Oh my gosh!
The Deathless had ne hooked from the first page! Absolutely loved it! Newman has smashed it out of the park again with this new series and it has everything a reader could want! Excellent writing, brilliant plot and I just cannot wait for the next installment!
Bring it on!

It is always a pleasure to discover a new and interesting fantasy world and Peter Newman has definitely created one here in my opinion. This tells the story of House Sapphire, one of the ruling Deathless families who come under attack from assassins in an attempt to end their family line. Simultaneously we have the Wild in which live demons of many forms that can be appeased, but at a price. Firstly, I always enjoy a tale from multiple perspectives and this one follows four people as they navigate the political and demonic dangers surrounding them. I will say that it took me a little while to get into the narrative, but once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The world is well drawn and has a scope that feels expansive. I also really like the notion of the Deathless - the way in which they re-live lives and how that impacts on their decisions and behaviours. I am eager to read the next instalment as there are some cliffhanger elements to the end here that I can't wait to have explained.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is another great fantasy story from the author of the Vagrant series (which I loved). The world building and characters are just as well written as in the earlier series and I am looking forward to reading the next book in this new series very soon.

Received ARC from Harper Voyager and Netgalley for honest read and review.

I have read Mr Newman's first series,The Vagrant.And I thought I would give this ago as well.So glad I did.
Another brilliant all consuming book that sucks you in does not let go until the end. All characters are brilliant as usual, with such distinct attributes that you just have to like them all in their own way.
It has everything you Ned demons,ghosts,immortals and a handful of stunning characters that are really entertaining.

His writing is such a joy,but you have just have to go with it and enjoy the ride.Cannot wait to read book 2.

House Sapphire, one of the ancient Deathless families is one of the seven timeless royal families, born and reborn into flawless bodies. When villages disappear and assassins strike, the family is riven by suspicion and grief.

This one took a little while to really get into because there are multiple main characters and a lot of world building to establish. A few info dumps can be forgiven. I thought the concept was really original, but after a while it started feeling contrived and my interest waned.

There's a lot of political intrigue, assassins and action that just slightly exceeds believability. I wondered how the elite families justified effectively stealing bodies from their own grandchildren!

The characters were a little confusing at first as there were a lot of them and they weren't different enough to make it clear to someone who was just dumped into this fantasy world with no prior knowledge. An okay Fantasy.

Newman tips us right in the middle of the action – to the extent that at one point, I flipped back to ensure I was reading the first book in the series. But that’s okay – seeing as one of my hobbies is crashing midway into series, this approach works for me. I certainly prefer it to those stories that take forever to wind up into anything approximating an adventure. The world is overrun with demonic creatures who attack humanity – even the vegetation in the wild forests exact a price to keep them from attacking those desperate enough to seek refuge within such a lethal landscape. What stops the world from being completely overrun are the immortals who live in floating castles powered by crystalline power and the godroads, also crystal-enhanced which attacks and repels all demon-touched flora and fauna.

There are seven main dynasties who maintain their borders and keep all within them safe by their regular hunting expeditions. Until one House doesn’t and a village goes under… The House Sapphire is a mess after one of its most important representatives is accused of consorting with The Wild and is disgraced, before being driven out to fend for herself. Even more devastatingly, the vessel that houses her immortal soul is broken, so that once her current life ends – that’s it – she won’t be reborn into a young, healthy body, again.

The worldbuilding is fabulous – Newman manages to evoke a real sense of tension and menace once outside the castle walls, while providing an insight into what it’s like to live within the castle. I also liked the progression of the story and the pacing, which is really well-handled. The only problem I had was that while there were multiple viewpoints – only one of those characters really appealed, and that was Lady Pari, who is brave and sufficiently wilful to break the rules so she can be with her lover.

I appreciate the characters are not all good or bad – but most of the scions of the crystal families seem to be selfish and vengeful. They certainly seem to have forgotten that their primary vocation is to keep the wild safe for the mortals not fortunate enough to live in a floating castle. But as the adventure unspools, people are pushed to their limits outside their comfort zones and we get to see what they are made of.

I became increasingly absorbed in the story as it wore on and by the end, I was thoroughly engrossed – and I’m keen to read the next slice of the adventure. Because, as things stand – I have no idea where Newman will next take it. While I obtained an arc of The Deathless from the author via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own. Recommended for fans of well written, fantasy with a strong, unusual world.
8/10

The Crystal immortal Deathless face an enemy in the Wild, but one Hunt will shed light on the plans and schemes lurking under the surface of their perfect society.

