Dream of the Falling Axe

The Grave of Empires

by Sam Sykes

​A standalone epic fantasy novella starring Sal the Cacophony, who Pierce Brown called a "protagonist for the ages," from Sam Sykes' widely acclaimed The Grave of Empires trilogy.

Sal the Cacophony solves problems no one else can. Because she's caused more than a few herself. And the pursuit of such a problem from her past has brought her to a frontier town held together in the face of disaster through strength alone. But both the town and Sal will learn that strength alone can't save everyone.
 
They called her for help. Unfortunately for them, she answered.

For more from Sam Sykes, check

The Grave of
Seven Blades in Black
Ten Arrows of Iron
Three Axes to Fall

The Gallows Black
The Iron Dirge
Dream of the Falling Axe

Bring Down
The City Stained Red
The Mortal Tally
God's Last Breath

The Affinity for Steel
Tome of the Undergates
Black Halo
The Skybound Sea
 

Genres: Fantasy

211 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 20, 2023

About the author

Sam Sykes is the author of Tome Of The Undergates, a vast and sprawling story of adventure, demons, madness and carnage. Suspected by many to be at least tangentially related to most causes of human suffering, Sam Sykes is also a force to be reckoned with beyond literature.

At 25, Sykes is one of the younger authors to have arrived on the stage of literary fantasy. Tome Of The Undergates is his first book, published in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Holland, and Canada. He currently resides in the United States and is probably watching you read this right now.

Reviews

[Alyssa Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you know what the difference between a regret and a mistake is?

A mistake follows you. You follow a regret.

I love this novella much more than the other one. I found this one to be sweet. I love seeing the softer side of Sal. I like seeing her try her best to help Dravonoc. I don't think we ever encounter a Vagrant that's so vulnerable and isn't such a huge bad guy, so it's nice seeing there are those who exists. Sal has a soft heart trying to help him, but he's broken and it made me really sad seeing there was nothing that can be done.

Lying is a type of magic.

It rewrites reality. It changes hearts, it affects minds, it destroys history and builds something else back up. That's why it's so tempting-it solves problems and cleans up messes with just a few fancy words and some pageantry.

Like magic, it has a price. And like with magic, you forget about that price.

[Elena Hect · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may honestly be a highwater mark of Sal's introspective point of view, the rawer side of her we see in her novellas chronicling her many failures. She's helpless to fix anything. She always has been.

[Courtney K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep exploration of the grief of losing a friend to mental illness and the guilt of being part of their break. I love this world and these characters.

[Kevin K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid Sal the Cacophony novella.

[Promiscuous Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

В целом это серию люблю, но конкретно с этой повестью не вышло коннекта - то ли в неудачный момент попыталась прочитать, то ли не знаю.