Upcoming: “The Relic Guild” by Edward Cox (Gollancz)

I’ve been lucky enough to read a (very) early draft of this, about a year and a half ago, before it was submitted to publishers for consideration. I can’t wait to see the final version. This cover, unveiled earlier this week, is awesome. The Relic Guild is, in my opinion, a must-read of 2014.

Here’s the synopsis:

Magic caused the war. Magic is forbidden. Magic will save us.

It was said the Labyrinth had once been the great meeting place, a sprawling city at the heart of an endless maze where a million humans hosted the Houses of the Aelfir. The Aelfir who had brought trade and riches, and a future full of promise. But when the Thaumaturgists, overlords of human and Aelfir alike, went to war, everything was ruined and the Labyrinth became an abandoned forbidden zone, where humans were trapped behind boundary walls a hundred feet high.

Now the Aelfir are a distant memory and the Thaumaturgists have faded into myth. Young Clara struggles to survive in a dangerous and dysfunctional city, where eyes are keen, nights are long, and the use of magic is punishable by death. She hides in the shadows, fearful that someone will discover she is touched by magic. She knows her days are numbered. But when a strange man named Fabian Moor returns to the Labyrinth, Clara learns that magic serves a higher purpose and that some myths are much more deadly in the flesh.

The only people Clara can trust are the Relic Guild, a secret band of magickers sworn to protect the Labyrinth. But the Relic Guild are now too few. To truly defeat their old nemesis Moor, mightier help will be required. To save the Labyrinth – and the lives of one million humans – Clara and the Relic Guild must find a way to contact the worlds beyond their walls.

Be sure to check out Edward Cox’s Tumblr and Twitter for more on his writing and exuberant personality (directly inverse to just how awesomely dark, atmospheric and Peake-ian his novel is). The Relic Guild is due to be published by Gollancz, on September 18th, 2014. It is also part of the publisher’s £1.99 Debut eBook promotion – which means there is no excuse for you to not check out this great new author. (At the time of writing, there weren’t yet any retail links to pre-order the novel, but I’ll be sure to share it ASAP.)

“The Edinburgh Dead” by Brian Ruckley (Orbit)

Gothic and brilliant

Edinburgh 1827. In the starkly-lit operating theatres of the city, grisly experiments are being carried out on corpses in the name of medical science. But elsewhere, there are those experimenting with more sinister forces.

Amongst the crowded, sprawling tenements of the labyrinthine Old Town, a body is found, its neck torn to pieces. Charged with investigating the murder is Adam Quire, Officer of the Edinburgh Police. The trail will lead him into the deepest reaches of the city’s criminal underclass, and to the highest echelons of the filthy rich.

Soon Quire will discover that a darkness is crawling through this city of enlightenment – and no one is safe from its corruption.

This is the first of Ruckley’s novels that I’ve read, and it’s incredibly good. Dark and atmospheric, Edinburgh Dead has shades of Mary Shelley and Robert Louis Stevenson, only with a 21st Century flare. I’m really kicking myself for leaving this so late. The Edinburgh Dead is gothic, literary, and brilliant.

“The Sea of Ghosts” by Alan Campbell (Tor)

An astonishing new series from the author of The Deepgate Codex

When the last of the Gravediggers, an elite imperial infiltration unit, are disbanded and hunted down by the emperor they once served, munitions expert Colonel Thomas Granger takes refuge in the unlikeliest of places. He becomes a jailer in Ethugra – a prison city of poison-flooded streets and gaols in which a million enemies of the empire are held captive. But when Granger takes possession of two new prisoners, he realises that he can’t escape his past so readily.

Ianthe is a young girl with an extraordinary psychic talent. A gift that makes her unique in a world held to ransom by the powerful Haurstaf – the sisterhood of telepaths who are all that stand between the Empire and the threat of the Unmer, a powerful civilization of entropic sorcerers and dragon-mounted warriors. In this war-torn land, she promises to make Granger an extremely wealthy man, if he can only keep her safe from harm.

This is what Granger is best at. But when other factions learn about Ianthe’s unique ability, even Granger’s skills of warfare are tested to their limits. While Ianthe struggles to control the powers that are growing in ways no-one thought were possible, another threat is surfacing: out there, beyond the bitter seas, an old and familiar enemy is rising – one who, if not stopped, will drown the world and all of humanity with it…

This is the first novel I’ve read by Scottish author Alan Campbell, and it is easily one of the best I’ve read in years. This novel is almost indescribably good.

“God of Clocks”, by Alan Campbell (Tor/Macmillan)

War, rebellion, betrayal… But the worst is still to come.

