Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Tor (2017), Edition: Main Market Ed., 320 pages
Description
Brian Staveley's new standalone returns to the critically acclaimed Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne universe, following a priestess-assassin for the God of Death "Brilliant."--V. E. Schwab, New York Times bestselling authorFrom the award-winning epic fantasy world of The Emperor's Blades...Pyrre Lakatur is not, to her mind, an assassin, not a murderer--she is a priestess. At least, she will be once she passes her final trial.The problem isn't the killing. The problem, rather, is love. For to complete her trial, Pyrre has ten days to kill the seven people enumerated in an ancient song, including "the one who made your mind and body sing with love / who will not come again." Pyrre isn't sure she's ever been in love. And if she fails to find someone who can draw such passion from her, or fails to kill that someone, her order will give her to their god, the God of Death. Pyrre's not afraid to die, but she hates to fail, and so, as her trial is set to begin, she returns to the city of her birth in the hope of finding love . . . and ending it on the edge of her sword."A complex and richly detailed world filled with elite soldier-assassins, mystic warrior monks, serpentine politics, and ancient secrets."--Library Journal, starred review, on The Emperor's Blades… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Strider66
Pros: excellent characters, great world-building, variety of fights
Cons:
Pyrre has reached the final test for becoming a priestess of Ananshael. She must kill seven people in fourteen days. But her final target must be someone she loves above all others, and Pyrre has never known love. So she
Pyrre appears as a side character in Staveley’s Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne. This is a stand-alone novel where she - and her worship of the god of death - are in the forefront. While the previous books aren’t necessary to enjoy this one, there are descriptions of Rassambur, the assassin’s home base, in book three, Last Mortal Bond, which flesh out the city and the practice of Ananshael’s priests.
Witnessing her trial are two priests, Kossal, an older man who speaks truth and has few cares for the world, and Ela, the woman he loves, who loves everybody and who’s as graceful as she is deadly. Ela tries to teach Pyrre what love is, a conversation that involves as many knives as you’d expect from a duo of professional assassins.
There’s a surprising amount of banter considering the premise of the book. I enjoyed Pyrre’s attempts to understand her own emotions as she alternates between getting closer and further away from Ruc Lan Lac. Her plan is overly convoluted but has some fascinating consequences. I especially enjoyed the chapters dealing with the delta and life there.
The world-building was top notch, expanding an unexplored area of the world but tying it and its history into that of the previous books. The delta felt vibrant and the dangers - and how to deal with them - realistic. The local religion also had weight to it, practiced differently by the city folk and the delta people.
As expected, there are some fabulous fight scenes, against a surprising variety of people and things.
This was an excellent book.
Cons:
Pyrre has reached the final test for becoming a priestess of Ananshael. She must kill seven people in fourteen days. But her final target must be someone she loves above all others, and Pyrre has never known love. So she
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returns to the city of her birth and the man she once knew, hoping he’ll be The One.Pyrre appears as a side character in Staveley’s Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne. This is a stand-alone novel where she - and her worship of the god of death - are in the forefront. While the previous books aren’t necessary to enjoy this one, there are descriptions of Rassambur, the assassin’s home base, in book three, Last Mortal Bond, which flesh out the city and the practice of Ananshael’s priests.
Witnessing her trial are two priests, Kossal, an older man who speaks truth and has few cares for the world, and Ela, the woman he loves, who loves everybody and who’s as graceful as she is deadly. Ela tries to teach Pyrre what love is, a conversation that involves as many knives as you’d expect from a duo of professional assassins.
There’s a surprising amount of banter considering the premise of the book. I enjoyed Pyrre’s attempts to understand her own emotions as she alternates between getting closer and further away from Ruc Lan Lac. Her plan is overly convoluted but has some fascinating consequences. I especially enjoyed the chapters dealing with the delta and life there.
The world-building was top notch, expanding an unexplored area of the world but tying it and its history into that of the previous books. The delta felt vibrant and the dangers - and how to deal with them - realistic. The local religion also had weight to it, practiced differently by the city folk and the delta people.
As expected, there are some fabulous fight scenes, against a surprising variety of people and things.
This was an excellent book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member antao
“’If I wanted you dead, you would be dead’?” He sucked some blood from between his teeth, then spat it onto the cobbles. “What is that? A line from some mid-century melodrama? You hear that onstage a few nights ago?”
