Yet More Reviewspam...

Wotcher,

Bit of an unscheduled Reviewspam update, since you only had one a day or so ago, but a bunch of new reviews have landed on my lap.

First off, Angus over at Fantasy Literature gives five stars to Paul Kearney's Hawkwood and the Kings.

"Kearney’s battle scenes are the best I have ever read in fantasy, or even empirical history, and that includes the likes of Steven Erikson and George R.R. Martin... I strongly recommend readers of good epic fantasy everywhere to buy The Monarchies of God, now."

Angus then goes on to give four and a half stars to the second half of the Monarchies of God series, Century of the Soldier.

"A familiar story about the human condition that is freshly executed... Kearney’s battles are vivid, intense, alive, brutal, and bloody... The political drama is quick, intelligent and exciting."

And then Mark Chitty over at Walker of Worlds gives Eric Brown's Engineman nine out of ten.

"All in all I would highly recommend Engineman - it's got great characters, great tech and a wonderful story that is nicely wrapped up at the end. It's also the sort of sci-fi that doesn't throw the science in your face and uses it as a background detail to tell the story rather than depending on it. Another favourite of mine!"

Many thanks,

David

Reviews of The Monarchies of God

Hey all,

This is a bit of a one-off Reviewspam Special, but it's not often you get this kind of feedback, so I thought I'd blog about this individually.

Yagiz Erkan, over at the Speculative Book Review, has just given us these two kickass reviews of Paul Kearney's The Monarchies of God Volume 1: Hawkwood and the Kings (click here for the review) and The Monarchies of God Volume 2: Century of the Soldier (click here for the review).

And the dude's given Paul ten out of ten each time!

So check out his reviews, and if he persuades you, check out the books...

David

The Comp of Kings!

Hi all,

Well, we're in a charitable mood. Or else there's something weird in the water here. Either way, we're proud to announce our latest competition, the Comp of Kings.

In honour of the releases of Paul Kearney's The Monarchies of God omnibuses (Hawkwood and the Kings, out now, and Century of the Soldier, due out next month) and Rowena Cory Daniells' The Chronicles of King Rolen's Kin trilogy (The King's Bastard and The Uncrowned King, out now, and The Usurper, due out next month), we're holding an all-kings-themed competition.

(by way of illustration, here are King Tutankhamen, The Lich King, Alison King, Stephen King, The Burger King, Martin Luther King, Jr., King Henry VIII, a King Charles Spaniel, King, and the King:)

"Very nice," I hear you cry, appreciatively, "But what exactly is this competition, David? What do we stand to win?"

I'm glad you asked. The two winners will each win a complete set of one of our current monarch-related series; one will receive both The Monarchies of God omnibi (here are those gorgeous Pye Parr/Andrew Evans covers again for you):

...and the other will win all three The Chronicles of King Rolen's Kin books, complete with book-plates signed by Rowena herself! (here are those kick-ass Clint Langley covers again):

"All very well, David," you persist, "But what do I have to do?"

Nothing simpler. Just jump on here, or on our Twitter at @SolarisBooks, and tell us who your favourite fictional king is and why. We'll probably weigh in with our own favourites, purely for the sake of the debate, although, naturally, we're excluded from the competition.

We'll leave the competition open for a couple of days; probably decide on a winner next Monday or something.

Commence!

David

Yet More Art Teasers for Monarchies of God!

Hey all,

The talented and scruffy-haired Pye Parr has produced another blog post about his work on the Monarchies of God; this time, naturally, on the second volume, Century of the Soldier.

Read it here.

While we're at it, Andrew Evans (the CGI artist who created the helmets and weapons on both books) has also set up a blog, including a blow-by-blow description of how 3D rendering is achieved. It's pretty interesting stuff:

Hawkwood and the Kings Post

"How it was done"

So don't say we never do anything nice for you.

David

More Art Teasers for Monarchies of God!

Hey all,

Having just sent Paul Kearney's The Monarchies of God Volume II: Century of the Soldier off to press, I thought I would share with you some of the final sexiness as a taster.

Above are the beautiful covers - helms and weapons lovingly created and rendered by Rebellion's Andrew Evans (this is the sort of stuff he makes for 3D computer games, so it was pretty much right up his street) and background and design by our own Pye Parr - and they're just awesome.

Below are the maps from Volume II. Those of you who looked at the earlier blog post about the maps from Volume I will recognise the first two - although note how the vicissitudes of war have changed some of the names - but see how the map rosette has changed from the Christian-inspired Ramusian symbol from Volume I to the Muslim-inspired Merduk symbol in Volume II.

If you're as stoked as me by these books, rest assured that The Monarchies of God Volume I: Hawkwood and the Kings is due in stores in August, and The Monarchies of God Volume II: Century of the Soldier is due in September.

Schweet.

David