The Defiant Heir by Melissa Caruso

On May 30, 2018July 5, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Five-Star Books, LGBT+16 Comments

Publisher: Orbit

Australian Publication Date – 24 April 2018

World Publication Date – 19 April 2018

Melissa Caruso follows up her extraordinary debut with another unmissable magical adventure.

On the continent of Eruvia lies the Serene Empire of Raverra. Ruled by the Doge and the Council of Nine, the Empire’s power comes from its mages, the legendary Falcon Army. When a mage comes to power in the lands of Raverra, they are conscripted as a Falcon and bound to a Falconer, a non-mage who can choose to unleash or bind their Falcon’s power with a word.

However, the Serene Empire is not the only great power on Eruvia. To the north lies the mysterious nation of Vaskandar, controlled by a dangerous group of mages known as the Witch Lords. Each Witch Lord is a powerful vivomancer whose magic grants them control over all living beings, such as animals, plants and even humans. After years of peace, several of the Witch Lords desire additional territory and are preparing for war against the Serene Empire. Large forces of soldiers and the Vaskandar’s dreaded chimeras amass on the border while covert attacks are undertaken against the Serene Empire’s most powerful Falcons. But before the Vaskandar can formally declare war, all seventeen Witch Lords must meet in a conclave to agree to a course of action.

Lady Amalia Cornaro is heir to one of the oldest and most powerful families in all of the Serene Empire. Formerly a sheltered academic, her life dramatically changed when she was accidently bonded to the rebellious teenage runway Zaira, a rare and destructive fire warlock and the most powerful mage in the Empire. Despite a turbulent and resentful start to their relationship, Amalia and Zaira have come to a mutual understanding following their adventures in the city of Ardence.

As the tension between the two nations increases, Amalia and Zaira are sent as a military deterrent to the border province of Callamourne, ruled by Amalia’s grandmother. Despite their presence, it quickly becomes apparent that forces are conspiring to bring the war to pass, especially with spies and assassins targeting Amalia and Zaira directly. Determined to maintain the peace, Amalia knows that the only way to prevent the war is to infiltrate Vaskandar and attend the conclave on behalf of the Serene Empire.

Entering Vaskandar is a dangerous proposition. Each Witch Lord has their own territory which they rule absolutely thanks to a mysterious bond to the land that allows them to control all living creatures within their boundaries. In addition, Amalia already has powerful enemies among the Witch Lords. The deadly Lady of Thorns holds a grudge against her entire family, and Amalia and Zaiara have experience with the machinations of the Skinwitch Ruven, whose plot could cause great destruction.

Their only hope to influence the conclave may come from the mysterious Crow Lord, who has taken an interest in Amalia. However, the Crow Lord is playing his own game, and Amalia and Zaira are the perfect pawns.

Melissa Caruso is a relatively new fantasy author whose first book in the Swords and Fire series, The Tethered Mage, was released in late 2017. The Defiant Heir is a direct sequel to this, and is set a few months after.

The Tethered Mage was one of the surprising hits of last year. What started out as an intriguing sounding fantasy novel turned into one of the most exciting and memorable debuts of 2017 and proved near impossible to put down. Caruso maintains this trend of excellent writing in The Defiant Heir, which continues to the provide the same great characters, fantasy adventure, worldbuilding and amazing story writing that made her first book such an irresistible read.

Caruso has chosen to expand her fantasy world in The Defiant Heir by detailing the nation of Vaskandar and focusing on its rulers, the Witch Lords. While Vaskandar was mentioned and one of nation’s vivomancers, Prince Ruven, was a secondary antagonist, this area of her world wasn’t really explored in the first book. For this book, Vaskandar is a major location and the protagonists spend a large portion of the story within its boundaries. As a result, Caruso has produced a significant amount of fascinating lore about this country, especially when it comes to the Witch Lords. The focus on the Witch Lords is particularly interesting as Caruso has developed complex backstories, powers, plots and motivations for many of them, which adds immensely to the story. In addition, despite the fact that they all study the same branch of the magic, each of the Witch Lords has their own speciality and their appearance and abilities are different as a result. This is especially noticeable during the numerous magical duels that occur throughout the book, where these differences allow for a wider variety of magical action. It is also quite fun when the various Witch Lords use their powers to show off with memorable entrances and appearances during the opening scenes of the conclave.

Readers should also keep an eye out for Caruso’s focus on character development within The Defiant Heir for the two main characters. Amalia’s growth is the most significant, as circumstances force her to become a more savvy and decisive political player, very much like her mother. As a result, she is forced to make a number of tough decisions and struggles to maintain her morality in a harsh world where her options are becoming more and more limited. There is also the growing realisation that her position may not allow her to have the personal life she wants, and this greatly affects her relationship with the dashing Captain Marcello, the main love interest of the first book. This is a well done bit of character development that will draw the reader in emotionally, especially when it comes to Amalia’s most significant decision in the book.

