The Splintered Gods

The Memory of Flames #6

by Stephen Deas

Forced to wage war by an unknown, the Dragon Queen is hated, safe while she has her dragon, but her necklace throttles her if she tries to flee. Berren the Bloody Judge, in another's body, seeks the man who stole his life. When he is in danger, a power inside him disintegrates others around. That power will lead to the Dragon Queen and battle.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Fiction

640 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2014

About the author

Stephen Deas is an engineer in the aerospace industry, working on communications and imaging technology in the defence sector. He is married with two children and lives near Writtle in Essex.

Also writes as Nathan Hawke and S.J. Deas.

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review from Fixed on Fantasy.

The Splintered Gods is the second installment in Deas' The Silver Kings trilogy, making it book six in the series including The Memory of Flames trilogy and the standalone novel, The Black Mausoleum. Keeping in mind also that his Thief'-Taker's Apprentice trilogy also ties in to this novel, so all in all it's turning into a saga for the ages.

I recently wrote a rave review for Dragon Queen and this one for The Splintered Gods will be no different, except perhaps more brief. Deas has delivered another meticulously crafted, gripping novel - the perfect sequel to Dragon Queen.

Our protagonists only grow stronger in this book. Zafir is by far my favourite; strong, viscious, resilient, yet now even more complex as she begins to grow weary and her resolve changes. The introduction of The Arbiter Red Lin Feyn as a primary viewpoint adds a tremendous amount to the story, allowing us to learn more about the ancient past of the Taiytakei and further tying elements from the previous trilogies together. Berren/Skyrie becomes even more enigmatic as his character grows significantly in influence, yet we see much less from his viewpoint as the reader.

Deas still keeps the reader on a short leash when it comes to some information, leaving us almost begging for answers. The best part is when they are revealed in tantalizing tidbits that surface at the most unexpected and often undramatic times. Deas continues to draw intriguing links to the previous trilogies, some of which we have been waiting for many years and many books to see resolved.

If you are a fan of dragons, this series is an absolute must read. Deas' incarnation of this timeless beast is fresh, fascinating and one of the best I have encountered. Even when I'm reading while working at the reception of the gym, I have no hesitation in sharing with members what I'm reading, even though they become puzzled and confused at the dragons on the cover because I'm sure they were expecting me to be reading either The Fault in Our Stars or the biography of some quesionably famous sports player.

The Silver Kings, to be released next year, will be the final installment and I'm told by Deas himself, will see the return of characters from The Black Mausoleum. This is incredibly exciting as not only has it been some time since we've heard from the dragon realms, but I'm dying to know what will happen there after now learning about the other worlds from this trilogy. I'm also now hopeful that the confusing and somewhat anticlimactic events from The Black Mausoleum will now have a chance to come to fruition and it will all be worth it.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series more with every single book and this is no exception. It follows directly on from Dragon Queen and fits in before Black Mausoleum in terms of chronology which merited a bit of re-reading of the latter book. In fact I had to re-read the earlier books as well in light of this current trilogy as there are some characters that appeared earlier that become much more significant. In particular I enjoy waiting for the inevitable dragon carnage, but there is also plenty to savour before it all kicks off.

This ticks a lot of my favs boxes - dragons causing mayhem, hints of mysterious, not so buried, history, and great female characters. It also ties in the the Thief Taker series, which I bought as a result and didn't enjoy quite so much (didn't feel as finished or polished to me). If you are new to Deas I'd start with Dragon Queen, then Splintered Gods and then back track from there so perhaps you won't feel quite as much like smacking the earlier characters round the head as I did reading them in order. The trilogy and whole series is due to complete later in 2015 with Silver Kings and I can't wait.

[Lance · Rating 2 out of 5]

"A realm made of liquid silver. A different time when a black moon rose into the sky to blot out the sun. All that love he’d once had for the world, somewhere he lost it."

"'You’re doing that thing again.' 'What thing?' 'That silver eyes thing.'"

