October 12, 2015
Generations clash, as well as religions, in this emotionally involving epic fantasy, in which elders embrace a new faith and their youngsters rediscover old beliefs. Lord Malcolm Blakeley struggles to maintain peace between his northern kin and the intrusive southerners and their heretic-hunting Celestial church. But within his alliance, factions loyal to the old pagan beliefs, and a heretical group of Celestial inquisitors, trigger a war imperiling both sides, as gods long imprisoned seek freedom and vengeance. Akers (The Burn Cycle), an experienced hand at steampunk noir, succeeds in capturing the essence of historical fantasy. Readers familiar with the Scottish and English clashes exemplified by Braveheart will be comfortable with his handling of northern free folk striving to remain faithful to their nature gods and witch cults, struggling against the intrusions of more ecclesiastical southern religions. The underlying connections among ecology and faith and an understanding of the unity of godhood will please the ecumenically minded.