I confess to not being a lifelong aficionado of Fantasy, as I am of Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Horror, and Mystery. However, reading Adrian Tchaikovsky's Fantasy is changing that, and thankfully he is as prolific in Fantasy as in Science Fiction.

REDEMPTION'S BLADE is Book 1 in the AFTER THE WAR Series. "After the War" refers to the era of change and clean-up after the slaying by Heroes of one of the most evil villains ever, "Kinslayer," who even murdered demigods. One of the Heroes who triumphed over him is Celestaine, literally a fierce and noble warrior, a woman of righteousness, who embraces as friends former sworn enemies and who pledges all that is in her power to right Kinslayer's wrongs.

This book had a slow start but, as the story picks up pace, you can't help getting invested in this post-war world, its characters, and the quest they embark on in search of a powerful artifact that could change the world for the better—or for worse. Full review to come soon.

received ARC from Solaris and Netgalley for honest read and review.
I have read some other books from Adrian and I was not that thrilled with them,but this was really good,loved the characters and the word building,looking forward to reading more in series

The Kinslayer has been vanquished by Celestaine and now she and her colleagues are at loose ends and need another goal. This comes in the form of a quest to find a magical crown that can restore wings to some of the victims of the war.

Reading this book was like reading the third book of a trilogy without having read the first two parts. The problem is, there are no prior books to inform you so it was hard to keep track of what was going on. The author introduces a jumble of people, objects, creatures and places that are thrown at you with minimal (or no) explanation. Past battles are described, mostly without any real background, and they are irrelevant to the story because they appear nowhere else in the book. For example, this sentence is written a few pages from the end of the book. By then, I had long since forgotten what any of it meant and some of it was new: “The place Kul guided them to was called Grovesendry, part of the fiefdom of the Stipe clan, who had never got on with the Fiddleheads of Fernreame.”

Readers are given information in a very slapdash way. In the first few pages of the book we learn that a Guardian gave Celestaine a sword. Unfortunately, we have no idea who or what a Guardian is until much later in the book. It turns out that they are emissaries of the gods, most of them seem to be missing and they can shape shift. I really needed a glossary. I think that was the reason that I was not all that excited about continuing to read this book, and kept dozing off when I tried to read it.

I really liked other books by this author, but they were more science fiction than fantasy. Maybe fantasy is just not his thing. However, he was really good at describing weird plants and animals and there was some exciting action in the last quarter of the book. The story is complete in this book, but there is a setup at the end for a new adventure (written by another author). I think I’ll skip it. 3.5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

This was a truly epic fantasy but with the best twist... the story was told after the war was won!

I grew attached the the eclectic group of characters and loved how well developed they were.

With every book by Tchaikovsky, I fall in love with his writing more and more.

I'll be picking up more of his books ASAP!

This has turned into a real slog. I love the premise but the execution is just not doing it for me. The setting also just doesn’t feel believable. I think this is a failure of storytelling more than anything. All of the elements for a great, trope-challenging story are there but the story is rather blah, the characters are boring and unrelatable, and the setting just feels like it’s there to give the story a place to happen. None of it feels really compelling.

This is on my DNF pile for now. If I get back to it, and manage to finish it, I’ll post a reviw to Goodreads.

Adrian Tchaikovsky has knocked it out the park once again with Redemption's Blade (review copy from Solaris). This is the post-Dark Lord novel I have been waiting for all my life.

Celestaine is one of a group of heroes who managed to defeat the evil demigod known as the Kinslayer, at the end of a Lord of the Rings-style titanic conflict that managed to - briefly - unite humanity in common cause. But with the war now over, Celestaine is struggling to find purpose and meaning. Adventuring and demigod-killing skills aren't really much in demand these days, and all the heroic ballads in the world won't help someone who is feeling out of place in the world. So she takes a commission to help undo some of the damage caused by the Kinslayer - to find a magic item that might be able to heal a race of winged people who literally had their wings pulled off by the Kinslayer.

