The drought of 1934 experienced by the British crown colony of Ceylon went from bad to worse as the drought was followed by floods in October and an outbreak of malaria. A severe shortage of rice further aggravated the situation, with the population now facing widespread malnutrition. The tone-deaf collection of funds for British war veterans by colonial authorities may not go down well. A vast empire's greatest foe. A conquered people's last hope. His name is Hanuvar, and he will set his people free! Ashes and Sapphire is a super well written enemies to lovers and “touch her and I’ll hurt you” type vibe. I just finished Lord of a Shattered Land by Howard Andrew Jones. It is the first time in a long time that I've read something from the Sword & Sorcery genre that gave me such pure, unadulterated joy. Sapphire has spent 18 years in Witrotean, a waste land that was ravaged by beasts and famine, and expects to spend the rest of her maybe short life there. That is until one night during what she thinks is a dream she is transported to Eriobis, a land full of magic and secrets. Not only was she born in this new lands, but she is the lost princess they have been looking for. While searching for answers to the history of Eriobis and the war that split the kingdom 1000 years ago, she meets Ashes, a Shadow Witch. Shadow witches are rumored to be monsters that control the shadow beasts, they were the side of the war that lost those many years ago. Though they are enemies, Sapphire and Ashes cannot ignore the buring attraction between themselves. They will have to question wiether or not the truth that is revealed will start the end of a kingdom.

The Dervans are compelling villians as well. HAJ does a great job at making them unique and very human. There's shades of grey here, not in a grimdark 'everyone is terrible' sense but in a genuine sense of everyone being human. I really enjoyed the supporting cast. This is everything I wanted to read as a queer teen looking for YA fantasy. While I think the setting and relationships could definitely be more developed (hopefully in book two), it was such an exciting and addictive read. The author just knows how to build up so much tension between Sapphire and Ashes, I was pretty much bursting by the end. On top of that, the magic system was interesting and I can see it going so much further in a sequel as our characters get to know their power. Hanuvar, our hero (loosely modeled on Hannibal (the elephants-across-the-Alps guy, not the fava-beans-and-a-nice-chianti guy), was once general of the city of Volanus, which, before the beginning of this story, has been utterly destroyed, its people mostly killed, the few survivors captured and sold into slavery by the victorious Dervan [not-Roman] Empire. While everybody thought Hanuvar had died during the destruction of the city (unsurprising as he went over the side of a galley into the water), he did, in fact, survive, and is now a fugitive on twin, intertwined quests to get vengeance for his people and, more importantly, to free the few surviving Volani slaves and help them get out of the reach of the Dervan Empire so that they can begin building a new Volanus. Oh, and also discovering the final fate of his daughter, who might not be quite as dead as he had assumed her to be. This was not one plot point, it was so many to the point that I knew how the book would end and I didn’t realise why until I realised it’s literally Alina season 1.The first book, Lord of a Shattered Land, will come to bookstores near you in August of 2023. Advance Praise for Lord of a Shattered Land

And while what he's written before has been very good, Lord of a Shattered Land is the best book of his that I've read, and the start of what I hope will be a long-running series. (The second book, The City of Marble and Blood is already scheduled for an October release.) Against the might of a vast empire, he had only an aging sword arm, a lifetime of hard-won wisdom, and the greatest military mind in the world, set upon a single goal. No matter what the empire musters against him, no matter what man or monster stands in his way, from the empire’s festering capital to its furthest outposts, Hanuvar would find his people, every last one of them. Coming from Penguin on 16 March, The Shattered Lands by Brenna Nation is a bewitching tale of a lost princess, forbidden love and a magical country divided. There's obviously a praise kink going on here, which would be fine if this book were spicier/for NA instead of YA perhaps. But when I discovered that the book was originally meant to be spicier, it made sense. Maybe it should've been removed. I wonder if this is part of the trend where women-identifying authors are pushed to make their fantasy novels YA?This was such an addictive book! I have been looking forward to reading this for so long, and was so excited when I got approved on NetGalley. This is an enemies-to-lovers, forbidden romance surrounded by political intrigue and an elemental magic system. The reverse racism. In this world, royalty (who hoard wealth and land and make the witches servants) are all described as dark-skinned. The Shadow Witches, the 'antagonists', are mostly white (if not all white) and have had their history stripped from them. I don't believe the author would've done this deliberately, but that doesn't change the fact that it's there. I loved her friendships with Evers and Kaian. They balanced out each other and helped the MC with some of her impulsivity.

