knew I had to have something I could be proud of. I wanted people to take me seriously, at least until they could read my writing. So I scoured deviantart, looking at pictures of various fantasy backgrounds and drawings. I came up with a list of ten artists who were open to commissions and sent off emails. Peter Ortiz was my top choice, and when he responded with a reasonable quote, I was ecstatic.

The process is fairly simple. I send him a detailed description of the characters, a rough idea of where they are and what they’re doing, and let Peter fill in the rest. I’ve found the more freedom I give him in positioning the characters, filling in backgrounds, etc, has actually led to better and better pictures. I trust Peter to know what looks good, and what looks idiotic. After he gets a rough done, he sends it to me, and I’ll requests changes here or there. More often than not, the changes are because of stupid ideas by myself.

Q] You have a very interesting back story which led to the development of the Half-Orc series; I believe you even met your wife through it. Could we get a cliff notes version of it?
 

A) Harruq and Qurrah were originally born on a text-based online game (a MUD for those who know what I’m talking about). I liked the characters and started devising various storylines for them. Along the way, I met a certain elf who I (major Cliffs notes here) imported from Colorado and eventually married. I started writing occasional stories with these characters, trying to get a better feel for them. Eventually a larger storyline grew, one in which these two lowly brothers nearly destroy the entire world, and ran with it.

Q] Both your series set in the world of Dezrel are very gritty and dark. When you started writing your books, what was it that particularly made you mold this world to be such a grim one?

A) I never really thought to make a dark world. Honest. To me it just seems normal that bad things will happen in a fantasy novel. Maybe this was just my personal backlash against Salvatore. When there are hundreds of people swinging swords at each other, well…someone’s got to die, and not come back two books later. On average, I’ve killed off a main character in every book of my Half-Orc series, and several bit the dust in Dance of Cloaks alone. Maybe that’s what makes people feel a little unsafe. Or maybe they just think I’m unhinged.

Q] A Dance Of Cloaks was a book which you decided to write after reading A Game Of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, could you perhaps summarize for us your feelings when you finished the book and why did you choose Aaron to be the center of the story.

A) “A Game Of Thrones” just blew me away. There were all these factions against each other, all thinking they were in the right. That felt real to me. That felt perfect. I looked at my own world, so often with just “here’s the good side, here’s the bad side, now FIGHT” and shook my head. Good people can disagree, and it gets all the scarier when a terrible person joins the mix and twists each to his advantage.

With Dance of Cloaks, I took one of my major characters that everyone seemed to love (Haern) and decided to do his back story. Originally this was just a few lines in Cost of Betrayal, discussing a war between thieves and a wealthy organization of merchants and nobles. I took this, expanded upon it, and tried to make many various factions getting involved...

Q] Nowadays there has been a heady discussion involving self-publishing and many of my favorites such as J.A. Konrath and John Rector have also espoused e-books and self releases, What was your reasoning in going the Kindle way for your Half-Orc series, did you make an attempt for the traditional publishing?

A)Never submitted to traditional publishing. Everywhere I read said the same thing: agents aren’t interested with fantasy involving orcs, dwarves, etc. Even elves were becoming suspect, and were getting renamed to stuff like “the eternals” or some nonsense like that. This annoyed me. I like reading stories about elves and orcs and giant fireballs flying everywhere. Surely I’m not alone.

When I first self-published, most of the biggies hadn’t really exploded yet. I’d bought my wife a Kindle, and found both of us reading ten times more than we ever had before. It was just too convenient, the costs of books too low. Well, my wife did a bit of research, then came to me and said that it looked like I could release a digital version of my books for free, and maybe I should see if anyone likes it. So I did. I went in expecting to sell about 5-10 copies my first month.

Hah!

Q] Originally you envisioned A Dance Of Cloaks (ADOC) as a standalone however when was it during the writing that you realized that the story wouldn’t be able to fit in the confines of a single book?

A) Since I was trying to get so many various factions in ADOC, it started to grow a bit unwieldy. I had a 5 year gap planned halfway through the novel, but by the end, I still hadn’t even hit that yet. Realizing just how many characters I had, and how confusing it had gotten at times, I knew I had to just finalize it with Haern's escape from his father. I thought the ending satisfactory, but a LOT of people didn’t agree....

