Book Review: Knife Sworn by Mazarkis Williams

Pros: tight storytelling, several interesting viewpoints, complex characters

Cons: no book one synopsis/reminders

A year as Emperor hasn't brought Sarmin or his empire peace.  His army, under General Arigu at the command of the previous emperor, has attacked Fryth.  In an attept to mitigate the army's evils, Sarmin invites a Fryth envoy to discuss peace between their nations.

Cuious about the gifts of concubines he has received, Sarmin sends the untouchable Grada to follow the slave caravans that train the women.

Meanwhile, Sarmin's mother is worried that his new child will force the death of her own newborn son and a kitchen slave hears more than she ought while avoiding a fellow slave who likes to beat her.  And Mesema finds Sarmin turning away from her as a dangerous emptiness spreads from Beyon's tomb.

If you haven't read the first book, The Emperor's Knife, you'll definitely need to before picking this book up.  And if you haven't read the first book recently, you'll want to reread or skim it as this book has no recap for those with poor memories.

The writing is tight with several interconnected plots running through the book, showing various viewpoints.  The characters are all complex, with some unrepentant scoundrels as well as serious growth by Sarmin and his mother.

As with the first book I highly recommend this series.  And the ending really has me wishing the third book were already out.

New Author Spotlight: Mazarkis Williams

New Author Spotlight is a series designed to introduce authors with 3 books or less in the different SF/F subgenres.

Today's spotlight shines on Mazarkis Williams!

His debut novel is:
The Emperor's Knife (Night Shade Books).
 

Here's the cover copy...

There is a cancer at the heart of the mighty Cerani Empire: a plague that attacks young and old, rich and poor alike. Geometric patterns spread across the skin, until you die in agony, or become a Carrier, doing the bidding of an evil intelligence, the Pattern Master. Anyone showing the tell-tale marks is put to death; that is Emperor Beyon's law...but now the pattern is running over the Emperor's own arms.

His body servants have been executed, he ignores his wives, but he is doomed, for soon the pattern will reach his face. While Beyon's agents scour the land for a cure, Sarmin, the Emperor's only surviving brother, awaits his bride, Mesema, a windreader from the northern plains. Unused to the Imperial Court's stifling protocols and deadly intrigues, Mesema has no one to turn to but an ageing imperial assassin, the Emperor's Knife.

As long-planned conspiracies boil over into open violence, the invincible Pattern Master appears from the deep desert. Now only three people stand in his way: a lost prince, a world-weary killer, and a young girl from the steppes who saw a path in a pattern once, among the waving grasses - a path that just might save them all.

Check out his book if you enjoyed any of the following:

• The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham (Orbit)
• The Braided Path by Chris Wooding (Gollancz)
• Transformation by Carol Berg (Roc)