I was initially quite excited to read The Deathless - although I hadn’t read any of Peter Newman’s other books, I had heard The Vagrant had gotten some great reviews. The book also has a such great blurb that I was really drawn in and eager to read it. I must admit, however, that I was quite disappointed with The Deathless. I understand that the book is set up to be the first in a trilogy, which usually means there is a lot of set up and world building which can feel a little slow before the main story line kicks in. However, I actually found myself crying out for more explanation and backstory of the world. The blurb tells us of ‘seven timeless royal families… fight to keep the Wild at bay’, yet we are only told about one of them – House Sapphire and very little of anyone else. The Wild felt very thinly drawn out – I wanted to know why these creatures existed, what they wanted and what they had done before but it was all kept very hush-hush. There were other things that I wanted to know more about – for example the animals in this world are all ‘kins’ (dogkin, mousekin) etc and described as having one human eye – no other explanation is given and the animals act like normal animals – how were they made? Are they natural or human-made? For a book that is very entrenched in politics, it felt like there were no stakes for the reader as we weren’t drawn into the world through backstory and narrative.

The story is told through 3 main perspectives and the truly odd perspective of an infant child which I thought was very jarring. It felt like that was the only way Newman could think of to tell that part of the story after the child left the adults. The three characters all felt a bit samey and to tell you the truth I didn’t empathise or really care what happened to any of them. Pari in particular should have been a really intriguing and feisty character whom I should have automatically been rooting for but she was just as bland as the other three. The writing just didn’t inspire me and the characters and plot meant I was happy to put the book down after this first instalment and not pick it up again for books 2 or 3.

Overall The Deathless had such great potential from it’s blurb but got lost in lack of world building and bland characters. Thank you to NetGalley & HarperCollins UK – HarperVoyager for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

While this story was action packed for the start, I found it difficult to follow at first as I didn't full understand how the deathless system works and felt I was playing catch up. As I understood more the story became vaguely interesting, but I struggled to finish it and wasn't really invested in any of the characters. I won't be continuing the series.

The Deathless are seven royal families who live in castles in the air, occasionally deigning to save some of the people below them who are forced to live next to the Wild, which is as dangerous as the name might suggest.

In each royal family there are a number of godpieces which allow a soul to be stored after death, so that same soul can be born into another body (a relation) when said body is ready.

But of course when eternal life is confined to a limited few, turbulence naturally arises. House Sapphire, with whom we spend most of the book in one way or another, is showing clear cracks in its armour.

Lord Rochant is between lives when there is a sudden attack on his descendants. If they're all killed off, he won't be able to be reborn again. Somebody wants him out the way, but who and why?

We end up following one side with lots of secrets, a small group on the run, and a smaller group trying to protect them - I ended up sympathising with them all. To say much more would be spoilery!

I really enjoyed this book. The world felt very different to most fantasies I read and I was especially intrigued by the creatures of the Wild. The characters felt real and distinct from one another and the story kept surprising me. In fact, now I'm really keen to read the next one as I can't guess what's going to happen next.

I really enjoyed this book - the concept was so new and exciting. I loved all the plotting and political intrigue, and the depths of the back story that allowed it to be so intriguing. The characters were so well-conceived, especially the Deathless characters who were like nothing I'd ever come across before. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for something new in the fantasy genre.

A common word that jumps at me while reading Newman's latest novel is "sparse". There's not much going on and the writing feels a bit bland. Although the story begins at a relatively quick pace, which I appreciate, there isn't much that kept me interested (I finally called it quits on page 353) and I won't be continuing the series. Other than creating a confusion when writing about the different character perspectives, something George R.R. Martin and John Gwynne make an effortless transition of, I think this novel will mostly be focused on those looking for technical things such as sentence structure, world-building, and other speculative fiction-related areas.

A very interesting and intriguing story that at first I wasn't sure I would finish, I think I must have been having a bad hair day because the more I read the better it got, I preferred the vagrant books but this is certainly worthy of a read and I look forward to the sequel later this year

The Deathless follows three characters, two Deathless Vasin and Pari and a high lady Chandni, who has just given birth to a future Deathless host, Satyendra. The concept behind this story is fascinating. The Deathless are a godlike race who live in floating castles and when their bodies die their consciousnesses are placed into the body of one of their descendants. The world is apocalyptic, the only safe way to travel is by the Godroads, which connect the The Deathless castles and the rest of the world is a dangerous one, known as the Wild, where creatures will kill you given half the chance. It is a rich world and wonderfully created by Newman.

