I recently saw an exhibition of Picasso’s paintings at the National Gallery of Victoria. Picasso’s paintings seem to have the timeless quality of forming introspection and mirroring the viewer’s feelings onto whatever is on the canvas, and say more about the viewer’s state of mind than they do about the painting or Picasso’s intentions to paint them. At least for me, anyway.
At the time of writing:
The Sword of Mercy and Wrath is out to readers and reviewers - 10 so far! The response has been incredible to the physical ARC giveaway as well, and if you’re interested in entering, please have a look!
The Buried King is sitting at 4088 words out of 25k, and I’m quite confident to say that the first draft will be finished by the end of September.
The Kiln of Empire is 70% done with editing and beta reader feedback. This behemoth will end up being more than 120k words, but still have a good pace throughout, which I’m quite stoked about.
Posts this month:
Now, for an announcement:
I’m running a belated Self-Published Author Appreciation Week! I put the call out for indie authors to make themselves known, and all this week, I’m posting my views on their books.
To start, we have John Palladino’s incredible debut, The Trials of Ashmount!
How cool is this cover! Dusan Markovic did it. If you like his work, check him out!
Here’s the blurb:
Cedain is destined to collapse.
Across a world rife with blood, betrayal, and brutality, five people wade through unexpected tragedies.
An egotistical student, a fleeing refugee, a nomadic warrior, a fallen noble, and a criminal in hiding navigate the sinister dealings of politicians, two sudden wars, and nefarious lies that surface at Ashmount—a university dedicated to teaching the five branches of magic.
Survival means adapting or dying.
Here’s my review:
4.25 stars.
This was a really impressive debut, and I connected with quite a few of the characters. It didn't quite reach the depths of death and despair that I hoped it might for a "grimdark" book, but I’m hoping the sequel will follow it up even stronger. I'm invested in the world, and the author does a superb job of distinguishing the different places (and it feels suitably epic for it), and we never lost sight of the human and the mundane, which I loved.
Next is Bonds of Promise, by Andrew D. Meredith:
This was a great debut, I thought.
Here’s the blurb:
All are bound by oaths of pantheon
—mortals, saints, and deity.
For it is by those promises made,
The world of Kallattai
is chained and set free.
Hanen and Rallia Clouw—enterprising mercenaries, caring siblings, and children of a luckless man—only wish to find their place in the world and make an easy coin. Yet too many blame their own bad luck on the Clouws, and everything they have worked for begins to crumble around them. When the man who introduced them to their path rolls into town with an easy opportunity to make them all wealthy and influential, they leap at the chance to hit the road, and put their past behind them once more. Fate has other plans. And the responsibilities they leave to others must be answered for.
Bonds of Promise is Book One in the sprawling epic fantasy series the Kallattian Cycle by Andrew D Meredith—a story of gods, their chosen champions, and dark figures bent on freeing the mortal realms from a fate established by greater beings.
All would-be heroes must give their lives,
or be made folly.
Example to those who’ve still to come,
Through doomed cycle,
Or fated legacy.
Here’s my review:
3.75 stars.
The beginning was held back a little by a few infodumps that I felt like the author could've used later, but after that the story progresses very quickly. It's a short book that doesn't overstay its welcome, and I thought it was a very impressive debut. The slavic-inspired world piqued my interest, and I found it very interesting and immersive, and loved some of the writing. I felt like I was held back from liking some of the characters, and that would've been helped if the author lingered on some of the emotional beats a bit more. Looking forward to seeing more from Andrew.
Consider checking it out as well!
Stay tuned all this week as I feature my favorite indie authors! Please consider leaving a like or a comment, as well!