Traitor God by Cameron Johnston
I am surprised at the lower-than-expected levels of hype around this brilliant debut, that burst onto the scene last year - Traitor God by Cameron Johnston. Like how did this book, not make it into the Best-Of-2018 lists mushrooming around? Why didn't people read this absolute doozy of a grim-dark badassery with a bastardly wisecrack of a protagonist headlining the damaged act in a gorgeously realized, gutter-fest of a city that is seething with magic and roiling with horrors from the dark deep? Why didn't I read this earlier?
Anyways - with the second act of Acts of Tyranny coming right up, it was best that I do amends for the damages sooner than later. In the first few chapters of Traitor God, it is quickly established that Edrin Walker - professional loaded-dice player, peoplemancer and an inveterate drunk, is essentially an escapist. Having escaped from his birth city of Setharis - plagued with debts and chased by daemons, Walker is not (definitely not!) a blast of pleasant air. In fact, he seeks to avoid any confrontations or use his deadly gifts ("ability to manipulate minds") in any of the struggles he is dragged into. Also, his fogged up memory doesn't make it clear to the readers, the real reason as why Walker is a "wanted man" or a dead martyr. As the night that Edrin flees from Setharis, a God is killed, his mentor goes missing and he has a pact with some people that he doesn't remember, about keeping his two friends alive in the city of Setharis, provided he stays out of trouble.
But things turn on its head, (as it usually would in such cases!) when Walker who has a gift-bond (mental connection) with his brother Lynnas, is forced to return to the seething cauldron of crime, rampant dangerous magic and creepy horrors that is Setharis - because Lynnas is butchered and killed in a very savage manner. Rumors abound, of a serial killer dubbed Skinner whom the Arcanum haven't been able to contain yet. Because the Arcanum who are the controlling powers of the city are a sect of mages cocooned safely within the fort-walls of Old Town and are mostly, just old mages grown fat on peace and the notion of power. Who cannot be bothered by the murder of a failed mage, out in the dirty streets.
Well, not all of them are rotten apples as it turns out.
There are still a few, clinging to the notion of honor, like Eva - a fearsome warrior-mage of repute, who uses her body magic to power up and keep the criminals and enemies of this empire at bay. Then there is Shadea, one of the Elders, an accomplished Magus whom even Walker is scared of. As the story rolls into the final chapters of a protracted siege, there are a few more as well.
But coming back to the story itself, the first part of the story unravels as a procedural whodunnit, although the seedy settings of the underbelly of the crumbling city called Setharis makes for a very different background for this murder mystery. There are sleeping golem war-machines, feral shade-cats with crystalline bodies and an ability to sniff out magic and then the Worm of Magic itself that will eat the very soul of a mage who allows too much of that powerful magic to flow through them - all very interesting variants to the plethora of horrors that can obliterate the unwary and foolish in this city. But as Walker investigates the death of his best friend, he slowly discovers a deeply entrenched conspiracy that is taking shape and can grow to be a terrifying apocalyptic horror, rearing up from the underground gunk of this city to threaten all of humanity.
Well you have to read the rest of the narrative to understand how this horror unfolds. But the last few chapters of siege and bloodshed and the streaks of wild uncontrolled magic bring alive a long climactic battle, stretching over more than just a few chapters, peaking unto a fierce climax with a major twist that will gut you clean, guaranteed.
Done in first POV, we are up front and center inside Edrin Walker's head. And so we learn to hate/love this abominable rogue, slowly through flashback sequences, it is revealed as to how Walker became the vengeful spirit he is now. There are sequences detailing the friendship between him and Lynnas and Charra, a street tough girl who becomes his best friend/reason to survive after Lynnas is murdered. We are also introduced to this soul-bound weapon, a dagger called as Dissever which is forever bloodthirsty and "resides" within Walker. Johnston plays it slow, while alternating with the furious action set-pieces in the present with the sequences from Walker's past that help us understand what drives this broken man, hell bent on avenging his only friend in life and also some of his choices that make him what he is. He is no hero, but his intentions aren't wrong. Walker, is one of the few Gifted Magus who can control other people's minds and thus, is a liability - even to himself, as he denies his calling afraid that he will ultimately turn into a "Tyrant" himself, just as the Arcanum have reasons to fear.
Johnston is a gifted writer when it comes to world-building and the arcane twisted magical systems in the book but post that soul-satisfying magical and horrifyingly Pyrrhic victory for Walker, now things are poised very interestingly. The mysteries presented in book one are satisfyingly tied up but there are larger dangers looming ahead. Walker has his hands full and I definitely, want to be in on that ride into those blighted dangers as he takes on the system, Gods and horrors be damned. This first book outing that shines the light on the dregs of grim-dark humanity clinging onto threads of broken hope, underpinned by high-octane action and blistering magical fights, is just the shot in the arm, for fantasy readers. I do high expectations from this series now!