For the first time with Stephen Deas' work, and something I do not claim lightly, I feel that The Splintered Gods suffered from Middle Book Syndrome. The overlapping viewpoints slowed the narrative and introduced a lot of repetition, and the known survival of Zafir, Diamond Eye, and Berren took a lot of the suspense away. Although I found Red Lin Feyn the Arbiter a very interesting character, it was frustrating to see her try to judge a set of people all of whose motives are already known to the reader. "Back in her gondola, Red Lin Feyn pored over what she’d heard and picked it apart, sorting fact from opinion, evidence from circumstance." Enchantress Chay-Liang, a strong independent character in Dragon Queen, dissolves into indecision and pettiness here. "As was often the way with the scholars of the Hingwal Taktse, she was immensely clever and desperately naive." Sadly true. This was especially true as her romance with Bellephoros was just startibg to get really touching. "He sounded so full of hurt and disbelief that a part of her wanted to hug him and tell him she was sorry and that she’d find a way to understand and it would all be fine and not to worry and . . ." Additionally, in true Middle Book Syndrome style, many of the plots are circular. Lin Feyn and Chay-Liang go to the Konsidar ("‘Range of mountains. Do not enter. No one knows why.’") only to return before they can properly enter, and Baros Tsen T'Varr travels across half the continent only to return immediately to aid the theft of a dragon egg. Tsen was funny as always "You were trying to be clever and you messed it up, but hey, you tried to stop it. Well done. Clap clap clap. THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE BURNED!", but I got the sense he was just messing about in the desert. Where's the plot? "relics beyond understanding, detritus left after the half-gods brought the Splintering upon the world and vanished. They were the unknown. Like the dragons, like so many things." Oh yeah ...
"‘Bit of a dragon’s testicle, that.'"
The most interesting thread by far was the detailed exposition of the Elemental Men. "A whiff of the storm-dark. They all had it inside them." We already know that dragons have a power over their magic: "'Lady, the great dragon drains the thread and weave of the world around it. We cannot stand before it except as ordinary men.’". But there is some really interesting philosophy of religion concerning their purpose. "In a very metaphysical sort of way killing ideals was the purpose of the Elemental Men. It was ironic to imagine that they also served one." They have been steadily dehunanised in this book, made one with the landscape "pretty damn old and a little bit creepy." I would have gained a lot fron an Elemental Man point of view.
"Crazy carried a darkness inside, and a day with him wouldn’t be complete without a pause for a bit of inner turmoil."
Berren has vanished beneath his possessor, the Black Moon, "'All I want is to find out who I am. All I want is to have my life back.'" Always out of place, never allowed to feel secure, he is beibg stripped of his individualism. "All that love and joy he’d found and he kept putting it aside for one more killing, over and over. One day he rode away and never came back. There was nothing left. It was all gone. Love? He hadn’t the first idea, but revenge?" Berren is one of my favourite contemporary fantasy characters, I really don't want his heart-wrenching story to be relegated to entirely being told through on-lookers. "‘What am I? There’s no joy any more. No kindness. Nothing warm and nothing soft. Nothing.’" I love Tuuran, the simply decent and wickedly funny man who guards Berren and Zafir like they are his lost children, but sometimes a reader needs depth.
"they’d actually been fencing with Zafir, the slave who was once a dragon-queen, and that she’d thoroughly and comprehensively beaten him."
And Zafir, my new favourite character, has a bounless poignant supply. "Heartless callous manipulative vicious murdering horror of a human being, that’s what Zafir was." No. She's grown up. She has a ruthless sense of equality, a vicious love for life, and a creed of strength as virtue that is hard to resist. She doesn't get much of a voice in the first half of the book, even though she savesthe eyrie from falling into the storm dark and is the only one to question if they might have survived it, "That the eyrie and the storm-dark were somehow connected. That the Godspike was made of the same white stone as the dragon yard and the walls and tunnels and towers and that the Godspike pierced the storm-dark. She was asking if the eyrie might survive in there. She was asking if they might go home.", and yet all of this told second-hand. Her meeting with Tuuran, in which both of them become sharpened versions of themselves is a compelling scene. "Tuuran, the Adamantine Man she’d found again in Dhar Thosis, who was her only memory of any kindness." But even that is nothing compared to Zafir's plea to give Diamond Eye his freedom from a half-god, to raise him from paralysis with her will alone, her suicidal dedication to remaining herself. I felt tears well when she and Diamond Eye thought they would die. "'You were worthy to ride me, little one.' She wept. Nothing anyone had ever said had meant so much." Viva Zafir. She is the best thing about this oppulent, dying world. She is hunanity's answer to Snow.