Zaira’s development is more subtle, as she is not the book’s narrator, and is mostly a continuation of the transformation from inverted loner to team player that started in The Tethered Mage. However, it is more realistic to see that this growth is a slow process, and her stubbornness is not automatically fixed in the span of one book. The same could be said about the satisfying but gradual development in the relationship between the main characters.

Melissa Caruso once again shows why she is one of the brightest new stars in the fantasy fiction. The Defiant Heir is an outstanding continuation of her first series that introduces significant and exiting lore to her already intriguing universe while providing significant development to her main characters. If you haven’t already discovered the magic of Caruso’s Swords and Fire series, you are in for a serious treat.

My Rating:

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Blood of Assassins by R. J. Barker

On May 30, 2018February 22, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy16 Comments

Blood of Assassins Cover

Publisher: Orbit

Publication Date – 13 February 2018

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War, murder and magic return with R. J. Barker’s assassins in the sequel to his impressive debut, Age of Assassins.

It has been five years since assassins Girton Club-Foot and his master, Merela Karn, started a bloody civil war in the nation of Maniyadoc. Since then, they have been in hiding, fighting in the borderlands as soldiers for hire to avoid the price on their heads. However, when Merela is gravely injured, they have no choice but to return to Maniyadoc and seek shelter there. Girton finds a far different land to the one he visited five years before. War has turned much of the kingdom into a brutal hellscape, ruled over by war crazed marauders known as Nonmen, while giant flesh-eating pigs roam the wilds.

Amongst this chaos, three kings fight for power, their armies controlling what small tracts of inhabitable land remain. Girton knows all three of the opposing kings, having spent time among them five years ago. Two of them hate Girton and his master, falsely blaming them for the deaths of their relatives, the events which started the war. However, the other of the warring kings, Rufra, owes Girton his life, and may be the only friend the young assassin has. Since their last meeting, Rufra has turned into a noble king, weighed down by the responsibility of his office and personal grief.

Pledging his loyalty to Rufra, Girton immediately sets about trying to find a spy hidden among the king’s closest followers, navigating camp politics and the fragile alliances that hold the army together. At the same time, Girton must also solve the murder of a fanatical religious leader whose dangerous followers demand retribution. Rufra is the fractured nation’s best option for peace, but far too many people want him dead. Each day the spy is active hastens Rufra’s defeat, and Girton must use every bit of his wit and skill to save his friend.

But the greatest threat to Rufra’s reign may be Girton himself. Like all assassins, Girton uses forbidden magic to grant himself subtle advantages to aid him in his kills. However, Girton’s magic has become far too powerful, and he can no longer control the terrible energies within him. In a world were all magic is outlawed and feared, any evidence of Girton’s abilities would condemn him and everyone he loves to a bloody end. The last uncontrolled sorcerer turned the kingdom of Maniyadoc into a barren wasteland, and Girton’s power may soon compel him to do the same.

This is the second book in Barker’s The Wounded Kingdom series and is the follow-up to last year’s successful and highly compelling debut, Age of Assassins. Blood of Assassins is a great addition to the series which builds up the anticipation for the upcoming King of Assassins, which is set to come out in Australia in August 2018.

The fantasy world that Barker has created is an interesting one with several unique features. While most of the first book’s story was limited to the goings-on within one specific castle, Barker completely changes the script in this sequel by expanding the narrative to the whole realm of Maniyadoc and the fighting going on around it. Readers of Age of Assassins will enjoy seeing how the devastation of the civil war has changed the kingdom. The nation of Maniyadoc, which was already described as a fairly dismal place, is now haunted by a new range of monstrous creatures and humans created by neglect and the brutal fighting. This noticeable change to the scenery of the story helps to affect the overall mood of the book and also acts as a mirror to Girton’s more depressed and hopeless mental viewpoint in the second book.

I often enjoy authors blending different genre types within fantasy books, and Blood of Assassins is a great example of this, as Barker has incorporated elements of political thrillers and murder mysteries. The hunt for the murderers and traitors at the heart of Rufra’s camp is a well done and produces a compelling mystery that combines well with the book’s action, politics and magic.

Fans of action and battle will not be disappointed, as Barker makes full use of a range of fight scenes. Action junkies will enjoy the numerous duels, clashes between assassins, larger pitched battles and one notable siege that sees that protagonist fighting to defend a village from a horde of crazed Nonmen while also attempting to hold his destructive magic at bay. It is also interesting to see how Barker forgoes the enormous pitched battles that are a usual fantasy staple. Instead this conflict is fought by small, desperate armies over limited amounts of land, which comes across as more realistic, considering the landscape.