In “Skullsworn” by Brian Staveley
Reasons to avoid some Fantasy:
1.
2. Sequel proliferation. Ditto objection 1 squared - strike Eddings et al;
3. Formulaic - It's often better to re-read Tolkien, skipping some of his embarrassing attempts at females than read the whole thing again with different silly names - strike all sorts of piffle;
4. Silly names - countries; cities; people. How about concepts; recipes; politics - invent something - move to include Iain M. Banks 'Culture' - or does invention have to belong to THE science fiction part of SF?
5. Written by die cast. Surely much is the product of hashish and D&D - this you can make up for yourself;
6. Poor writing - to wit the obviously much beloved Staveley - whilst his books were entertaining they are limited by his repetitive vocabulary; why can't his educated characters master the conditional subjunctive…?
One of the common failing of most fantasy fiction is that the morality and emotional conflict of the antagonists is never explored or it feels gimmicky. We get a lot of stuff wherein the good guys become less good, and the bad guys stay smart-alecky. Characters tend to be stupid. It’s how an author can impart information to the reader that the character themselves haven’t picked up on yet. It’s also an engagement tactic: did you guess, right? May as well read the next chapter and find out, you stupid reader. What else? Ah yes. Strong romance...check, Romance the focus...check, World Without Plenty of magic...check, some clichés...check, Some semi-explicit stuff...check. All genres of books have many poor and average writers and some great ones - fantasy writing is just as good as any other kind of writing and the best fantasy provides some excellent analysis and criticism of reality as well as imagining coherent alternative realities and managing to be both funny at some points and gripping at others. I despair of so much fantasy fiction. There is a lot of landfill quality stuff out there; but also, too many multi-volume epics with formulaic plots. How many more times will that downtrodden turn out to be the heir to the kingdom? (feel free to substitute “ploughboy orphan” by “Assassin that has ten days to kill ten people enumerated in an ancient song, including ‘the one you love / who will not come again.’” or by any other input placeholder you wish).
I don't know why I bother reading crap like this. Staveley no more...
SF = Speculative Fiction.
In “Skullsworn” by Brian Staveley
Reasons to avoid some Fantasy:
1.
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Trilogies - a story seldom needs 3 volumes, nobody wants to read the 'excluded middle' of tosh, let alone wait for the third volume when they have forgotten the contents of the first - strike George R.R. Martin;2. Sequel proliferation. Ditto objection 1 squared - strike Eddings et al;
3. Formulaic - It's often better to re-read Tolkien, skipping some of his embarrassing attempts at females than read the whole thing again with different silly names - strike all sorts of piffle;
4. Silly names - countries; cities; people. How about concepts; recipes; politics - invent something - move to include Iain M. Banks 'Culture' - or does invention have to belong to THE science fiction part of SF?
5. Written by die cast. Surely much is the product of hashish and D&D - this you can make up for yourself;
6. Poor writing - to wit the obviously much beloved Staveley - whilst his books were entertaining they are limited by his repetitive vocabulary; why can't his educated characters master the conditional subjunctive…?
One of the common failing of most fantasy fiction is that the morality and emotional conflict of the antagonists is never explored or it feels gimmicky. We get a lot of stuff wherein the good guys become less good, and the bad guys stay smart-alecky. Characters tend to be stupid. It’s how an author can impart information to the reader that the character themselves haven’t picked up on yet. It’s also an engagement tactic: did you guess, right? May as well read the next chapter and find out, you stupid reader. What else? Ah yes. Strong romance...check, Romance the focus...check, World Without Plenty of magic...check, some clichés...check, Some semi-explicit stuff...check. All genres of books have many poor and average writers and some great ones - fantasy writing is just as good as any other kind of writing and the best fantasy provides some excellent analysis and criticism of reality as well as imagining coherent alternative realities and managing to be both funny at some points and gripping at others. I despair of so much fantasy fiction. There is a lot of landfill quality stuff out there; but also, too many multi-volume epics with formulaic plots. How many more times will that downtrodden turn out to be the heir to the kingdom? (feel free to substitute “ploughboy orphan” by “Assassin that has ten days to kill ten people enumerated in an ancient song, including ‘the one you love / who will not come again.’” or by any other input placeholder you wish).
