The Falcon Throne

July 14, 2014
Australian fantasist Miller (Kingmaker) opens her Tarnished Crown epic fantasy series with this elaborate tale of ambitious aristocrats whose capacity to inflict harm is as great as their sense of entitlement. The lands of Harcia and Clemen share a border and a long history of mutual distrust. In Clemen, Duke Harold’s egregious offenses provoke fellow Clemen Roric to depose him, but the good intentions of the usurper are sadly undermined by his inability to recognize when he’s offending those he depends on. In Harcia, disgraced heir Balfre is canny enough to play a long game to win the position and power to which he feels entitled—and his ambitions include the Harcian conquest of the troubled Clemens. Few know that Harold’s son is alive and plotting against Roric, and none suspect that the ancient mage Salimbene and his network of scheming (and unfortunately exoticized) witches are orchestrating the spiral into chaos. Despite some flaws, the story is complex and engrossing; fans of George R.R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie should particularly take note.

September 1, 2014
The first book in Miller's Tarnished Crown series is rife with violence, deceit, and treachery, as the duchies of Harcia and Clemen each battle internal strife while trying to maintain a tenuous peace that is being sabotaged on several fronts. Buffering both duchies is a region called the Marches, whose inhabitants speak in their own dialect. Bloodshed dominates the action, though the action sequences alternate with pace-slowing details of the courtly life of the duchies. Suggestions of witchcraft and prophecy hint at supernatural manipulations that fuel the ambitions of the main players. Fans of Joe Abercrombie or George R. R. Martin may find the combination of court intrigue and violence entertaining, but few likable characters survive the initial onslaught, and much of the story is devoted to the setup for future events. However, fans of Miller's award-winning Godspeaker series will likely be excited by her new offering.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2014

The duchies of Harcia and Clemen have kept an uneasy peace, even after the Duke of Clemen's bastard cousin Roric staged a coup and seized the throne. Despite these violent beginnings to his rule, Roric is actually one of the only decent characters in Miller's new fantasy series, but he seems doomed from the start. It turns out the infant child of deposed Duke Harald is still alive, kept in secret at a distant inn. And Balfre, the heir to Harcia, is a brutal conniver, determined to provoke Roric to war so that he can unite the two duchies under his own rule. VERDICT With this series launch, Miller (A Blight of Mages; "Rogue Agent" series as K.E. Mills) presents traditional fantasy pieces (warring kingdoms, misplaced heirs, a witch pulling the strings of an ambitious lord) that still manage to entertain and prepare readers for the next volume. The author's gritty fantasy of dynastic politics will appeal to fans of Game of Thrones. [See Prepub Alert, 3/3/14.]

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2014

Australian author Miller, an Aurealis and James Tiptree, Jr. Award winner, launched herself in 2005 with The Innocent Mage, which has since sold over 175,000 copies. In this first in a reportedly bloody new series, various heirs battle for the crown of Harcia, a kingdom sundered years ago by jealous royal brothers. With a 30,000-copy first printing; note the special introductory hardcover price.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.