A little late as I misread the dates, but today I am joining the Escapist Books blog tour for The Price of Power by Michael Michel with a book spotlight and an extract to whet your appetite.
Book Summary:
Prince Barodane could not hold back the darkness. Not even in himself. He laid an innocent city in its grave and then died a hero.
In his absence, war whispers across the land.
Power-hungry highborn dispatch spies and assassins to the shadows as they maneuver for the throne, while an even greater threat rises in the South. Monsters and cultists flock to the banners of a mad prophet determined to control reality…and then shatter it.
Destiny stalks three to the brink of oblivion.
A dead prince that isn’t actually dead. Barodane buried his shameful past in a stupor of drugs, drink, and crime, and now, he’d rather watch the world fall apart than wear a crown again.
An orphan with hero’s blood who is forced to make a harrowing choice: betray her country or sacrifice her first love.
And a powerful seer who has no choice at all–her grandson must die.
If any of them fails to pay the price…
The cost will be the world’s complete annihilation.
Today I am sharing my review for Eleventh Cycle by Kian Ardalan, the first book in the Mistland series. This was a book that I really wanted to love, but as you will see from the length (and I apologise…I think this is my longest review to date) that didn’t happen. There is so much potential in this book, and it has some of the most spectacular worldbuilding, but it turned out not to be the book for me.
Disclaimer – I received a copy in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.
Book Summary:
It has been a thousand years since the last Seed abandoned their duty. The mists are closing in. Finally, the Morning Bell tolls. A new Seed is born, but is it too late?
The rot eats away at mortals. The Witnesses pray so that they may not turn into one of the forgotten. And the constricting mists infect the lands with fear.
But there is more to this tale than just the Elders and their Seeds. Four mortals will have a part to play in Minethria’s fate. A farmer girl with only love in her eyes. A warrior born to the life of a refugee. A highborn stuck between the realm of gods and men. And a woman running into front lines and away from home.
Will the cycle finally be completed? Or will the mist swallow all?
“A seed is born and the evil is slain, so doth another cycle commence. Yet the last Seed born hath turned traitor, and the mists which had been pushed back, returneth.”
Belatedly (due to writing the wrong date in my diary) I am delighted to be joining the Escapist Tours blog tour for Wisdom Lost by Michael Sliter, with a review for both this book and book one Solace Lost. This is a series I had been meaning to pick up for a while, so I am glad to have had the chance to get into it.
Please do check out the other stops on the tour!
Disclaimer – I received a copy in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.
Book Summary:
During times of war, no one goes unscathed. By Ultner, even in times of peace, few can escape suffering. Ardia is on the brink of civil war, though most citizens are woefully unaware of this fact.
Fenrir de Trenton, a disgraced guardsman-turned-ineffective-criminal, is accustomed to taking orders. So much so that, despite the danger, he finds himself neck-deep in the politicking of his current superiors as well as the rulers of the country. The fact that Fenrir’s father would rather see him dead doesn’t help matters.
Emma Dram, a handmaiden of the great Lady Escamilla, hates Fenrir with a fiery passion and with good reason: he lopped off most of her hand. Nonetheless, she finds herself in close proximity to her former lover as she seeks to serve her lady liege in fomenting her own rebellion.
Hafgan Iwan is a Wasmer, a race reviled by humans, who serves the same masters as Fenrir. His efforts to assimilate with human culture only earn him the derision of his own race, and he seeks to find belonging amidst the escalating conflict.
Meanwhile, Merigold Hinter, a serving girl with an unusual power, lives a simple existence, hoping for love, adventure, and to see the world. Her life should be untouched by political maneuvering and war. However, her world becomes a crucible—how much can one woman bear before breaking?
A story of love lost and family destroyed, of bigotry and belonging, of suffering and strength, and of religion and magic, SOLACE LOST grows from a character-driven tale to something grand in scale, perhaps even involving the gods, themselves.
Book Summary:
Ardia is fractured, torn apart by civil war initiated by deceit. Florens has fallen, and the rebel army of Lady Escamilla has been scattered by the Feral. Little stands in the way of the Rostanians and their ruthless rulers seizing the entire country. Amidst this rising conflict, four people seek to stem this tide. Or, to simply survive.
Fenrir, also called the Bull, Coldbreaker, Dukeslayer, and sometimes bastard, has the worst kind of luck. Instead of being dead, pierced by a dozen swords, he finds himself under the control of the most horrible person he knows: his father. And an unwelcome family reunion is made more unpleasant as clandestine and legitimate powers vie for the rule of Rostane.
Meanwhile, Hafgan Iwan breaks an oath to himself—that he would never return home. The hallowed Wasmer city of Hackeneth is not welcoming, particularly as a new god has usurped the old ways. Hafgan is torn between the world he once knew and the one he has created for himself.
Leading the exhausted and haphazard remnants of a rebel army, Lady Emma Breen seeks allies across the border, in the crumbling city of Farrow’s Hold. But when faith clashes with politics, can a faithless former handmaiden hold them all together?
And Merigold Hinter travels across oceans to the fabled Agricorinor with a wish and a warning. The wish? That she may understand her powers and take revenge. The warning? The Feral are coming, and they will tear out the throat of the world.
Today is my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Heron Kings’ by Eric Lewis, organised by Random Things Tours. I was delighted to have participate in this tour, and I hope that you will check out both the author and the book.
*Disclaimer: ‘I was given a copy this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.’*
Book Summary:
After a warlord slaughters her patients, Sister Alessia quits the cloister and
strikes out on her own to heal the victims of a brutal dynastic conflict. H er
roaming forest camp unwittingly becomes the center of a vengeful peasant
insurgency, raiding the forces of both sides to survive. Alessia struggles to
temper their fury as well as tend wounds, consenting to ever greater violence
to keep her new charges safe. When they uncover proof of a foreign
conspiracy prolonging the bloodshed, Alessia risks the very lives she’s saved
to expose the truth and bring the war to an end.
Tuesday again already, it’s been a very quick week. This week should slow things down a bit as I am on holiday – so plenty of time to read, write and that cursed word EDIT. Although, I have to say that I’ve gained a fresh appreciation for it as I am currently struggling to get through a book that could have done with a lot more editing before being released into the wild.
On a happier reading note. I finished ‘The Wolf’s Call’ by Anthony Ryan about half five this morning after spending the entire night reading – which is what I will be talking about today. I am continuing to work my way through ‘Spark City’ by Robert. J. Power and I have just started ‘North Child’ by Edith Pattou.
Beneath A Thousand Skies 