The Ruthless

The Ruthless by Peter Newman is a fantastic 'Part 2' of what will be a trilogy, charting The Deathless.
The action picks up exactly where it left off, although sixteen years have passed, allowing the babies of the book to be all grown up and therefore more involved in what's happening.
The likeable characters of Book 1 are there, Sa-at, Pari, Vasin, Chandi as well as a few that we didn't like so much.
The world created by Newman continues to be vivid and downright 'weird' and there were a few times when I felt a little 'itchy' so good were the descriptions of The Wild!
All of the characters are set on paths that will see them coming into contact at one point or another, and the end is entirely satisfying, leaving me with many questions still to be answered, and a fear that something really BAD is going to happen in the concluding book of the trilogy.
I read this book in just over 24 hours. It's entirely absorbing, wonderful 'weird' and incredibly rewarding. Newman uses words to great effect and I just 'got' exactly what he was trying to portray. I really can't recommend it enough.
Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy.
I will be 'singing' about this series whenever I get the opportunity.

Another fantastic book from the author of the brilliant Vagrant series, this book being the second in the Deathless series. I loved this one just as much as the Deathless and look forward to the author's next book.

This book was fabulous, a real page turner. My favourite characters were Lord Vasin, Lady Pari and Mother Chandri. I loved reading about Sa-at and his life with Crowflies. It's a complex world, with lots of engaging characters. The only downside to this is I'll have to wait ages for the next one.
I will definitely be recommending this to everyone.

This is the second in a fantasy series - and no, you can't start here, go back to book one if you haven't read it already! Run!

The Ruthless follows on from The Deathless, a tale of epic dynasties, where select members of the ruling families can live forever using a 'godpiece' which sort of saves their soul until it can be passed on into a suitable family member at the right time. With this privilege comes politics and subterfuge and Sapphire family is showing its cracks just as book one ends.

The Ruthless begins years later. Lord Rochant's descendant Satyendra - who is not what he seems - is almost of age for Rochant's soul to be imported into his body, but he will do anything to avoid that happening. The Lord might want to live forever, but so does he!

Meanwhile his counterpart Sa-at, alone in the Wild far below the castles and the Deathless, living among the demons and trees, is feeling a pull he doesn't understand to go and explore the human world.

At the same time, Lord Vasin and Lady Pari (now in a new body) are still enmeshed in the Deathless' struggle for power among the houses as anger towards Sapphire increases...

There's a lot going on, and the book moves quickly, but there just isn't enough of it. I wanted more pages! How long until book 3?