Summary: The Black Coast by Mike Brooks is a great epic fantasy that focuses on a tense integration of two cultures, and delivers with style. It's not perfect, but it shines through its characters and action.

Recommended for those who like interesting cultures, and the deconstruction of cultural beliefs</li><li>Not recommended for those who want non-stop action or a straight-forward good and evil tale</li><li>Recommended for fans of R.J. Barker's Boneships, and similar tales of optimism through hardship</li><li>Not recommended if you are looking for beautiful or elaborate prose

From the blurb: When the citizens of Black Keep see ships on the horizon, terror takes them, for they know who is coming: for generations, Black Keep has been raided by the fearsome clanspeople of Iwernia. Saddling their war dragons, the Naridans rush to defend their home only to discover that the clanspeople have not come to pillage at all. Driven from their own homeland by the rise of a daemonic despot who prophesies the end of the world, they have come in search of a new home.

Our two main viewpoint characters are Daimon & Saana, retrospectively leaders of the Black Keep and the Brown Eagle clan, as they try to integrate their peoples peacefully. Most other viewpoint characters stem off from these two, mostly antagonists, or those close to one of the pair. There are three more viewpoint characters - Rikkut, who is building reputation as he fights for the demon that cause Saana and her clan to leave their home; Tila the Naridan Princess and secret crime lord travelling to Alaba on a deadly mission; &amp; Jeya a young urchin and thief in Alaba . The latter three viewpoints take up very little of the book, and only Rikkut's storyline intersects with the main plot in this book.

I loved the primary plotline. There's something incredibly cathartic about watching characters try so hard to fight past their own fears and prejudices for the betterment of everyone involved. The Naridan's and the Brown Eagle clan have very different cultural norms. Naridan society is roughly feudal, and the noble culture feels closely related to that of the Samurai. The Brown Eagle clan feel more like Nordic raiders, although there may be a closer analogue that I'm not knowledgeable enough to have noticed. Most of the plot consists of Saana and Daimon having to deal with the consequences of their cultural integration.

As an example, early on, to Saana's horror, a Naridan man gets overly touchy with one of her clansman (causing a fight). In Naridan culture, this is not a problem, other than the consent issue, but the raiders believe that homosexuality is unnatural. On the other hand, in Naridan culture, women have less rights than men, which is thought of as ridiculous in clan culture. Brooks takes a nuanced approach, and neither side get to hold the moral high ground as tempers flare and fade, and both cultures are enriched as they become aware of their own shortfalls.

Language plays a role in these books - in Narida, status is conveyed with purpose in their speech. A lord speaking to their people would refer to themselves as 'this lord', whereas he would say 'this brother' when talking to a sibling. In Alaba, while we see little of the consequences of it, inflection on pronouns denotes gender (on the page shown as accents) and there is distinction between high masculine, low masculine, high feminine, low feminine, genderless and the gender neutral formal, the latter of which is not a gender, merely a refusal to openly state their gender in a formal setting. All of this adds great extra flavour to the cultures.

There is very little magic in this book, with one particular exception, although it seems like the plot is setting up for more to be introduced in further volumes. The dragons mentioned are not your typical dragons, in a way that I loved. Honestly if I was a marketing team I would have leant into it, but it seems that it's being kept intentionally mysterious until they appear on the page.

The prose is fine, but nothing special, and the plotlines of Tila and Jeya felt a little generic and out of place when compared to the main focus of the book. Neither really get much of a satisfying ending - which is a contrast to the main plot, which ends very solidly, in a place that left me wanting more, without me cursing the author.

There are some excellent duels to be found, for those who like them - I'm less in favour of detailed fight scenes than I once was, but the combat here is fast and visceral, with a genuine sense of danger, even for the protagonists.

In terms of characters, Saana is the standout, chief of her clan, single mother, who cares for her people and has a mean right hook. Daimon is perhaps a more traditional protagonist, being a young noble with a cold father, but he still has enough nuance to be interesting to follow. There are many good side characters too - especially Nalon, who used to be Naridan until he was captured by the raiders many years ago, and gets stuck in the middle; and Tsolga, the grandmother and clan caller who has Saana's back and is on the lookout for a fourth husband. The antagonists felt somewhat weakly developed, but it didn't detract much from the rest of the book.