Redemption's Blade is the first in a series of novels set in a shared world. As the first one released, Tchaikovsky gets to set much of the world-building, which he has clearly relished doing. This is a world filled with races, places, gods and monsters - and an awful lot of magical relics about the place. It's a great set-up for other writers to explore, and Tchaikovsky uses Celestaine's quest to help set the scene.

It's a novel written with great wit, by someone with a deep knowledge of fantasy tropes. For example, Celestaine owns a magic sword of infinite sharpness, that she was given by another demigod and used to kill the Kinslayer. But it's a pain to carry around, because of the risk you might accidentally cut your own leg off, wears through scabbards incredibly quickly (even ones made from dragon skin) and needs a whole different fighting style (parries don't really work if your sword cuts through everything).

But it's also refreshingly believable about what happens next after an epic fantasy conflict. There are refugees, attempts to rebuild in the rubble, famine and shortages, polluted land and people seeking to profit from the misfortune of others. The human races have fallen back into their usual suspicion and bickering. And Tchaikovsky addresses the problem of what you do with the orcs after the Battle of the Black Gate. Prejudice is rife, but even the Yorughan exploited by the Kinslayer deserve the chance to move on and find a way to live productive lives.

Brilliant fun.

Goodreads rating: 4*

I was not exactly disappointed by Redemption’s Blade, but having gotten a sense of what Adrian Tchaikovsky is capable of, I think I might have expected a little more from this one. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a bad book or even a mediocre one. However, by its very nature, the novel’s premise does not lend itself well to being something to get all that excited about.

For you see, Redemption’s Blade is very much an “aftermath” story. Most fantasy readers are familiar with the idea of the epic battle, or the final showdown that inevitably occurs during the climax of a 1000-page tome or at the end of the long and winding multi-book series. Picture if you will though, a war-torn world where this grand event has not only happened already, but is now more than ten years into the past. Evil in the form of the renegade demigod known as the Kinslayer was defeated, his armies of monsters vanquished back to the foul depths from which they came.

Celestaine was one of the heroes among those who triumphed that day, as the one who personally slew the Kinslayer’s dragon and thus single-handedly removing the tyrant’s most powerful weapon from the field. The Kinslayer himself was soon dealt with after that, and Celestaine became an instant legend. But now, a decade after her victory, our protagonist finds herself jaded with life, struggling to find a reason to keep on fighting. Surprising everyone, she falls into a peacekeeping role of sorts, becoming a champion for the Yorughan, a race of warriors who were forced into the Kinslayer’s service but were left flightless and abandoned after their side was defeated.

The concept behind this novel is a good one, I’ll grant it that. Most classic quest narratives involve our heroes seeking to make the world a better place by removing a source of oppression and misery, which in a lot of cases is the main baddie, but Tchaikovsky has taken this fantasy trope and given in a little twist. What happens when the villain is dead and gone, and the world is still a sick, sad and miserable place? Who do you blame, and what do you fight? The point is, even when you win you can still lose—a lesson Celestaine learned the hard way, when she realizes that while she and others may have beaten the odds that day by defeating the Kinslayer, the world is not a Disney movie where everything reverts to sunshine and rainbows with the wave of a magic wand. To a great extent, this is what made these people’s predicament so tragic and real.

Celestaine, however, was not a character I felt all that interested in, even though I could sympathize with her situation and plight. Despite the author’s attempts to subvert character and genre tropes, his protagonist was still pigeonholed into that boilerplate role of reluctant hero, and there weren’t really any extra layers of complexity to make her stand out. I felt much the same about the story, which featured a relatively light and straightforward plot. In some ways, it reminded me of those old RPG cliché joke charts, in which our questing party must visit 3-4 main locations in order to save the world/galaxy before joining the threads together again for the lead-up to the conclusion, a type of narrative structure that adds a lot of padding but not much actual substance. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the filler-y bits—this being a Tchaikovsky novel after all, he does world-building and character interactions wonderfully—but again, they lacked the depth I’d expected.