There is also a fourth POV but I’m not going to say anything more so you don’t get spoiled. It was a very interesting POV to use, that’s all I will say.

The story begins with an assassination attempt. What follows is a tale of politicking and revenge with the beginnings of something with the baby in relation to the wild which, although not explicitly stated just yet, looks like it is going to be very interesting indeed.

I really loved this world Newman has created. It is just so unique and well done. Newman describes it wonderfully and the depth of the world just makes it so much fun to read. I love the political structure, the houses of the Deathless who are supposed to protect the people from the Wild but now it seems that they aren’t doing a very good job of it and I can’t wait to see just how badly that comes back to haunt them. The Wild seems like a genuinely terrifying place to have to be near and the floating castles are just pure fantasy. It is excellent.

I very much enjoyed The Deathless. The characters were interesting and well written. Vasin’s desire for revenge for what happened to his mother is his driving force and I enjoyed reading how that plot developed over the course of the novel. Chandni’s desperate desire to save her son was admirable but what she does is obviously going to be one of the main threads in the series. It took me a while to warm to Pari, she seemed very cold at the beginning and a little obsessed by Lord Rochant, who is a very important character and his story really interests me especially as it seems to be the catalyst to a lot of the bad things that are happening, but by the end I very much enjoyed just how she managed to play the game and her plotting and politicking was excellent to read.

I actually think I preferred The Deathless to The Vagrant. As innovative as The Vagrant was, I preferred the story in The Deathless. It felt very well written, coherent and intriguing. The characters were all interesting and well rounded and the world was excellently realised, it is the star of the show. I am very interested in continuing with the series, it was quick to read and not overly complicated but the level of political intrigue in it pleased me greatly. A lot of fun to read.

This is the book I've been craving without knowing it.

It's seriously excellent.

I love the tight focus on a limited number of characters, it really helps you get inside their heads. Every character is so well defined it's easy to tell who is talking etc. The family dynamics are wonderful.

I also love that you are constantly kept guessing as to who are the "bad guys", I flip flopped between who I was supporting almost every chapter.

The world building is fantastic - one of the best I've seen in a long time. The opening chapters are a masterclass in how to deliver the pertinent details properly. (I fully plan on studying this for how to improve my own writing). The world itself is really interesting.

The pace suits the story - ripping along nicely.

The plot is exactly the kind I love - simple on the surface delivering a cracking, complete story but with a suitably complex nuanced undercurrent. The hooks for future books are there but I'm sure I've missed a couple :)

I'm itching to read book 2.

My thanks to Harper Voyager, and Netgalley.
I've wanted to read this author for awhile now, but it wasn't a priority. Then I saw the ads for this, and I knew I had to read it!
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depends I guess. I was given a preview copy for review, "for which I'm always grateful for." This book sounded like the bomb! I think my main problem is that although I am someone who believes in the grey, meaning not black or white, this story was almost offensive to me. Folk are black and white in this book. No, not literally. I mean they live high, "floating castles" or.they live low, "with demons." Meanwhile, playing as bait, waiting for the privileged to save them. What? That's offensive to me. Just is People who live in floating castles, and can live forever. They die and are eventually reborn into their bloodline. Meaning they push a soul out of its original form into who knows where, just so they can be reborn and live again. It's a silly thing, I know, but for me, who isn't religious, I worry about souls. not religious, but believe in the soul!😢😕 It's a canned conundrum! Where does a lost soul go? I honestly didn't stay around enough to learn If Mr. Newman even addresses this issue. Even when I read stories like this, where arseholes rule above all, I can almost always find someone that I'll side with. That was not the case here. I'm my head, I just imagined me with an axe that never gets dull, and me just chopping. Like I'm Jack and the Giant beanstalk. Just chop, chop, chopping those castles down. I'm sorry, but I'll give most book 30 to 40%, but at this pace, if I've not found anyone I like, and moreover, many that I despise, then I won't continue. I probably wouldn't read anything by this author again. Mostly because he does have quite a few books out. He should be seasoned by now. To my reckoning, he's just not that good. I will say that the writing was fine, and also the pacing. But, I just did not like this story. Would I recommend this? Dude, whatever floats your boat. I've read the reviews. Some like this and will continue with the series,.others like me would prefer to choke to death on a mentholated sucrets before I had to read this again!