Ultimately, I would heartily recommend this to most fantasy fans, with a few small caveats. The action is punchy, the characters are complex, and the story about two cultures trying to integrate is both entertaining and aspirational.

The Raiders haven't been seen on the Black Coast for a decade, so when the Brown Eagle Clan of the Tjakorshi arrive in force on their shore, Daimon and his stepfather, Lord Asrel, ready for battle. But Saana, the Brown Eagle Clan chief, has a proposal for them, she doesn't want to raid, she wants to settle. However, if the Blackcreeks turn her down, her raiders will kill everyone and take the land. Lord Asrel doesn't believe her and prepares to fight, forcing Daimon to betray his stepfather and invite the Brown Eagle Clan to stay. Daimon saves many lives that day, but his actions put his own life at risk as a traitor.
Rikkut is chasing the Brown Eagle clan across the waters on The Golden's orders, a draug who wants to unite the different Tjakorshi clans. The Golden is furious that Saana's clan has fled, and has vowed to destroy them all and whoever is sheltering them. Daimon and Saana's uneasy peace might be shattered before any progress is made.
Told mainly through Daimon and Saana's point of views, The Black Coast explores the cost of moving to a new place and learning to get along with those we might once have called enemies. It is full of tension and incidents which put the Saana and Daimon in conflict with one another as much as they want to work together.
There are many interesting aspects to The Black Coast, making it stand out from other fantasy novels. Nariada has a complicated referral system based on the gender a person identifies as. A person's masculinity or femininity affects personal pronouns' inflexion as much as how high or low born they are. Until someone identifies their gender to you, within Nariadan culture, it is polite to refer to someone as "they" regardless of what gender they may appear. It sounds complicated, but as a good portion of the narrative is in Nariadan, it quickly becomes natural. Compared with the Tjakorshi way of life, which has no movement on gender or single-sex relationships, it is much more accepting.
There are other points of view, such as Rikkut and Tila, the Naridan God-King's sister, Natan. Rikkut shows us what Saana and her clan have fled from which ties into the main story, but Tila's story takes us to a separate storyline.
Natan is without an heir which leaves his family at risk of being usurped by a distant family line who claim to have the Splinter King, a rival for the title fo God-King. As Natan has no heir, then Tila must have the Splinter King and his family assassinated and find a suitable male child to adopt. This strand has very little to do with Daimon and Saana, but I'm sure will come together later in the series.
Which leads me to the next point that struck me. There is some action in the book, but the narrative is carried forward by Daimon and Saana's attempts to find a way passed their history of violence and distrust, which is juxtaposed with Tila trying to kill the Splinter King's family. While it was refreshing to read of characters trying to work through their differences, it felt a little slow in pacing. Sometimes the same incident was looked at through three different points of view, Daimon, Saana or Zhanna.
Also, the breaks from the action at Blackcreek to Alaba are few and far between, and a little disjointed. A few days might pass in Blackcreek before heading back to Tila, but she is still where we left her. I wanted more from her because the whole book starts with her plans, yet we see so little of her.
The Black Coast put me in the unusual place of saying I enjoyed it, but I feel it could have been shorter. It has the hallmarks of being a scene-setting novel, so the reader understands the differences between the Alaba, Nariadan's, and the Tjakorshi and prepares us for an invasion from The Golden, and that the real story is yet to come. Whatever criticisms I have are minor, and I can't wait for the next instalment.

Mainly laid on the idea of two clashing cultures attempting to find a common road to peace, this fantasy hits different from the usual epic fantasy objectives of absolute destruction and conquering. But nothing about this understandably more perceptive goal compromises the tension meant to keep you interested in a world filled with terrestrial dragons, subtle magic, monster threats, brave knights, and royalty with grudges since brutal assassinations and warfare tactics are evidently impacting. The diversity in terms of linguistics, traditions, gender, and beliefs is a huge propeller of the thriller undertone of this fantasy, especially when the multiple narrators and the highly surprising manner in which dialogues were exchanged clearly influenced by the fictional language's demand pulls one back. Overall, a great start to the series.

↦ will post the review on blog + goodreads in the first week of february ↤

I really enjoyed this story, it was quite slow at the start but I suppose that's to be expected with the world building that is going on. The characters are rough and quite annoying at times but by the time I was half way through I had managed to connect with them and their crazy ways.