I think my problem is that Children of Time was the first book I ever read by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I loved it to pieces, and in a way, that will always be bar by which I will measure all his other books. Probably not fair, but it is what it is. It’s not that I didn’t have a good time with Redemption’s Blade. In fact, I thought the story was very readable, punctuated by fun and clever wit in spite of the bleak setting. It was also a delight to try something so new and different by the author, but I just know this is not his stop form. All the same though, I’ll still look forward to reading his work.

This story follows Celestaine and her friends as they try to fix the fallout after a war.

The world building in this is fantastic and I love all of the characters.

There's no shortage of action on there aren't any lulls that happen in some fantasies which just made me love this book more.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors!

I've tried to get into this book now four times, and unfortunately something just isn't clicking with me.

One sentence review: A grim look at the aftershocks of war on a country and the life of a hero after the battle.

Summary: We follow a war-hero and her unlikely gang a decade after the war. 

It took me a bit longer than usual to settle into this story. I don't know why; the writing isn't bad and the story is interesting. I just struggled to lose myself and felt I had to fight to keep interested to keep reading. Perhaps, this struggle is a side effect of marathon-reading young adult novels. (This doesn't knock the book or the writing in any way. I have this same issue with the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. It is a very rewarding struggle.) 

The world-building and storytelling far outweigh the character development throughout the story. The non-human races of the novel are vivid and distinctive, which can be difficult to find in a lot of fantasy novels. And, the world feels uniquely enriched as a result of this variety. 

Overall, the story is challenging and rewarding in a unique way. I plan on pursuing more Tchaikovsky novels in the near future. 

NetGalley provided an ARC of Redemption's Blade. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for my first exposure to this great fantasy author.

In the war Celeste was a hero, helping to take down the Kinslayer. After the war is a different story. Everyone is rebuilding and now Celeste has a mission to keep going. But thanks to her enemy friends, there’s danger, betrayal and greed. A little confusing at the beginning with a dropped in the ocean sort of feeling. Quickly got to grips with the story. I like how different this one is, it’s not based on the grand adventure good vs evil. Instead it’s based on the aftermath, the journey back where everything is a wreck and fear is still in the air. Smooth flowing, quickly sucks you in and before I knew it was already over. Favourite characters were Heno and Ralas.

The synopsis of Redemption’s Blade caught my eye on Netgalley. I’m on the lookout for new fantasy authors and thought I would give it a go.

Technically, I enjoyed this book. There were clearly defined characters, complicated relationships that made the interaction interesting, a developed fantastical world with some magic and gods thrown in to keep it entertaining. I thought the writing style was strong and the dialogue realistic.

The plot drew my attention: this isn’t a story about the battle against evil. It’s about what happens after that and how people are supposed to deal with peace and avoid prejudice against those who used to be the enemy. Personally, I’m not sure I’ve come across anything that takes that view before. It felt like the forgotten piece of fantasy: what happens once the impossible odds have been defeated and I enjoyed it.

For some reason, however, this book lacked a spark for me. I liked the characters, I could connect with them, but I never developed strong feelings for them. I didn’t have any strong thoughts either way about the situations they got themselves into, or hold my breath waiting to see how they would get out of them.

Celestaine is the main protagonist, a war hero who doesn’t know what to do with herself now the war is over. She’s determined to help those who have suffered in the war, but soon realises she is still seeking glory rather than a genuine desire to help.

She travels with creatures not entirely human. Nedlam and Heno are Yoggs, creatures that used to serve the enemy through no choice of their own. Amkulyah used to have wings and made me think of an elf. Ralas is human, but cursed to never die, regardless of what injuries befall him. Catt and Fisher are certainly not what they seem.

