Kate Elliot’s exemplary worldbuilding skills aren’t really tested in this much appreciated return to the lands of the Hundred, from the recent ‘Crossroads’ trilogy. The tale opens just 15 years after the conclusion of ‘Traitor’s Gate, to introduce Captain Kallas, a soldier of the titular ‘Black Wolves’, whose cohort ranges the Hundred, eliminating enemies of King Anjihosh, the Great Unifier. In Toskala, the complexities of Anji’s family are laid out for the reader, the incipient cracks in the edifice waiting to widen.
The narrative skips forward forty four years, whence the seeds of the doom for the nation founded by Anjihosh after his victory over the chaos caused by corrupt Guardians, have sprouted and taken root in those very cracks. Anjihosh is dead, and so is his successor Atani, killed 22 years before by traitorous Lord Seras, in a suspicious ambush which led to the disgrace and disbanding of the ‘Black Wolves’. Atani’s son Jehosh now rules, but his absences fighting border wars, palace intrigues and the increasing meddling of the troublesome imported priests of Beltak the Shining One are crowding out the old ways of the Hundred. The Seven Gods have been pushed to the margins or suppressed, as a darker canker hides beneath.
The tale is told from the POV of Kellas, the old soldier who returns reluctantly to duty from that of Sarai, an outcast Ri Amarah woman, thrust into a political marriage to Gilaras the wastrel son of the regicide Seras, and Dannarah, daughter of Anjihosh and marshal of the reeves, whose charges are again under threat from those who covet the power of the giant eagles who are the reeve’s partners. This is the first instalment of a planned trilogy, so ends in a tantalising cliffhanger, and promises to reveal more of the underlying rationale of this fascinating world, and in particular, the role of the hitherto mysterious Ri Amarah.
The narrative skips forward forty four years, whence the seeds of the doom for the nation founded by Anjihosh after his victory over the chaos caused by corrupt Guardians, have sprouted and taken root in those very cracks. Anjihosh is dead, and so is his successor Atani, killed 22 years before by traitorous Lord Seras, in a suspicious ambush which led to the disgrace and disbanding of the ‘Black Wolves’. Atani’s son Jehosh now rules, but his absences fighting border wars, palace intrigues and the increasing meddling of the troublesome imported priests of Beltak the Shining One are crowding out the old ways of the Hundred. The Seven Gods have been pushed to the margins or suppressed, as a darker canker hides beneath.
The tale is told from the POV of Kellas, the old soldier who returns reluctantly to duty from that of Sarai, an outcast Ri Amarah woman, thrust into a political marriage to Gilaras the wastrel son of the regicide Seras, and Dannarah, daughter of Anjihosh and marshal of the reeves, whose charges are again under threat from those who covet the power of the giant eagles who are the reeve’s partners. This is the first instalment of a planned trilogy, so ends in a tantalising cliffhanger, and promises to reveal more of the underlying rationale of this fascinating world, and in particular, the role of the hitherto mysterious Ri Amarah.