Hanuvar, last and greatest general of Volanus, still lives. He now travels the length of the Dervan Empire that conquered his homeland, driven by a singular purpose—to find what remains of his people who were carried into slavery across the empire, and free them from subjugation by any means necessary. Along the way he hides in plain sight, encounters old foes, makes new allies, and fights nightmarish monstrosities. In tried and true fashion of Conan, magic abounds but is scarce and often dangerous —usually in the hands of the mad.I really bonded with these characters and I thought the author did a stellar job of introducing the reader to them all and making us consider their plight, despite them often opposing the struggles of others. I could consider all angles of this story and it made the good/bad binaries never clear, luring me into dually bonding with and questioning them all. The stakes were never lowered due to this. A few minor criticisms. The discussion about who is the narrator of the book and who is writing the notes in the margins and who is writing the afterward is a little confusing. Jones should have limited it to 1 writer, or perhaps 2 at the most, but certainly not 3. (But this was a minor issue). Also some of the stories in the book are weaker than others, and there are 1 or 2 I think could have been removed, but the overall experience is still fantastic! As I mentioned before, Howard has a distinctive writing style that feels more modern than classic examples of Sword & Sorcery. It is brisk and trim. I have heard it described as YA adjacent in conversation, which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing. It is worth noting that I believe this particular style, alongside Hanuvar's personality, makes his novel feel more PG-13 than almost any other S&S fair. There is definitely violence within the narrative, but it is not as graphic or detailed as one might encounter in other fiction. It is also light on the horror element that thrives within the link between Conan and Cthulhu. The tales of Hanuvar feel more like reading an authors interpretation of a Greek myth than the adventures of a barbarian thief, pirate, or king. Again, that is not to say there isn't a multitude of weird monsters and interesting creatures, or that magic doesn't have its consequences. That is all true. But you won't find as much of the mind-blasting bizarre that exists throughout the genre. As a caveat, I will readily admit these things might be colored by my own reading history, so mileage may vary. The Destiny 2 Forsaken Challenge: The Shattered is a daily bounty being offered to players by Petra Venj. When you speak with Petra in the Dreaming City, you’ll find she offers up a bounty called Challenge: The Shattered. When you accept you get the objective, “ Toland Located.” Awkward wording aside, this basically means you need to find Toland. Here’s what you need to know to find Toland and complete Challenge: The Shattered in Destiny 2. How to Find Toland in Challenge: The Shattered in Destiny 2 Forsaken

characters whining that they do not want mystery. Yes, that's a thing readers probably said of the previous book. No. It should not come out of the mouths of the actual characters in the story every five minutes. I had some issues with our main character at times because of her immaturity and naïveté. It does serve a purpose in the book but it infuriated me at times. She appeared also very easily accept her new fate. Maybe that’s because of the life she was leaving behind was one of war and famine. When it comes to characters, there are only really two standout-throughline characters in the book. Hanuvar obviously is the main character and while he is fairly interesting, he is sometimes quiet and reserved. What compliments him well is his travelling companion Antires. Antires could have been written really outlandish to try to contrast with Hanuvar, but Jones takes a more subtle approach, which feels really natural to the story. There are some characters from individual chapters that I loved, but to talk about why I loved them would spoil the surprise. As someone who adores Sword and Sorcery for me Sword and Sandal and Historical Fiction have always felt like someone cooked my favorite meal and forgot to add seasoning. That seasoning is the magic and capital W weirdness. I think the world of Hanuvar (at least as seen in volume 1) is a bit too subdued in this aspect. It's just not quite as weird and wild as I would want, and sometimes the monsters and magic feel too much like something from a game, and not enough like something from a nightmare or the wildest reaches of our imaginations. Since those early days online Jones has written quite a bit of fantasy adventure fiction himself, including Pathfinder tie-in novels, The Chronicles of Sword and Sand series and The Ring-Sworn Trilogy. And now we have the Hanuvar series, collected in this first volume titled Lord of a Shattered Land.

Become a Member

Lei d'Cannith, dragonmarked heir, artificer. Carries a darkwood staff she acquired in The City of Towers. I was super excited to read this sapphic fantasy romance, but really it just fell flat for me. The dialogue between the MC and love interest was pretty bland and sparse, and consequently the romance itself developed seemingly out of nowhere. This wouldn’t be a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but as the major climax of the book happens as a result of the MC’s feelings for the love interest, the ending felt silly and unrealistic. My biggest complaint, though, is with the MC herself. She is the typical heroine who spends her childhood living in a barren and monster-filled world as the sole provider for those she lives with. When one day she wakes up in a foreign land where magic exists and she is the long-lost princess, it seems any development or grit or survivalist quality she may have grown in her past life she must have left behind. She embodies the spoiled princess role effortlessly and to me was completely unlikeable. Overall, this wasn’t the worst debut fantasy novel I’ve read and it had a lot of potential, but I just can’t see myself having any desire to follow through with the series. Lead colonial armies, axis collaborators, communist guerillas, and religious militia in the fight for supremacy over the Indian subcontinent with 300+ generals, military staff, and recruitable units.