I cashed in my outstanding Velocity Points a month ago and opted to choose a $30 gift voucher from Dymocks Bookstore in Melbourne. The voucher came some weeks later and I duly made my trip to the city to swap it for books. I found two books, namely The Wolf by Leo Carew (a fantasy) and The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu (sci-fi).
I took all of 3 days to complete my read of The Wolf (454 pages). Published only this year and a first novel for English writer Leo Carew, it lived up to expectations. Carew has been described as the new RR Martin and who am I to disagree.
Carew sounds a very interesting bloke who is prepared to live well outside his comfort zone. It is worthwhile to check out his blog at https://leocarew.com/, in particular his winter living in solitude on an abandoned island in the Outer Hebrides. Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP8xYxkgUPo, where he talks of the book from his isolated Outer Hebrides seclusion, and indicates he is currently writing the sequel.
Here's a quick summary of the book's main premise.
A grand-scale historical fantasy set in the frigid wilds of the Black Kingdom, Carew’s stellar debut novel—about a young lord forced into a perilously complex situation after his father is killed in battle—is an action-packed and blood-splattered tour de force.
One of the main features is the wonderfully vivid picture he paints of the Anakim and their Black Kingdom. Entirely geared towards war, their bodies are quite literally built for battles.
Of course, like all good fantasy (RR Martin, David Gemmell, etc) the book is full of nearly superhuman heroes who always win in battle and who quickly recover from their many wounds. Ah, if only we had such bodies!
A wonderful read. Highly recommended.
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