The Fires of Vengeance

Starred review from September 1, 2020
The second book in the Burning trilogy (after A Rage of Dragons, 2019) opens as a council of traitorous Nobles schemes to usurp the throne and shatter a tentative peace initiative. The Commoner Tau, named Champion by Queen, is uncomfortable with his new role that aggravates the remaining Noble's ingrained sense of entitlement and threatens their support of Tsiora's fragile rule. The enemy may have retreated for the moment, but they will soon return, so Tau, his sword brothers, and the Queen must gather an army to defeat the well-armed rebels. In order to reunite the people under one crown and regain the kingdom, Tau must turn others like himself into warriors, which means training his most trusted companions to fight demons in the spirit realm. With ghostly specters already beginning to haunt his waking hours, Tau fears that if he loses too many friends to the forthcoming ordeals, it may tip his mind into madness. Winter's beautifully descriptive, South African-inspired, military fantasy of war, revenge, and loss culminates with an impending battle against tremendous odds and the delivery of an unexpected plea heralding the arrival of an ancient, fearsome foe.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from September 21, 2020
Winter returns with a second action-packed installment to the Burning series (following The Rage of Dragons). Tau Tafari—now Solarin—is not the same person he was at the start of the series after losing loved ones in and out of battle, confronting entitled Nobles who wish to see him fail, dealing with a surprise attack on the capital, and becoming Queen Esi’s Champion. What hasn’t changed? Tau’s palpable rage at the classist system that oppressed his family and his ever-present desire to avenge the deaths of those he cared about. As Queen Esi’s sister, Tsiora, and her army move to reclaim Palm City, Tau and his blood brothers seek advantages against those who write off their caste as Lessers. All the while, Tau navigates an increasingly complicated relationship with the queen. With energizing battle scenes and well-handled romance, Winters capably earns readers’ attention again as he unfurls the politics of a nation in-flux. This forceful second epic will delight fans and newcomers alike—and leave readers holding their breath for the next in the series. Agent: Erin Malone, WME.

February 1, 2020

In Queen of Storms, the second in the "Firemane Saga," Hatushaly and young wife Hava restore the fire-blackened Three Stars in trade-rich Beran's Hill, but they aren't the cheerful innkeepers they appear to be (100,000-copy first printing). A young woman in small-town Queensland, Australia, undertakes a gothic journey after hearing from her long-gone brother, thus launching Hugo- and World Fantasy-nominated illustrator Jennings's buzzing debut novel, Flyaway. In The Relentless Moon, sequel to Kowal's Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winning The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky, the moon is being colonized even as a meteor strike brings climate crisis to Earth. Originally scheduled for October 2019, Malerman's Malorie reveals what happens to the title character eight years after events in Bird Box, basis of the Netflix mega-hit. The perennial best-selling Modesitt's Quantum Shadows is set in a place called Heaven, where humankind's major religions each have their own land and places of worship are being scarily marked with inscrutable black images. With his stories already nominated for Hugo, Nebula, BSFA, Sturgeon, and World Fantasy honors, debut novelist Rosenbaum (The Ant King and Other Stories) returns with The Unraveling, which dreams up a far-future, distant-galaxy, rigidly structured society where individuals have multiple bodies and staid-gendered Fift and bail-gendered bioengineer Shria wind up in the midst of an eyebrow-raising art spectacle. Salvatore's Relentless closes his "Generations" trilogy with Zaknafein reunited with son Drizzt Do'Urden and reconciled to life's unpredictability (100,000-copy first printing). In multi-award-winning Walton's intriguing-sounding Or What You Will, a character who's been a dragon, lover, scholar, warrior, and thief in the many books penned by Sylvia Harrison knows that the 73-year-old author won't be around much longer and is trying to figure out how the two of them can escape into immortality. Born in England to South American parents and raised in Africa near the historical territory of his Xhosa ancestors, Winter draws on his background to light The Fires of Vengeance, second in "The Burning" series, wherein a queen who has lost her throne joins with a young warrior in a battle to regain it (75,000-copy first printing).

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2020

Born in England to South American parents and raised in Africa near the historical territory of his Xhosa ancestors, Winter draws on his background to light up this second book in "The Burning" series, wherein a queen who has lost her throne joins with a young warrior in a battle to regain it. With a 75,000-copy first printing; originally scheduled for July 2020.

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.