Friday 25 July 2014

FANTASY REVIEW: Unwrapped Sky - Rjurik Davidson

Release Date: 24/04/14
Publisher:  Tor

SYNOPSIS:

A hundred years ago, the Minotaurs saved Caeli-Amur from conquest. Now, three very different people may hold the keys to the city's survival. Once, it is said, gods used magic to create reality, with powers that defied explanation. But the magic - or science, if one believes those who try to master the dangers of thaumaturgy - now seems more like a dream. Industrial workers for House Technis, farmers for House Arbor and fisher folk of House Marin eke out a living and hope for a better future. But the philosopher-assassin Kata plots a betrayal that will cost the lives of godlike Minotaurs; the ambitious bureaucrat Boris Autec rises through the ranks as his private life turns to ashes; and the idealistic seditionist Maximilan hatches a mad plot to unlock the fabled secrets of the Great Library of Caeli Enas, drowned in the fabled city at the bottom of the sea, its strangeness visible from the skies above. In a novel of startling originality and riveting suspense, these three people, reflecting all the hopes and dreams of the ancient city, risk everything tor a future that they can only create by throwing off the shackles of tradition and superstition, as their destinies collide at ground zero of a conflagration that will transform the ancient city...or destroy it.


REVIEW:

Readers of the fantasy genre are often used to following a tale from the point of view of a humanoid person be it an Elf, a Dwarf, human or in some cases Orcs, however being told a tale with one of the key characters being a minotaur is something a little different for the reader.

The book is solidly written and whilst its quite slow to start with, the build up is required to allow the reader the chance to get to know not only the world and the cultures within as the tale unfurls. All round a solid start and with luck, the pace will pick up in future outings now that a lot of the world building has been done.

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