Seventhblade
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
“Laird delivers a gripping tale with a strong message that fantasy readers who enjoy action and adventure will relish.” — Publishers Weekly
“Deftly written with intricate worldbuilding and vivid characters, Seventhblade is fantasy at its finest … and I need a sequel!” — Allison Pang, writer of the Abby Sinclair urban fantasy series
For readers of N.K. Jemisin and Rebecca Roanhorse, a fast-paced, anti-colonial action-adventure fantasy that explores twisted power dynamics and the effects of settler colonialism
After the murder of T’Rayles’s adopted son, the infamous warrior and daughter of the Indigenous Ibinnas returns to the colonized city of Seventhblade ready to tear the streets asunder in search of her son’s killer. T’Rayles must lean into the dangerous power of her inherited sword and ally herself with questionable forces, including the Broken Fangs, an alliance her mother founded, now fallen into greed and corruption, and the immortal Elraiche, a powerful and manipulative deity exiled from a faraway land. Navigating the power shifts in a colonized city on the edge and contending with a deadly new power emerging from within, T’Rayles risks everything to find the answers, and the justice, she so desperately desires.
Loaded with complex characters and intricately staged action, and set in a fragmented, fascinating world of dangerous magics and cryptic gods, Seventhblade is a masterful new fantasy adventure from a bright emerging Indigenous voice.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This stirring fantasy debut from video game writer Laird serves as a condemnation of settler colonialism, a celebration of Indigenous wisdom and practices, and a testament to the power of a mother's love. T'Rayles, a "halfsoul" (or part human, part god) of Indigenous Ibinnashae heritage, is devastated to learn that her son has apparently died on a hunting trip with other young men from their village. Then she learns that his death was in fact a murder, spurring her into a quest for revenge that takes her to the settler city that gives the book its name. As T'Rayles accumulates allies and enemies, readers gradually learn the history of the Ecrelians' colonialist intrusion and subjugation of the Ibinnas. Some of the characterization falls flat, like the almost cartoony Elraiche, a vain and selfish exiled god who intercedes in T'Rayles's quest and takes over as narrator for some chapters. Still, Laird delivers a gripping tale with a strong message that fantasy readers who enjoy action and adventure will relish. It's a promising start.