Well, they’re right. There is more to the story, and I’m more than excited to tell it. ADOC was just supposed to be a little diversion, a break from the Half-Orcs to give some readers a chance to read more of a character they like. Well, it’s my highest seller now, to the point I think most want me to stop messing around with those stupid half-orcs and finish up Haern’s story.

Q] Now that you have completed the Half-Orc series, and with your plans to finish the ShadowDance trilogy as well, what are your plans for the future, will you be writing stories set in the world of Dezrel or will you be inventing newer worlds?

A) So far I have no plans to leave Dezrel. After finishing Shadowdance, I plan on doing a standalone novel for the Paladins (which is what I also said about Haern, and look what happened there). People seem to like Lathaar and Jerico, and I have fun with ‘em as well. After that, I’ve got two novels or so planned with Harruq, Qurrah, and the angels (I sorta left the world of Dezrel in a mess at the end of book 5). Not going to pretend I know what I’ll do after that.

Q] What are the books which you have read & enjoyed recently? Could you tell us about the books and authors who have captured your imagination & inspired you to become a wordsmith in your own right? Similarly any current authors whom you would like to give a shout out to?

A) I devoured Salvatore’s Drizzt books in high school. Read “The Dark Elf Trilogy” at least four times. Only recently did I start trying to really broaden my rather woefully inadequate knowledge of fantasy. David Gemmell was a wonderful surprise (I had an editor, and several fans, all compare me to him, so finally I bought Legend to see what was up with this fellow David). Brent Weeks is a writer after my own heart, ready and willing to go over the top at a moment’s notice. I have a soft spot for those whose logic process when writing goes something like this: well, I nearly blew up a city in book one, so time to destroy a nation in book two, and by book three, let’s see if there’s a world left.

The biggest slap in the face was G. R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. It made me look at my own world and suddenly feel very, very, very small.

Q] When you started out did you have an overall plan for the books, did you have a set number of books to be written about the Half-orc series? How much of the plot do you plan out earlier, or to quote George R.R. Martin “are you a Gardner or an Architect” when it comes to your writing?

A) I usually have two or three key scenes in my head, then try to work my way to them. If I ever get stuck, then I’ll sit down and plot out a few more major sections, just to feel that I know the way. But I’ll deviate from this in a heartbeat. I’ve had characters who were supposed to die, live, and characters who were supposed to hang around for several more books die. I killed one character in particular in book 4, and let’s say the emails haven’t been very happy about that. And all I can respond with is “I know! Idiot had to go leaping after the bad guy. Wasn’t my fault, I swear!”

Q] In your Post "Likable Villains and Imperfect Heroes" you stress upon the fact that characters need to have traits, they need to have charisma, certainty and other qualities. Why do you believe that this is so important for any story?

A) One of the worst things you can have your characters be is boring. Get your readers to like them, or even hate them; either is better than apathy. Emotions mean they’re invested. But you need to stay true to who they are. No one is totally evil. No one is totally good. We all have our faults. We all mess up, good and bad. We all have our reasons why we do things, or at least, we think we do.

Too often I see characters being a bastard for the sake of being a bastard, and I want to yell “WHY?” at the top of my lungs. Nothing will endear a good character to a reader’s heart like watching them struggle and fail, yet refuse to give in. Emphasize their decisions, for good or ill. Frodo wasn’t a hero because he walked a long distance carrying a ring. It’s that he chose to carry it in the first place.

Q] David Gemmell had a certain take on his beloved characters. He labeled them as "Rick's Bar characters" and described them in the following way: "When authors talk of great characters, what they really mean is easy. Some characters are tough to write. The author has to constantly stop and work out what they will say or do. With the great characters, this problem disappears. Their dialogue flows instantly, their actions likewise. A friend of mine calls them "Ricks Bar characters," from the film Casablanca. Some characters you have to build, like a sculptor carving them from rock. Others just walk out of Rick's bar fully formed and needing no work at all."

What is your opinion about it & was this the case for you with any of your character/s?

A) I understand completely. It’s usually this way for me with my villains. I love them. I love listening to them talk, watching them work, figuring out how they tick. Qurrah and Tessanna are characters I could write hundreds of thousands of words worth of scenes and not even slow down. I feel like I know them so much better than even they do. But then I have characters like Haern, who I struggle to decide how he’ll react, and what it is he’ll say. Sometimes, though, I wonder if readers like the ones who don’t flow quite so easily, the ones that feel like maybe there’s a bit more hiding in them.

