A generation has passed since the Norlanders’ great ships bore down
on Shadar, and the Dead Ones slashed and burned the city into
submission, enslaving the Shadari people. Now the Norlander governor is
dying and, as his three alienated children struggle against the crushing
isolation of their lives, the Shadari rebels spot their opening and
summon the Mongrel, a mysterious mercenary warrior who has never yet
lost a battle. But her terms are unsettling: she will name her price
only after the Norlanders have been defeated. A single question is left
for the Shadari: is there any price too high for freedom?
Blood’s
Pride is the debut novel of Evie Manieri that has been recently
published in the US by Tor. This book is the first installment in the
Shattered Kingdoms series. I briefly read the first few pages of this
book and I just couldn’t put this book down. Just with the prologue
alone Evie Manieri managed to create quite the intricate world in the
first few pages. Blood’s pride is a terrific start and holds a lot of
promise as a debut.
Blood’s Pride is a very strong character driven story. There are
quite a few characters that you get to know as the pages go along.
Though with this focus on the characters alone I first thought that the
world would be under-represented this is actually not the case, in
between the dialogue you still get to learn more than enough of this
magnificent world that is created. So what makes this world unique? Evie
Manieri says that she is a fan of intricacies and that is hardly to be
missed in her debut book. The intricacies are mainly achieved by
creating the strong set of characters across several different races.
First off all let’s start with the races. There are three so far that
you get to know. The Norlanders, the Shadari and the Nomas. The
Norlanders (though sometimes it read a bit to easily as Nordlanders)
are a bit of a Viking inspired people, highly military and brutal they
hale from a different continent and have invaded the Shadari kingdom by
shear force. They do not take no for an answer and find themselves more
of the elitist among others. The Norlanders are sensitive to sun, have
emphasized blue complexions i.e. the lips and blue blood. They commune
to each other by talking telepathically. By a happenstance they stumbled
upon a unique mixture, combining black ores with blood to make magical
swords that give an edge in combat. This is also the reason they invaded
the Shadari kingdom to get control over the mines. Next to the
Norlanders you have the Shadari, a humble hunter-gather folk that are
now being suppressed by the Norlanders. The Norlanders, since their
invasion, have banned a lot of what the Shadari are allowed to do. The
Shadari cannot read or write, the ability to do so has some other
consequences of epic proportions. And last but not least you have the
Nomas, a people who stayed neutral during the invasion of the
Norlanders, trusted and accepted by neither the Norlanders nor the
Shadari they fall a bit in the lines of outcast. Having built a
reputation as people who cannot be trusted and considered weak for not
helping out. Now these a bit of the backgrounds of the races. What they
all more or less have in common in the magical premise. They all have
something that make them unique.
As far as the plot goes, it moves pretty quickly. It focuses on the
rebellion that the Shadari have set into motion against the Norlanders.
As a direct consequence by the rebellion, a lot of wheels are set into
motion that all lead up to some nice revelation in the end. All the
characters learn more about themselves in the end. The Norlander
siblings find out some information written by their father that I think
will lead up to a nice sequel. But also the whole history of the Shadari
race, the “abandoned” power and of course to top it off the origins of
the Mongrel the why’s and how’s again just amazing that it was written
so powerfully.
Blood’s pride is a powerful debut from Evie Manieri, for me she
really put down an enjoyable read. The races are well thought out the
characters even better. I have read some epic fantasy before but Blood’s
Pride does make a unique entrance into the genre, giving a high focus
on the characters but also managing to not drop the history and the
surrounding of where this story takes place. The epilogue already
revealed a bit of the way in which the story will steer but on the
whole, all what happened in the in the book, I bet there are more twists
and turn along the way. I’m also still re-reading the prologue, is this
really the beginning? Or is the story being told from another
perspective? I’ve already added Fortune’s Blight the second book of the
Shattered Kingdoms to my to-read list.