About the book…
An epic fantasy featuring warrior priestesses and fickle gods at war
Hessa is an Eangi: a warrior priestess of the Goddess of War, with the power to turn an enemy’s bones to dust with a scream. Banished for disobeying her goddess’s command to murder a traveller, she prays for forgiveness alone on a mountainside.
While she is gone, raiders raze her village and obliterate the Eangi priesthood. Grieving and alone, Hessa – the last Eangi – must find the traveller, atone for her weakness and secure her place with her loved ones in the High Halls. As clans from the north and legionaries from the south tear through her homeland, slaughtering everyone in their path, Hessa strives to win back her goddess’ favour.
Beset by zealot soldiers, deceitful gods, and newly-awakened demons at every turn, Hessa burns her path towards redemption and revenge. But her journey reveals a harrowing truth: the gods are dying and the High Halls of the afterlife are fading. Soon Hessa’s trust in her goddess weakens with every unheeded prayer.
Thrust into a battle between the gods of the Old World and the New, Hessa realizes there is far more on the line than securing a life beyond her own death. Bigger, older powers slumber beneath the surface of her world. And they’re about to wake up.
‘Hall Of Smoke’ by H.M Long is the author’s debut novel from Titan Books and was published on January 19th, available in paperback and ebook from all good bookstores!
It is going to be followed, on January 18th, by
‘Temple Of No God’ and honestly, after
Hall Of Smoke, I have questions. And a need to return to Hessa’s world.
This Norse myth inspired novel begins with a literal outcast, Hessa, being thrown out of her village for ignoring a promise to obey the commands of Eang , the goddess who is performs a mother/protector role to Hessa’s clan.
Hessa and her cousin Yske, have been born and raised in the Hall Of Smoke, singled out for training to be the Eang prescence on Earth with a powerful scream which reduces grown men to ashes.
In return, she has to do as she is bid by omens, and potents from the Hugh Priestess, so when the book opens with her refusing to kill a lonely traveller with a dog, and one gold eye who has been prophesied to bring about the Eangi downfall, she is alone and broken.
As readers, we are not sure why she has broken her oath to do as she is bid by her clan goddess, merely that she is not great with authority, being told what to do, and controlling her powers. Praying for forgiveness after she has been stripped of her Eangi collar, her cousin and husband come to bring her back home.
Refusing to do so until she has communed with the High Priestess and made a blood sacrifice, she sends both Yske and Eiryk away.
What happens next is both set in stone as well as unpredictable-the sound of war horns brings Hessa down from her mountain side vigil to Eang, to find that the place where she spent all those happy formative years, learning to be a fearless warrior and representative of the goddess has been laid waste to.
The Hall where her entire life has been lived is both physically real and ephemeral as the smoke in its name. The notion of a veil between one world and another, seen through a feminist viewpoint, is rarely written with such aplomb.
The place which was so full of life to its very rafters has been transformed to a huge above ground tomb.
Her family is no more, those who haven’t been murdered are taken hostage by the attacking Algatt tribe.
Who, or what, made these warriors attack the Eangi is not certain, all that Hessa thinks she knows is that she is responsible and nothing can dissuade her of this notion. She begs for guidance to find the golden eyed stranger and make reparation, believing the deaths are stains on her conscience, on her soul.
However, what doesn’t occur to Hessa is that her ignoring a heavenly directive to kill this stranger may have been an act of mercy. Her banishment may not be a punishment, it may have been the sole rescuing factor to keep her tribe going.
As Hessa is taken with the other women and children, with a sinking understanding of what is ahead of her as a prisoner, and as a woman, an epic quest for atonement begins.
An astonishingly assured debut novel, this is epic fantasy in the very best tradition. Gods and devils, tribes and wars, traditions and overthrowing old ways all clash mightily, and in the centre of the maelstrom, is Hessa, the barely taught weapon of fire in human skin . Have the Algatt sealed their fate by taking her?
There is a journey, a literal and metaphysical one from young woman responsible only for herself, to warrior queen who is in charge of keeping the Eangi culture going.
It examines philosophical arguments about rights and responsibilities with a back drop of blood, violence , death and old versus new Gods.
And astonishing feat of creation taking old ways and making them fresh to view through a brand new prism.
Full of adventure and unforgettable characters, this is a storming opening salvo in what I think will become a cornerstone of fantasy fiction must reads.
About the author…
Hannah M Long is a Canadian writer who loves history, hiking, and exploring the world.
She has fulfilled her dream of becoming a reclusive forest fae and inhabits a ramshackle cabin in the wilds of Muskoka, Ontario, where she writes books and tames squirrels.
However, she can often be spotted snooping about European museums or wandering the Alps with her German husband.
Links-https://www.hmlongbooks.com/
Twitter @hannah_m_long @TitanBooks