Perhaps one reason why I couldn’t connect with the book was because it took me a little while to figure out the world. The reader is thrust straight into the post-war fantasy world, which is fine. But there are a lot of terms, creatures and references thrown around in the initial chapters that came across a little too strong in order to figure out what was going on. Rather than connecting with the characters, I spent the first few chapters figuring out the world and by then, they were off on an adventure while I scrambled to work out their motives.

The dialogue was realistic throughout though, and on more than one occasion made me laugh. Once you get your head around the world, it is complex and thorough, with a sprawling landscape and more magical creatures that I can remember.

This was a good book – it passed the time on the commute and I enjoyed it. But it didn’t get my heart racing and I could easily put it down. That could just be me: has anyone else read this and got an opinion? I would love to know what you thought.

Imagine the morning after the end of The Lord of the Rings or any other epic fantasy series you have read. Imagine a Gandalf who is actually a cowardly fraud, a kick-ass heroine who suddenly finds employment issues, as well as meaning in her life. Imagine a world coming to terms with almost complete destruction.

In Children of Time this author subverted the various narrative arcs of the space opera; now he does the same with the epic fantasy - and has a lot of fun doing so. Flawed heroes, heroes who have become villains, magic, yes, but gritty realism too - my only gripe with the novel is the actual story, a quest which remains rather vague, even if it culminates in an impressive battle at road's end.

I somehow really found myself enjoying this one!

The "After the War" premise piqued my interest (viz. picking up the pieces after the "good guys" defeat Evil Incarnate) and I found the MC's worldview and voice just really worked out well for me. Also the whole thing had an almost slice-of-life approach to it which I found really appealing and easy to read. Looks like there will be a follow up too - so am interested to see where this story goes!

My first Tchaikovsky was also my first Netgalley review - Children of Time which I really, really enjoyed - since then I have yet to read any other books by him. I feel like I should read more of his stuff though since this is the second book in a row I have enjoyed of his... and although I have the first Shadows of the Apt book I find myself more inclined to start on his stand-alones instead (maybe "Spiderlight" -or- "Expert Systems Brother"?) as I am definitely not ready to make that 10-book-series plunge atm.

Also - I think I will desist from requesting 'galleys until work becomes a little less CRAZY. My brain can't seem to come up with much to say apart from - "ooh enjoyed this, pls read!". Haha.

Source: Netgalley
First Finished: 6thAugust2018

Wow!

This book is simply put one of the best books I've read this year!

As only my second read by this author I wasn't entirely sure what to expect with Redemption's Blade, I mean the idea of the book sounded fantastic, showing the aftermath of a war instead of the usual lead up and during the war encounters we get in fantasy. I was reeled in by the idea but as said I ha no idea what I was actually going to get.

So what did I get? Well, what I got was the most fabulous and entirely gripping fantasy read that struck me like a sledgehammer. It was very different and very surprising in all the very best ways. The characters are well constructed where as the world building and the world mythology is purposely vague so that as you get scraps of the war's, and the world's, story you begin to fill out the details for yourself. Something I also found wonderful was the very distinctive and inhuman races of the world, whether by godly design or by horrific construction, many of the races featured are very different from your regular human inhabitants and that gave the world something extra in my view.

All in all, this book is really fabulous five star read for me and a definite favourite. With the ending lending nicely into future encounters with these same characters I am eagerly awaiting more After The War stories!

¿Sabéis cuando una novela os apetece tanto que dejáis la pila a un lado y os lanzáis directo? Pues algo así me ocurrió con una de las últimas novedades (y digo "una de las" porque el autor es tan prolífico que ya tiene otra novedad más en el mercado, y eso que este libro se publicó hace pocos días) de Adrian Tchaikovsky, autor inglés de fantasía y ciencia ficción. Redemption's Blade es una novela de fantasía heróica (o espada y brujería, como más te guste) con una estructura y tramas aparentemente clásicas pero con una gran cantidad de elementos que no solo la hacen original, sino muy disfrutable.

