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Legends of the Red Sun #4
The Broken Isles
War spills into the Boreal Archipelago, as two rival cultures bring their eternal battle into this adjacent realm. Fresh from a military victory, Commander Brynd Lathraea plans to rebuild the city of Villiren, where he is confronted with a dilemma. There are friendly forces who have no other choice but to live alongside his own people, and their numbers will be required to fight in the looming conflict. The commander turns politician as he seeks to build bridges and embrace mysterious new technologies to further his ambitions. However, many in Villiren are sceptical of aliens coming to their city, tensions run high, and even the dream of a peaceful future brings with it inevitable clashes of beliefs. Meanwhile, Villjamur has been destroyed. A vast swathe of refugees from the legendary city are now on the run from an immense alien presence in the sky. Villages are being cleared and people are dying en masse. And Inquisitor Fulcrom finds himself at the helm of an operation to aid the refugee exodus to the coast, but it's a race against time before this threatened genocide is complete. Ancient civilisations line up on the field of battle. Exotic creatures and a possible god walk alongside citizens of the Empire. As the Legends of the Red Sun series draws to a close, there will be one final and immense conflict to decide the fate of multiple cultures forever.
404 pages, Paperback
First published July 5, 2012
3 people are currently reading
422 people want to read
About the author
Mark Charan Newton
16 books250 followersMark Charan Newton was born in 1981, and holds a degree in Environmental Science. After working in bookselling, he moved into editorial positions at imprints covering film and media tie-in fiction, and later, science fiction and fantasy. He currently lives and works in Nottingham. His major label debut is Nights of Villjamur, which is published by Tor UK (Pan Macmillan) and Bantam Spectra (Random House).
"Newton combines strange and vivid creations with very real and pressing concerns with estimable commitment and passion." — China Miéville on City of Ruin.
"This is fantasy with vast scope and ambition... a complex, eldritch vision" — The Guardian on Nights of Villjamur.
"Newton combines strange and vivid creations with very real and pressing concerns with estimable commitment and passion." — China Miéville on City of Ruin.
"This is fantasy with vast scope and ambition... a complex, eldritch vision" — The Guardian on Nights of Villjamur.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 20, 2012
Well, I wrote it. Of course I'm going to like it! Actually, I gave this my best shot - it's tough finishing a series, and very draining in trying to bring all the books together for a satisfying ending. Hope I managed it.
July 10, 2012
Excellent conclusion to the series. This has been one of my favourite series that I've read in a while. As with the other books, the strength of characters and world building is excellent. I like the fact that the author tackles differences in culture, racial discrimination and environmental issues in his writing. This for me makes him stand out in the fantasy genre.
October 18, 2014
Awesome ending for an astounding series. Too bad it finished after just 4 novels. I could read such kind of books for ever! All the pieces fall exactly where they were supposed to right from the beginning and all the characters get what they deserved. Well done, Mark!
September 2, 2012
This book was wonderful. This series was wonderful but this is going to be a tricky review to write because all I want to do is carp on about the ways that it wasn't astounding. Which I don't want to do.
Mark Newton has produced a wonderful set of characters and a depressing, inevitable but tantalisingly exciting world for them to live in. The characterisation is note perfect and easily passes my test of being thrilling even when they are sitting around a table talking about nothing in particular. But they should have a lot to talk about because the plot flows relentlessly and logically yet with many surprises, agonies and disasters.
I loved this series and cannot wait to see what the author produces next.
ok a little carping. I didn't like the inexorable increase in character's powers right up to god-hood. Gods have been ruining stories since the Iliad on down.
I would love to see the author tackle popular, populist and revolutionary social movements in a more focus and nuanced way in the future as I found the actions of Mallum and his abrupt rise to become revolutionary leader lacking in credibility and was the only sour note in the book's otherwise seamless plotting.
Mark Newton has produced a wonderful set of characters and a depressing, inevitable but tantalisingly exciting world for them to live in. The characterisation is note perfect and easily passes my test of being thrilling even when they are sitting around a table talking about nothing in particular. But they should have a lot to talk about because the plot flows relentlessly and logically yet with many surprises, agonies and disasters.
I loved this series and cannot wait to see what the author produces next.
ok a little carping. I didn't like the inexorable increase in character's powers right up to god-hood. Gods have been ruining stories since the Iliad on down.
