Smorgasbord Fantasia

Traitor's Blade was one of the best debuts of 2014 and also one of my best reads that year. I wasn't sure how Sebastien De Castell was going to top that. And yet incredibly, he does just that - and so wonderfully well! With the second book in the Greatcoats series, Knight's Shadow that follows the exploits of the lovable roguish trio of Falcio, Kest and Brasti - as they go about trying to fulfill their king's last wishes in a country that is rapidly falling in to the chaos of civil war. Knight's Shadow picks up right after the events in the Traitor's Blade - where Falcio is struggling with the poison of neatha in his blood, Kest after having defeated Caveil and thus taken on the mantle of the Saint of the Swords is also buckling under the unprecedented "fever" that Saints's experience and Brasti's jokes are getting even more unbearable and his shaky faith in their king's ideals are crumbling even faster. Trin is marching across th...

A weird western zombie? I was definitely intrigued when I heard about David Towsey 's daring debut, Your Brother's Blood that promised to be a fun mashup but what I wasn't expecting was the emotionally draining narrative and a deftly executed story that never loses its tight personal focus till the surprising climax. Yes - I'm late to this party and I discovered David Towsey's excellent debut pretty late ( this book was released in 2013 by Jo Fletcher Books ) but I'm glad I did and I really am jazzed up now that I've finished the intriguing story. Are there more books set in this universe? ( Edit: The trilogy is now complete - with Your Servants and Your People (2014) and Your Resting Place (2015) ) So at the heart of this story is unflinching faith - gone a bit too extreme in it's interpretation. The biblical references are very strong - be it the character names like Thomas, Mary, Sarah, Samuel or the very cool transcriptions from 'Counc...

So Traitor’s Blade from Jo Fletcher (An imprint of Quercus Books , who in the recent past have come up with some very interesting debuts that push the ever-fluctuating boundaries of genre fiction, having given us abundance of talent like Aidan Harte, Tom Pollock, David Hair etc) came to me, courtesy the #GreatCoats competition and a NetGalley request that followed the same.   Coming in from such a brilliant stable, I knew Traitor’s Blade wasn’t going to disappoint. And man, was I right!  So Traitor’s Blade marks Sebastien De Castell ’s fantasy debut and is fast scorching up the blogosphere. Here read an interview of the author with Civilian Reader to get to know what makes him tick. I count myself lucky to be one among the early birds to get this work and am incredibly proud of myself(smirk!) Ah – now to the book itself. Termed to be “ The Three Musketers meets Game of Thrones ”, Traitor’s Blade is definitely the most delightful fun I’ve had in epic ...