City of Lies

June 15, 2018

In the city-state of Silasta, wealthy families and guild members live in luxury. Jovan is the heir to his uncle, a poison master who protects the Chancellor's family from danger. As the best friend to Tain, the Chancellor's Heir, Jovan must keep the immature Tain out of trouble. When the Chancellor is murdered by an unidentified poison, which also kills Jovan's uncle, the young men get caught up in a political maelstrom involving power-hungry Council members. When the city is besieged by a rebellious army, residents must figure out how to survive. Can Tain, Jovan, and his sister Kalina find a way to root out internal and external betrayals and save the Heir and Silasta? VERDICT This epic fantasy debut weaves political, class, and belief systems into a deftly drawn world, laying fertile ground for exciting political commentary.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 12, 2018
Australian author Hawke launches her Poison War epic fantasy series with this exhaustive and imaginative exposé of capitalistic corruption. Wealthy, cultured Silasta, the Bright City, is threatened from without and within. It’s under siege by the downtrodden and vengeance-bent workers called earthers, whose exploited labors have sustained it, while it rots within from one betrayal after another among its privileged families and members of the guilds. Jovan is an apprentice secret proofer, someone who tests for toxins (often being poisoned himself in the process) and develops their antidotes. He’s devoted to protecting Tain, Silasta’s politically naive new chancellor, from the poisoner who killed Jovan and Tain’s uncles. Jovan’s sister, Kalina, too physically frail to proof, has espionage skills that prove crucial to the city’s survival. Hawke’s often violent and always detail-oriented narrative dwells heavily on episodes of the protracted siege as the springboard for political commentary, chiefly through Tain’s experiences of growing into maturity as a humane man and pragmatic ruler. This colorful and exciting tale occasionally stretches the limits of belief, but fantasy fans will still enjoy it and eagerly anticipate its coming sequel.