Waiting on Wednesday – A Tide of Black Steel by Anthony Ryan

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Waiting on Wednesday

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this latest Waiting on Wednesday post, I highlight an awesome and highly anticipated upcoming fantasy novel from one of my favourite authors with A Tide of Black Steel by Anthony Ryan.

A Tide of Black Steel Cover

Amazon

There are so many great fantasy authors currently plying their literary trade to eager audiences, but one of my favourites is the extremely talented Anthony Ryan.  A compelling and prolific author, Ryan has been dominating the genre for over 10 years with several impressive series, including his Raven’s Shadow, Raven’s Blade, Slab City Blues and Draconis Memoria books.  While all these series sound extremely good, I have only had the pleasure of reading Ryan’s latest series, although that has been more than enough to make me a major fan.

This series was the exciting and intriguing The Covenant of Steel trilogy.  Set in an elaborate and battle-torn fantasy world, The Covenant of Steel books followed the tumultuous life of Alwyn Scribe, a former outlaw who finds redemption and a new purpose after being trained as a scribe, and then becoming a key figure in a series of wars and religious revolutions.  Told through an awesome chronicle style, this series was so damn good, and featured some great characters, powerful battles, and set up a complex new fantasy realm.

All three books in The Covenant of Steel were particularly epic, and I really enjoyed each of them.  This included the impressive first novel, The Pariah (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021) that perfectly up the series, The Martyr (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022) that continued the excellent story while also feature some amazing battles, and The Traitor (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023) which provided a dark and compelling finish to this gripping series.  I came away a massive fan of Ryan after reading these three books and I have been eager to dive into some of his other series.  I also kept an eye out for whatever new book Ryan was cooking up next as I planned to read them as soon as it came out.  Well, it looks like I won’t have to wait much longer as Ryan has a new novel coming out in a few short months.

That new novel is A Tide of Black Steel, which is currently set for release in September 2024.  The first book in his new Age of Wrath series, A Tide of Black Steel will present the reader with a cool, Norse-inspired fantasy tale of war, adventure and family drama, which sounds very fun.

Plot Synopsis:

A NEW AGE HAS DAWNED. AN AGE OF BLOOD AND STEEL.

AN AGE OF WRATH.

The land of Ascarlia, a fabled realm of bloodied steel and epic sagas, has been ruled by the Sister Queens for centuries. No one has dared question their rule.

Until now.

Whispers speak of longships of mysterious tattooed warriors, sailing under the banners of a murderous cult of oath-breakers long thought extinct. A tide of black steel that threatens to vanquish all in its path.

Thera of the Blackspear, favoured servant of the Sister Queens, is ordered to uncover the truth. As Thera sails north, her reviled brother, Felnir, sets out on his own adventure. He hopes to find the Vault of the Altvar – the treasure room of the gods – and win the Sister Queens’ favour at his sister’s expense.

Both siblings – along with a brilliant young scribe and a prisoner with a terrifying, primal power – will play a part in the coming storm.

The Age of Wrath has begun.

I really love the sound of the great plot that Ryan has come up with for his new book and A Tide of Black Steel is currently one of my most anticipated fantasy books in 2024.  A more Norse-inspired fantasy read from Ryan has a lot of potential, especially as it will be somewhat different to more classic medieval fantasy we saw in Ryan’s previous series.  A compelling adventure fantasy tale that sees two rival siblings lead separate expeditions into the wilds is going to very fun, and I am already excited to learn more about the mystery of the tattooed warriors.  However, the reason I am most intrigued by A Tide of Black Steel is that it is set in the same universe as The Covenant of Steel books.

I am very excited for this as I really did love reading The Covenant of Steel books the last few years.  While it isn’t 100% clear in the summary above, A Tide of Black Steel appears to be a sequel to Ryan’s previous series, and I am excited to see if he will pick up some of the established storylines and plot points from the prior books.  The land of Ascarlia was mentioned to a degree in the previous series, primarily in The Pariah where they were minor antagonists, so it will be interesting see how it ties into that.  I am also curious to see if any characters from The Covenant of Steel books will be featured in this upcoming series.  Thanks to prophetic visions in The Heretic, you know that the story of Alwyn Scribe isn’t finished, and the character, or potentially his son, are bound to return at some point.  As such I have my eye on the “brilliant young scribe” character mentioned in the synopsis, although this does seem a little too obvious.  It will be very interesting to see how this pans out, and I have no doubt I am going to love all the featured connections no matter what.

Look, I was always planning to grab A Tide of Black Steel when it came out, especially after really getting obsessed with Anthony Ryan’s last series.  However, the fact that A Tide of Black Steel is going to be some form of continuation to The Covenant of Steel books makes this a must-read for me, as I really can’t wait to see an expansion of the fantastic fantasy universe from these previous books.  This is frankly one of the top upcoming fantasy books I want to read and there is no way this doesn’t end up being one of my favourite books of the year.