Tras una larguísima guerra contra el Kinslayer (Mataestirpes), un señor oscuro poderosísimo, Celestine, una de las heroínas que acabó con el malvado villano se queda sin nada que hacer. Su grupo, los Slayers, formado para acabar de una vez por todas con este gran señor oscuro se disuelve. Kinslayer ha mantenido en jaque a todas las razas de este mundo en jaque, principalmente a los humanos. Ha llegado a esclavizar a otras como los aethani, unos humanoides pequeñitos alados a los que ha despojado de sus alas, ha expulsado a los dioses y ha matado a varios de los Guardianes, una especie de semidioses destinados a proteger las virtudes del mundo de cualquier mal. Durante años todo se ha desarrollado y evolucionado en pos de enfrentar y resistir al Kinslayer, pero ¿qué ocurre una vez que ha muerto? ¿Qué pasa con todas las razas de monstruos que este villano ha invocado en el mundo?


Esta premisa me interesaba enormemente. Como ya he contado en alguna ocasión, Tchaikovsky suele revertir muchos tropos del género con el que juega situándolos precisamente en escenarios conocidos. Redemption's Blade sitúa la acción en un mundo de fantasía medieval repleto de razas distintas que buscan un hueco entre sí. Tenemos a los "orcos" llamados Yoggs, a las arañas que habitan el bosque, a los semidioses, y un largo etc. El grupo conformado por Celestine, la protagonista, tiene a su mago, al bárbaro (en este caso una bárbara), al bardo y ella, la paladín/heroína. Además la novela nos dice que acaba de terminar una larga guerra entre el "bien" y el "mal. Y es aquí donde Tchaikovsky mete la pluma. ¿Qué es el bien? ¿Qué es el mal? ¿Quién conforma cada bando? ¿Está definido por una línea clara? Celestine ha acabado con el Kinslayer gracias a una espada mágica que le dio un semidios, el Wanderer, pero ¿qué hace ahora? Como mercenaria, heroína o guerrera necesita, precisamente, toñinas para que su yo tenga sentido. Por ello decide emprender una misión para buscar un objeto mágico que restaure las alas de los aethani, una raza que parece un cruce entre elfos y hadas.

La banda de Celestine, como he comentado antes, está compuesta por los miembros básicos de un grupo de rol, pero en este caso el mago es un Yogg, así como la bárbara. Es decir, con los orcos que Kinslayer trajo al mundo. Para más inri, Celestine está involucrada sentimentalmente con Heno, el mago del grupo y Yogg. Además, a lo largo del libro, el autor reflexiona sobre las metas de los propios personajes, sus motivaciones y las implicaciones que tienen en el mundo. ¿Son las criaturas del mal, malévolas? ¿O quizá actuaban bajo amenaza de muerte y no les quedaba otro remedio que actuar como lo hicieron? La magia en esta novela es otro de los puntos fuertes. En un momento donde parece que la fantasía se decanta por dos vertientes claras: la magia desconocida que surge de una fuente misteriosa, o la magia dura, con un sistema mágico claro (como en las novelas de Sanderson), Tchaikovsky nos dice que no, que la magia está en una serie de objetos de poder. Y en pos de ellos va la banda de Celestine.

En definitiva, como habréis comprobado, he disfrutado muchísimo este libro. Está repleto de aventuras muy clasicotas que referencian a decenas de novelas de fantasía heroica (esto es: protagonistas se meten en un embrolado y se las apañan para salir de este mediante ingenio o la espada). Tiene muchísimo sentido del humor y es divertidísima. Y para poner el broche cabe decir que Tchaikovsky tiene un estilo de escritura muy particular. En apariencia parece funcional y sencillo, pero esconde una gran capacidad para el ritmo. Los diálogos son naturales y la novela no malgasta ni una sola palabra. Algo que aprecio mucho en cuanto a fantasía se refiere. Ah, que no se me olvide decir que esta novela forma parte de un proyecto de lo más interesante. Redemption's Blade es una novela totalmente autoconclusiva (aunque deja la puerta abierta a más posibles aventuras), pero que forma parte de una serie titulada After the War. Parece ser que varios autores van a escribir novelas ambientadas en este mismo mundo y tras ese mismo periodo de guerra. De hecho, la segunda novela, firmada por Justina Robson, está a punto de publicarse bajo el título de Salvation's Fire.