I don't know why I bother reading crap like this. Staveley no more...
SF = Speculative Fiction.
Show Less
LibraryThing member High_Enginseer
Skullsworn is the origin story of Pyrre, a character from The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne. Having read this before the main trilogy, I can safely say it stands on its own. The characters occasionally mention some history of the world that may be explained better in the series, but it's easy to
Pyrre has come here to complete her final trial to become a priestess of Ananshael, the God of Death. For her trial, the two witnesses who accompany her sing a song listing the targets she must kill. She must kill every target within two weeks, and must not kill anyone else. Should she fail, the witnesses will kill her. Easy enough for Pyrre except for one: one of the targets is someone she loves, but Pyrre has never loved anyone.
Pyrre and her witnesses, Ela and Kossal, are fun to read as they banter, discuss their faith and help Pyrre understand what it means to love and to follow Ananshael. While most people would see the the Skullsworn as little more than murderers, the Skullsworn understanding of death paints them as merciful. Ananshael's gift is the end of pain and suffering, one that is given to all without playing favorites. With this logic, they oppose torture and killing out of anger.
Pyrre puts together a plan to stir up a rebellion to get close to Ruc Lan Lac, a man she believes she can love. Pyrre feels conflicted about it every step of the way, since it is questionable if the love can be genuine with an ulterior motive.
The setting is well described, and feels like a part of a larger world. The delta is teeming with life, all fighting to thrive in a hostile environment. The people are no different, both those in Dombang and the Vuo Ton, a group of delta natives who shun the city that made people soft. The characters are fun to read, and interact with each other naturally. Everyone has a clear motivation behind their actions that move the plot forward.
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understand the goings on of the setting: The city of Dombang was conquered by the empire two centuries ago, but there remains a sizable faction that wants Dombang to again be free. The local Dombang religion that worships the gods of the delta has been banned, which creates further resentment toward the empire.Pyrre has come here to complete her final trial to become a priestess of Ananshael, the God of Death. For her trial, the two witnesses who accompany her sing a song listing the targets she must kill. She must kill every target within two weeks, and must not kill anyone else. Should she fail, the witnesses will kill her. Easy enough for Pyrre except for one: one of the targets is someone she loves, but Pyrre has never loved anyone.
Pyrre and her witnesses, Ela and Kossal, are fun to read as they banter, discuss their faith and help Pyrre understand what it means to love and to follow Ananshael. While most people would see the the Skullsworn as little more than murderers, the Skullsworn understanding of death paints them as merciful. Ananshael's gift is the end of pain and suffering, one that is given to all without playing favorites. With this logic, they oppose torture and killing out of anger.
Pyrre puts together a plan to stir up a rebellion to get close to Ruc Lan Lac, a man she believes she can love. Pyrre feels conflicted about it every step of the way, since it is questionable if the love can be genuine with an ulterior motive.
The setting is well described, and feels like a part of a larger world. The delta is teeming with life, all fighting to thrive in a hostile environment. The people are no different, both those in Dombang and the Vuo Ton, a group of delta natives who shun the city that made people soft. The characters are fun to read, and interact with each other naturally. Everyone has a clear motivation behind their actions that move the plot forward.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jercox
I liked the beginning quite a bit, and as with all of these the story dragged me in pretty effectively - always anxious to know what happened next. But a lot of the philosophical musings on love and death wrapped up in the story did not seem to fit well. And there were enough little annoyances that
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I can't recommend it highly. Show Less
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Fantasy — 2018)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
320 p.; 6.02 inches
ISBN
150982295X / 9781509822959
Local notes
Pyrre Lakatur doesn’t like the description skullsworn. It doesn’t capture the beauty of her devotion to Ananshael, God of Death. And she’s not an assassin, but a priestess. Or she will be, if she can pass her final trial. The problem isn’t killing, as Pyrre has spent her life training for this. The problem is love. To pass the trial, she will have fourteen days to kill seven people detailed in an ancient song, including one true love, ‘who will not come again’. However, Pyrre has never been in love, time is short, and if she fails she’ll be given to her god.
Signed and numbered (one of 150).
Signed and numbered (one of 150).