Gates of Stone

ARC provided by the publisher Berkley Publishing Group Ace in exchange for an honest review.An Indonesian inspired epic fantasy accompanied by Chinese, Japanese, and Indian influences I ve never read an epic fantasy with world building like the one in Gates of Stone.Angus Macallan is a pseudonym for Angus Donald, a historical fiction writer most well known for The Outlaw Chronicles series Gates of Stone, the first book in Lord of the Islands series marked his [...]

I ll be honest, when Gates of Stone arrived in my mailbox, I wasn t sure whether I would give it a read The promise of rip roaring action I liked, and a believable Asian inspired setting intrigued me, but tense political drama and the reference to grimdark pioneer Joe Abercrombie gave me pause I ve grown tired of the whole amoral, violent, dystopian turn of fantasy, finding it to be something I want to escape from rather than escape into.It didn t help when the booked opened with a I ll be hones [...]

With tense political drama and rip roaring action in a fresh and believable Asian inspired setting, Gates of Stone reads like a collaboration between Joe Abercrombie and James Clavell Add ancient feuding sorcerers and a queen who would eat Cersei Lannister for breakfast, and you have the makings of an excellent fantasy debut Angus Macallan is a compelling new voice in epic fantasy.

Full review to come on but as a teaser Angus Macallan s foray into fantasy is off to a fantastic start with Gates of Stone Whilst it took me awhile to get invested, the price of admission was well worth the pay off Muskets, magic and mayhem what could you want

I really liked this book The characters, Katarina, Jun, and Semar, were so fascinating that I had to know how their journeys would end I think Macallan did a fantastic job fleshing out those characters and paced their development really well I haven t seen good character development like this since reading about Jamie Lannister At first I was a little annoyed with Jun, but when he stopped being so pompous, I found myself rooting for him and sympathizing every time he hit an obstacle He s pr I re [...]

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received a digital ARC of this novel courtesy of NetGalley and Ace Books in exchange for an honest and voluntary review Will post full review closer to publication date of February 19, 2019.