#Review - The Fall by Tracy Townsend #Fantasy

Series: Thieves of Fate (#2)
Format: Paperback, 400 pages
Release Date: June 11, 2019
Publisher: PYR
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Dark Fantasy

An apothecary clerk and her ex-mercenary allies travel across the world to discover a computing engine that leads to secrets she wasn’t meant to know—secrets that could destroy humanity.

Eight months ago, Rowena Downshire was a half-starved black market courier darting through the shadows of Corma’s underside. Today, she’s a (mostly) respectable clerk in the Alchemist’s infamous apothecary shop, the Stone Scales, and certainly the last girl one would think qualified to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders a second time. Looks can be deceiving.

When Anselm Meteron and the Alchemist receive an invitation to an old acquaintance’s ball—the Greatduke who financed their final, disastrous mercenary mission fourteen years earlier—they’re expecting blackmail, graft, or veiled threats related to the plot to steal the secrets of the Creator’s Grand Experiment. They aren’t expecting a job offer they can’t refuse or a trip halfway across the world to rendezvous with the scholar whose research threw their lives into tumult: the Reverend Doctor Phillip Chalmers.

Escorting Chalmers to the Grand Library of Nippon with her mismatched mercenary family is just a grand adventure to Rowena until she discovers a powerful algebraic engine called the Aggregator. The Aggregator leads Rowena to questions about the Grand Experiment she was never meant to ask and answers she cannot be allowed to possess. With her reunited friends, Rowena must find a way to use the truths hidden in the Grand Library to disarm those who would hunt down the nine subjects of the Creator’s Grand Experiment, threatening to close the book on this world.

Story Locale: A fantasy world where theology is a science, three sentient species live in an uneasy truce, and the fate of humanity rests on the shoulders of nine unsuspecting individuals.

 

The Fall is the second installment in author Tracy Townsend's Thieves of Fate series. The Fall starts a few months after the conclusion of events in The Nine. This is a world where three sentient beings (Humans, Aigamuxa, and Layani share the world). Aigamuxa are ape like creatures who have eyes on their feet, while Layani are sentient trees who seem to believe they are at the top of the food chain. The story features several key characters: Haadiyaa Gammon, Rowena Downshire, Beatrice Earnshaw, Anselm Meteron, and Erasmus Pardon aka the Alchemist.  

The story kicks off months after the ending of The Nine with Beatrice being released from prison where she was supposed to be hanged. She finds herself working with a woman known as Resurrection Jane Ardai, her son, and former inspector Haadi. Haadi saved a Aigamuxa who was once the leader of his people, but was felled by the Alchemist in the first installment. What she wants with the Aigamuxa is not something I can spoil. Meanwhile, the Lanyani are scheming against humans while the Aigamuxa are caught between the humans and the trees.

Eight months ago, Rowena Downshire was a half-starved black market courier darting through the shadows of Corma’s underside. She has no idea who she really is to some very important people including the Layani who believe they are the people of God and therefore they need to find the nine. Rowena has come a long way since being accosted by an Aigamuxa, and falling into an alliance with the Alchemist and Anselm Meteron.

When Anselm Meteron and the Alchemist receive an invitation to an old acquaintance’s ball–the Greatduke who financed their final, disastrous mercenary mission fourteen years earlier–they’re expecting blackmail, graft, or veiled threats related to the plot to steal the secrets of the Creator’s Grand Experiment. They aren’t expecting a job offer they can’t refuse or a trip halfway across the world to rendezvous with the scholar whose research threw their lives into tumult: the Reverend Doctor Phillip Chalmers.

Escorting Chalmers to the Grand Library of Nippon with her mismatched mercenary family is just a grand adventure to Rowena until she discovers a powerful algebraic engine called the Aggregator. The Aggregator leads Rowena to questions about the Grand Experiment she was never meant to ask and answers she cannot be allowed to possess. With her reunited friends, Rowena must find a way to use the truths hidden in the Grand Library to disarm those who would hunt down the nine subjects of the Creator’s Grand Experiment, threatening to close the book on this world.

One of the more curious stops is a place that reminds me of a Steampunk driven Japan. The addition of so many Fabricated (clockwork animals and people) to do the everyday menial labor is a natural extension of the karakuri dolls found in the Edo period of Japan. One of the more curious plots is that of Bishop Meteron and Rowena's mother Clara, who has spent much of Rowena's life in what would be called a mental asylum due to her unique skill set. 

