The Horns of Ruin

Now this book is the something different I've been looking for lately. It's a difficult read though, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I might even have to revisit this review at some point. It's a little like someone took religion (small r, generic), steampunk, aliens, the age of chivalry, urban fantasy and a modern world, and stuck it all in a blender. The only thing missing here is gobs of sex, to which I say thank goodness, it's actually nice to read a book now and then where there's virtually no romance (or boinking) at all.

And this is a little hard to write about without explaining the world in some detail, so there might be spoilers, but I hope not.

So, we have a world where the god(s) were once mortal, and became show more divine. And their scions, the monks and paladins who serve them, can invoke real physical powers. Depending on which of the gods you are dedicated to, that could be armour, fighting ability, or a weapon, or it could be the ability to read minds, or to heal wounds, or control others, or perhaps the ability to create complicated machines.

Add to this the knowledge that before humans and their gods were divine, came the Feyr, and before them, the Titans, neither of which were human. And that at the walls of your city mass the Rethari, another non-human race, perhaps with it's own yet to become divine gods among them.

And set this all in a city where paladins and monks wield their power alongside clockwork and magic monorails and modern skyscrapers, as likely to be wearing jeans as a cloak and a sword.

So to our plot: There once were three human brothers made divine, turned into living gods, but now there is only one. One of the brothers, Amon, betrayed another, Morgan, and Amon was in turn executed by the third brother Alexander, leaving him the only living god, and the sole ruler of the city of Ash for the last century or so.

Eva is the last paladin of Morgan, because few dedicate their children to dead gods anymore, and fewer still pass the trials. The Cult of Morgan is dying out, but she still has her duty, to protect the elders - and she fails spectacularly at it when unknown forces attack her and the leader of the Cult of Morgan in the street. It doesn't get better when the remaining elders are attacked in the assumed to be impregnable safety of their own monastery. Very soon Eva is left alone with only a young acolyte of Amon she doesn't trust, a mysterious artefact she doesn't understand, and the occasional help of one of Alexander's healer/policemen. And that's when she discovers she's stumbled into something that shakes the foundation of the entirety of human myth, religion and society, and she's the one who has to figure out what to do next.

So, yeah. Lots of religion, and it's provocative in many ways. What if divinity was bestowed on mortals? Would they be any good at it? Or would it be like the pantheons of old, all infighting and trickstering - I think the latter, clearly so does Akers. More interestingly he explores different ways it might happen, by showing us how the races before humanity handled it, for good or ill. There's really a lot to think about in this book, it's very cleverly done.

But, and it's a huge but, please don't think this is a big mass of religion masquerading as a fantasy book, it's not at all. It's a rollicking, action packed (and fairly violent), blend of high and urban fantasy (sword and sorcery IN a steampunk AND modern urban setting all at once!). People die, big and small decisions are made, friendships forged and torn asunder, mentors defrocked, again for good or ill, and it's a lot of fun to read.

Bonus points for: As mentioned, no sex, but moreover, a rocking kick-ass (literally) heroine, as well as a kick-ass but in a very different way sidekick who is also a woman. And neither of them are mary-sue's and neither, when put in positions of danger, use their sexuality as a weapon nor have it used against them by any of the male cast. Eva is tough as nails, but makes mistakes, and owns them too when she realises. She's confident when it matters, but smart enough to be scared of the consequences of her actions, she doesn't blindly trust anyone - but she's not so stubborn she can't back off and trust her allies when she must.

And the writing is... special. I like it, it pushes my buttons, treading a fine line between exposition and show-don't-tell, but managing to do so without the hated "As you know, Bob..." dialog. It's got it's own language going on, but it's cute and not too hard to figure out: Bullistic for guns, (bullet ballistic, obvs). There's a lot of quite neatly phrased invocations going on - actually those remind me of that one star trek episode where the aliens could only speak in metaphors invoking memory of ancient battles, in the style of "David, with a stone, in front of Goliath" to mean "small and weak taking on something big and scary". I wouldn't mind this one as an audiobook, but only if it had a really talented narrator who could really pull off those speeches

Recommended for: Anyone looking for some urban fantasy with a real twist - this is a really unique mix. People who liked Dune (for no particular specific reason, it just had a vibe for me somehow, even if it's a completely utterly different setting.)
Not recommended for: fans of linear plots, anyone too rabidly anti-religion to bear in mind this is entirely fictional. People who like to keep all their genres separate. show less

This was likable, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Akers' Burn Cycle books. I love his imagery in this tale, especially how the main character boosts her abilities by inciting myths related to her god. Akers has a wonderful talent for storytelling. The only part that I didn't like about this tale was that the main character was a little to "cut and dry" for me. It made her difficult to like, but that could have been part of the author's objective.

