The Silverblood Promise by James Logan

I think I have zeroed in on my top fantasy debut of the year already :) 

The Silver Blood Promise is James Logan's debut - a masterfully crafted epic fantasy full of action, mayhem and magic that is right up your alley, falling somewhere between the Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and First Law books by Joe Abercrombie. Ed McDonald calls it post-grimdark and he wouldn't be wrong. Because the staples of that grimdark genre which we all love are all in there; the hero with his regretful choices of his past, who is content drowning his life in wine (Parvan Red, anyone?) and gambling his wealth away in decrepit smoky dens, picking fights with shady goons, characters drowning in their own guilt and making illogical choices, back-alley fights and a flighty convoluted dash through a seedy city of merchants, underground criminals and power hungry nobles conspiring against each other. 

The story primary centers around the character of Lukan Gardova, a minor nobility, a failed academy student, a very sharp cardplayer and general connoisseur of wine and all things liquor, preferrably the Parvan variety. Now Lukan, who's grown distant from his only living relation, his father, learns that his father has been murdered and the only clue he's left for his estranged son, leads Lukan on a wild goose chase into the fabled city of Sephora - where noble factions are split and conspiring to murder each other over the governing laws, the markets are teeming with unscrupulpous merchants and the streets are controlled by an underground criminal enterprise reporting into a "King".  

Lukan gets unwittingly pulled into a high-stakes game once in Sephora, as he tries to get in touch with his father's old friend and realizes that to achieve the 'silver-blood promise' he's made to avenge his father's murder, he would have to get into this game full-fledged. Fortunately for Lukan, he's made some allies; And how this rag-tag alliance stands up to powerful set of enemies consisting of murderers, monsters and mercenaries forms the latter part of this tense narrative. 

For those of you who love an immersive fantasy story set in a ruthless city of murderers and monsters with cut-throat action, daring heists and compelling mysteries, Silver Blood Promise is right up their alley. Think Lies of Lock Lamora or Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett. James Logan writes up a storm, pitching us headlong into multiple adventures as Lukan travels from places to places, taking the most illogical decisions, his only driving factor the promise he's made to his dead father. His partnership with Flea, the young thief from the marketplace is possibly the brightest aspect of this first book. It's a trope done really well - the older gent forming up with the smart-talking young girl, looking out for her. They both go from strength to strength, forming a partnership and camarederie that is easy to love. Lukan also meets up with Ashra, another 'famous' thief in the circles of Sephora, though this friendship is lesser explored and clearly we are going to see 'more' of this as it develops through the series. Definitely looking forward to that one :) 

With the story in Silver Blood Promise a self-contained one, the readers have much to enjoy and advocate in James Logan's debut. A strongly crafted fantasy novel, with mythical monsters, a long forgotten race, daring missions balancing fabulous action with great humor, I look forward to more adventures from Lukan and Flea and their friends, as they head next to this City of Spires in the far north. 

Highly recommended! Silver Blood Promise releases in May this year by Tor Books in the US.