There are so many plots and subplots in this story that you really need to pay attention to what is happening, and what happened in the previous novel. We finally get motivations and viewpoints from the Lanyani as well as some unique alliances between Haadi and the Aigamuxa. The world also becomes much clearer as the author sends three of her characters off on a wild adventure that will lead to more subplots and some pretty important twists that will have lasting implications as to what happens next to Rowena.

Note: I don't normally review books this far out, but thanks to the fact that the books release date was pushed back, and I had already read the book, I choose to post my review on the first day of February. No harm, no foul, I hope. I hope nothing in the book changes between now and the June release date.

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Monday #Review - The Nine by Tracy Townsend #Fantasy @prometheusbks

Series: Thieves of Fate # 1
Format: E-Book, 367 pages
Release Date: November 14, 2017
Publisher: Prometheus Books/PYR
Source: Edelweiss
Genre:  Fantasy / Dark Fantasy

In the dark streets of Corma exists a book that writes itself, a book that some would kill for...

Black market courier Rowena Downshire is just trying to pay her mother’s freedom from debtor's prison when an urgent and unexpected delivery leads her face to face with a creature out of nightmares. Rowena escapes with her life, but the strange book she was ordered to deliver is stolen.

The Alchemist knows things few men have lived to tell about, and when Rowena shows up on his doorstep, frightened and empty-handed, he knows better than to turn her away. What he discovers leads him to ask for help from the last man he wants to see—the former mercenary, Anselm Meteron.

Across town, Reverend Phillip Chalmers awakes in a cell, bloodied and bruised, facing a creature twice his size. Translating the stolen book may be his only hope for survival; however, he soon realizes the book may be a fabled text written by the Creator Himself, tracking the nine human subjects of His Grand Experiment. In the wrong hands, it could mean the end of humanity.

Rowena and her companions become the target of conspirators who seek to use the book for their own ends. But how can this unlikely team be sure who the enemy is when they can barely trust each other? And what will happen when the book reveals a secret no human was meant to know? 

The Nine is the first installment in author Tracy Townsend's Thieves of Fate series. In a world where three sentient races exist in a precarious peace, nine people are the unknowing subjects of a Great Experiment by the Creator. These 9 unknown subjects are tracked in a book that writes itself. Now, factions of all three races are fighting to obtain the book and alter the course of history. One of the unsuspecting members of the Nine is 13-year old Rowena Downshire.

Rowena has been a black market courier for 7 years. She's trying hard to pay off a substantial debt owed by her mother. After being sent off on a errand by her employer to deliver a package to a man known simply as the Alchemist, Rowena encounters trouble in the form of a monstrous creature known as an Aigamuxa. Aigamuxa have eyes on the soles of their feet and are one of the three sentient races who are after the book supposedly created by the Creator himself. 

After losing her package to the creature, Rowena does the only thing she can do. Attempt to locate the Alchemist and explain her situation, and hope that she doesn't pay a harsh penalty for failing to deliver the package to the Alchemist as directed. But, Rowena's story is far from over. She has absolutely no clue how very special she really is. Rowena is one of the Nine beings whom God has chosen at random and whom he observes as they deal with life’s inevitable struggles; their actions can possibly determine the final fate of all of humanity.

Rowena becomes entangled even more in the plot when she and the Alchemist team up with a villain in his own right, Anselem Meteron, who agrees to help uncover the plot. This leads them to Reverend Doctor Phillip Chalmers who has major issues of his own. Chalmers is an important character in that he comes closest to understanding the book and identifying one of the nine who is living in Corma. Between the four characters, I don't think the author is quite finished with uncovering other players who may have been involved in the search for the nine.

I think one of the more interesting aspects of this story is Theosophy, or the mixture of science and religion together, and the disavowment of any of the older religions that are no longer practiced. This is a story filled with many different characters both on the side of so called good, and the conspirators themselves. One of the secondary characters who most stands out is Rare Juells. She is connected to both Anselem and the Alchemist. 

As I mentioned before, there are three main races interested in the book itself. Humans, Aigamuxa, and walking tree like characters called Lanyani. We don't know a whole lot about the Lanyani, but they end up playing a pretty interesting role when all is said and done. This is a very trying time for all three races, with humans trying to maintain the status quo, while the remain two races attempt to insert their freedoms into the equation. I would dare say that Rowena is the key protagonist of this story, but don't ignore the efforts of Chalmers, Anselem, nor the Alchemist in uncovering a conspiracy that hints at all levels of the so called Ecclesiastical Commission. 

I don't think this story fits nicely into any one genre. You can pretty much include science fiction, dark fantasy, perhaps a bit of steampunk as well. I am perfectly fine with the authors hodge podge mixture of the various genre's in order to tell her story. 

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