Q] How is your daily writing schedule, do you write best in the morning or evening? Or do you have a schedule like a certain Dan Brown who gets up at 4-4:30 Am & also uses gravity boots to help his writing.

A) I used to not have one, and that just isn’t a good idea. I’d write at night, morning, when my wife was at work, etc. But too often I’d waste time, find excuses, play flash-time-killer7, etc. Lately, however, I hit on something that works wonderfully. I take my laptop, go to the library, plug headphones in and crank up some music. Then for two hours: write. No internet. No distractions. No excuses. No particular word goal, just the time and effort. If I can stay later, I do, but I never leave early. Been averaging about 3500 words a day, six days a week that way; Love it!

Q] You have created a very dark world and therein two religions which espouse two stark ends in the behavior spectrum. I was especially enamored by the Faceless women who though oppressed by their own faith, wear it like a badge of honor. How did you envision these women, do you think they see themselves as forsaken or favored?

A) Count the Faceless women as one of those difficult characters from up above. I never knew what they’d say. Heck, I barely knew what they looked like, and with all of them fully covered, I had to try and create them in my head purely through tiny variances in the way they talked and acted.

As to your question…that’s tough. I think they do see themselves as favored, in a way. Their life is more difficult. They’ve been banished from Karak’s temple, yet are still beholden to it and its ways. They’re forced to separate, and in a way decide for themselves, what exactly Karak wants of them, and what it is that the priests themselves claim. Near the end of Cloaks, there’s a moment where one of the Faceless women realizes that what she had always blamed as foolishness and lies of men might actually be what her deity desired. Was that truly who she served? Was that what she had devoted her life to?

Q] In closing, are there any final thoughts or comments that you'd like to share with your readers? What can we look forward to you in the future?

A) I just hope I can keep people entertained. I don’t claim to be the best writer (and a few comments will probably chime in with strong agreement there). I’m a storyteller, and so long as people are willing to listen, to allow themselves to become invested in the characters I create and the world I’m trying to build, then I’ll keep going. I’ve said it again and again, I’m currently living a dream, and it is only because of my readers, so thank you!

"Napier's Bones" by Derryl Murphy (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Derryl Murphy Website
Order Napier's Bones HERE

INTRODUCTION: Napier's Bones is a novel that attracted my attention for two reasons: first as being published by Chi-Zine which so far never put a book out that "felt for me" and disappointed; second the blurb is irresistible for someone who grew up with Martin Gardner's superb popular math books as huge favorites, including the irresistible Dr. Matrix, numerologist of world fame whose exploits were always fun to read, not to speak of making one wonder at the human ingenuity in finding the most abstruse patterns everywhere.

What if, in a world where mathematics could be magic, the thing you desired most was also trying to kill you?

Dom is a numerate, someone able to see and control numbers and use them as a form of magic. While seeking a mathematical item of immense power that has only been whispered about, it all goes south for Dom, and he finds himself on the run across three countries on two continents, with two unlikely companions in tow and a numerate of unfathomable strength hot on his tail. Along the way are giant creatures of stone and earth, statues come alive, numerical wonders cast over hundreds of years, and the very real possibility that he won't make it out of this alive. And both of his companions have secrets so deep that even they aren't aware of them, and one of those secrets could make for a seismic shift in how Dom and all other numerates see and interact with the world.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "Napier's Bones" is a very entertaining and fast moving read set in a world in which numerology is power at least for the people who can sense and manipulate numbers and their patterns; the more unusual the patterns and artifacts associated with them, the more power they give to the "numerates" that possess them. And of course nothing is more powerful than the original title artifacts who have been lost in the midst of time after the assumed death of their creator, the Scottish mathematician John Napier of the logarithm fame.

The novel starts explosively with a numerical battle in the Utah desert, where our main character, a powerful but relatively young numerate of many identities, generally known as Dom, is caught in the aftermath of a duel between unknown numerates of extreme power. This first page paragraph gives a good idea of how the book goes and of course it made me read the book on the spot since having logarithms flying through the air is contemporary magic I can believe in:

"There was a rustling sound from overhead, and he looked up to see a series of logarithms flapping by like wiry bats, dipping and diving through the air before breaking up into their constituent numbers and, with nothing left to hold them together, quickly fading away."

