At the beginning of 2017, Angry Robot released the first in a new series by James A. Moore: The Tides of War. The first book, The Last Sacrifice, came out to much acclaim with people like Seanan McGuire calling it, “Gripping, horrific, and unique…well worth your time.”
If this dark gem of sword and sorcery somehow flew under your radar, then I have good news!
Angry Robot have not only let us host the cover reveal for the second book in the series, but they are also giving ten of our readers free copies of the first book, so you’ll be ready when Fallen Gods is released next year!
But I’m getting ahead of myself again. (Cover reveals always overexcite me!)
Let’s start at the very beginning with The Last Sacrifice.
Since time began the Grakhul, immortal servants of the gods who choose who lives and who dies when it comes time to make sacrifices to their deities, have been seeking to keep the world in balance and the gods appeased. When they take the family of Brogan McTyre to offer as sacrifice, everything changes.
Brogan heads off on a quest to save his family from the Grakhul. The decision this time is costlier than they expected, leading to Brogan and his kin being hunted as criminals and the gods seeking to punish those who’ve defied them.
The Last Sacrifice is currently available at all good book retailers, AND will be sent to ten of our own lucky readers! All you have to do to win a copy is check out the cover reveal for book two below and leave a comment telling us your favorite thing about the covers or the stories themselves. (No spoilers please!)
And if you think the contest is the best part of this post, let me introduce you to the cover of Fallen Gods!
Brogan McTyre and his compatriots are wanted, dead or alive. Preferably alive, so they can be sacrificed to the raging gods. All they can do is hire more mercenaries and turn them into a fearsome army. But warriors aren’t enough when the gods bring Armageddon to the world, unleashing storms and madness, and ceaseless attacks on Brogan’s men by increasingly demonic foes.
Deep in the heart of the Broken Blades Mountains lies a sword containing the heart of a god slain in immortal combat, the one thing that might give Brogan an edge against the gods, but finding it isn’t going to be easy…
I love when art plays with perspective and size, and artist Alejandro Colucci does that beautifully with Fallen Gods. We are first drawn to an ancient skeleton that dominates the cover, but when we get to the knees hovering just above the title, we see these are not the bones of a man, but of a god. Below our heroes scan a cave of rust-colored crystals still unaware of what sits above. Everything in the picture is highlighted in reddish browns, the color of dried blood. There is death encasing them, but perhaps this death will be the key to their survival.
Fallen Gods is due out January of 2018. Thanks again to Angry Robot for giving us a chance to once again showcase their amazing stories!
Remember to leave a comment of your favorite thing about the covers or the stories themselves! We will pick our ten winners for The Last Sacrifice at 12:00pm EST on Wednesday the 13th of September. Good luck! And happy reading!
Richard Marpole
The cover is amazing!! When I saw it, my thoughts were exactly what you then wrote (the perspective, the detail, the discovery at the end of the people at the bottom…), so blegh for originality, hehe
Anyway, I love the colours (tones, hues) of both covers, the sense of unreal especially on the first book.
Those covers are works of art, so detailed!
I like how the skull really captures the focus and you don’t really notice the travelers. They’re almost an afterthought.
I particularly like the character Harper and his relationship with Brogan
Exploring the remains of giant gods is pretty interesting. Adds some incredible perspective.
that cover is just one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. just brings up feelings of my old d&d scenarios.
I have really liked all the art on the books as of late, I find the new cover perplexing, and inviting to my curiosity. It makes me want to know more, and intrigues me. Makes me ask questions like are those bones even gods, do gods even have to be large. Well either way am excited
Wow. The colors are great on the cover, but they way it conveys the scale is pretty epic.
The scale between of the bones and the people shows the danger for the men when going against Gods. Just seeing the bones is enough to frighten most but these men but it won’t deter then from their mission.
I read The Last Sacrifice and loved how dark and compulsively readable it was. Extremely well-written. And both of those covers are badass!
So I have not read the first one, but now I want to because of this cover. God and ordinary men–seems like a great story.
I dig how the cover depicts the gods as monstrosities, dwarfing the humans and making them realize how petty they are in the lives of these deities. Then again, the humans are alive, and the god is nothing but ancient bones…
I like like how the whole cave is a skeleton. It really compliments the title of the book.
Pretty good and creepy. It also looks like it is giving birth and the heroes and the heroes now need to go back to the core (their origins).
Wonderfully evocative cover. The epic scale of the fossilized skeleton draws the viewer into the fantastic possibilities of this novel. Can’t wait…
LOVE the giant skeleton. It makes me wonder how the tiny little fighters are going to be able to take one of those things down. Coming from a Dungeons and Dragons background, I really do think about stuff like this! 🙂
I love the illustration, especially the way two focal points direct one’s eyes to two different areas of the [pictures: the group at the bottom of the page and the head of the mysterious skeleton. The fact that the title also cuts the cover exactly in three parts accentuates the effect. Kudos to the artists (illustrator and graphic layout)
Eeeeeek! That’s an amazing cover!!! <3
The covers are so striking. You cannot help yourself but to pick up the book and start reading.
The books seem like good grim dark fantasy and I hoping they will be as good as ‘James A. Moore’s last series ‘Seven Forges’ from ‘Angry Robot’ ( which was a fast paced epic which kept me guessing as a reader as to what might happen next).
As for the covers these two did give a sense of the immense scope of the challenges ahead of our heroes.
Yeah that cover is great! Drew me in right away! I love a good Dark Fantasy, this one looks to fit that bill. I am currently reading my Favorite series called Feast of Fates by Christian A. Brown, love that series. I was sold on his cover and was rewarded with a great series, this one has my attention and I imagine I will be rewarded again!!