I loved this. Bit of a wild west feel. The world building was top notch as was the prose. The sequels are certainly on my TBR pile. ( )

**I am grateful to Nudge for providing me with a free review copy. I was reading an uncorrected manuscript proof, so some details might differ from the published book.**

Fisk and Shoe are two mercenaries in the Hardscrabble Territories, hired to protect the steamer Cornelian, along with its high-born Ruman patricians on board. Only gradually it emerges that Governor Cornelius and his four children are escorting a princess who is key to keeping the fragile peace between the Ruman Empire and the Kingdom of Mediera, which are both contesting land and mineral rights in the Territories, to the kingdom’s embassy in Passasuego. After two ill-fated hunting parties things go from bad to worse when the princess absconds secretly in the night – and not alone. Fisk and Shoe set off after them, but eventually Fisk is forced to ride on alone, while Shoe returns to the steamer. When Fisk is again back at the Cornelian, he has a grisly tale to tell, and in order to trace the still-missing princess, he enters into a dangerous bargain. Fisk and Shoe, along with several other companions and a prisoner as an exchange for the princess, set out to find her and so prevent a war that looks increasingly likely.

Told in the first person by Shoe, or Shoestring, half-man half-dvergar, this imaginative and inventive tale about loyalty reads like a fantasy cocktail, with disparate ingredients mixed together that you wouldn’t normally mention in the same breath, but which work all the same: there’s references to Ancient Rome and Greece, complete with terminology used in everyday speech; daemons and imps, used as a power source in engines, lamps as well as guns; non-human indigenous creatures, some hostile to humans – like the vaettir – some friendlier – like the dvergar, though regarded with suspicion by humans and ill-treated – and there’s also mention of dragons, though they don’t actually make an appearance in this book. Shoestring is a natural-born storyteller, forced by his half-blood status to the edge of society, which has turned him into an astute observer and excellent judge of character. The whole novel, the first in a trilogy, exudes a real frontier feeling of adventure and physical and emotional hardship, though also the possibility to forge some long-lasting friend- and partnerships. The characters are well developed, both major and minor, and really grow on you, in particular Shoe. This foreign world is described in lovely prose, and the various settings are realised in exquisite detail, taking the reader from a rather sedate pace to the breathless terror of a vaettir attack without loss of credibility. I thought I detected strong undercurrents of a certain stance towards religion and modern technology (nuclear energy?), but other readers might disagree and this viewpoint is certainly not essential to the understanding and enjoyment of this novel. The reason I decided to give it only four stars is that (a) one or two questions remained unanswered and (b) it is incredibly violent in places, with nothing left to the imagination; the last few chapters in particular are quite disturbing and make for a harrowing read, and have a nightmarish or fever-induced hallucinatory quality to them.

In short, this novel was a real surprise and must surely stand as one of the more original offerings in the fantasy genre. With such engaging characters, an interesting storyline and excellent world building, I’m already looking forward to the next offering.

Contains swearing and sexual references. ( )