I just had a chance to look over Pyr's Spring/Summer 2012 releases and quite a few caught my eye. I'm of course looking forward to Jon Sprunk's last book in the Shadow series, Shadow's Master to finish strongly, which will also get me to get to the second book, finally. But it is James Enge's A Guile of Dragons that has captivated my attention. Enge's character Morlock Ambrosius have already become fairly popular as a series of standalone books that are mostly strung together short stories, but with A Guile of Dragons we go back to Morlock's time as a young man when he was just learning about the kind of power he has. A Guile of Dragons is also the first in the A Tournament of Shadows series with a big overarching story. No official blurb as of yet, but here is what Enge said months ago when the deal was first announced:
This will actually be a trilogy, not three standalone books. Each book will have its own story (because I believe in plot resolution) but each book will depend on its predecessor(s) more than the three books of Morlock in exile did. It’s not a prequel trilogy, though. It’s an origin story.In an interview Enge also added:
It’s very old school fantasy in some ways — dwarves, dragons, Merlin and Nimue. (No elves, though. Everyone has to draw the line somewhere.) And it also gives us a look at Morlock’s homeland, which is a sort of anarchy where community needs are addressed by voluntary associations. It’s a sort of utopia, really — with monsters. Most utopias don’t have monsters, of course, but that’s why they lack a certain plausibility.I'm guess the art is by Steven Stone or possibly Gene Mollica. It definitely has a Malazan feel and I love all the detail in the outfit. Mark me down for reading this come August next year.
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The art is Steve Stone. I do have to correct his comment, that the previous books are "a series of standalone books that are mostly strung together short stories." While the second book, This Crooked Way, is indeed a "fix up novel," both the first and third stand-alone books are "proper novels," with no short story material whatsoever. However you are correct that they are all three stand-alones and that A Tournament of Shadows is more of a trilogy.
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