Online marketplace Amazon know a thing or two about fantasy books, they list around 170,000 of them, so when they say ‘you need to read this book’ you need to read that book! For this reason their yearly ‘best of fantasy / sci-fi award’ is highly contested because a lot of people do follow their recommendations and pick their chosen book up either for their own Christmas read or as a gift to a loved one. To win the award then the book needs to be the very best example of a modern fantasy/sci-fi novel, have mass appeal and do something a little bit differently or a little bit more special than anything else that has been released that same year.
Well, this year the book that achieved all that, according to Amazon, was Bloodsong by Anthony Ryan. We’ll give you a full blurb in just a second, but essentially this is an epic fantasy about a living legend who lives life by the sword. It has a writing style that sits in-between Patrick Rothfuss and Joe Abercrombie (see why it won now?), a bold plot that feels fresh enough whilst adhering to our favourite epic parts of the fantasy genre, deep characters (and kick-ass pets) and a dark, dangerous atmosphere. All that said, although there are A LOT of battles, A LOT of kicking ass and A LOT of death, there’s also some smirks to be had from the witty dialogue too. Here’s Amazon’s paragraph on the book:
Vaelin Al Sorna’s life changes for ever the day his father abandons him at the gates of the Sixth Order, a secretive military arm of the Faith. Together with his fellow initiates, Vaelin undertakes a brutal training regime–where the price of failure is often death. Under the tutelage of the Order’s masters, he learns how to forge a blade, survive the wilds and kill a man quickly and quietly. Blood Song is a powerful epic fantasy debut.
On having won the award, Orbit books have said that they are: ‘incredibly excited’ that their ‘fantastic debut’ picked up this ‘well deserved accolade’. Anthony, well, he was far more modest and, if excited, hid it well saying that the award ‘happened’ and that it was ‘nice’. Certainly, many of the Fantasy-Faction team agree with Orbit and would like to congratulate Anthony on a reward well-earned; you can read our review of Bloodsong here.
