The Last Shield by Cameron Johnston

Look, Cameron Johnston is on my insta-buy list, but he already had me with "a gender-flipped Die Hard set in a mysterious castle". So, The Last Shield pretty much checked all my boxes as I read it. First off, our main character, Briar, is not some young slip of a thing who's going to save the world while making goo-goo eyes at some shadow daddy. She's an older, stubborn-as-heck warrior – a commander of the elite Shields whose task it is to protect the lord of Sunweald and guard the stronghold – a structure that's rather ancient and may well have a secret or three buried deep. Secrets that are, in my opinion, better left undisturbed.

But here's the rub. Briar's not young. She's got a gamey knee, and she's no longer at the peak of her physical fitness. In fact, she's pretty darned close to retirement. And while she's had a pretty good track record keeping her charges safe, she's well aware of her own shortcomings. Even if she will do her utmost not to admit this to anyone – which at the start of where we meet her in the story, we see is to her detriment.

I don't want to hie off into spoiler territory, and the tagline of this book pretty much already tells you that shiz will be sailing south in a big way, what I can tell you is that *any* of Cameron's novels will have a) plenty of humour, b) oodles of ultra violence, c) a cracking pace, and d) meticulous research. 

It's the latter that I really do appreciate – he knows his weapons and tactics. He creates a believable world that feels plausible, even if we're dealing with the supernatural. As a woman fantasy reader of A Certain Age, I appreciated reading a strong female lead who works around her physical handicaps and relies on her experience, her sheer determination and stubborn will, and her wits. Briar is up against what appears to be an insurmountable obstacle, with multiple foes who are stronger and better armed than her, and yet she doesn't let that stop her. Yes, her knee is killing her, she's uncomfortable most of the time, but she's also gosh-darned unstoppable. She's also a frigging good role-model for a young king-in-waiting who doesn't end up going full Joffrey. (And thank goodness for that.)

Anyhow, this was a cracking good read, with action, mystery, and magic aplenty, in a setting that recalls themes of the European Bronze Age. 100% recommended for lovers of sword-and-sorcery fantasy with a side order of dark humour.

God of Broken Things (Age of Tyranny #2) by Cameron Johnston

I am so late to the party on this one it's not even funny. This book has been sitting on my TBR pile for YEARS. God of Broken Things is the sequel to Cameron Johnston's Traitor God, in which we encounter the Tyrant magus Edrin Walker, who although much maligned by his fellow magic wielders, at the end of the day is the only one who possesses the power and the fortitude to scrape their collective posteriors out of the flaming frying pan. The reason why everyone hates a Tyrant is because their magical powers allow them to get inside others' heads, and no one is a fan of mind control, especially when the person with that power isn't a particularly nice individual. Which Edrin isn't. He's entirely self-serving and often snarky, with no regard whatsoever for social hierarchy, and this is magic combination that's never going to win him friends.

But for all his irreverence, he's not a bad sort, and all told is quite fun to hang around precisely because he doesn't give a toss about the things that matter in high society. His understated, often darkly absurd observations of the goings on around him are what made me keep on reading – if Edrin took himself too seriously, these novels wouldn't be half as entertaining. 

In God of Broken Things, we see our hero mucking about in the aftermath of the Big Bad that pretty much wrecked the city of Setharis in book one. Except he and the rest of the Arcanum (the mages who rule the city) face an even bigger bad that makes Edrin and his powers look like a minnow. And he's packed off back to the region where he grew up – to face not only the Even Bigger Bad, but also the things in his past he's been doing his darndest to avoid dealing with. I'm not going to spoil, but all I'll say is he has a really creepy gran. Oh, and did I mention that there was something that was even worse than the Even Bigger Bad? 

Of course he doesn't have to go it all alone – he has a few of his fellow magi from the Arcanum, including my favourite, Eva – a knight who in many ways is the perfect opposite of Edrin – and the interaction between the two is rather special. 

Now, Cameron doesn't do anything by half-measures. This is the second of his novels that I've read, and if epic, world-destroying cataclysms*, with a side order of demons, ravening hordes, and inter-dimensional beings blows your hair back, then you'll be in the right hands. The Age of Tyranny duology packs a whopper of a punch, with piles of action, cinematic battles, a rich, varied cast of characters, and some deeply fascinating world building while Cameron's at it. This is a fire cracker in the fine old tradition of GrimDark fantasy and well worth the read if you're looking for a story that will dance with all your favourite tropes but then pull a few sly ones when you're not looking. 

*If the old ultra-violence isn't quite your thing, then maybe skip this round, okay?

The Traitor God by Cameron Johnston

Every once in a while a review book that ticks all my boxes lands on my desk. The Traitor God by Cameron Johnston is just that. Smart-mouthed protagonist, check. An ancient, degenerate city filled with awful people, check. Mages and dark magic, check. Plenty of backstabbing, skullduggery and less-than-savoury, morally ambiguous characters, check.

Edrin Walker has been on the run for a decade, part of his mind locked away from him so that crucial parts of his memories of one fateful night in the city of Setharis are locked away. He’s done something terrible – he knows that – but as for what exactly, we’ll find out once he does. Not only is he a wanted man, but he’s also a practitioner of a rare kind of magic – of being able to manipulate people’s minds that labels him as a tyrant. Which is another black mark against his name.

When his bestie, Lynas, dies, Edrin (who happens to have a pack of bloodthirsty demons on his trail) is compelled to return to Setharis to solve Lynas’s murder and save the lives of the people he loves, whom he left behind all those years before.

Part murder mystery, part noir(ish) fantasy thriller, The Traitor God had everything I look for in a fantasy epic – in gory bucket loads. I can only describe my level of enjoyment as on par with all the reasons why I love games like Dragon Age so much. Johnston has nearly as much lore that he feeds into the story, trickle by trickle, so you feel as if you’re stepping into an ancient world oozing history. All the excitement. All the nail-biting boss battles and well thought-out magical systems.

His pacing is also on the mark; not once does he allow Edrin a moment’s respite, as he gets embedded into one untenable situation after the other – leaving me asking, “This can’t get worse, can it?” And then it does. Of course it does. And I found myself compelled to read (yet another) chapter. I especially loved the fact that he cleverly foreshadows many outcomes early on – so everything that happens early on in the story, has consequences later. He doesn’t shy away from violence either, and just a warning to squeamish readers – things do get rather messy near the end.

My question now is, when do we get the next instalment? I haven’t had this much fun with a fantasy novel in ages – this is most certainly one of my highlights for 2018. Johnston’s done a fantastic job, and if you enjoy the likes of Mark Lawrence, you’ll be right at home here.