I would love to see the author tackle popular, populist and revolutionary social movements in a more focus and nuanced way in the future as I found the actions of Mallum and his abrupt rise to become revolutionary leader lacking in credibility and was the only sour note in the book's otherwise seamless plotting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2013
Another entertaining book in the Legends of the Red Sun series. It did seem like the ending was a little rushed and I would have liked to have seen a longer section of "what happens now".
All in all a good fantasy series with a little of weird mixed in with it.
All in all a good fantasy series with a little of weird mixed in with it.
March 4, 2017
Brynd Lathraea has saved the city of Villiren from the invading Okun. Jamur Rika has now made the city her new capital and declared herself Empress, but Brynd is concerned over her fragile mental state. As the invaders grow in strength and numbers, Brynd makes an important alliance, but one that may cost him the support of the people.
The Broken Isles is the fourth and concluding novel in the Legends of the Red Sun series which began way back in 2009 with Nights of Villjamur. Through that novel and its two sequels, City of Ruin and The Book of Transformations, Newton painted a convincing picture of a world slipping into an ice age, riven by internal conflict and external threats. It's definitely been one of the most interesting of recent fantasy series, fusing elements of traditional epic fantasy with the New Weird movement and with the Dying Earth subgenre.
The structure of the series to date has been to use a different main cast in each book, sometimes comprising new characters and sometimes promoting former minor, supporting characters to main character status. It's worked well in previous novels, but in The Broken Isles Newton has to combine all of these characters into one larger cast operating in multiple locations to address all of the numerous plot strands he's been developing. Unfortunately, this does not work very well. The Broken Isles is the big, epic finale to a fantasy saga but has the same page count as the novels that came before it (just under 400 pages in paperback). Suddenly having to handle a greatly enlarged cast means that each character now gets rather short shrift in terms of development and attention.
This problem extends to the plot and structure: the book opens with a chain of fleeing refugees who have to be saved from pursuit, whilst Brynd has to secure control of Villiren and deal with the increasingly bizarre Empress and secure an alliance with another faction of the alien forces and deal with cultists intent on resurrecting an ancient monster and deal with a racist crime lord determined to take control of the city and force foreigners out and save the entire Boreal Archipelago from annihilation at the hands of the Okun and their masters. The book's slim page count can't deal with the weight of all this at all.
The result is that The Broken Isles feels like a tremendously detailed outline for a much longer and, frankly, much better novel. Scenes, even momentous ones, are short and perfunctory. There are no subtle moments of revelation, with info-dumping and exposition being the order of the day to clear up mysteries that have been around from the start of the series. Newton's prose, which has been enjoyable and offbeat since the first novel, is here reduced to the most simple and prosaic. The pacing tends towards the staccato, with scenes feeling almost disconnected from events around them. Things happen but they have no weight to them.
This is a monumental shame, as Newton's ideas remain as fascinating as ever. The Mourning Wasp (developed with China Mieville) is a terrific creation. The idea of turning the invaders' own technology against them is a good one (the sort-of cultist storyline dealing with this is actually one of the better-handled ones in the book). The invading flying city is appropriately threatening. Frater Mercury's solution to the invading aliens is over-simplistic, but also appropriate to his character. But these moments are few and far between.
The Broken Isles (**) is an exercise in frustration. Mark Charan Newton is a talented writer, but this novel feels so compromised by word counts that most of the enjoyment has been leeched out of it, despite flashes of imaginative power. A tremendously disappointing conclusion to one of the more interesting fantasy series of recent times (and, alongside God of Clocks and The Born Queen, furthers something of a trend for Tor UK series to have disappointing finales).
The Broken Isles is the fourth and concluding novel in the Legends of the Red Sun series which began way back in 2009 with Nights of Villjamur. Through that novel and its two sequels, City of Ruin and The Book of Transformations, Newton painted a convincing picture of a world slipping into an ice age, riven by internal conflict and external threats. It's definitely been one of the most interesting of recent fantasy series, fusing elements of traditional epic fantasy with the New Weird movement and with the Dying Earth subgenre.
The structure of the series to date has been to use a different main cast in each book, sometimes comprising new characters and sometimes promoting former minor, supporting characters to main character status. It's worked well in previous novels, but in The Broken Isles Newton has to combine all of these characters into one larger cast operating in multiple locations to address all of the numerous plot strands he's been developing. Unfortunately, this does not work very well. The Broken Isles is the big, epic finale to a fantasy saga but has the same page count as the novels that came before it (just under 400 pages in paperback). Suddenly having to handle a greatly enlarged cast means that each character now gets rather short shrift in terms of development and attention.
