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Set on a postapocalyptic frontier, Blackwing is a gritty fantasy debut about a man’s desperate battle to survive his own dark destiny...
Hope, reason, humanity: the Misery breaks them all.
Under its cracked and wailing sky, the Misery is a vast and blighted expanse, the arcane remnant of a devastating war with the immortals known as the Deep Kings. The war ended nearly a century ago, and the enemy is kept at bay only by the existence of the Engine, a terrible weapon that protects the Misery’s border. Across the corrupted no-man’s-land teeming with twisted magic and malevolent wraiths, the Deep Kings and their armies bide their time. Watching. Waiting.
Bounty hunter Ryhalt Galharrow has breathed Misery dust for twenty bitter years. When he’s ordered to locate a masked noblewoman at a frontier outpost, he finds himself caught in the middle of an attack by the Deep Kings, one that signifies they may no longer fear the Engine. Only a formidable show of power from the very woman he is seeking, Lady Ezabeth Tanza, repels the assault.
Ezabeth is a shadow from Galharrow’s grim past, and together they stumble onto a web of conspiracy that threatens to end the fragile peace the Engine has provided. Galharrow is not ready for the truth about the blood he’s spilled or the gods he’s supposed to serve…
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
October 3, 2017 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780399587801
- File size: 1434 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780399587801
- File size: 1434 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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October 30, 2017
McDonald’s debut novel is gritty and fascinating, set in a world blasted by a war between the mysterious, powerful Deep Kings and the Nameless. Ryhalt Galharrow is a Blackwing, a servant of the Nameless entity known as Crowfoot; once a military officer of high birth, he has been ruined by mistakes and personal tragedy and now drinks heavily and hunts bounties in the terrifying wasteland called the Misery. A mission from Crowfoot reunites him with a lost love from his adolescence, powerful magic-wielder Ezabeth Tanza. Her research into the Nameless weapon that could defeat the Deep Kings’ army of zombies puts her and Ryhalt afoul of powerful people in the city of Valengrad, and soon leads them to a far-reaching conspiracy with dire consequences. McDonald’s postapocalyptic fantasy world, full of memorably creepy details, could have been unrelentingly, unpleasantly grim; however, its dark trappings conceal a surprising tender side, much as its embittered and scarred protagonist has never truly lost his own heroic instinct and his love for and loyalty to his friends. Tight pacing and strong writing make for a diverting debut. Agent: Ian Drury, Sheil Land.
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