Finally, Barker has also done a great job of showing how his main characters have developed since the last novel, particularly taking the time to illustrate how their relationships move and change throughout the book. Girton has gone from a young and optimistic boy seeking the approval of his master to a taciturn and depressed man, actively resenting his master for the changes and problems in his life. At the same time, Rufra has gone from a lowly squire seeking a friend and trying to avoid trouble to a man consumed by his responsibilities and personal grief. These changes lie at the heart of the book and add emotional depth to the story. It is also warming to see how the friendship between Girton and Rufra lightens both characters and helps heal their emotional wounds.

As a result, Blood of Assassins is a fantastic character-driven story that weaves together action and mystery in Baker’s excellent fantasy world to create a scintillating and addictive read. This is a marvellous second outing from a bright new star in fantasy fiction.

My Rating:

Four stars

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Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

On May 30, 2018August 29, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Five-Star Books, Horror, LGBT+, Science Fiction17 Comments

Publisher: Orbit

Publication Date – 14 November 2017

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From one of the brightest stars in horror and science fiction, comes a heart pounding and imaginative story about terrifying creatures in the deep.

Mermaids have always been the stuff of legends, whether they feature in sailors’ cautionary tales or children’s stories. Seven years ago, when Imagine Entertainment sent a mockumentary team out to the Mariana Trench about the Atargatis they found just how real mermaids were, but with no survivors and only unbelievable leaked video footage to tell their story, the incident is either considered a tragic accident at sea or derided as a hoax.

Now, Imagine Entertainment are planning a second expedition to the Mariana Trench to find incontrovertible proof of mermaids and show the world what happened to the crew of the Atargatis. Larger and better prepared, the second expedition sets out onboard the giant pleasure cruiser Melusine, hosting state-of-art research facilities and filled with the leading experts in a range of marine sciences.

Also onboard are Victoria Stewart, whose beloved sister died upon the Atargatis, and the world’s leading expert on mermaids, Dr Jillian Toth, who is still haunted by her decision not to accompany the original expedition.

Arriving at the Mariana Trench, it doesn’t take long for the mermaids to appear. But these mermaids are not the stuff of children’s stories. They are real, they are dangerous and they are very, very hungry.

Grant has impressive science fiction and horror credentials, including her zombie thriller series Newsflesh and her ‘science-gone-wrong’ inspired Parasitology series. Drowning in the Deep is another outstanding story of horror from Grant and is a worthy sequel to her exciting 2015 novella, Rolling in the Deep.

By far one of the best things about Drowning in the Deep is how Grant turns mermaids, long associated with fairy tales and Disney movies, into credible monsters for her book. Using a combination of suspenseful and descriptive writing, bestowing the creatures with several creepy abilities and loading the book with a range of scientific explanations to make them as plausible as possible, Grant has succeeded in creating scary mermaids.

An interesting feature of the book is the manner in which Grant introduces the mermaids to the story. Rather than taking the traditional path and gradually revealing the monsters over the course of the first half of the book, Grant discloses the mermaids in all their gory glory within the first few pages of the book. All the characters know what they will be up against well in advance; the thrills come in discovering whether that is enough to ensure their survival.

Grant also takes time to introduce all the key characters and explain their backgrounds and motivations. This adds to the story and creates a range of characters whose fates readers will be deeply concerned for. In addition, she makes good use of multiple viewpoints to tell the story. Chapters are presented from the perspectives of each of the main characters, some of the minor characters, the mermaids themselves and even a pod of dolphins. This results in an intricate tapestry of a story and allows for a wide variety of scenes and a deeper understanding of the mystery and horror that is the mermaid.

Grant adds several fun additions to the front of each chapter, such as biography extracts, descriptions of videos, blog posts, articles from a cryptozoology periodical and a number of sections of a lecture from one of the characters, Dr Toth. This is a great way to add a lot of additional background without disturbing the flow and suspense of the overall story. Grant also includes quotes from the characters at the front of the chapters. These quotes help set the tone for the overall book and for the individual chapters. An example of this can be seen in a quote set up at the beginning of the book: “Did you really think we were the apex predators of the world?” Attributed to the story’s mermaid expert, Dr Toth, this is a great way to draw in the reader’s initial interest while at the same time setting a tone of dread as the ship full of overconfident scientists drifts closer to the trench.

Overall, Into the Drowning Deep is an enthralling read and one of the standout books so far in 2018. It is guaranteed to make you think twice about swimming in the ocean.