Knocked unconscious by the ripples of the number battle, Dom awakes himself on a bus and with a shadow - a ghost or "psychic essence" of a powerful numerate of long ago who lives inside the head of other numerates, usually in peaceful cohabitation. Here is the ghost "Billy" explaining:

“We didn’t. A duel was the last thing we wanted; her numbers and formulae were far beyond anything my host had ever seen before.”

“So what happened?” asked Dom, afraid he already knew the answer.

“My host was killed, while our foe was seemingly incapacitated. My host’s last act,” here the voice broke, “was to cut me loose. I had not quite a twenty-three second window before I would have fractioned, and I knew where you were.”

Arriving in a town in the middle of nowhere and entering a grocery store to get some food, Dom and Billy meet Jenna, a young student that works there and who is also a numerate without knowing it - here Jenna introduces herself to Dom by talking about the ghost - aka Billy - she perceives following him:

“It’s like a blurry shadow, hard to tell exactly what it is,” she said.

“But I see it slide in and out of you, and I can see even from a distance when it’s the one doing the talking.”

And this is how it starts, with the destroyer of Billy's former host in hot pursuit, Dom, Jenna and Billy scrambling to get away, meeting mysterious benefactors and of course finding out what's what and what they need to do to save the world.

Since after all the novel is conventional Urban Fantasy formula in structure - evil being with superpowers, awakened in our day and time wants to take over and change all, good guys have to stop it but to start they are too "puny", so there are chases, hidden powers, unexpected allies and all the paraphernalia of traditional fantasy set in our world and time - but the content made it really worth and the author has a flowing style that kept the pages turning.

The numerological stuff in the novel is as good as anything I've read and the action is fast and furious with no let-up till the powerful climax. The character roles are the expected ones, but with enough specific traits to make them distinctive - even if still relatively stock - and some of the major twists are easily seen but the writing flows well, the pages turn by themselves and the book is a very entertaining reading experience with a great ending.

I think that if you are a math aficionado or a fan of Urban Fantasy that goes beyond vampires and zombies, you have to try Napier Bones (A+ for superb content and very good execution) since the author makes the premise work with brio. While the book is a standalone with a definite ending, there is a lot of scope for more in the intriguing numerological universe of Derryl Murphy and I would be quite interested in such.

“The Unremembered” by Peter Orullian (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Official Peter Orullian Website
Order “The Unremembered” HERE
Read Excerpts HERE + HERE
Read the “Sacrifice of the First Sheason” Short Story HERE
Read “The Great Defense of Layosah” Short Story HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Peter Orullian is a graduate of the University of Utah with a BA in English. He has worked in marketing at Xbox for nearly a decade, most recently leading the Music and Entertainment marketing strategy for Xbox LIVE. His musical endeavors include performing on the Keep It True tour for both Heir Apparent and Fifth Angel, and creating albums with Inner Resonance and Continuum. As a writer, Peter has published several short stories including “Sacrifice of the First Sheason” and “The Great Defense of Layosah” on Tor.com. The Unremembered is his first novel.

PLOT SUMMARY: Rumors have beset the eastlands of Aeshau Vaal. Some people flee toward the cities for refuge. One regent, to answer these unseen threats, is set to recall the Convocation of Seats—something that hasn't been done for ages. But one man doesn't believe, and would use the fear of nations to advance the power of his dangerous League of Civility.

For Braethen, an author's son, it will mean the sudden chance to turn his lifelong desire of entering the Sodality into a reality. But being a Sodalist is not the romantic dream he's read about in his long years of study. As a sworn protector to the feared Order of Sheason, he must be prepared to give more than his life, and to take up a mythical weapon before his hands are even accustomed to steel.

For Wendra, raped and now heavy with child, it will mean learning the reality of a trade that travels the highways across the nations of man, even a trade in human lives. She'll take responsibility for a pageant-wagon boy, whose street-theater is considered seditious; and find through protecting him that her ability to make song with her voice carries a great power, but one that may flow darkly.

For Tahn, it will mean finding answers to a lost childhood. Words he feels compelled to speak every time he draws his bow may finally be understood, but the revelation it brings may be better left unremembered. And though it will also introduce him to a beautiful woman of the legendary Far, the nature of their separate and very different lives will force dreadful choices upon them.