Redemption Blade is a very apt title for this book. The blade in question is a formidably sharp weapon wielded by Celestine who used said weapon with the help of two Yorughan allies to kill the Kinslayer therefore ending a most horrific war.. Now she has a compulsion to try and right some of the wrongs she feels responsible for and find a way to help both sides come to terms with each other and find some kind of peaceful way for them to live alongside each other.
There is darkness and corruption and animosity between the more human like races and the strange races changed and formed by the Kinslayer into something other than what they were. Her two Yorughan comrades originally serving under the Kinslayer raise quite a few eyebrows travelling with her not only because of their size and strength but because they were probably considered to be a threat.
Celestine has no illusions about her task ahead but is determined to try, even as she doubts her own motives. Travelling together the comrades face mistrust, magical artefacts not necessarily in the safest of hands and and somewhat evil people making use of them. The Gods are conspicuous by their absence and some of their fanatical followers want to kill her.
All of this brings up quite a few moral and ethical issues. Violent in parts, excellent character portrayal and world building. Only one complaint It was too short, i am so looking forward to more. Brilliant writing, couldn’t put it down when I started reading it

I didn't know what to expect when I first picked up "Redemption's Blade," but I was pleasantly surprised by every way in which this book confounded my non-expectations. For background: the only other Tchaikovsky work I'd read previously was "Children of Time," which is an altogether different book, and much closer to the "hard" end of the science fictional spectrum; "Redemption's Blade" is fairly straight-up fantasy, and features fantastical races which parallel well-worn special tropes for orcs, magicians, and magically enhanced warriors. There's even a Magical Relic™ in the form of a sword. In a lot of ways the basic character elements would be a good fit with Tolkien, only as far as I'm aware Tolkien's works never featured an interspecies romance, or at least none which didn't involve preternaturally beautiful people and races. (Aragorn & Arwen, I'm looking at you.)

Perhaps that's what I like *most* about "Redemption's Blade": its easy placement next to beloved-but-problematic and popular works of fantasy, and its quiet rejection of the norms and tropes and stereotypes of those works. Tchaikovsky gives us a glimpse into a landscape after the battles have already been fought and won (or lost), a tour of the tricky post-conflict politics and socio-economic world pulling itself back together. What does it mean to be a hero when the war is already over, and nobody came out clean? What does it mean to fight for peace, exactly? And what room is there for the "strong female" character in epic fantasy? "Redemption's Blade" asks all these questions, and finds nuanced ways to expose the flaws and assumptions present in the questions themselves. A worthy read.

This is a story about what happens after a war. How people cope, how they try to get back to normal, and how they move on.
The Kinslayer and his armies of Yorughan killed everything. Anything in their path was crushed or corrupted. He made magical abominations and released them on the world. He did unspeakable things.
And then he was killed.
Celestaine and her two Yorughan companions are three of the heroes that had a hand in his death. Now, she wants to right one of the many wrongs committed by the Kinslayer. He chained the Aethani and forced them into his mines. But not before he cut their wings off. Now, Celestaine and company are searching for magical artifacts that could help them get their wings back.
Along the way, she sees what a toll the war took on the world and wonders if anything will ever be the same again.
This book was pretty good. I thought it was slow in spots though. The way it was written kind of made me feel like I was missing something, like a first book. Other than that I thought it was pretty good. I will definitely check out more from this author.