REDEMPTON'S BLADE | ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY

 

Hello

Isn't it going quick? Can you believe that we are in May already? No, me neither. Well, I hope you are all ok and today we are taking a look at Redemption's Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky 

Redemption's Blade

After the War 1

Adrian Tchaikovsky

Publisher: Solaris

Published: 24 July 2018

 Length: 512

Ten years ago, the renegade demigod known as the Kinslayer returned. His armies of monsters issued from the pits of the earth, spearheaded by his brutal Yorughan soldiers. He won every battle, leaving burnt earth and corruption behind. Thrones toppled and cities fell as he drove all before him. And then he died. A handful of lucky heroes and some traitors amongst his own, and the great Kinslayer was no more.

Celestaine was one such hero and now she has tasked herself to correct the worst excesses of the Kinslayer and bring light back to her torn-up world. With two Yorughan companions she faces fanatics, war criminals and the monsters and minions the Kinslayer left behind as the fragile alliances of the war break down into feuding, greed and mistrust.

The Kinslayer may be gone, but he cast a long shadow she may never truly escape.

 

This is a series that I have been interested in for quite a while. It’s a shared world that has a number of different authors contributing and shaping the world.

There are currently four books in the series as it stands, one of these by another author that I quite like, Marc de Jagar.

Redemption’s Blade (After The War) is the first book in the series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I have read mixed reviews on this one, but personally I really enjoyed it, and I must say that Adrian Tchaikovsky is becoming one of my favourite authors.

Redemption’s Blade takes place in a war torn dystopian world that is recovering from the climactic battle between the Dark Lord, the Kinslayer, and the forces of good.

Celestaine, a member of the band of Slayers that destroyed the Kinslayer, is revered as a hero that saved the world from the evil forces of the Kinslayer and his Yorughan (basically orcs!). Skip forward a decade, Celestaine has a collection of odd companions, including a Yorighan Mage and a warrior. Drifting through the world with no purpose, Celestaine and her companions go from one situation to another, and sees that now that the Kinslayer is dead, the world has descended into chaos with each different race trying to determine what to do with the future. In an attempt to try to right the wrongs visited on the world by the Kinslayer. Celestaine embarks on a quest to restore the Elthani, a race of winged people who were enslaved to work the mines at the Kinslayer’s behest and right the atrocity committed against their people when their wings were removed by the Kinslayer.

They set off on their quest to find an item that can make and unmake things, hoping that this will undo the damage that the Kinslayer has done. As they travel through the land they come face to face with the evil that the Kinslayer has wrought.

I really thought that this was an interesting take on the traditional fantasy structure and turns a number of things on its head. It shows the devestation that the war has wrought, and the damage that it has done. However, Adrian Tchaikovsky cleverly illustrates that the damage has not only been done to the victors, but also the effects that the Kinslayer’s sublimation had on his people as Tchaikovsky cleverly shows that the Yorughan and the other monsters were equally as affected by the cruelties of the Kinslayer and now they have to find their place in the world. This effectively shows the devastation that the war has wrought, and you cannot help but be sympathetic to the monsters in the book.

Throughout the book, Tchaikovsky effectively builds the world by drip feeding information and we see the world through the eyes of the party rather than the use of complicated world building.

Now, I have seen that many people don’t get along with some of the characters in the book, particularly Celestaine. However, I must say that I found her to be quite effective as a main character. Yes, she definitely isn’t perfect, but sh is sympathetic and tries to tackle the problems that the party ensure in a more reasonable way rather than jumping headlong into a fight. In addition to this, she is always the one that is open minded in her interactions with others, even when the others are not. In addition to this, I liked the secondary characters, particularly the mystical artefact hunters, Cat and Fisher.

I have to say, I really enjoyed this one and am intrigued to see what the next one in the series brings, especially as I have not read anything by Justina Robson.