The Deathless by Peter Newman is a stunning work of fantasy.
It is a much easier read than The Vagrant books (which I loved for their sparseness and downright weirdness, and would recommend to everyone), but the world created is still vibrantly strange. The first few pages draw you into this new world and immediately grip. There is no huge dump of information, and many readers will read on, mouth agape, wondering just what is going on. If you're in two minds at this point, just carry on. It is worth it.
With the introduction of more characters, the strangeness occasionally lapses, the characters really quite human with their concerns, and ambitions, but it's never far from the reader. We are reminded of The Wild, The Deathless and the land beneath the castles of The Deathless repeatedly, and the main action takes places both in the sky and below it.
It is truly a stunning idea, realised, and my only quibble is that the ending is too sudden, and too much is left unanswered. I'm sure this will be resolved in Book 2, and I look forward to reading it in June 2019 (hint, hint, nudge, nudge.)
Thank you for the review copy.
I will post on my blog for the day of the paperback release.

Many thanks to Harper Voyager for inviting me to read and review this title



The Deathless is the first volume in a new series by Newman and looks set to be every bit as accomplished as his Vagrant trilogy. I deeply appreciate the way Newman launches the reader into a new world and trusts them to keep up, rather than stuffing 500yrs of history in an endless prologue or similar. This is a different take on epic fantasy with plenty of darkness and best of all, a twisted and sinister wood outside the crystal castles and godroads. The characters were well developed and the world building was superb. Highly recommend this dark fantasy treat for all fans of the genre.

I am so disappointed that my first encounter with Peter Newman’s work was such a letdown. I wanted to abandon it several times, but I kept going telling myself that something will improve, and the story will get better. (after all, Robin Hobb rated it 5 stars). Unfortunately, it didn’t. Not for me, at least.

The idea behind the worldbuilding is great: there are 7 ruling families, whose members are virtually immortals, their souls being ‘reborn’ in another body after the current ones die. The families are named after 7 gems (Sapphire, Tanzanite, Ruby, etc.) and they have crystal armors built (sort of an exoskeleton) from the respective gems, having wings and being able to fly.

They live in floating castles, along the Godroad and beyond that, on the ground, there is the Wild, a cursed land, full of monsters. The families are bound to protect villages from the Wild and to keep the monsters at bay.

It could have been a great story if the plot and characters would have been better written. Such a pity they were not. Everything seemed artificial: from the characters’ behavior to their actions, schemes and dialogues. It is true that not everything is explained in this volume and I guess in the sequels there is much to discover, but because I didn’t root for anybody in this volume, I don’t think I will continue with this series further.

The writing also seemed flat to me, no passion in the words whatsoever, nothing to keep me on edge. There were moments that did spark my interest on a couple of occasions, but they were not pursued further or the scene was suddenly terminated and the narrative thread switched to something else half a page later.

I don’t want to deter anybody from reading it; maybe I’m used to other writing style than Newman’s. It’s only that this one was not my cup of anything at all.

This was a slow to engage masterpiece.
The first few pages, I was confused. Who? What's going on? How are they doing this thing? - you are thrown into a jungle of things happening and there is no audience-character to be the guide you need to tell you what is going on.
But, I carried on reading. My confusion notwithstanding, the writing is easy to devour. Then, slowly, I got sucked into the world of the Deathless, and the Road-born. I started to see the grand arcs that are possible when a soul is 'revived' time and time again. I saw how the great houses would fester and nurture grudges, and the expanse of things that could happen. Then, I was hooked.
I still want more explanation (like more about the god roads, the crystals, the magic system, etc) but I know I have to be patient. I have a feeling this set of books is going to drag me happily in for the long haul.
I also loved following the selected characters. I liked them, I disliked them, and I still wanted more from everyone. I have to say Sa-at is my favourite though! So mysterious!

All in all, a sprawling fantasy epic that I inhaled in one sitting, awake til 3am to finish it, and I highly highly recommend this to any fantasy lover - fans of Roth, Greyfuss, Hobb and suchlike will love it.

Ten stars out of five!

I can definitely see why Peter Newman has such a fan following. The worldbuilding here was great: I love how the rebirth system worked especially and how a lot of what is going on in the Wild is still left ambiguous, especially fitting given its place in the story and reminding me a lot of fae legends. Likeable characters with morally grey agendas (I especially want to see more of Pari) and some fun plot twists. Definitely excited to see where this series ends up going!