The Sin in the Steel
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Ryan Van Loan's The Sin in the Steel is a sparkling debut fantasy set in a diverse world, featuring dead gods, a pirate queen, shapeshifting mages, and a Sherlockian teenager determined to upend her society.
Heroes for hire. If you can pay.
Buc:
Brilliant street-rat
Her mind leaps from clues to conclusions in the blink of an eye.
Eld:
Ex-soldier
Buc’s partner-in-crime.
No. Not in crime—in crime-solving.
They’ve been hired for their biggest job yet—one that will set them up for a life of ease.
If they survive.
Buc and Eld are the first private detectives in a world where pirates roam the seas, mages speak to each other across oceans, mechanical devices change the tide of battle, and earthly wealth is concentrated in the hands of a powerful few.
It’s been weeks since ships last returned to the magnificent city of Servenza with bounty from the Shattered Coast. Disaster threatens not just the city’s trading companies but the empire itself. When Buc and Eld are hired to investigate, Buc swiftly discovers that the trade routes have become the domain of a sharp-eyed pirate queen who sinks all who defy her.
Now all Buc and Eld have to do is sink the Widowmaker's ship….
Unfortunately for Buc, the gods have other plans.
Unfortunately for the gods, so does Buc.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Van Loan mixes derring-do and dark intrigue for an action-packed, coming-of-age debut, the first in his Fall of the Gods series. After being accused of murder, brilliant 17-year-old tactician Buc and her partner in adventure, 19-year-old ex-soldier Eld, are coerced into working for the powerful Kanados Trading Company. If they can discover why certain company ships have gone missing of late, and find a way to stop whoever's behind it, Buc and Eld will be cleared of charges and rewarded quite handsomely. But as their journey takes them to far-flung ports and into the thick of an ancient plot hatched by warring religious factions and enigmatic gods, the duo may not survive to collect their payment. Their swashbuckling adventures pit the Sherlock Holmesian Buc and her best (and only) friend against pirates, zombies, and shape-shifting mages with equal aplomb. Buc and Eld are charmers, and their easy yet still growing camaraderie will make readers feel like they are witnessing a long-established relationship. Though Buc's own motivations remain hidden for much of the tale, the memorable foes and edge-of-your-seat entertainment more than make up for this minor frustration. This is unadulterated fun.
Customer Reviews
It was meh
To start off my review, some of my comments are going to be probably unpopular opinions. I feel like I’ve seen this before. On a movie. With pirates, only the main character in that was a lot more entertaining, and I actually liked him. I won’t say exactly what I’m talking about, but it felt very similar to an already existing franchise. And that’s okay. I did enjoy this book, it just felt like I had seen it before when I’d liked it a lot more.
Wins
- Ryan Van Loans writing style is very rich. I don’t know how else to describe it, but his setting the scene, and world building was super impressive. I didn’t feel like there was a lot of fluff like I’ve noticed with books lately, and the writing flowed very easily.
- Some of the characters were amazing. Chan Sha has got to be one of my top 15 characters of all time. She was absolutely amazing and I loved her
- The fact that we got a book that swears as often as these characters do. It was extremely refreshing, but maybe it’s just the YA books i read. I did enjoy that Ryan didn’t mind going there
Opportunities
- I didn’t like Buc in the slightest. She was meant to be a very strong female hero who pushed the boundaries, and I just felt like she was a spoiled, know-it-all rude character. Eld was super uninteresting and I’ve met him before, and didn’t like him then either.
- It wasn’t super original. What actually happens is different (obviously) but it just felt like it’d been done before
- I don’t know why this is becoming a trend, but I really don’t like it. When we go from first person for 90% of the book, but there’s 10% that’s in third person. Those parts are extremely jarring in any novel, and I really don’t like it, and don’t understand why it’s becoming more common.
- How “smart” Buc is. I’m doing a separate bullet on this solely for the fact that it wasnt a plot device to advance the story, it wasn’t necessary, but we heard a lot about the books she had read and what quotes came from it. It felt unnecessary to me. And it annoyed me the way she flaunted it. especially when she was all about books in the beginning and that’s never brought up again.
- I didn’t love the ending. This would’ve been better as a stand-alone in my opinion. I will check out the second book when it comes out to see if I like it, but it could’ve definitely stood alone.
All in all, I didn’t hate this book. I feel like this review is very criticizing at this point, but I did enjoy the story. It was a fun quick little read that I would’ve enjoyed a lot more when I was a bit younger. I probably would’ve liked Buc as a teenager, but as an adult she was far from one of my favorite characters. Ryan’s writing style is very unique and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the world, and hopefully the next book centers around a certain character whom I loved!