Cry of Justice by Jason Pratt
Cry of Justice is the first book in a planned trilogy. A small band of soldiers led by their Commander,Portunista, make there way through Mikon after a large and terrible war has ended. They find themselves at a tower, on a mission set by Portunista, to get a hold of what was left there by another maga. Believed to be abandoned, they are surprised to find themselves surrounded by armies and other magi that they must fight to keep the Tower.
As I have mentioned before, this was a difficult book to get through because of the style of writing and the way the book is laid out. Some parts almost seem to be written in riddle. I had to reread passages to make sure I understood what was being said. The story jumps between the main narrator and the journal entries of two of the main characters. It also jumps in time making it all the more difficult to get a good grasp on the story.
However, once I got comfortable with the style and got past the first 50 or so pages, the story did get easier to follow and the characters became more interesting. The world and races of people that Jason Pratt has created is very imaginative and different than anything I have read. What I really wish this book had, though, is a map. A map like the one on the ceiling of the tower. Also...a glossary. There are a lot of names and terminology I would have liked explained more.
An interesting and well thought out book.
3/5
A map I can't do much about (yet, maybe). But I'm hoping to add a glossary to the forthcoming trade paperback version. (Or, maybe it would be better to provide a website link. Once I have a website. {g})
ReplyDeleteThanks muchly for the review! {bow!}
JRP
Jason- I would definitely visit that website. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen does the next book come out?
Won't be this year. Tentatively, next Valentine's Day. Realistically, sometime next year whenever. {g}
ReplyDeleteBook 2 (Edge of Justice) is already written but hasn't gone through the rhythmical polishing stage. Book 3 (Song of Justice) is mostly written, but I'm lacking the final third (that book's Macro-Fight Sequence and the plot-and-action scenes leading up to it. The "MFS" is what I call those multi-chapter action sequences I include in every book. The Tower fight was the MFS for CoJ, of course. SoJ will have no less than two, one of them at about the halfway point, and already written.)
I'll be contacting all previous reviewers for CoJ when EoJ is closer to release. In fact, my plan currently is to release Books 2 and 3 simultaneously with a reprint of Book 1, in trade paperback formats. So you'll likely have both books as an option for reading. (Book 2 ends with a bit of a 'sharp-cliffhanger', to coin a phrase that you may recall from Book 1. {g} I don't want readers to have to wait to find out what happens next.)
JRP
Ah, very nice. It is hard to wait for the next book when there is a cliffhanger. Thanks, Jason.
ReplyDeleteHere's the jacket-promo text for Edge of Justice. (Except that I don't know where it will go on a trade paperback!)
ReplyDeleteBeware that there is on serious spoiler at the end for those who haven't read CoJ!
*********LOOK AWAY NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T READ COJ************
Doomed Lovers
A Doomed City
The saga begun in Cry of Justice continues...
As winter approaches the border of the Middlelands of Mikon, Dama Portunista marches her newly established Emerald Army south, back to a civilization already ripped and bleeding from international war. Her goal: to seize a city as her base of operations.
The outpost city of Wye, set in the saddlepass bridging the lands of Noi and Lemalsamac, seems to be the best and nearest choice--but other armies are also marching across Mikon, and Wye is already well-invested with refugees.
The Chancellor of Wye, Gavoda, skilled in war and diplomacy, prepares an evacuation against a hopeless two-pronged siege; for unless her nemesis Portunista agrees to help the city, a demon with his own infernal plans will take away everything from both the women: their people, their honor, their loves, their lives, their very souls.
Portunista will write in blood, hers and others, the consequences she must face for the rest of her life and beyond: driven over the sharp cliff’s edge by irreconcilable thoughts and feelings for the cheerful, mysterious man who loves her more than his life--
--the man who guards the most dangerous of treasures...