This problem extends to the plot and structure: the book opens with a chain of fleeing refugees who have to be saved from pursuit, whilst Brynd has to secure control of Villiren and deal with the increasingly bizarre Empress and secure an alliance with another faction of the alien forces and deal with cultists intent on resurrecting an ancient monster and deal with a racist crime lord determined to take control of the city and force foreigners out and save the entire Boreal Archipelago from annihilation at the hands of the Okun and their masters. The book's slim page count can't deal with the weight of all this at all.
The result is that The Broken Isles feels like a tremendously detailed outline for a much longer and, frankly, much better novel. Scenes, even momentous ones, are short and perfunctory. There are no subtle moments of revelation, with info-dumping and exposition being the order of the day to clear up mysteries that have been around from the start of the series. Newton's prose, which has been enjoyable and offbeat since the first novel, is here reduced to the most simple and prosaic. The pacing tends towards the staccato, with scenes feeling almost disconnected from events around them. Things happen but they have no weight to them.
This is a monumental shame, as Newton's ideas remain as fascinating as ever. The Mourning Wasp (developed with China Mieville) is a terrific creation. The idea of turning the invaders' own technology against them is a good one (the sort-of cultist storyline dealing with this is actually one of the better-handled ones in the book). The invading flying city is appropriately threatening. Frater Mercury's solution to the invading aliens is over-simplistic, but also appropriate to his character. But these moments are few and far between.
The Broken Isles (**) is an exercise in frustration. Mark Charan Newton is a talented writer, but this novel feels so compromised by word counts that most of the enjoyment has been leeched out of it, despite flashes of imaginative power. A tremendously disappointing conclusion to one of the more interesting fantasy series of recent times (and, alongside God of Clocks and The Born Queen, furthers something of a trend for Tor UK series to have disappointing finales).
September 14, 2019
Very satisfying last part to this four-part fantasy series
This fantasy novel brings this series to a close as Brynd, Eir, Rika, Randur, Artemisia , Fulcrom and Lan find themselves fighting for survival in a variety of ways in Villiren and thereabouts. The plot thickens considerably as new interesting characters are introduced, all with an important part to play. There's plenty of action, a high body count, betrayal and a fair amount of plot twists to enthral the reader. I enjoyed this a lot but it does not stand alone so it's worth the three other volumes of the series beforehand.
This fantasy novel brings this series to a close as Brynd, Eir, Rika, Randur, Artemisia , Fulcrom and Lan find themselves fighting for survival in a variety of ways in Villiren and thereabouts. The plot thickens considerably as new interesting characters are introduced, all with an important part to play. There's plenty of action, a high body count, betrayal and a fair amount of plot twists to enthral the reader. I enjoyed this a lot but it does not stand alone so it's worth the three other volumes of the series beforehand.
January 24, 2019
Indeed not the best book in the series, and not the most epic final as one could expect, but brings more relieve and calmness in the end to all survived heroes and species, so still is quite satisfying reading.
March 31, 2020
This one was actually the best of the 4 , the series overall to me was poor , I think it's a marmite series , my brother recommended it to me , the best character was the albino general , most off the others I was glad didn't make it to the end
March 31, 2022
Horrible series, boring plot, boring dialogues...the pages were a fucking slog to go through. Oh and a QUEER character as main character, with pale skin and long hair. That's how you ruin your books lmfao. What a fucking shit. Threw the books in the trash after skimming the last 400 or so pages. 1/10 for effort.
May 22, 2017
An end with a few loose strings, just in case there is a need to extend.
June 29, 2018
Though this was a much more interesting book than the other 3 in the series, it was sadly very anticlimactic.
December 10, 2013
Here's a extract from my review, full link: http://afantasyreader.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-broken-isles-review.html
The Broken Isles picks up the storylines from both The Book of Transformation and City of Ruin and makes them culminate, first into a rotation of points of view with Fulcrom fleeing from the sky city and Brynd making his best at creating a post war civilization and then into a glorious but straightforward campaign against the invaders. Undoubtedly, the major part of the story can be summarized as Brynd's show. Aside from the two Rumel investigators, he was always a favorite of mine and seeing him take the whole remnants of the Empire, the inhabitants of Villiren and the faction helping them from another world and bringing them together to save the world was inspiring. That character was compelling to the end but his personal life was mostly ignored in this last opus.
