Category Archives: Book Reviews

Blurb

Standing on opposite sides of a looming civil war, two siblings discover that not even ties of blood will keep them from splitting the world in two.

Four hundred years ago, a cataclysmic war cracked the world open and exterminated the Elder races. Amid the ashes, their human inheritor, the Dawn Republic, stands guard over lands littered with eldritch relics and cursed by plaguespawn outbreaks. But a new conflict is looming and brother and sister Maya and Gyre have found themselves on opposite sides.

At the age of five, Maya was taken by the Twilight Order and trained to be a centarch, wielding forbidden arcana to enforce the Dawn Republic’s rule. On that day, her brother, Gyre, swore to destroy the Order that stole his sister… whatever the cost.

Twelve years later, brother and sister are two very different people: she is Burningblade, the Twilight Order’s brightest prodigy; he is Silvereye, thief, bandit, revolutionary.

For centuries, the Dawn Republic has ruled over the land unopposed. No more.

Deep below the Gap, Gyre Silvereye discovered a city, hidden far from human eyes. There, the ghouls have dwelt for four hundred years in hibernation, awaiting the moment to wreak their vengeance on the Dawn Republic.

With their help, Gyre can finally see a way to overthrow the all-powerful Twilight Order. But the ghouls do not give their trust easily, and Gyre will need to secure the alliance of the human rebels to the south if they are to even stand a chance. And uniting the two won’t be simple.

His sister Maya still fights for the Order. But after recent events, she is no longer certain where her loyalties lie. Chasing the origins of a mysterious artefact to a long-lost library, she just might find the truth – whether she is ready for it or not.

My Review

I have two editions of this book, and the first one in the series. I have Goldsboro Books special editions in hardback, and paperbacks. The paperback from Head of Zeus arrived on Thursday, because I had it on pre-order. I have two copies of the first book in the Burningblade & Silvereye series too, Ashes of the Sun, which I reviewed in March 2021. I also have both as audiobooks. I couldn’t get on with the audiobook narration for this one, or I’d have reviewed it before now. It’s very unfortunate, since I quite liked the audiobook of Ashes of the Sun and was looking forward to listening to this one too.

Gyre Silvereye and Maya Burningblade are siblings on opposite sides of the social order. As a Centarch, Maya represents the ruling Order, heirs to the mysterious Chosen, while Gyre is a rebel, a thief and determined to bring the Order down, with the help of the ‘ghouls’, a sentient species who are almost extinct and hated by humanity.

The ghouls are a rather large, humanoid species, with hair and fangs, who use dhak, a form of magic. They live in the hidden Refuge, an ancient ghoul city that is now almost empty after 99% of the ghouls died because of the plague that also wiped out the Chosen. Ghouls use constructs to do all the heavy lifting, and have weapons that Gyre can use in his rebellion. He ropes Elariel, a ghoul who worked for Naumoriel (villain in the first book), into helping him. He offers the ruling parliament of the ghouls a way to get revenge on the Chosen and the Order by supporting his rebellion with weapons and tools. Elariel undergoes a terrible operation as punishment which makes her look human to help with the mission.

Kit is now happily running around in multiple construct bodies, lamenting only her inability to fuck, although she does discover how much she enjoys voyeurism and fighting in multiple places at once. The three leave Refuge for Deepfire, where they collect three large wagons and a lot of alchemical equipment, and Sarah, an alchemist formerly of the Order who joined the rebels in Deepfire. They travel through the Splintered Kingdoms to Khirkhaz, a mountainous and forested region where a Commune led by the ousted Apphia, Baron Kotzed, fights to retake the area from the Republic and return to her family’s tower.

Meanwhile, Maya, her partner Beq, and their scout, Varo, go looking for an Archive in the mountains in the north west, beyond Deepfire and near the coast. Many Centarchs had attempted to clear the place of plaguespawn to reach the Archive, but had failed. Maya and her small team find a village, a mystery and information about the Thing and Maya’s deiat. Beq gets over-excited by the possibilities of the archive. They return to the Forge, where they are sent out on a secret mission that involves them going to the capital of the Republic, Skyreach to break into Kyriliarch Prodominus’ private warehouse. There, they discover a great secret and more information about betrayal in the Order.

The two groups meet in Khirkhaz during the fight to defend Apphia’s claim from the Republic. They go off on a mission of their own that could destroy or save the world…

The world and its history is explored further as the two groups travel across the continent by different means, and we learn more about the Chosen and the ghouls. It becomes increasingly obvious that humans have been lied to for centuries and that the Order is fractured. Who can anyone trust? The tension lies between what the reader knows from following Gyre and his group, and what Maya believes to be true based on what she is told and what she finds in her adventures. They are both driven by idealism, which doesn’t do well in the real world. Gyre finds his Khirkhaz Commune is really a collection of argumentative, disunited factions from different backgrounds, only nominally led by Apphia. Maya discovers that she’s been lied to repeatedly, although we don’t really see how it changes things for her, other than her internal confusion about who to trust. Hopefully, it’ll become clearer in the third book.