The God of Broken Things will be released in June 2019.
Anyways - with the second act of Acts of Tyranny coming right up, it was best that I do amends for the damages sooner than later. In the first few chapters of Traitor God, it is quickly established that Edrin Walker - professional loaded-dice player, peoplemancer and an inveterate drunk, is essentially an escapist. Having escaped from his birth city of Setharis - plagued with debts and chased by daemons, Walker is not (definitely not!) a blast of pleasant air. In fact, he seeks to avoid any confrontations or use his deadly gifts ("ability to manipulate minds") in any of the struggles he is dragged into. Also, his fogged up memory doesn't make it clear to the readers, the real reason as why Walker is a "wanted man" or a dead martyr. As the night that Edrin flees from Setharis, a God is killed, his mentor goes missing and he has a pact with some people that he doesn't remember, about keeping his two friends alive in the city of Setharis, provided he stays out of trouble.
But things turn on its head, (as it usually would in such cases!) when Walker who has a gift-bond (mental connection) with his brother Lynnas, is forced to return to the seething cauldron of crime, rampant dangerous magic and creepy horrors that is Setharis - because Lynnas is butchered and killed in a very savage manner. Rumors abound, of a serial killer dubbed Skinner whom the Arcanum haven't been able to contain yet. Because the Arcanum who are the controlling powers of the city are a sect of mages cocooned safely within the fort-walls of Old Town and are mostly, just old mages grown fat on peace and the notion of power. Who cannot be bothered by the murder of a failed mage, out in the dirty streets.
Well, not all of them are rotten apples as it turns out.
There are still a few, clinging to the notion of honor, like Eva - a fearsome warrior-mage of repute, who uses her body magic to power up and keep the criminals and enemies of this empire at bay. Then there is Shadea, one of the Elders, an accomplished Magus whom even Walker is scared of. As the story rolls into the final chapters of a protracted siege, there are a few more as well.
But coming back to the story itself, the first part of the story unravels as a procedural whodunnit, although the seedy settings of the underbelly of the crumbling city called Setharis makes for a very different background for this murder mystery. There are sleeping golem war-machines, feral shade-cats with crystalline bodies and an ability to sniff out magic and then the Worm of Magic itself that will eat the very soul of a mage who allows too much of that powerful magic to flow through them - all very interesting variants to the plethora of horrors that can obliterate the unwary and foolish in this city. But as Walker investigates the death of his best friend, he slowly discovers a deeply entrenched conspiracy that is taking shape and can grow to be a terrifying apocalyptic horror, rearing up from the underground gunk of this city to threaten all of humanity.
Well you have to read the rest of the narrative to understand how this horror unfolds. But the last few chapters of siege and bloodshed and the streaks of wild uncontrolled magic bring alive a long climactic battle, stretching over more than just a few chapters, peaking unto a fierce climax with a major twist that will gut you clean, guaranteed.
Done in first POV, we are up front and center inside Edrin Walker's head. And so we learn to hate/love this abominable rogue, slowly through flashback sequences, it is revealed as to how Walker became the vengeful spirit he is now. There are sequences detailing the friendship between him and Lynnas and Charra, a street tough girl who becomes his best friend/reason to survive after Lynnas is murdered. We are also introduced to this soul-bound weapon, a dagger called as Dissever which is forever bloodthirsty and "resides" within Walker. Johnston plays it slow, while alternating with the furious action set-pieces in the present with the sequences from Walker's past that help us understand what drives this broken man, hell bent on avenging his only friend in life and also some of his choices that make him what he is. He is no hero, but his intentions aren't wrong. Walker, is one of the few Gifted Magus who can control other people's minds and thus, is a liability - even to himself, as he denies his calling afraid that he will ultimately turn into a "Tyrant" himself, just as the Arcanum have reasons to fear.
Johnston is a gifted writer when it comes to world-building and the arcane twisted magical systems in the book but post that soul-satisfying magical and horrifyingly Pyrrhic victory for Walker, now things are poised very interestingly. The mysteries presented in book one are satisfyingly tied up but there are larger dangers looming ahead. Walker has his hands full and I definitely, want to be in on that ride into those blighted dangers as he takes on the system, Gods and horrors be damned. This first book outing that shines the light on the dregs of grim-dark humanity clinging onto threads of broken hope, underpinned by high-octane action and blistering magical fights, is just the shot in the arm, for fantasy readers. I do high expectations from this series now!
The God of Broken Things will be released in June 2019.
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