These three, and others—including an exile, whose sentence is to care for orphans and foundlings in the middle of a wasteland, and a Sheason whose uncompromising, yet best intentions are destroying his own order—will fight the past even as they face a dark future.

Because the threats are more than rumor...

FORMAT/INFO: The Unremembered is 672 pages long divided over a Prologue and eighty titled chapters. Also includes a detailed map, which is available online HERE. Narration is in the third person via Tahn Junell; his sister Wendra; Tahn’s friend Sutter Te Polis; Braethen Posian; Helaina Storalaith, the regent of Recityv; the Sheason Vendanj; the Far Mira; a highwayman; and the sun-worn outcast. The Unremembered is the first volume in The Vault of Heaven fantasy series. April 12, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of The Unremembered via Tor. Cover art is provided by Kekai Kotaki.

ANALYSIS: Tor is one of my favorite publishers, especially when it comes to fantasy. Because of Tor, I’ve been introduced to a number of my favorite authors in the genre including Robert Jordan, Jacqueline Carey, Glen Cook, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., David Farland, Elizabeth Haydon and newcomers in Brandon Sanderson, Daniel Abraham and Ken Scholes. As a result, Tor has my full attention whenever the publisher introduces a new fantasy author. Their latest discovery is Peter Orullian.

Peter Orullian is the author of The Unremembered, a traditional epic fantasy novel that immediately brought to mind Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time and Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings because of the familiar quest storyline and the book’s classic battle between good and evil. Because of philosophical musings, thought-provoking moral complexity, and the overall serious tone of the book, I was also reminded of The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind and Stephen R. Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant Chronicles. Unfortunately, thoughts of inferior fantasy works like The Wanderer’s Tale by David Bilsborough, Russell Kirkpatrick’s Across the Face of the World and Goodkind’s more recent novels also popped into my head as I was reading The Unremembered. This disparity in comparisons represents the novel as a whole, since nearly every aspect of The Unremembered is marked by elements both positive and negative.

Take for example Peter Orullian’s writing which is confident and skilled, led by the author’s facility for descriptive prose and heroic storytelling:

“Before our fires, before the sun, the Great Fathers held their Council of Creation at the Tabernacle of the Sky. They called forth the light, the land, and filled both with life. Every living thing was intended to grow in stature and harmony with the elements around it.

And this all was done for the good of everyone. But in their wisdom, the First Ones knew there must be counterbalance, a way for their creation to be tested and challenged. Else no learning or change could occur, and their council would bring to naught their intention: that we should become great ourselves. So, one of the fathers was given the charge to create all that would be ill to the land and its life. To one was given the task of creating sorrow and strife.

For a time, the council served with great joy. Sound and song filled the land with vibrance, attending the creation of every living thing. But the One grew delighted in his charge to test men by affliction. He set upon the lands pricks and briars of every sort, creatures without conscience, to harrow the creations of light. Thousands of years did the council serve, the One becoming dark in his soul, consumed with his task.

The Great Fathers knew the One must be bound, else men were lost. So, together they sealed him to the earth that he so wanted to destroy, creating for him a sepulchre in the farthest corner of the world to live an eternity in his rancor. And thus the High Season came to an end; the time of creation, of newness at the hands of the Noble Ones, passed from memory.

But by the time the One had been bound, balance had been undone. The land had gone awry of the Great Father’s plan from the foundation, and they could not hope to salvage their vision. So they abandoned their work, sealing those given to the Quiet within the Bourne and leaving the unfinished world to mete out its own fate. And many scornful races there were who had, indeed, given their very souls to Quietus’s hateful designs. So, into the land the First Ones introduced the Sheason, an order ordained to establishing peace and equanimity, set apart to guide the other races throughout the rest of Aeshau Vaal.”

At the same time though, Peter Orullian’s writing is marred by dialogue that occasionally feels forced and the author’s penchant for verbosity, especially when describing architecture or the landscape, or when expressing the thoughts and reflections of a character.

