City of Lies
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4.0 • 4 Ratings
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
I was seven years old the first time my uncle poisoned me...
Jovan wears two faces. Outwardly, he is the lifelong friend of the Chancellor’s charming, irresponsible heir. He’s quiet. Forgettable even. But in truth he is a master of poisons and chemicals, trained to protect the Chancellor’s family. Then there is his sister, Kalina. She hides her frustrations behind a mask of serenity. While other women of the city holds positions of power and responsibility, her path is full of secrets and lies - some hidden even from her own brother.
It's when the Chancellor succumbs to an unknown poison and an army lays siege to the city that the siblings' world begins to truly unravel. Trapped and desperate, they soon discover that the society into which they were born and grew up also possesses two faces - for behind the sophistication and the beauty lies an ugly truth - this is a world built on oppression and treachery . . .
This fabulous epic fantasy debut that will appeal to readers of Joe Abercrombie and Terry Brooks, Robin Hobb and Mark Lawrence and all points in between.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Australian author Hawke launches her Poison War epic fantasy series with this exhaustive and imaginative expos of capitalistic corruption. Wealthy, cultured Silasta, the Bright City, is threatened from without and within. It's under siege by the downtrodden and vengeance-bent workers called earthers, whose exploited labors have sustained it, while it rots within from one betrayal after another among its privileged families and members of the guilds. Jovan is an apprentice secret proofer, someone who tests for toxins (often being poisoned himself in the process) and develops their antidotes. He's devoted to protecting Tain, Silasta's politically naive new chancellor, from the poisoner who killed Jovan and Tain's uncles. Jovan's sister, Kalina, too physically frail to proof, has espionage skills that prove crucial to the city's survival. Hawke's often violent and always detail-oriented narrative dwells heavily on episodes of the protracted siege as the springboard for political commentary, chiefly through Tain's experiences of growing into maturity as a humane man and pragmatic ruler. This colorful and exciting tale occasionally stretches the limits of belief, but fantasy fans will still enjoy it and eagerly anticipate its coming sequel.
