J is for Jo Spurrier. Jo has written an epic fantasy trilogy called Children of the Black Sun published by HarperVoyager, both as a paperback and on Kindle. Book 1 (published 2012) is called Winter Be My Shield, Book 2 (published 2013) is Black Sun Light My Way, and Book 3, North Star Guide Me Home, is due out later this month, on 22 April 2014 (at least the Kindle edition is, not sure about the paperback version – Amazon pages seem to be contradicting each other a bit there).
Cover of Jo Spurrier’s “Winter Be My Shield”, Book One of “Children of the Black Sun”
One of the main reasons I started to read it was that it was fantasy by an Australian author, and there aren’t that many well-known fantasy authors from down under. The endorsement from my favourite author, Robin Hobb, helped, of course. Jo had some unique ideas that I thought sounded very interesting. Here’s the blurb that sold it for me:
Original, dramatic and unputdownable,
Winter Be My Shield is the first in an epic fantasy
trilogy from brilliant new Australian talent Jo Spurrier.
Sierra has a despised and forbidden gift – she raises
power from the suffering of others. Enslaved by the
king’s torturer, Sierra escapes, barely keeping ahead
of Rasten, the man sent to hunt her down. Then she
falls in with dangerous company: the fugitive Prince
Cammarian and his crippled foster-brother, Isidro.
But Rasten is not the only enemy hunting them in
the frozen north and as Sierra’s new allies struggle
to identify friend from foe, Rasten approaches her
with a plan to kill the master they both abhor.
Sierra is forced to decide what price she is willing
to pay for her freedom and her life …
I found that the quality of the writing was excellent, the ideas as interesting as expected, the characters well-crafted with realistic flaws and ambitions, the dialogue felt natural, and the world in which the story takes place seems consistent, with its own set of laws making sense in the context of that world (although sometimes I found it a bit confusing to figure out where on the included map the action was taking place).
A few of the action scenes seemed a teeny bit stilted to me, but that didn’t detract from a good story. I’ve read the first two books and am looking forward to the third which should be out soon. If anyone is looking for a new fantasy series to sink their teeth into, I can definitely recommend this one.
With her debut novel, Winter Be My Shield, Jo Spurrier won the Aurealis Award for best fantasy novel in 2012. Visit her website, her page on amazon or her facebook page if you’re interested in more details.
