Winterbirth
There is something odd about my advance reading copy of Brian Ruckley’s WINTERBIRTH: It contains a letter from the publisher – newbie Orbit Books – that indicates unlike other fantasy novels, magic will not provide the solution in Ruckley’s world. One looks forward to what would be a revolutionary fantasy novel if that were the case.
It’s not, of course. No one may utter the word “magic,” but there are certain very special individuals who have ill-defined supernormal capabilities which are referred to as “The Shared.” So, in other words, magic.
But that’s actually the only unsettling note in what is a huge book concerning the epic tales of the True Bloods, the mystical and – dare I say it? – elf-like Kyrinin, and the Bloods of the Black Road. This is a brutal world of hard-forged political alliances, of realpolitik diplomacy, of bonds that are forged by blood and blood alone. If you like your fantasy filled with hack-and-slash battles and war strategy, you will love this opening salvo in Ruckley’s series.
In his well-designed world, there are the True Bloods who are more than willing to fight among themselves to gain power and land in their realm. But they are bordered to the north by the Black Road, a group of clans who have a fanatical religious devotion to the concept of predestination.
It is the Black Road’s mission to convert all to their own beliefs, and those who are not converted must die. Uh-oh, sound familiar? The Black Road have determined to come south to bring the True Bloods to heel, and it is this confrontational maelstrom in which the reader is dropped.
I know, I know: same old plot of regal succession and foreign invasion. But Ruckley brings something special to this mix with a very advanced concept of world-building. Everything about this land seems considered, thought through, designed. His attention to societal detail means that we believe his battle scenes, his depictions of human and Kyrinin, his tender epiphanic moments when one member of an insular clan reaches out to another. That is an element sorely lacking in much of genre fiction, so it should be celebrated here.
Ruckley has a good start here, and the next book is to be anticipated. The Scottish highland-inspired world of the Bloods and WINTERBIRTH is one you may wish to explore. –Mark Rose
This review sums up this book perfectly. It’s a political fantasy novel that follows in the tradition forged by George Martin, but (IMO) significantly better written. The narrowed scope provides time to actually develop characters and settings.
This was a spur of the moment, saw it at the bookstore purchase for me, and I was happily surprised. I’m not aching for the next installment, but you can be damn sure I’ll pick it up when I see it on my local bookstore’s shelf. If the next book follows in the steps of the first, I think quite a few people will be buying all three of these books by the time the third one comes out.