Book Review: The Tower Broken by Mazarkis Williams

Pros: lots of intrigue, complex story, satisfying series ending, great characters

Cons: climax felt rushed, Adam’s motivations at the end were puzzling

Picking up a few months after the events of The Knife Sworn, things are not well in the capital of Cerana.  With General Arigu missing Sarmin doesn’t have the full confidence of his army; the High Priest of Herzu is pressuring him to make sacrifices to appease the Gods; Sarmin’s brother is still missing; Mogyrk rebels are loose in the city, setting fires and killing guards; and the Storm, a vast emptiness that swallows all in its path, is almost at the city gates.

Sarmin is forced to make difficult choices to maintain his authority while dealing with numerous threats from both within and without his Empire.  A surviver of a Mogyrk pattern attack is kidnapped by Austere Adam because he’s able to read the symbols used in pattern magic.  The mages find a crack growing on one of the Tower’s walls.  And the Yrkmir army marches on Nooria.

As the conclusion to the Tower and Knife trilogy this book has a lot to accomplish.  There are so many things going on and numerous view points to see the action from.  Mazarkis does a fantastic job of keeping a coherent narrative, focusing on the essentials while ensuring a feeling of the scale of the Empire and the wide ranging consequences of everyone’s decisions.  Each of the major players felt like a complete individual with their own motivations for their actions.

There’s a huge amount of building up to the climax, and the climax as a consequence felt rushed.  Indeed, I wondered at one point, if maybe there was a 4th book to the series, as it didn’t seem possible to wrap everything up in time.  But Mazarkis did manage to deal with all the major plot threads, and in a satisfying way.

Having said that, I found Austere Adam’s motivations in the final few chapters of the book somewhat puzzling.  I’ll deal with this below in the spoilers section.

There were some minor things that irritated me about the book, the occasional unnecessary repetition, characters doing something odd in one scene, but on the whole I loved this series and highly recommend it.

***SPOILERS***

I normally try not to be too spoilery in my spoiler section but be warned, I’m being very explicit here about what happens in the final few chapters, so if you don’t want to have the ending ruined, stop reading here.

These were some comments/questions I had, mostly about the ending.

If Sarmin’s closing the rift in Beyon’s tomb caused him to lose his magic and he’s more powerful than the other pattern mages, how was Didryk able to close the much larger Storm without any adverse effects (and very little effort)?

I can understand why Adam joined Sarmin in attacking the first Austere - the Austere was killing people rather than converting them the way Adam preferred - but I’m confused as to why he’d aid the attack on Mogyrk.  Yes, the Scar is growing and will eventually destroy the world, but Adam firmly believes that this is meant to happen.  He mentions several times that the end is coming due to his god and he is entirely ok with that so long as his enemies convert and enter the light beforehand (or not, as they choose).  So why would he help Sarmin kill his god?  This isn’t properly explained.

I LOVED how Sarmin finally deals with Dinar.  I suspected he’d have to do something dramatic but even so I didn’t see that coming.

I wouldn’t have minded a slightly longer denouement as Sarmin has a lot of work to do to rebuild his kingdom, especially if he wants to abolish slavery.  And poor Mesema doesn’t realize that the slaves she tried so hard to find were all slaughtered after they entered the palace.  

Still, the best stories leave you wanting more.

Book Review: The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones

Pros: rolicking adventure, fun characters, brilliant antagonist, afterword include source materials for research

Cons: Sabirah’s character felt superfluous

A fortune teller’s prophecy and a theft at Jaffar’s palace, send Jaffar’s captain of the guard, Asim el Abbas, and his scholar, Dabir ibn Khalil, on a quest to retrieve a magical artifact.  

This book is a fun adventure story set in the eighth century Abbasid caliphate of Haroun al-Rashid.  Told from Asim’s point of view, there are several fights, kidnapping, magic, monsters, and more.  It’s a fast paced book with a highly intelligent antagonist, so things very often don’t go well for our heroes.

My only complaint with the book was that Sabirah, an intelligent woman with an eidetic memory, is only there as a student / accused love interest (though the latter isn’t a focus of the story, merely a complication for one of the protagonists) and kidnap victim.  She helps out with information on one occasion but is otherwise a tagalong on the quest.

Still, it’s a great book and the afterword explains some of the history vs fantasy as well as gives historical sources should you wish to learn more about this era and its people.

Book Review: Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

Pros: superb world-building, interesting mix of characters

Cons: characters full names always used, slower middle, defeat the main enemy with surprising ease

Doctor Adoulla Makhslood is an old man, and one of the last true ghul hunters.  When his former lover's niece is killed in a ghul attack, he hunts it, and its creator, down.  Accompanying him is his apprentice, a skilled and devout Dervish.  But what they find isn't an easily defeated evil man who's learned to raise a few ghuls, but monsters the likes of which the doctor has only read about in ancient storybooks.  

On their quest, they meet Zamia Badawi, whose desert living band has recently met with the monsters the doctor hunts and who possesses ancient magics herself.

Meanwhile, the 'Falcon Prince', an outlaw who steals from the rich and helps the poor, is inciting rebellion against the Khalif of the Crescent Moon Kingdoms.   

