Synopsis
The war is over. The enemy won.
Jia’s people learned the hard way that there are no second chances. The Egril, their ancient enemy, struck with magic so devastating that Jia’s armies were wiped out. Now terror reigns in the streets, and friend turns on friend just to live another day.
Somehow Tinnstra – a deserter, a failure, nothing but a coward – survived. She wants no more than to hide from the chaos.
But dragged into a desperate plot to retake Jia, surrounded by people willing to do anything to win the fight, this time Tinnstra will need to do more than hide.
If Jia is to get a second chance after all, this time she will need to be a hero.
Review
As I dove into this novel, it became very clear to me that I was going to savor each and every chapter. Ill start with the characters/POV’s. My favorite of these were Tinnstra. She is initially a coward, one of my favorite tropes, and this makes her adventure an experience unlike any I have read. There are “anti-hero’s”, a loving mother, a resistance leader, amongst others that were all very well written. I relate the character writing to Mark Lawrence or Joe Abercrombie in that they are deep and completely distinguishable through dialogue.
The World-Building is something special in that it captures two empires in an almost “Samurai” type feel without any mention of a Samurai. I had a vivid account of both of the people, The Egril and The Shulka, which was enhanced through how vivid the world and the dilapidation of this world was captured through the author’s prose.
The Magic system is soft which is something I prefer in my fantasy books. Soft Magic doesn’t mean this novel was not full of Mythology and the existence of a very “fruitful” magic that once was, but is now almost completely depleted, thus capturing the importance of EVERY character we learn to love and hate with their importance to the premise.
If you want an unforgettable start to a trilogy, a story structured in a way that you can not put down and see what’s next , as well as loveable and “love-to-hate characters, you’ll need “We Are The Dead” moved to the TBR immediately! Lastly, I want to thank Mike Shackle, not only for writing in the most passionate of ways, but being such a gentleman as to come on my YouTube channel, “Beard of Darkness Book Reviews”, to talk to a now “life-long” reader and fan.
Edward says
Good review and it was a good interview, too. We are the Dead is on my TBR.