Strangely, even if Newton's writing skills are now more than accomplished, the creative and overall effort injected into the book seems less dedicated than in the first three books. I even have a vague feeling of having experienced the same kind of consideration in The Book of Transformation but it was less significant. On the positive side, this is the true ending of a series and closure is given to almost everyone protagonist of note. Sadly, it feels rushed more often than not, mostly for Fulcrom and Lan or Randur and Eir's storylines, which dissipate into the background of the 'save the world' main thread.
Meanwhile, in the forsaken city of Villiren, a new point of view comes to the fore with the appearance of Jeza, a young cultist with new ideas to help the military in the protection or fight against the Okun and their masters. She's given enough development to make her interactions with the more familiar characters interesting to follow but ultimately, she's a mean to an end, allowing both Brynd and his nemesis in Villiren, Malum, to put their hands on much gear or uncanny beasts. She fills the cultist role with brio.
When everything is in place and the short detective work is done, a simplistic climax occurs. It results in a fight kind of reminiscent of the attack on the Death Star in A New Hope. However, you have to add to the fray a godlike being. That part was tricky. What do you make of a character like Frater Mercury? He was introduced in the last book but his role, or lack of according to his own desire, is clearer. Newton handled him well enough in the circumstances but I hoped for a while that a second nature or a revelation would come up, changing the significance of all that has happened, but it was not the case.
Looking back at the previous novels in the series, I felt that The Broken Isles explored less issues or topics. In the manner we have come to expect of the author on the basis of his previous books and the subjects tackled like transsexualism, superhero lore, racism, corrupted politicians, relationships or religion, I expected more imaginative observations of our society. However, it still feels incredible that he was able to continue his immersion into creative weirdness without making it look absurd, even if the level of new weird reached in The Broken Isles is lower.
As such, in a foreword, Newton mentions that China Mieville proposed to draw for him a weird specimen that the author had to include in his story. The Mourning Wasp is a really cool beast that ended up as a fitting creation in The Legend of the Red Sun setting. I would have preferred to be left in the dark until the end of the book since raising the awareness of that challenge made me focus on the source of idea instead of keeping me absorbed on the story (but that's really a small detail). Anyway, it was a successful challenge and maybe the weird elements weren't less present but I simply grew used to Newton's creations and environment.
Speaking of environment, the fabulous atmosphere created in Nights of Villjamur still envelops the world creating a bleak and gloomy ambiance. By this fourth book, it looked like a given but remains a nice trademark for Newton's series.
There you have it. For me, the culmination of the Legends of the Red Sun was kind of a disappointment. I loved the previous books and still love Newton's writing but this last piece leaves me with a feeling of underachievement. I have very good memories of the previous books and will pick up Drakenfeld without question.
September 19, 2016
A slightly disappointing ending to the series, especially considering the fantastic ending to book three.
This novel features my favourite character, Brynd, that was absent in the last book, and he firmly retakes that position: my favourite. Malum also returns, and though he is still an usympathetic asshole, I did find him intriguing. His ideas of society so completely counter my own, and having the advantage of Brynd's POV and the state of affairs, his ideas seem small-minded and idiotic. Exactly as they do in the real world, I suppose.
A group of new, young characters is introduced. And it is good to see pro-active youths working in the aftermath of previous novels. The Mourning Wasp felt a bit shoe-horned in, but that's probably because he explains it at the start of the novel as being a thing he did with Mieville.
Although it's nice when a series doesn't progressively bloat, this novel felt a bit too short, and after the ending of book three, book four felt a bit too straight-forward. Though The Book of Transformations had no obvious conclusion it was working too (or at least, it ended very differently than expected), this one very clearly works toward its endgame, and it feels too predictable.
Some characters, especially Randur, really feel out of place. Though in earlier novels they served a purpose, I feel Randur was a bit useless here, as he feels himself to be. There are some nice twists concerning the Jamur sisters, though, and the big blue alien brings some fun weirdness to the story.
The most interesting part of this novel for me, however, was Brynd's struggles with serving a royal family instead vs. becoming a benevolent military dictator. He'd be the perfect guy for it, but he acknowledges that everyone thinks they're doing it for the greater good. I'd have loved to have seen this theme explored more in-depth, especially in the aftermath of the finale.
