SEVEN BLADES IN BLACK

Another ultraviolent doorstopper opens the Grave of Empires
fantasy trilogy, from the author of God’s Last Breath (2017,
etc.).

Welcome to the Scar, a continent ravaged by the vicious and
seemingly endless war between the elitist Empire and the egalitarian
Revolution. To this once beautiful land came the famous Sal the Cacophony
riding a giant bird named Congeniality. She carried a sword named Jeff, a
sentient but bloodthirsty gun named, yes, the Cacophony, with whom she’s made
some sort of deal, and a must-kill list of seven renegade mages. Later, as the
story opens, somehow the Revolution has captured her. So to delay being
executed she explains why she came to the Scar and what she did there. Her
captors listen since one of their own soldiers is involved. She wanted revenge,
obviously, but the details won’t be disclosed for several hundred gore-soaked
pages. We do wonder, though, if her will, indomitable though it may be, is
stronger than the magics arrayed against her and if she’s blinded herself to
anything beyond retribution. All this evolves naturally out of the gritty,
well-developed background, Sal’s persuasive and involving backstory, and Sykes’
intriguing ideas on how and why magic works here and how it’s wielded. The
characters are larger than life—they have to be to handle the flashes of black
humor and profanity-laden dialogue. If you hadn’t guessed, the action’s
ferocious, bloody, and unrelenting—but no matter how loud the explosions or
piercing the screams, the antagonists always have time for a merry quip, a
stinging rejoinder, or a philosophical discursion. While the author’s previous
offerings have often proven hollow at the center, with disappearing plots and
long, soggy passages, this one’s compulsive from start to finish.