Queen of Storms

June 1, 2020
Hatu and Hava have restored a rundown inn at Beran's Hill, using it as a base of intelligence operations while they wait for instructions from Master Bodai of the council of assassins in the Kingdom of Night. Hatu is being sought by Catharian, who belongs to the Guardians of the Flame, as well as agents of the Church of the One. The former belongs to a society almost wiped out in the Betrayal (as seen in King of Ashes, 2018). When Berans Hill becomes the devastated opening round of a massive attack by unknown forces, Hatu and Hava are separated. Good friend DeClan also survives the massacre and joins mercenaries to help Baron Dumarch rally forces to face an army that has thwarted his every move. Hava must use all of her assassin skills to track down Hatu, while, in captivity, Hatu begins to understand his magical heritage. Master storyteller Feist takes time to develop the complex relationships among his many characters as he continues to expand the world in the second epic book of the Firemane series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from July 13, 2020
Feist displays his mastery of epic fantasy in this impressive second installment to the Firemane Saga (after King of Ashes), which sees newlywed innkeepers Hatu and Hava forced to rely on their childhood training as assassins and spies after calamity upends their lives. Hatu was raised by a criminal syndicate, but his true parentage marks him as the sole heir of the Firemanes and the destroyed Kingdom of Ithrace, putting a target on his back for those who see him as a threat and others who would use him as a pawn in their political machinations. On the day of his wedding to Hava in the remote town of Beran’s Hill, an overwhelming armed force attacks, leaving few alive and razing the town. Hatu is spirited away from the fighting by members of the Flame Guard, a secret society devoted to protecting his family line. Hava also survives and tracks Hatu to Port Colos, where she is seized by forces speaking an unknown language. Hava must escape captivity to find Hatu, who slowly learns more of his Firemane heritage. Feist fans will recognize his hallmarks here—quiet moments of a common life interrupted by sweeping battles, and high seas journeys to distant continents. Fantasy readers of all sorts will appreciate his command of both subtle characterization and vast, panoramic story. This is a knockout.

June 19, 2020

Hatu and wife Hava have settled down in the town of Beran's Hill with plans of rebuilding the blaze-ravaged Inn of Three Stars and spending time with friends. Everything seems golden--which means their lives are about to turn very bad, indeed. As the lone survivor of the powerful Firemane family, Hatu has a price on his head and a potential for magic he doesn't yet understand. His allies are scarce and his enemies are everywhere. Fortunately, Hava is smart and determined to save her husband, although at any moment her Coaltachin masters may order her to kill him. Feist slowly developed the worldbuilding and his characters in the first book in the series, King of Ashes. Now he throws them into the deep end, while dropping vague hints about the larger story arc that we can't see, resulting in a novel in which little happens to move the story along. VERDICT Overall, a perfectly standard epic fantasy with a payoff seemingly far off in the distance of future installments.--Laurel Bliss, San Diego State Univ. Lib.

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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.