Scar Night introduced us to the dark and decaying world in which the city of Deepgate hangs in chains over the abyss in which dwelled the god Ulcis. Iron Angel detailed the protagonists’ difficult journey away from the ruined city, across a dangerous wilderness. God Of Clocks continues the story, as Dill and Rachel rush towards a final confrontation with King Menoa, Lord of the Maze. Rachel has rejoined the blood magician Mina Greene and her demonic dog Basilis. Carried in the jaw of a debased angel, they race to the defensive stronghold of the god of clocks, pursued by the twelve arconites – Menoa’s merciless automatons (the iron angels of the previous book). Meanwhile, John Anchor pulls Cospinol’s skyship into Hell itself to meet Menoa on his own ground. But neither Heaven nor Hell is anything they could have expected…

For this final installment to the series, Campbell’s writing has become even darker. His previous occupation as a video-game designer really comes through, as his writing is incredibly atmospheric and evocative – it’s clear that creating a complete picture for the reader is very important to him. He creates a dark and disturbing world, and as the characters journey into Hell, they find ever-more twisted and debased creatures. Campbell blurs the lines between good and evil: even relatively benevolent characters, such as Cospinol, deal in casual cruelty. This is a world in which no one can be trusted: neither gods, nor men, and certainly not any of the demons who inhabit Hell. Nothing is as it seems, keeping the characters, and the reader, guessing throughout.

The wide cast of diverse characters, well-created, does sometimes become a little unwieldy, as we try to keep track of the various story-threads. This is not, however, too much of a problem – and one that might be mitigated by reading the series in one go, rather than having to wait a year between books (something a lot of fantasy fans do, with trilogies). Another slight problem was the ending, which didn’t tie up nearly as many loose-ends as it perhaps should. Sure, not everything can be tied off, but it does make me wonder if this is actually the last in the series… (anyone?) It would also have been nice to know a little more about the Deepgate Codex, which is only alluded to a couple of times, but never in too much detail.

Rachel is a great, strong female character (she kicks ass, basically). The god Hasp is a complex yet appealing character. I liked the way the author subverts the traditional ‘bad-guy’ tropes of fantasy; for example, both Mina Greene and Alice Harper are morally dubious, but even they turn out to be psychologically rounded characters – it’s clear why they do what they do, playing the hand they’ve been dealt.

Comparisons with Mervyn Peake (author of Gormenghast) are certainly justified, but Campbell brings a contemporary twist to a Peake-style gothic world – it’s certainly something new, strange and compelling.

Overall, an excellent series, but I would love to know if this is, in fact, going to be the last volume. I shall be watching eagerly for Campbell’s next book.

Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Emma

Series Chronology: Scar Night (2007), Iron Angel (2008), God of Clocks (2009)

For Fans of: Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss, Brent Weeks, Mervyn Peake, George R.R. Martin, Richard Morgan

www.alanmcampbell.co.uk

“Iron Angel”, by Alan Campbell (Tor)

A dark, brooding and thoroughly haunting sequel to Scar Night

In the aftermath of the destruction of the chained city of Deepgate, the Spine militia struggle to halt the exodus of panicking citizens with brutal force. Rachel and the young angel Dill are captured and taken to the Temple torture chambers, but they are in greater danger from what lurks in the shadows outside the Temple stronghold.

The god Ulcis’ death has left the gates to hell unguarded, and all manner of foul things are rising from the abyss below the ruined city. In the skies above, the god of brine and fog is coming to join forces with his remaining brothers to avenge Ulcis, and Rachel and Dill will find themselves caught between two opposing forces, as men and gods, archons and slaves are forced into desperate alliances in a battle they cannot hope to win.

Scar Night was a magnificent debut, and Campbell doesn’t disappoint with the sequel. Iron Angel is an utterly spellbinding, richly Gothic tale of angels, gods and demons. We catch up with Rachel and Dill, fleeing for their lives, and are introduced to a host of new characters: Cospinol, the decaying god of brine and fog, and John Anchor, the giant who hauls his skyship across the land; handsome Rys, the god of flowers and knives; Silister Trench, the dead archon; Alice Harper, dead engineer and reluctant servant of King Menoa, lord of hell (and easily the most terrifying creature yet encountered); and the mysterious Mina Greene.

Campbell’s characters are dark, sinister, frequently grotesque, and always complex. For example, Alice Harper would seem to be nothing more than Menoa’s faithful, if reluctant servant, but the author shows us that Alice’s reasons for obeying Menoa are multi-layered and completely human, no matter what monstrous form he has currently forced her into. Cospinol is a very human god: capable of human emotions, such as fear. Ultimately, everyone in Campbell’s world is flawed.

The plot tears along, teeming with infernal machines, grotesque experimental creatures, warped humans and tattered angels. The author brings his world vividly to life; at once squalid and magnificent in its decay.

Despite the undoubted darkness and repellent nature of much of his creation, he succeeds in making us really care about what happens to his characters: from Dill, the young and damaged angel; to Carnival, the scarred angel who is just as much a victim of others’ machinations as Dill is. No one in Campbell’s world can ever really be labeled absolutely good or utterly evil, and that is, in part, what keeps his writing so gripping: it is almost impossible to predict what will happen next, or how a character will evolve.

A beautifully written, darkly realized, mesmerising read. The wait for God of Clocks will be unbearable!

Very highly recommended. Not a typical fantasy, Iron Angel is a must-read for absolutely everyone.

Series Chronology: Scar Night, Iron Angel, God of Clocks (Already available in the US, it is released July 3rd, 2009 in the UK)

For Fans of: Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss, Mark Charan Newton, Nick Harkaway, China Mieville

Reviewed by Emma