World-building meanwhile, is rich and immersive, highlighted by the obvious amount of time and love that was put into creating Aeshau Vaal. Sadly, while the world of The Unremembered may be full of detailed history, mythology, culture and geography, it is sorely lacking in the creativity department. The magical Veil which imprisons the evil Quietus and his followers in the Bourne; Sheason who render the Will at the cost of their own Forda I’Forza—energy and matter, or body and soul; Sodalists, sworn protectors of the Sheason; Bar’dyn, Velle and the Draethemorte; the League of Civility, an order dedicated to rooting out “arcane beliefs and practices”; the Sedagin warrior race; the magical Eternal Grove which stands at the edge of creation; songs used to both create and destroy . . . these and many other concepts introduced in The Unremembered could be replaced by ideas found in other fantasy novels—The Forbidding, Shai’tan, Trollocs, Myrddraal/Nazgûl, Warders, Singers/Spellsongs, etc.—and readers would hardly be able to tell the difference. That’s how unoriginal Aeshau Vaal is. Granted, there are exceptions like the Far—people “blessed with quickness in the body”, but whose lives end naturally at the end of eighteen cycles, the age of accountability—the Lesher Roon race, and the Undying Vow: “to bind husband and wife together for all time, to eternally sanction their union and ensure their happiness beyond the dust.” I also found the idea of a world abandoned by its creators intriguing, but for the most part, Aeshau Vaal is a fantasy world that will be instantly recognizable to anyone remotely familiar with the genre.

The same can also be said for the story, which is basically a very long and familiar quest, with the novel starting off in a small and unassuming town called the Hollows, and eventually ending at their destination at the Heights of Restoration. During this journey, the party travels to many interesting places—Widow’s Village, Qum’rahm’se Library, Stonemount, Recityv, the Scarred Lands, Naltus Far, Saeculorum Mountains, Rudierd Tillinghast—and end up dealing with numerous problems like the party becoming separated and overcoming obstacles that test their resolve, all while being constantly pursued by Quietgiven. There are a few subplots that help break up the story’s familiarity including Recityv politics, a highwayman who specializes in slave trade, and the sun-worn exile sentenced to care for orphans, but only a few short chapters are dedicated to the regent of Recityv, the highwayman disappears altogether about two-thirds of the way through the novel, and the outcast becomes less interesting once he joins the rest of the party. To make matters worse, the story’s pacing is hindered by frequent info-dumping, bloated descriptions, and a large amount of philosophizing/thoughtful ruminations on the part of the characters. As a result, not only is the plot in The Unremembered unoriginal and predictable, it’s also lengthy, slow-moving, and downright boring at times. It’s not all negative though. There are some truly exciting moments in the book, especially when the party gets separated and embark on different adventures, while compelling reading can be found in the subplot involving Tahn and the Court of Judicature, and the re-enactment of the outcast’s crime.

Like the plot, the characters in The Unremembered are stereotypical of the genre, with Tahn Junell a prime example. Tahn is essentially the ‘chosen one’, a youth not yet fully come of age, haunted by mysteries like his forgotten past—cannot remember anything before his tenth cycle—the hammer-shaped scar on his hand, his dreams of a faceless man, the voice he sometimes hears when viewing the sunrise, and the words he is compelled to speak every time he draws his bow: “I pull with the strength of my arms, but release as the Will allows.” The other main characters do not fare much better. Sutter is a root-digger who yearns for adventure, while providing comic relief; Braethen Posian is a lifelong scholar who finally gets to pursue his dream of Sodality—a life he has only read about in books; Tahn’s sister Wendra is haunted by the recent loss of her child and possesses a hidden gift; Vendanj is the hardened warrior/sorcerer, full of secrets and regrets; and Mira is Tahn’s romantic interest, although she also faces a terrible dilemma because of her Far heritage. Apart from being archetypal, Peter Orullian’s characters also suffer from paper-thin personalities which makes them difficult to care about, shallow character development, and unconvincing relationships—Tahn and Wendra, Tahn and Mira, Mira and Vendanj, Vendanj and Braethen, Sutter’s feelings for Wendra, etc.—which dampens some of the novel’s more interesting drama. On the plus side, the internal conflicts and themes—morality, rape, loss, abandonment, guilt, anger, disappointment, friendship, accountability—Peter Orullian’s characters have to deal with in the book are deep, thought-provoking and compelling.