More like 3.5 stars. This started out awesome, got less awesome and then went back to awesome. I really liked the magic and the setup of the world. The plot was pretty thick but not incomprehensible. Really the biggest problem I had was with the characters. None of them really stuck out. The main character was an aggressive, short-tempered warrior but she never really grew on me.

I also thought that the 1st person POV was wrong for this type of story. I usually expect more introspection from a 1st person story but this was a lot of action which usually fits better with 3rd person POV.

I would definitely read more from this author.

Excellent book with fantastic world building. Not exactly steampunk but with elements thereof. It was a romp and I rolled through it quickly. At two hundred and seventy some odd pages, it doesn't require an excessive commitment of time. The only reason my review is not a five is that for all of the world building done, and it is definitely not our world, some very modern and typical things come out of the main character's mouth at times that do not lend themselves to the action or scene. It was mildly disruptive. But I got over it and enjoyed the rest.

Re-posted from raygunreviews.wordpress.com

Eva Forge is the last Paladin of the dead god Morgan in the city of Ash. Her god was killed by his god-brother Amon, who was in turn killed in a vengeance killing by the third brother, Alexander. Worship of the dead brothers has continued, even though their power has long since dwindled. But for Morgan, worshipers are now rare and almost extinct. Once Morgan had an army of Paladins, but now there is only Eva. And Eva has been tasked with escorting the Morganites' leader, the Fratriarch Barnabas on a trip to the Library Desolate of the Amonites to collect an Amonite for an undisclosed reason.

On their way home, Eva and Barnabas are set upon by unidentified attackers and they both fight valiantly show more against stronger forces to protect their charges, Eva her Fratriarch, and Barnabas the Amonite given into his care. The battle ends prematurely, though, with the apparent capture of Barnabas and the disappearance of Cassandra, the Amonite.

Eva is left bewildered, wondering who the attackers could have been and what their motive could be. She teams up with Owen, one of the Healers of the Alexian cult and the two of them begin to unwind the reason behind the attack. But what they find reveals much more than either expected, unveiling a conspiracy that goes much much deeper, even as deep as the founding of Ash and the bestowing of godhood upon Alexander, Morgan, and Amon. Before all is done, Eva will have to decide where her faith lies and determine the exact cost of bringing down a god.

The story is a fascinating one that is generally well told. While he is not entirely clear, Akers seems to have set the story over the course of only a few days, with the opening scene of the attack upon Eva and Barnabas taking up the first quarter of the book. Like a Shakespearean play, the action is condensed and foreshortened into a tiny span of time. Akers deftly uses flashbacks and dialogue to reveal the complex history of the city of Ash without pausing the action or forward movement of the story. Akers creates the paradox of having written a relatively short book with a long story packed tightly into it.

I had a problem, though, with finding sympathy with the main character of Eva Forge. At the beginning of the story, she has a bad attitude that never grows beyond an immature petulance. By story's end, Eva has had to make some difficult choices, but her character has not grown to become likable. Instead, the reader is left without much care for the protagonist, which is never a good thing in a book. show less

An odd little book I read in an afternoon a last week. I picked it up at the story because the cover art was interesting and bought it on a whim. Story is really a cross between fantasy and Sci-Fi though more fantasy that Sci-Fi. Steam-punk fiction is Victorian alternate reality where Victorian era technology (like Steam power) has been used to create new or current technology in a different way.

This tale follows the last survivor of the followers of Morgan. Someone is out to end their line and gain power. The reasons for this and the stakes are slowly revealed throughout the story. Interesting premise.

A great read. Tight, great setting and description, solid action, excellent pacing. A mix of steampunk, sword & sorcery, religious thriller and quest fantasy, in my opinion.