The holidays are coming. And I’m sure the biggest question on your minds is: What is Fantasy-Faction getting us and when do we get to open it?? Well. The answer is awesome and today!
The lovely folks at Solaris Books have given us the privilege of sharing the cover for Adrian Tchaikovsky’s next novel, Redemption’s Blade. And what a cover it is! But before we delve into the art, let’s do a little refresher on author.
Adrian Tchaikovsky started his foray into SFF with Empire in Black and Gold, first of the acclaimed ten-book Shadows of the Apt series published by Tor UK. His other works for Tor UK include standalone novels Guns of the Dawn and Children of Time and the new series Echoes of the Fall starting with The Tiger and the Wolf. Other major works include short story collection Feast and Famine for Newcon Press and novellas The Bloody Deluge (in Journal of the Plague Year) and Even in the Cannon’s Mouth (in Monstrous Little Voices) for Abaddon. He has also written numerous short stories. In 2016 he won the Arthur C. Clarke Award and he has been shortlisted for the David Gemmell Legend Award and the British Fantasy Award.
Impressive right? And let me just say, if you’ve not read any of his works, you are doing yourself a great disservice.
“But, I’ve read all those books,” you say. “What about Redemption’s Blade and that sweet cover art you promised us?”
Patience, my dears. The cover art is coming. First let’s set the stage with the official blurb:
Ten years ago, the renegade demigod known as the Kinslayer returned. His armies of monsters issued from the pits of the earth, spearheaded by his brutal Yorughan soldiers. He won every battle, leaving burnt earth and corruption behind. Thrones toppled and cities fell as he drove all before him. And then he died. A handful of lucky heroes and some traitors amongst his own, and the great Kinslayer was no more.
Celestaine was one such hero and now she has tasked herself to correct the worst excesses of the Kinslayer and bring light back to her torn up world.
With two Yorughan companions she faces fanatics, war criminals and the monsters and minions the Kinslayer left behind as the fragile alliances of the war break down into feuding, greed and mistrust.
There’s not much I can add to that, besides saying you should all be adding it to your to-read lists. So instead, here is the cover created by the super talented Tomasz Jedruszek!
Since I started working for Fantasy-Faction I have seen my fair share of covers. Many of which have included grand battles and sweeping landscapes. But this is one of the few that shows the aftermath and utter chaos that comes when the fighting is finished.
Crows circle a field of dead bodies piled in heaps beside their swords and shields. What’s left of a grand tower leans precariously to one side. How do you go about fixing this, healing this? How do you put back together a country torn by war and destruction?
This seemingly impossible task is what lies before our hero as she stands alone overlooking the carnage that came before. It takes a brave soul to fight the coming darkness. It takes a braver one to help return the light. What I see here is a woman about to take the first step on a journey that will tax her to her core. One that many would give up on before they even began. But one she knows she needs to travel. And I personally cannot wait to see her do it!
Redemption’s Blade is due out in July 2018. We would like to thank Solaris again for letting us share this brilliant cover art with you. If you’d like to learn more about this and Adrian’s other works you can visit his website or follow him on Twitter @aptshadow.
That is a glorious cover!
I’d never heard of Adrian until Children of Time, and then I was like, I MUST READ ALL THE THINGS. Treat yourself if you’ve not touched a book of his before.
That cover looks great, but I’d probably buy the book regardless because it’s got his name on it 🙂
This cover is absolutely amazing! Ugh I just wish that it was being published hardback instead of paperback, Adrian’s stuff really deserves it as does this cover lol