Tag Archives: Dark Fantasy

Traveling The Broken Road

The Broken RoadThe Broken Road
T. Frohock
ebook only, $2.99  Kindle Nook

I’d heard good things about this author, and I’ve got a copy of her first novel Miserere, on my ereader. So when I this short novel came out recently (or at least I became aware of it), I bought. I’ve been reading it on my phone in spare moments over the last couple of weeks. (This is not necessarily a practice I recommend, the few weeks thing that is.)

The Broken Road starts out with a fairly standard dark fantasy set-up. Lebhet is undergoing hard times. There’s evidence of a dangerous cult beginning to gain popularity with the common people. Monsters from the world of Heled are coming over, bent on death and destruction.

The nobility, however, are safe in their castle at the top of the hill enjoying their luxuries. The nobility, known as the Chanteuse, are different, you see. They have magical abilities.

Travys and Josue’ are twin sons of the queen. Travys is mute, which is a real handicap in this society, since it is through their voices that the Lahbet work their magic through song. Continue reading

A Review of Winter Be My Shield

Winter Be My ShieldWinter Be my Shield
Jo Spurrier
Harper Voyager

This is going to be a review of one of the best books you probably won’t be able to read (at least if you live in the US) by an author you’ve probably not heard of. The reason is that the book is by an Australian writer and published by an Australian publisher. At the moment it hasn’t been published in the US. Hopefully that will change, but the vagaries of publishing aren’t rational.

Winter Be my Shield is the debut novel by Jo Spurrier.  (I love that title.)  Aside from a tendency in the first 50 pages to give infodumps, you can’t tell it’s a first novel. I found this novel to be a fresh, original, and dark read. I’m looking forward to the sequel.

The story is set in the land of Ricalan, which has been settled by the kingdom of Mesentreia. Ricalan was inhabited before the settlers arrived, and there’s quite a bit of tension. At the moment, Ricalani and Mesentreians have a common enemy. They’re being invaded from the west by the Akharian Empire. The Empire has an economy built on slavery, and to keep it running they need a fresh supply of slaves.

The story revolves around Sierra, a Ricalani who is a mage. A century before, a Ricalani queen destroyed all the mages as revenge for her daughter’s death in a mage war. Since then, mages have been feared and hated, none more so than those of Sierra’s ability. She draws her power from the suffering of others. There’s a death sentence hanging over her head just because she exists. Continue reading