Tag Archives: Fantasy

Priest of Crowns – Peter McLean

The fourth and final book of Peter McLean’s phenomenal War for the Rose Throne series, Priest of Crowns concludes the story of Tomas Piety – gangster, army priest, Queen’s Man, politician, heartless killer, caring father – in bleak, brutal but satisfying style. After the events of Priest of Gallows, Dannsburg is boiling over with civil unrest as religious fervour vies with xenophobia and nationalistic fury, and the prospect of war with Skania looms over everything. Increasingly uncomfortable with the machinations of the Provost Marshal Dieter Vogel, Tomas (now Councillor Sir Thomas) finds himself torn between pride at his lofty position and loathing of what he’s become. With suspicion tainting his every move, and unsure of who he can truly trust, Tomas plans a careful opposition of Lord Vogel, knowing full well that any wrong move will see him and everyone he cares about dead.

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Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – via Grimdark Magazine

Ever since first reading Gideon the Ninth back in 2019 I’ve been hooked on Tamsyn Muir’s The Locked Tomb stories, so I was thrilled to be able to review the third novel in the series – Nona the Ninth – for the fine folks over at Grimdark Magazine. That review is now live, and you can find it here; do check it out! Rather than post the same review here on Track of Words, I’ll use this space to add a few more thoughts about Nona in general, and my experience of reading it (including the preparations I made in advance). So, if you just want to get straight to the review then by all means head over to the GdM site and check that out! If not, read on…and I’ll link out to the review again at the end.

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Against All Gods – Miles Cameron

Miles Cameron’s brilliantly-titled Against All Gods kicks off his Age of Bronze cycle, a new historical fantasy series set (as the name suggests) in a Bronze Age-inspired world populated by mortals, monsters and bickering, manipulative gods. Enkul-Anu, God of the Storm, rules over both gods and mortals through power and fear, but a thousand years after conquering heaven his grip on the pantheon is starting to slip. When one of the younger gods kills the wrong mortal, bungling Enkul-Anu’s orders, events are set into motion that will threaten the gods’ control of the world and its people. Brought together by circumstance and the meddling of higher powers, and disillusioned by the uncaring gods, an unlikely group of mortals set out to take a stand, aware that they’re being manipulated but determined to find room for their own choices.

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QUICK REVIEW: As Yet Unsent – Tamsyn Muir

A small but intriguing part of the Locked Tomb Series, Tamsyn Muir’s short story As Yet Unsent is available to read for free on the Tor.com website. [SPOILER WARNING: read Harrow the Ninth before reading this review or the short story in question] Fitting in roughly between Harrow the Ninth and Nona the Ninth, it’s written from the perspective of Second House necromancer Judith Deuteros and takes the form of excerpts from a report she wrote while in captivity at the hands of Blood of Eden. As she slowly, begrudgingly recovers from the injuries she sustained at Canaan House, Captain Deuteros documents her observations of her captors, what they seem to want from her and what this means for her continued existence, as well as the changing behaviour and attitude of the other Canaan House survivors – Camilla Hect and Coronabeth Tridentarius.

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Equinox – David Towsey

Hidden witches, gruesome magic and uniquely complex sibling relationships abound in David Towsey’s dark, intriguing fantasy novel Equinox, out now from Head of Zeus. In a world in which each body houses two people – one who lives during the day, and one during the night – Special Inspector Christophor Morden shares his body with his day brother, but not his profession; while Christophor is a witch hunter, Alexsander is a musician. When Christophor is dispatched by the King himself to a small, distant town to seek out and stop a dangerous witch, Alexsander tries to make the most of his new surroundings, but he soon finds his own experiences coming into conflict with his night-brother’s work. As Christophor’s investigation drags on, what they find in Drekenford puts more strain on their brotherly cooperation than ever before.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: David Towsey Talks Equinox

Hello and welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, where I’m joined by the excellent David Towsey – we’ve spoken before about his role as one half of writing duo D.K. Fields and the brilliant Tales of Fenest trilogy, but today we’re chatting about his new solo novel Equinox, which is out now from Head of Zeus. An intriguing fantasy novel with some pretty dark moments and a genuinely fantastic central concept, Equinox is one of those books that really gives the reader a lot to think about – I’ve read it, and I loved it. I’m delighted to be able to talk to David about what readers can expect from the book, where that clever concept came from, and loads more!

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Empire of Wild – Cherie Dimaline

Mixing family drama, social commentary and sinister folklore, Cherie Dimaline’s Empire of Wild is a strange and beautiful novel exploring life, love, grief and fear in a small Métis community in Canada. Nearly a year after her husband Victor walked out and never came back, Joan still refuses to give up hope, despite her heartache and the unsubtle exhortations of her family. The last thing she expects, however, is to stumble upon Victor in a group of traveling preachers, with a new identity – as the Reverend Eugene Wolff – and no apparent awareness of who she is. As she searches for a way of bringing him back to himself and back into her arms, she turns to folk tales and old lore to combat the darkness that has claimed her husband.

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The Justice of Kings – Richard Swan

Part murder mystery, part grand political fantasy, Richard Swan’s The Justice of Kings takes an unusual approach to the gritty fantasy genre, focusing more on the steady grind of the legal process than action and adventure. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is a Justice, a lawman who roams the Sovan Empire empowered with both the authority to exercise judgement, and the powers – metaphorical and literal – to enforce punishment. Accompanied by clerk Helena and taskman Dubine, Vonvalt pauses his roaming to investigate the murder of a noblewoman, only to gradually realise that this one crime is in fact only a symptom of a much bigger problem. For all Vonvalt’s faith in the moral certainty of his role as a Justice, times are changing and a power struggle is starting that will threaten the Imperial Magistratum, and the Empire itself.

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In Praise of Susanna Clarke

Susanna Clarke’s second novel Piranesi was published in 2020, but it wasn’t until May 2021 that I finally read it (or rather listened to it), at which point I was powerfully reminded of just how great an author Clarke is. A couple of months after finishing Piranesi I dug out my copy of Clarke’s short story anthology The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories and finally read it, fifteen years after I bought it. Finally, in August, after dithering over whether I could sustain my attention for a 32.5 hour audiobook, I took the plunge and revisited Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in audio. Over the course of the next 35 and a half hours of listening (over a good two or three weeks) I came to the conclusion that not only is Jonathan Strange… one of my all-time favourite novels, but that Susanna Clarke truly is a literary treasure.

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The Hood – Lavie Tidhar

Lavie Tidhar’s British history/mythology/fantasy mashup The Hood, out now from Head of Zeus, is quite frankly batshit crazy. The second book (following By Force Alone) of his ‘Anti-Matter of Britain Quartet’, it’s a wild reinterpretation of the legends of Robin Hood by way of the Knights Templar, the Murder Ballads, fairy tales, fantasy and a shitload of narcotic fungi – it’s totally bizarre, but weirdly compelling. Set across a strangely distended span of decades and taking in everywhere from the city of Nottingham and the surrounding Sherwood Forest to York, London, the Holy Land and Faerie, it begins with the ill-fated kidnapping of Maid Marian and goes on to feature traumatised veteran Will Scarlett, perma-baffled knight Richard at the Lee, the harpist Alan-a-dale, a Jewish drug mastermind named Rebecca, a succession of Sheriffs of Nottingham, and all manner of other weird and wonderful hoods in the woods.

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