Sorry for the radio silence, I attempted NaNoWriMo last month and it ate up my time. Unfortunately, I didn’t complete the 50,000 word goal but I’m very happy with my 23,000~ words that I wouldn’t have had otherwise, so thank you Nano!
Anyway, time to jump back into it with one of my favorite books that I absolutely Swear By, A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall. It’s the first book of the Crimson Empire Series, followed by A Blade of Black Steel and A War of Crimson Ashes (which came out on Dec. 5th!).
I’m a big fan of medieval fantasy: The Hobbit was the book that got me to fall in love with reading. I’ve read a lot of great medieval fantasy so now I’m very picky when it comes to selecting my next read. By luck, I was browsing through my Audible app, winding through the maze of the Customers Also Bought section when I came across A Blade of Black Steel. The radiant deep blue in the cover caught my eye and when I saw it was a sequel, I jumped over to A Crown for Cold Silver and was immediately hooked by the description:
“It was all going so nicely, right up until the massacre.” Twenty years ago, feared general Cobalt Zosia led her five villainous captains and mercenary army into battle, wrestling monsters and toppling an empire. When there were no more titles to win and no more worlds to conquer, she retired and gave up her legend to history. Now the peace she carved for herself has been shattered by the unprovoked slaughter of her village. Seeking bloody vengeance, Zosia heads for battle once more, but to find justice she must confront grudge-bearing enemies, once-loyal allies, and an unknown army that marches under a familiar banner. FIVE VILLAINS. ONE LEGENDARY GENERAL. A FINAL QUEST FOR VENGEANCE.— taken from the Amazon product description
I gave a listen to the narrator, Angele Masters, thought she was pretty good and so I got it. In the past, I’ve gotten some audiobooks with awful narrators and this is definitely not one of them. Masters changes her accent and voice to fit each character and their race, and while her accents may not be perfect approximations of Spanish or Indian, they are useful markers when listening to such a huge book (paperback: 688 pages; audiobook: 24h 57m). She also does a fantastic job of adding emotional inflections to her reading, making characters sound angry or frightened or laughing while speaking their dialogue, so that adds an extra flavor to listening.
Right away I could tell that this book was special. How many other medieval fantasy books focus on an older, bad ass woman as the main character? I haven’t read any others and so this definitely captured my interest. It’s also intriguing to have the story take place after the adventures of the main character’s youth and so dealing with aches and cares that they never had to worry about before, reminiscent of Robin Hobb’s The Fool’s Errand. Unlike The Fool’s Errand, however, this isn’t a sequel to an earlier series though I desperately hope that Marshall will write one.
While Zosia is the main character, there is a cast of other characters that different chapters focus on so we can get the full scope of the world and its happenings. The world feels massive and realistic. Called simply ‘the Star,’ it’s a fully realized continent with different countries, races, customs, and myths. The shape makes it easier to follow along with the story and know where you are in relation to the other POVs. The magic is dark and not fully understood as it relies heavily upon devils and so is taboo. Using devils and harnessing them to your bidding isn’t a new concept but Marshall makes them disgustingly unique – and I mean disgusting. There were parts where I gagged and had to walk away for a few minutes to compose myself before diving back in.
For more information on how the map was created and to see earlier designs for the book cover, click here to read an interview between the illustrator and the author.
Alex Marshall is the pseudonym for historical fantasy author Jesse Bullington, who wanted a fresh start when he tried his hand at the medieval fantasy genre with A Crown for Cold Silver, similar to J.K. Rowling’s attempt with Robert Galbraith. You can read more about his reasoning behind the nom de plume in an interview here.
Have you read A Crown for Cold Silver? What did you think about it? Let me know in the comments! I’m going to go and listen to A War in Crimson Ashes and weep when its over.
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