I really enjoyed the varied characters in the book.  The Doctor is irreverent but knowledgeable in the ways of the world.  By the middle of the book he's requested help from an older couple, two of his travelling companions from times past.  The contrast between the experienced old people and the two teens (the apprentice and Zamia), makes for some fun scenes.  The elders quickly become exacerbated by the simple beliefs of the teens, while the teens help infuse the adults with determination and belief in their eventual victory.  

In addition to having older protagonists, the book also brings in characters with different backgrounds.  Zamia is a tribeswoman, derided by the doctor for her people's 'barbaric' beliefs.  And his friends are both from different nations.  Each character had good and bad traits, as well as personal struggles to overcome in the book.  They all felt like real people, with real challenges, trying to figure out what to do next when there's no right - or easy - answers.

While most of the novel took place in and around the city of Dhamsawaat, having characters from other nations helped make the larger world come alive.  The city itself felt like a character at times, sprawling across the pages in all its glory.  The scents, sounds and feelings of grandeur, squalor and packed humanity are vividly told, though not overbearingly so.

The beginning and ending of the book are filled with monsters, spell work and sword fighting, which makes the middle - with its numerous conversations - seem a bit dull by comparison.  Important stuff happens, gathering information, resting, intrigue and gossip, but there was a stretch where it seemed talking was all that was happening.

Each character had a fairly long name and for some reason their full name was always used.  I ended up abbreviating the names in my head so I could move on with the story.

Given the character's difficulties when facing one of the big bad guys, I was surprised by how quickly they dealt with all their enemies at the end of the book.  While it was a satisfying ending, it seemed a bit quick for all the lead-up.   Having said that, I did appreciate that each character was changed by the events of the ending.  It was nice seeing that the violence and difficult choices had consequences for them. 

This tale is self-contained, though it is the first of a series.  Despite my minor complaints, it was a fantastic book that really pulled me into the story.  I wish I'd been able to read it in a less disjointed way than I did, giving it the attention it deserved.  As many other reviewers have said, Saladin Ahmed is a name to watch for.

Book Review: The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett

Pros: characters continue to grow, several people get much needed dressing downs, lots of romance (and sex), more background on the dama'ting

Cons: several characters in Everam's Bounty have similar names, which got confusing at times, cliffhanger ending

The Daylight War picks up directly where Brett's previous book, The Desert Spear, left off.  The third in the Demon Cycle, I can't give much of a synopsis without seriously spoiling the previous books.  So all I will say is that you learn more about the dama'ting, from Inevera's POV as she grows to womanhood within the organization and both Arlen and Leesha return to the Hollow, much changed by recent events.

The characters continue to grow, with - and I loved this - several of them growing backbones and telling the interfering people in their lives to butt out while they make life changing decisions.  It was great seeing Rojer come into his own and Gared getting some much deserved recognition for his contributions.  I'm still not sure how I felt about some of Leesha's decisions but I loved seeing Arlen's relationship.

One of the most interesting parts of the book was Inevera's upbringing and her reasoning behind certain decisions.  You also learn a lot about pillow dancing, as most of the characters in the book indulge in it, multiple times.

This only happened a few times, but there are several characters in Jardir's court at Everam's Bounty whose names start with 'A' and who all appear in the same scenes, specifically Ashia, Asome, Ashan and Asukaji.  There's a glossary of certain characters and terms at the back of the book (called the Krasian Dictionary), but I've found using those with ebooks (the form of my review copy) more hindrance than help.  Context usually helped with who was whom, and the author tried to remind the reader of everyone's connections, but there were a lot of similar names in this book.

The ending is shocking, with a sudden cliffhanger that will have your cursing the fact that the next book isn't out yet.

If you've liked Brett's previous books, this is a superb follow-up.  If you haven't read Peter Brett and like well written fantasy, I urge you to give him a try.

Book Review: Knife Sworn by Mazarkis Williams

Pros: tight storytelling, several interesting viewpoints, complex characters

Cons: no book one synopsis/reminders

A year as Emperor hasn't brought Sarmin or his empire peace.  His army, under General Arigu at the command of the previous emperor, has attacked Fryth.  In an attept to mitigate the army's evils, Sarmin invites a Fryth envoy to discuss peace between their nations.

Cuious about the gifts of concubines he has received, Sarmin sends the untouchable Grada to follow the slave caravans that train the women.

Meanwhile, Sarmin's mother is worried that his new child will force the death of her own newborn son and a kitchen slave hears more than she ought while avoiding a fellow slave who likes to beat her.  And Mesema finds Sarmin turning away from her as a dangerous emptiness spreads from Beyon's tomb.

If you haven't read the first book, The Emperor's Knife, you'll definitely need to before picking this book up.  And if you haven't read the first book recently, you'll want to reread or skim it as this book has no recap for those with poor memories.

The writing is tight with several interconnected plots running through the book, showing various viewpoints.  The characters are all complex, with some unrepentant scoundrels as well as serious growth by Sarmin and his mother.

As with the first book I highly recommend this series.  And the ending really has me wishing the third book were already out.