This novel features my favourite character, Brynd, that was absent in the last book, and he firmly retakes that position: my favourite. Malum also returns, and though he is still an usympathetic asshole, I did find him intriguing. His ideas of society so completely counter my own, and having the advantage of Brynd's POV and the state of affairs, his ideas seem small-minded and idiotic. Exactly as they do in the real world, I suppose.
A group of new, young characters is introduced. And it is good to see pro-active youths working in the aftermath of previous novels. The Mourning Wasp felt a bit shoe-horned in, but that's probably because he explains it at the start of the novel as being a thing he did with Mieville.
Although it's nice when a series doesn't progressively bloat, this novel felt a bit too short, and after the ending of book three, book four felt a bit too straight-forward. Though The Book of Transformations had no obvious conclusion it was working too (or at least, it ended very differently than expected), this one very clearly works toward its endgame, and it feels too predictable.
Some characters, especially Randur, really feel out of place. Though in earlier novels they served a purpose, I feel Randur was a bit useless here, as he feels himself to be. There are some nice twists concerning the Jamur sisters, though, and the big blue alien brings some fun weirdness to the story.
The most interesting part of this novel for me, however, was Brynd's struggles with serving a royal family instead vs. becoming a benevolent military dictator. He'd be the perfect guy for it, but he acknowledges that everyone thinks they're doing it for the greater good. I'd have loved to have seen this theme explored more in-depth, especially in the aftermath of the finale.
December 18, 2012
I had high expectations for this book as this is a series I really love. I hate it when I reach the final book as I don't want to say goodbye to set of characters and I world I've spent hours losing myself in. I wanted to put off reading this book as I didn't want to be disappointed, but I just couldn't, I had to read the end!
My expectations were pretty much met. There were times I struggled and I got a bit lost, but I can forgive that. I remained in love with old characters (I love Fulcrom and Lan) and connected with new ones - wasn't too sure about Jeza at first, I did think it was hard to bring a new character into the finale series, but by the end I did feel like she was a part of the story.
The only reason I am not giving this book 5 stars is because it is the finale one and to be honest, I could have read a few more set in this world (but I guess I'm just greedy). I have closure and as reluctant as I am to say goodbye, I can and it ended well.
Look forward to what Mr Newton has in store next!
My expectations were pretty much met. There were times I struggled and I got a bit lost, but I can forgive that. I remained in love with old characters (I love Fulcrom and Lan) and connected with new ones - wasn't too sure about Jeza at first, I did think it was hard to bring a new character into the finale series, but by the end I did feel like she was a part of the story.
The only reason I am not giving this book 5 stars is because it is the finale one and to be honest, I could have read a few more set in this world (but I guess I'm just greedy). I have closure and as reluctant as I am to say goodbye, I can and it ended well.
Look forward to what Mr Newton has in store next!
November 22, 2013
With this book, the outstanding Legends of the Red Sun series comes to an end - and what an end it is! The Broken Isles brings together all the remaining characters we have met over the course of the series as the final battle for the future of the Empire draws near, the survivors of the catastrophic destruction of Villjamur struggle across the land trying to outrun the enemy, the empress is acting increasingly strange, the prospect of sharing their world with millions of strange otherworldly creatures leads to spreading fear and tensions among the people in Villiren, the gangs plan an uprising... and much more. There is a lot going on in this final book, a lot of story threads that come together and must be brought to a conclusion, and Mark Charan Newton does an amazing job of it all. This was just the stunning and epic finale this series deserved - bravo, and I'll be looking forward to this talented author's next works!
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July 7, 2023Ehkä vähän vaisu loppu muuten kiinnostavalle kirjasarjalle. Tässäkin tosin oli kiinnostavasti luotuja ja moniulotteisia hahmoja, kuten sarjan aikaisemmissa osissa, mutta lopetus tuntui vähän kiirehdityltä. Sarjan vahvuus oli kiinnostavien kaupunkimiljööiden kuvauksessa ja se vähän jäi tästä puuttumaan.
March 10, 2016
finally got around to reading this book! it still had one of my all time favorite characters (albino general). once again I greatly enjoyed this book in the series, though it seems as though it is the last. if so, everything tied up neatly. a fun series if you give it a chance.
August 28, 2012
A lackluster end to otherwise engaging series.
December 12, 2013
popcorn high fantasy. fast paced and high action. Maybe too fast? Still a nice read :)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews