REVIEW | The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers (Pyr)

Eva Forge is the last Paladin of the God of War Morgan. The problem is he is long dead from his brother's hands Amon. This leaves only the last brother immortal Alexander as the last living god in charge of the city of Ash and its surrounding areas. As Paladin Eva is entrusted with the security and protection of the Cult of Morgan and its followers. Not an easy thing for just one person, but with sword and magicked gun she soldiers on with loose lips and a hothead attitude. While on a mission to take the leader of her order somewhere and back some craziness with zombies of a sort goes down and she must track down one of her own.

The Horns of Ruin is very different tonally from Heart of Veridon so don't expect more of the same. It has an almost animalistic and visceral feel with loads of fights and colorful language that may be more at home in a Fantasy novel. Eva Forge is one tough lady who doesn't have much of a feminine side, but that is what you get when you train a person from childhood how to kill. I was immediately taken in by Eva's brusque disposition, which is best shown in her dialogue where she verbally combats people just as much as physically. Yet outside of Eva most characters aren't given much depth or detail that would connect you better with them.

The system of magic is based off of chanting and belief of past events, which was a nice way of mixing religion and magic given the nature of their gods. There is sometimes an over abundance of the chanting magic as Eva stretches herself to keep going. The Horns of Ruin often blends magic and science that comes off very blurred at times, which made my mind want to rebel not knowing which aspect was intended. Finally I just decided to go with it and not try to read too much into how something in particular was possible. The followers of Amon's abilities are particularly intriguing being that have a mastery over technology, but can also affect power through chanting including an impressive unmaking type spell. There are some Steampunk elements to be sure such as some jet packs and monorails, but this feels like a post Steampunk world with a healthy dash of magic and gods thrown in.

You'd be hard pressed to name a faster paced book. Akers barely gives you time to contemplate all the happenings as Eva bounces from one fight to the next. The relationships between the brother/gods are left very vague for quite a longtime, but as pieces are unfurled a new mystery takes shape. I particularly enjoyed the way Akers handles his gods and how their powers originate and the deep history that is alluded to.

If anything I'd call The Horns of Ruin Swords & Science. Fans of hack and slash Fantasy just may have found the steampunky read they've been looking for. The Horns of Ruin is an energetic rollercoaster ride in a well accentuated world that needs to be further explored. I give The Horns of Ruin 7.5 out 10 hats. The ending while satisfying does leave much left open. There has been no word yet on another Eva Forge book, but the second Jacob Burn book Dead of Veridon is schedule for June 2011 from Solaris.

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