Minor narratives include Helaina Storalaith, the highwayman Jastail J’Vache, and Grant, the sun-weathered exile, while the supporting cast features some interesting characters I hope return for the sequels like the ten-year-old boy Penit; Col’Wrent, the Lul’Masi Inveterae—the unredeemed; Edholm Restultan, the scrivener of Qum’rahm’se Library; the Ta’Opin Seanbea; the prisoner Rolen; and Belamae, the Maesteri of Descant Cathedral. Out of all of the characters in the book, Wendra is surprisingly the most fascinating. Because of her damaged relationship with Tahn and the unique ability she possesses, Wendra is a key factor in determining mankind’s success or failure in future volumes. Other characters to watch include Sutter with his unwanted ability to see the untabernacled, and Mira because of the consequences she faces due to the choices she made in The Unremembered.

CONCLUSION: Many of the authors Tor has introduced over the years have gone on to become mainstays of the genre, while others are exciting new voices. Unfortunately, the verdict on Peter Orullian is still pending. While the author shows tremendous potential in The Unremembered—specifically a confident writing style highlighted by rich prose, comprehensive world-building, characters who realistically struggle internally, and an obvious passion for the genre—the novel’s overwhelming use of fantasy tropes and conventions is a major drawback. As a result, much of the book’s positive moments are canceled out by negative ones, culminating in a debut that is neither great nor terrible, but instead falls somewhere in between. Still, if Peter Orullian can build on his strengths, while tightening up his writing and making a more concerted effort at forging his own identity, then the author could eventually become a force to reckon with...

"The Shadow at the Gate" by Christopher Bunn (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Christopher Bunn Website

Order "The Shadow at the Gate" HERE

Read FBC Review of The Hawk and His Boy

INTRODUCTION: Can a fantasy series based on generic tropes but with a very inventive approach continue being surprising in the second volume was the big question for me when I started this highly awaited sequel to The Hawk and His Boy by Christopher Bunn. I liked the author writing a lot in the first novel so I was pretty sure I would enjoy the Shadow at the Gate even if it turns ultra-predictable the way this one did, but I truly hoped he would manage to keep the story fresh and entertaining.

"The second volume of the epic fantasy saga that began with The Hawk and His Boy takes us back to the story of the thief Jute. The emissaries of the Darkness have infiltrated the city of Hearne in search of him. Desperate to escape, the boy flees the city and heads into the wilderness of the north. But the ghosts of the past have other plans for him and, soon, Jute and his friends must choose between their own deaths or the destruction of the entire land. All the while, the mysterious lady Levoreth races against time in order to discover who is behind the schemes of the Darkness."

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "The Shadow at the Gate" picks up where The Hawk and His Boy ends and continues to roll. The storyline which expanded quite unexpectedly in the first book compacts here dramatically with events coming in clear focus, while new and partly predictable, partly surprising directions are opened. The universe of the series also expands geographically beyond Hearne and historically with recollections of long-ago events that influence today's big picture.

The novel was a pleasure to read and it flowed on the page, while the shifts in narrative were quite smooth as in the first book. The main characters: Jute, Levoreth, Ronan, the Silentman, the hawk, Severan and several others I will let you discover have their own quirks: the hawk is occasionally snotty and arrogant, Jute is still a street-boy at heart despite his "new destiny", Severan is often annoyed by what he perceives as the disinterest of Jute in his teaching, rather than being the patient wise mentor etc, and these traits are extremely effective in giving depth to what would have otherwise been stock fantasy characters.

There is a lot of action from sword fights to daring escapes to high magic battles, while quite funny scenes alternate with tense and even heartbreaking ones, but the main strength of "The Shadow at the Gate" - besides the superb storytelling skill of the author - lies in mixing predictable fantasy tropes - ancient evil, elemental beings, talking animals, spells that change people into animals, darkness versus light - with an authorial take that is very unpredictable and even zany on occasion.

Simply put, you think you have a feel where the book goes and you think "oh, now that this happened, then that will be next" as per the usual manual of writing epic fantasy consulted by so many authors, and Christopher Bunn pulls a surprise and the story moves away from the standard expectations, maybe again towards something you've seen but in another context and then again, the track changes so to speak. For me this continual confounding of expectations has been very effective and it was probably the number one reason I have been enjoying the Tormay series so much.

"The Shadow at the Gate" (A+, but really close to a breakout A++ book for me) fulfills the promise of A Hawk and His Boy in spades, so the next series book is another huge asap for me while being curious if the author can keep this inventive approach going.