The only real problem I had with this book is the way they all speak about themselves in the third person, I just couldn't get used to that but I did really enjoy the concept and journey the author takes you on, and hope there is more to follow

When I saw The Black Coast on NG, I thought immediately it sounded like something I would enjoy. Unfortunately, it ended up being the opposite. I found it really hard to get a grip on all the different characters and their POV’s. While I liked the premise, I found I just couldn’t fully engage with the story, which was a shame as it really sounds great!

The Black Coast by Mike Brooks is one of my favourite books that I read in 2020. It was refreshing to read a story in which two groups of people try to find common ground and live together, rather than the usual kind of warfare or pillaging. By switching between the perspectives you experience the fears and hopes of both parties first hand.
It was fascinating to discover the traditions and values developed by different kinds of people. The raiders are more progressive towards equality, but on the other hand, lack the tolerance for same-sex relationships. You can probably guess that the Black Keep settlers see things exactly the opposite way.
The only thing that takes a little bit to get used to is the way the language of the people is structured. People refer to themselves in the third person, based on the way they want to be perceived by the other person. Let’s give you an example: A king addressing his subjects would say: “This king greets the people of this town”. But talking to his wife he would say: “Your husband loves you very much”. The king sees himself more as a husband than a king towards his wife.
The first couple of chapters obviously explain that concept in more detail, but towards the end of the book, it will feel natural. It turned out to be a handy tool to describe the relationship between people without going into too much detail.

What an enjoyable fun ride!

The Black Coast is a little different from the fantasy books I've read of late. It focuses more on whether two sets of peoples who have been warring together till now, can put aside their differences to live together in peace. We always read about wars so it was refreshing to read a book where the main focus wasn't that. I really enjoyed it. As we are introduced to different societies in this world, we see how different these societies actually are - be it with gender identities (love that one of them had more than 5 genders and you could choose what you wanted to be identified as), gender roles (some where women are equals while in some women have no rights), and their stance on same-sex relationships. So it's interesting to see them trying to bridge the gap despite all their differences.

I really loved all the characterisations in this one as well! My favourite has to be one of the main female characters --Saana Sattistutar, who is almost 40, a mom, a warrior AND a clan chief. Oof.

My only quibble was that there were just too many POVs for my liking, some of which I believe were to set up for the next book but didn't have much importance in this one.
Aside from that, The Black Coast was a pretty solid read with some great characters, an interesting plot and also some non-flying war-dragons (sorry, I had to mention them).

4.5 stars
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Orbit Books, for providing me with an e-arc of this book. My opinions are my own.

I just finished reading this book and I can only say, wow. This was such a surprising book! It has all the elements of a great epic fantasy, without getting predictable. Moreover, there are some elements I hadn't seen before and I now only want to read more of!

Let's start at the beginning. The Brown Eagle Clan of the Tjakorshi has narrowly escaped certain death by a demon taking over their lands. They cross the ocean in search of a new home.
The Naridan city of Black Keep make ready to defend their home to the Raiders coming from across the sea... They're more than a little wary of these long standing enemies who want to settle now instead of fight.

It was so refreshing to read about two leaders of very different people to want to make it work. To give everything they have to ensure peace between them, to avoid bloodshed. Especially in the world we live in now, it's nice to read about people with different backgrounds trying to understand and even learn from each other's way of life.

While the storyline at Black Keep is the most prominent in this book, there are a few others. So many things are going on in the world beside this town by the sea. I can't wait to see how these storylines will progress in further books, and how the events at Black Keep will weave into that!
I loved that each country has its own customs and language. A country that has more than two genders is something I have not yet seen in epic fantasy so far. Not in human races, anyway. I thought it was very well executed, too!

Oh, and did I mention war dragons? Because there are war dragons. Not the kind of flying beast we're all used to, but fearsome creatures nonetheless.

Honestly there's so many things I could say about this book but you all just have to go read it when it comes out! It's well worth your time and you certainly won't regret it!

ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 stars

The Black Coast is a good story about two different cultures trying their best to find peace.

I haven’t read any books by Mike Brooks before, and if I may be honest, I’ve never even heard of the name Mike Brooks before I saw the cover reveal of The Black Coast. The cover art of The Black Coast is done by an illustrator whose works I’ve followed for a long time. I was both shocked and elated when I found out that Orbit hired Finnstark to be one of their cover artists. As always, gorgeous cover art for a book by an author whose work I haven’t read was the main reason why I decided to give this a read. Okay, that and “War Dragons” on the official blurb.

To put the premise simply, The Black Coast is the first book in the God-King Chronicles series, and it revolves around two different cultures—the people of the Black Keep and the Tjakorsha—doing their best to cooperate with each other. This is a big book; it’s almost 700 pages long. Although actions and dangers are aplenty, the main theme of the story is heavily centered around finding this path to peace and cooperation between the two cultures. Both groups of people have a lot of pent up malice for each other, and the differences in culture/upbringing/languages mean the path to peace will be a difficult one.

There’s something about The Black Coast that felt genuinely refreshing and different to read. It’s not often we get to read epic fantasy books that have both main characters so focused on working things out between each other. And this doesn’t mean the narrative wasn’t imbued with tension and conflict. As I said, finding cooperation between cultures isn’t an easy task to do, especially when both groups already have their fixed perspective and pent-up hatred towards each other. This is also why I found Daimon and Saana Sattistutar to have the most compelling POV chapters to read in this book. Both of them know that to achieve this state of peace between each other, a relatively monumental task has to be constantly repeated.

The world-building was great; the importance of genders, cultures, identities, and languages was well fleshed out. Brooks’s writing was accessible and his characterizations for Daimon and Saana were incredible. Honestly speaking, the only reason this book didn’t receive a higher rating from me was that I couldn’t find myself compelled with all the other POV characters besides Daimon and Saana. There were more than 5 POV characters, but for more than half of the length of this book, all the other POV characters other than Daimon and Saana felt more like they’re preparations for future books of the series. Fortunately, Daimon and Saana shared the most pages compared to anyone else in the book.

I do believe that The Black Coast will be a book well-loved by many fantasy readers next year. A few reviewers I know have been super head over heels over this book, and I’m quite sure that I most likely will be in the minority with my rating. I gave this a rating of 3.5/5 stars (or should I say 7/10). It is still a good rating, of course, but if I had found myself invested with all the other characters besides the two main POV, I’m sure I would’ve loved it even more.

Official release date: 25th February 2021 (UK) and 16th February 2021 (US)

You can pre-order the book from: Book Depository (Free shipping)

The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions

I was looking around for an interesting fantasy series when this book became available to me, and was just what I was looking for. (I had a copy of this book early through Netgalley.)

In many ways this book covers many familiar fantasy elements. There is a Viking-like race, knights, dragons (who are more similar to dinosaurs than the usual aerial type), thieves, a lost prince, a cunning princess, but I found it all came together in a satisfying and well-crafted mix.

The most interesting story is the interaction between the Tjakorsha raiders, and the people of Black Keep. After I read the author′s notes at the end, it struck me that it is quite rare to read a fantasy book where the main thrust of the story is people working out how to get on with each other instead of engaging in war. This doesn′t mean there′s a lack of action since there are duels, assassinations, clan warfare and an invasion. But there′s also the logistics of how to organise things when only a couple of people speak the other language. Between all the societies there′s a wide variation on how people treat gender and relationships, with some unexpected variations. The people you might expect to be tolerant can have blind spots, and your own assumptions can catch you out.

My favourite character is Saana Sattistutar who as well as being the clan chief is a middle-aged mother with a teenage daughter. Saana is admirable in that she is trying to do her best for her clan, but she does get setbacks and has to try and work out how to get past them.

The book is obviously the first in a series, and there are stories to be resolved but there were no majof cliff-hangers. I am really looking forward to reading the next one.

Loved, loved, loved! It's the excellent start for a new fantasy series, a gripping and highly entertaining story.
I loved the excellent world building and characters and the plot that kept me hooked.
Can't wait to read the next book in this series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the views expressed in this review are my own.
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Wow! What an absolute delight! There are way too many things to love about this explosive start to what is definitely going to be one hell of an amazing series.

Brooks has an incredible technique of breathing life into characters. While the story, setting and pacing of this book were flawlessly executed, it's the characters that stood out the most for me.

