Sunday, March 6, 2011

In the Shadows of Swords-Val Gunn

In the Shadows of Swords
Val Gunn
Errant Press, Feb 28 2011, $24.95
www.errantpress.com
ISBN: 9780615232690

Hiril Altair flees for the Elies Embassy where he knows he will receive sanctuary that will keep him safe from the agents of the Sultanate of Qatana and the Rassian Majali of Miranes especially with what he has to show his hosts. However, just a few steps to the door his life ends when the legendary Kingslayer Ciris Sarn the half-jinn assassin brutally kills him.

Hiril’s widow Marin wants what she believes is her right, Sarn’s death at her hands as a widow’s debt. She obtains the magic tomes left behind the widowmaker as she begins her vendetta. At the same she tracks her prey across the desert; the Sultan’s advisor Fajeer Dassai stalks the widow in order to possess the books. He is unaware that the head of the Jassaj, Pavanan Munif stalks him.

The first book of the Tales of Ciris Sarn is an action-packed fantasy thriller filled with short chapters that never allow a grateful audience to take a respite. Fast-paced, from the opening vicious kill to the exciting climax, readers will relish this terrific complex Arabian mythos as a queue of stalking adventures begin and end with Sarn.

Harriet Klausner

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