#BlogTour ‘We Ride The Storm’ by Devin Madson

About the book….

In the midst of a burgeoning war, a warrior, an assassin, and a princess chase their own ambitions no matter the cost in Devin Madson’s visceral, emotionally charged debut.

War built the Kisian Empire. War will tear it down.

Seventeen years after rebels stormed the streets, factions divide Kisia. Only the firm hand of the god-emperor holds the empire together. But when a shocking betrayal destroys a tense alliance with neighboring Chiltae, all that has been won comes crashing down.

In Kisia, Princess Miko Ts’ai is a prisoner in her own castle. She dreams of claiming her empire, but the path to power could rip it, and her family, asunder.

In Chiltae, assassin Cassandra Marius is plagued by the voices of the dead. Desperate, she accepts a contract that promises to reward her with a cure if she helps an empire fall.

And on the border between nations, Captain Rah e’Torin and his warriors are exiles forced to fight in a foreign war or die.

As an empire dies, three warriors will rise. They will have to ride the storm or drown in its blood.

My biggest thanks to the wonderful Nazia Khatun at Orbit for the blog tour invite and gifted review copy of ‘We Ride The Storm’ which is out in ebook and paperback format right now!

And if you like epic fantasy with an escalating plot, world building and shenanigans of the knife wielding kind, you boil my review down to 3 words-buy the book

This is the first in the Reborn Empire series, and hands up who gets excited when they see the number 1 on the spine of a book?

The cover is fabulous, given a very eastern feel to the novel and immediately telling you there are battles ahead, there are going to be warring faction and dissenting characters, so even before opening it you just know this is going to be a good read. And indeed it is, this is the first Devin Madson book that I have read (so far) and what my take away from it is that she can build incredibly complex worlds, families and feuds which somehow, cleverly  feels both modern and archaic, fresh and old all at once.

It is an introductory volume so there needs to be exposition to create the world of the Kisian Empire, however, instead of reams of pages delving into the backstory of the different societies which comprise this creation, you have 3 very unique, individual rolling narrators through whose eyes you glean this understanding.

Princess Miko, step daughter of the current Emperor, a pawn in a political game whose impending arranged marriage will benefit everyone. Everyone, that is, except Miko who uses her wile and intelligence to try and extricate herself from an unenviable position.

Horse warrior , Rah E’Torin, is the second narrator, as stymied by his code of honour and conduct as Miko, however,unlike her, he chose this life. I love the details in his sections, the beliefs of his people mean that when they draw their swords, they have to taste blood, so they only go into battle when absolutely sure of the outcome of their intentions. They believe that the soul is trapped inside the body when it dies and therefore sever the heads of their enemies, This is gone into in great detail not because it is gore for gore’s sake,rather, it comes across as a sacred and necessary ritual. Rah and his fellow warriors are exiled from home, rather like the riders of Rohan, and his responsibilities towards the feeding and wellbeing of his tribe is put to the hardest of tests.

Assassin Cassandra, whose head is inhabited by the voice of another and who can sense and feel the voices of the dead, lurches from assignment ot assignment. Not afraid of using her feminine charms to immobilise and weaken her targets, then employing the element of surprise, Cassandra belongs everywhere and nowhere. Her loyalty is to herself and her need to earn enough money to buy ‘Stiff’, which sounds like an alcoholic substance and silences the ‘She/Her’ voice for a short time…her aim is to find a job which will permanently silence them all, and when one lands literally in her lap, she has no hesitation taking it on board. But this is no ordinary job, and before long she realises she is way out of her depth.

Cass was my favourite of the three but all are engaging, very disctinct narrators and I just simply enjoyed the journey they took me on.

How and under what circumstances lead them to cross paths is something I don’t want to spoil, the plot is driven forward by having these 3 very distinct narratives which weave so well around each other, that you don’t begin to consider skipping pages to get back to your favourite one.

Allegiances, deceipt, murderous plots…all of it against an epic fantasy background is exactly what we need right now. Escapism from reality has rarely been this good.

Roll on Book 2!!!

About the author…

Devin Madson is an Aurealis Award-winning fantasy author from Australia. After some sucky teenage years, she gave up reality and is now a dual-wielding rogue who works through every tiny side-quest and always ends up too over-powered for the final boss. Anything but zen, Devin subsists on tea and chocolate and so much fried zucchini she ought to have turned into one by now. Her fantasy novels come in all shades of grey and are populated with characters of questionable morals and a liking for witty banter.

Twitter @DevinMadson @orbitbooks @Gambit589

Link-http://www.devinmadson.com/