I really don't want to spoil or give away even a little bit and, quite frankly, the blurb teases the reader just the right amount and so all I can say is if you're a fan of good writing and amazing characters then you don't want to miss out on this one.

Overall rating: 4.5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Everything you ever wanted in a book, even things that you didn’t know you wanted, set in a changing world. It tackles all sorts of topics relevant to our own world but used as a base for threads in this story, skilfully woven by a true craftsman. Unlike any fantasy I’ve read before. As with all really good books, it keeps you on tenterhooks, takes you places you weren’t expecting to go, and makes you believe in it.
Hopefully the next book in the series won’t be too long in coming.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest opinion.

This book was everything i wanted to read ! This is epic, well written and brilliant ! I can't wait to read the sequel

I am still reeling so forgive me for the incoherence. This was an incredibly detailed, intelligently thought out fantasy novel wit amazing world and culture building. What's knocked me off my perch is that instead of the typical war and struggle for dominance between two cultures, what Brooks has given us is the decades later aftermath where two cultures strive together to create something inclusive for both of them. This book is about a world changing for the better, and like all things being born, this comes with attendant birth pains. I found the focus on the small acts that even unimportant people can do resonated especially strongly with me. And no this is not all sweetness and light. Things go wrong. There's conflict. But the upshot is the most hopeful fantasy novel I have ever read. Highly recommend.

Aright. Okay. I’m gonna be up front from the start and say that I fucking loved this book.

What we have here is basically an epic fantasy that involves two cultures coming together in a way that strives to make both better. A Tjakorshi clan has arrived at the Black Keep not to raid, as they may have done in the past, but to settle. Not everyone is thrilled with this idea, of course, but important figures from sides work with each other to find a common ground.

The Black Coast is the book that I didn’t know I needed. Not only do we have decent people working towards something better, but there’s so many little nuances about what that work involves that really spoke to me. This can involve sons speaking out against powerful and violent fathers. Or ordinary people calling out bullshit within their own cultures — misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia — even when the consequences for speaking out might be dire.

It’s these numerous little things that make The Black Coast seem more real, and its message seem more powerful. It doesn’t shy away from difficult topics. It doesn’t absolve anyone of responsibility for their horrible beliefs or behaviours, and doesn’t paint any one person or any culture as without flaws. This book does the work, leading to more natural and rewarding character growth as a result.

There are a few POV characters, but two of these share the majority of the page-time. There is Daimon Blackcreek, adopted son of Lord Asrel Blackcreek, who is forced in the first few chapters to challenge his father and brother in order to do what he thinks is right. Then there is Saana Sattistutuar, head of the Tjakorshi clan that has been forced to flee their homeland in the face of a seemingly-immortal daemonic tyrant. Both have their own people to speak for. Both have their own internal and familial struggles, and their own ingrained prejudices.

There is also Tila, sister to the god-king, and Jeya, a young thief. Their chapters are more sporadic, seeming to set up the foundations for story arcs that may come in later books in the series.

The language of this book also deserves a shout-out. The prose is fairly clear and accessible, but Brooks does some very clever things with the dialogue that I feel deserves praise. Much like some real-world languages, the languages spoken by the characters in this book require some sense of identity. Rather than a simple “I” or “you”, the characters can communicate their stature or their gender, depending on the language they speak.

For example, a Naridian may refer to themselves as “this man/woman”, “this servant”, “this lord”, etc, depending on who they are speaking to. The Alaban language, on the other hand, has the capacity for five or six genders — high and low masculine/feminine, neutral, and agender — which is represented by diacritics on the vowels of their pronouns. This can take a little while to get used to. Naridian, for example, can seem excessively formal at first. But I really appreciated how cultural differences were represented by differences in language. Brooks takes advantages of this on numerous occasions, allowing for the quirks of his languages to serve as a source of conflict or to indicate bigotry.

I’ve said it before, but I loved this book. It was wonderful to read about flawed people challenging themselves, making each other better, and working towards something great. It was exciting to read about armoured warriors riding into battle on the back of dragons. The Black Coast offers everything that a fantasy novel could offer.

I really, really can’t recommend this one enough.

-----Review will be posted on The Fantasy Inn website closer to the release date, following any cover reveal-----