Mortedant’s Peril is an epic historical fantasy of murder, mystery and unlikely alliances from RJ Barker, award-winning author of The Bone Ships. Perfect for fans of Six of Crows and City of Last Chances.
‘An engrossing, ingenious story in a beautifully crafted world’ – Adrian Tchaikovsky
Irody can speak to the dead. But the living want him silenced.
Mortedants can speak to the dead – and Irody Hasp is the greatest of them. Not that they’ll admit it. And not that anyone actually likes the Mortedants, or Irody in particular. Nonetheless, Elbay is a city of tradition, and tradition calls for Mortedants to attend a death.
But when Irody reads the corpse of a low-level record-keeper, he’s dragged into a conspiracy that will see someone close to him murdered and Irody framed for the crime, the eyes of the city’s guilds, nobles and villains all fixed on him. With only days to prove his innocence before he is executed, Irody is forced to work with unlikely and unwanted allies: a street urchin and a hulking, inhuman mercenary from the sea people’s city of Oknusoka.
With danger and death lurking around every corner, and trust a luxury, Irody is running out of time. He must save himself and his friends, as well as Elbay – the magnificent, terrifying, complicated city that he loves. Or darkness will fall on them all.
PRAISE FOR RJ BARKER
‘Mortedant’s Peril is a fabulous fantasy mystery set in a fresh, imaginative world’
– Sebastien de Castell, author of Traitor’s Blade
‘Brilliant’
– Robin Hobb, author of Assassin’s Apprentice
‘A gifted storyteller’
– Nicholas Eames, author of King’s of the Wild
‘A splendid fantasy work . . . Highly recommended’
– Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time
REVIEW
The Dead don’t forget. Neither do the Dead refuse to speak, either. The stories of peril and intrigue are always present because our souls always have a story to tell. Stories are what fuel us in this world that speak of the dead and the living and combine it with elements of steampunk that seek to show a new industrial world where the afterlife and the soul emerge together.
Sometimes it is a thankless task to be a purveyor of the dead. To examine their belongings, to see where they came from. To scrutinise each and every detail. When you enter this world, you come alive. You come thinking that this world has more to offer. And when you leave this world, you leave with nothing. Depending on the religion and afterlife you are born into, that’s where you’ll go. Yet, everyone wants to go to a good afterlife. No one wants to suffer. And that’s what Irody has to face; if there’s a new mystery, perhaps a new murder, Irody has to face it. He has to meet, and without spoiling, as the job indicates, past murders. Investigation, history as Irody examines the past of the dead. The dead always have tales to tell in this strange city.
RJ Barker has been a strong writer for a long time, and it shows. It shows he can construct a world where, if this were Brandon Sanderson territory, it would belong. This is how righteous the work is. It is an emotional story. Because even the dead were once alive, too. Even though they had hopes, aspirations, everything that we are. I think the biggest takeaway for me is that there is a far deeper story to be told here. And I only want to continue in this amazing world.
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