Release Date: 24/03/16
Publisher: Bantam Press
SYNOPSIS:
The emperor is dead…long live the emperor!
The fervent hope of the victorious rebels and the survivors of the uprising that liberated the City from tyranny is that the accession of Archange to the imperial throne will usher in a new era of freedom, peace and stability. If only that were so...
As the the City struggles to return to something resembling normal life after the devastation brought on by the rebellion, word arises of a massive army gathering to the north. No one knows where it has come from or who leads it, but it soon becomes apparent that its sole purpose is to destroy the City and annihilate all - man, woman and child - who live within its battered walls. And while warriors go forth to fight and die on the battlefield in defence of their homeland and all that they believe in, bitter family feuds and ancient rivalries, political and personal betrayals, and mindless murder surface within the palaces and corridors of power: it seems the City is under siege - from both without and within . . .
With this new novel, Stella Gemmell brings the astonishing story of the City to a spectacular climax and confirms her place as a master of the genre.
REVIEW:
Having thoroughly enjoyed The City, I’ve been waiting (Im)patiently for this release. After all I want to see how “The City” was affected after the events of the previous novel and in this, the second part of the duology, we get to see not only world development but also emotional alongside it.
Its well written, the prose is sharp and for me with the action sequences goes to show good solid storytelling with a masterful understanding of pacing. Back this up with good dialogue and all round I was a more than happy reader. Cracking.
Having had the pleasure of reading Stella's debut title "The City" a little while ago, we were sitting on this guest blog as something of a special feature for our readers.
We love the humour within alongside the honesty, so hopefully you'll check out her debut, and now onto Stella's feature:
"I was really looking forward to writing my murder mystery.
I’ve always liked whodunits. In books, in films, on TV. Most of my life I’ve been reading them, savouring the blue-blooded ‘tecs and the red herrings, enjoying their quirks and weaknesses, addictions and compulsions - from Wilkie Collins’ Sergeant Cuff, through Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey, to Rankin’s Rebus. And, sometimes I thought, I could do that.
But it had to be different. Not set in ancient Greece, which is the only historical period I know anything about (too much research). Not a cat detective (so tempting but, I know, it’s been done.) So I thought I’d set my mystery in a fantasy, quasi-medieval world. I’m sure I’m not the first to think of that, but I’m the first I’ve read.
So it started, as all the best murders do, with the discovery of the corpse. It was washing about deep in a sewer, but there were some clues – military tattoos and a piece of cloth. My proposed detective was intrigued by the body, and it was my intention that he work his way up through the geographical and social strata of the City to finally unveil the culprit in the last few pages.
But after the first few chapters of desperation in the dark I needed to get away from the sewers for a bit, and moved out to a wide open battle plain.
That was my first mistake.
Within her first few pages I fell for my heroine, the warrior woman Indaro, and found myself compelled to find out what might happen to her and her comrades. She was so like me (apart from the warrior part, and the gorgeous Burne-Jones hair and the thinness) it was amazing!
My husband often spoke of the annoying way a character will sometimes go racing off in the wrong direction, while you stand there yelling impotently, ‘Come back! The plot’s this way!’ I didn’t expect that to happen to me. But Indaro had a mind of her own and, after a bit of a struggle, we came to a compromise – we’d both go where she wanted to go.
I had no choice but to follow and trust she knew what she was doing. And she did, not just because she was strong, and a great warrior, and had the blood of the powerful in her veins, but because she had good instincts.
Writing women in battle is still hard (although not apparently to Steven Pressfield). Even in the world of fantasy, mine anyway, they are not as physically strong as the menfolk. And brute strength, in a medieval-type world, is always going to be the deciding factor in a battle, before the coming of artillery. So the women warriors I wrote about were all veterans who had long since found a way to live and die with their male comrades. Indaro and Doon, and others to follow in their bootsteps in the sequel to The City, are not soldiers because they want to be, but because they have to be and, like millions of women down hundreds of generations, they just get on with it.
But I’ve got this great idea for a whodunit..."
Release Date: 25/04/13
Publisher: Bantam Press
SYNOPSIS:
Built up over the millennia, layer upon layer, the City is ancient and vast. Over the centuries, it has sprawled beyond its walls, the cause of constant war with neighbouring people and kingdoms, laying waste to what was once green and fertile. And at the heart of the City resides the emperor. Few have ever seen him. Those who have remember a man in his prime and yet he should be very old. Some speculate that he is no longer human, others wonder if indeed he ever truly was. And a small number have come to a desperate conclusion: that the only way to stop the ceaseless slaughter is to end the emperor's unnaturally long life. From the rotting, flood-ruined catacombs beneath the City where the poor struggle to stay alive to the blood-soaked fields of battle where so few heroes survive, these rebels pin their hopes on one man. A man who was once the emperor's foremost general. A man, a revered soldier, who could lead an uprising and unite the City. But a man who was betrayed, imprisoned, tortured and is now believed to be dead...
REVIEW:
To be honest this is a book that took me a little while to get round to, not because I thought that there was going to be anything wrong with it, but with the closeness of Stella and David as a writing team I felt that there would be some touches of that old Gemmell magic that would tug at fond memories as well as the heart strings.
What unfurls within is a story that is something unique, something that takes her into a realm of her own in not only an imaginative world but also one that allows her to bring characters to life through the events that have shaped them. It has solid prose, quite a few twists and when backed with an overall arc that whilst at times slow, really gives the reader a story that will introduce her in her own right to the fantasy audience. All round I enjoyed this book and will look forward to seeing what she returns with.
Hail Mighty Readers,
I've just got this hot off the press (its scorching incidently.)
"David Gemmell, one of the world’s most acclaimed and widely read fantasy novelists, died almost six years ago. At the time, he was working on a new book for Transworld – the third in a trilogy retelling the legend of Troy. It fell to his widow, Stella Gemmell – who had helped her husband research this series – to complete the finished work. Troy: Fall of Kings by David and Stella Gemmell was published in 2007, a year after David’s death, and became an international sensation.Simon Taylor, Transworld Editorial Director, has now acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Stella Gemmell’s debut solo novel, The City, a fantasy on an epic scale, and a sequel.Taylor said: ‘Stella has written a breathtaking epic fantasy that is not only going to get David’s fans reaching for their superlatives, but also win her a legion of new readers in her own right.’Transworld MD Larry Finlay added: ‘I couldn’t be more thrilled to be publishing Stella Gemmell’s novels. I was bowled over by The City. Stella has created such a brilliantly realised, emotionally engaging and fully formed world. It’s so exciting to be publishing the Gemmell name once more.’Transworld will publish The City in hardcover and ebook in Spring 2013."