The relationship between Gyre and Maya is fraught before they meet up in battle, but it becomes more so as they realise they need to work together. Gyre is deeply affected by his sister’s actions in the last chapters, but still helps her. I’ll be interested to see the fall out in the next book. I have a feeling that Gyre and company might be arrested and Maya is placed in an even more compromised position, or the Corruptor will overcome the Order. Pretty sure Tanax and Basal are corrupted. I hope the ghouls are able to save themselves though and humanity gets its collective head out of its collective arse. The Order and Republic are clearly positioned as compromised and controlling in these books, while Gyre and the rebels as ‘heroes’, but it’s more complicated. No one group is evil or good. They’re humans; venal, greedy and selfish in some cases, deceived and deceptive, selfless, determined to improve the world, and generous. The technology has limits even if magic is involved and people get exhausted, no one can fight forever, weapons and tools break and ammunition or fuel runs out. Like in the real world.

There is a development of Maya and Beq’s relationship carries through their chapters, as they support each other and realise how important they are to each other. I like their relationship; they’re young and inexperienced, and trying to work out what they are to each other. It’s sweet. Thankfully, the author manages not to make their sexuality a big deal, it’s just a background fact that both are girls and they are in a relationship. It’s the development of their relationship that’s important, not the fact it exists.

Beq is a marvellous character, geeky, intelligent and brave, who doesn’t have much confidence in herself, but can do anything she sets her mind to. I also enjoyed the little scene where she’s reading while waiting for Maya to finish her visit Jaedia in the hospital, and doesn’t notice Maya come out of the room because the book is so engrossing. Been there, done that. Haven’t we all? She also struggles with jokes and is very literal. She’s practical and loves Maya deeply although she doesn’t seem to have many other relationships or friends.

Kit, having died and then returned as the controlling intellect in a construct army, is a lot more fun that in the first book. Death seems to have allowed her to put aside her angst and enjoy life. The abilities she has as a construct allow her to be in so many places at once, which helps her and Gyre to escape from various traps, fight battles and rescue each other. The image of chicken sized mechanical spiders carrying smoking ceramic bombs attacking Maya and Legionaries made me giggle but at the same time are very practical. They would be useful.

This is a world where both magic and technology mix to allow aircraft, long distance almost instantaneous travel, but humans still live in squalor in cities, hide behind high walls in the countryside, and the magic and tech developed by two species though to be extinct is limited to a certain class or group. It’s a blending of science fiction and fantasy that works well. I enjoyed Elariel’s questioning of the social rules and distinctions, because things are very different on ghoul society, where helping anyone in pain is an obligation, all the work is done by constructs, and decisions are made by a representative group. Her complaints about clothes are funny, and true. They are uncomfortable.

Details like Elariel being in pain because she isn’t used to walking in shoes or the difficulties of getting wagons along forest paths bring a touch of reality to this book. The descriptions of the environments people travel through and the different societies of the continent seem to have been well thought out. The writing is fluid and gripping, it’s punchy and fast paced at times while also having slower, more reflective sections. I stayed up rather later to finish the book and can’t wait for the next in the series. I know it’ll be out next year and the title ‘Emperor of Ruin’ which sounds promising.

Because I’m a bit obsessive, and I have Ashes of the Sun in the Orbit paperback edition (US publisher), and Blood of the Chosen in the Head of Zeus edition (UK publisher). I’ve just bought the opposites so I have both books in both editions. I’ll get the Goldsboro Books special hardback of the third book and the two different paperbacks. They have different covers, I’m not just being pedantic about having matching publisher’s editions. I am however aware that most people don’t do this,

Now to my criticisms. There aren’t many. Elariel’s appearance, especially the comments about her attractiveness get a bit repetitive and aren’t really adding to the plot. Other people’s reactions and her utter cluelessness get the message across adequately. The ability of the ghoul swords to cut through unmetal armour where it’s thin is mentioned in every fight, which is just unnecessary, the reader won’t forget that these swords are pretty amazing even if they do have limits. I knew we were heading into the final fight when Maya and Gyre meet up to go to the Purifier and that they would be betrayed, because the same thing happened in Ashes of the Sun. It’s a little formulaic, even though it works.

Generally, I was impressed by this solid sequel, even with the minor irritants. I recommend it to fans of science fiction and fantasy.