"'I was always a slave to the dragons. I took that path willingly and knowing what it was. And even I begrudge what your people took from me. I begrudge the manner of it. The sense of entitlement and privilege, the quiet assumption that your way and your lives and your culture are somehow better. You take for granted many things you should question. Not all your achievements are gifts to be shared and received with fawning gratitude.’"

[Voyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better.... Many, many twists and turns. Book one started out quite slow (very slow). This one picked up the pace rather nicely throughout. Yep no hints here except that book two is better than book one.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fitting conclusion to the series. But for some reason, I am left wanting a little more.

I can't put my finger on it, but it just seemed a little lacking.

Some items are left open for a possible continuation.

I did enjoy the book, and there is a lot revealed through the hints MR. Deas provides us. But again, I am left wanting more.

Berren, the Bloody Judge, the Crowntaker. What a character and Zafir was interesting as well. Bellepheros was excellent and I sstill think he knows more than he is letting on.

A good read and I was entertained, but I am holding judgement and hoping there is another book talking about Berren to wrap him up as well as Zafir.

It seems as though Deas privdes us with the information we were all wishing for when reading previous novels about the Tayteki he hinted at so strongly and in this area. He succeeded very well. I now see how it all ties in to the previous stories. Like I saidm the Silver Kings are explained, the Breaking is explained.

And of course the dragons are awake.

Silence, what can you say about him/her. Being awake and finding out what's been missing all these life times.

Diamond Eye was totally bad ass. Turaan, cool Adamantine Man and fit the bill perfectly.

You need to read to just say, Oh yeah, I remember that! Now it makes sense.

But Deas does leave you wanting more. Read it and you will find out why.......

[Shane Kiely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essentially this is the penultimate chapter in a series that's contained 5 books so far (technically 8 if you throw in the companion series that originated a major character here) so I cant really go into plot details for the uninitiated. In short the major events at the end of the previous instalment are the focal point of much of the page length while the background mythology & how it has shaped everything thus far slowly comes to the forefront. The tension is slightly blunted by the fact that a glimpse of how everything plays out is revealed in an earlier instalment but that also adds to the sense of anticipation. The prose is very rich in a way that doesn't lend itself to skimming through. The mythology of the world, that is essential to the plot, can be a bit tough to keep track of at times but all & all it's a very well built world. Ends on something of a cliffhanger but I'm definitely curious to see how the whole thing plays out. Roll on June 2015.

[Raymond Just · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was... long. Stephen's latest novel, The Splintered Gods, continues his long series begun eight or nine (?) books ago. The world-building here is quite epic, as you can imagine, and the invention very well done. But he's made his loom so big at this point, with so many different characters weaving in and out, that it is difficult to give any thought or care for any one of them. This can make the slower, building sequences quite a chore to get through, as we wait for something to finally unfold, for some action to finally take place. When it does, however, about 100 pages before the end, it's quite the enjoyable ride. This final act really saved the book for me, and finally rekindled my empathy for a few of the characters. Zakir and her dragon really take center stage, for me at least, and I was routing for them right to the, once again, for open end. Another cliff hanger, and another large volume in the offing I'm sure. I can't say that I'm not looking forward to it.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life in the floating eyrie continues. Invaders come and go. We learn more about the Elemental Men and the politics of Takei Tarr. Meanwhile, a couple of escaped slaves crisscross the desert and the underworld, looking for answers, finding dragons.

This one started out quite slow. Lethargic, even, in places. Picked up steadily towards the end, but there were some rather unnecessary chase sequences.

Mostly, since this comes before Black Mausoleum in the chronological sequence and you know roughly where it is going to end up, you sit there mentally urging Deas to 'get on with it!' Eventually, he does.

Don't get me wrong, there is lots to like here, and the world he has made is an interesting and quite unique one. Alien, in fact. Not his best, but it is the middle of the series...

Rated M for lots of violence and gore, some adult themes and some coarse language. 3/5

[James Shrimpton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am I really reading a Stephen Deas book? I'm two books into this second trilogy and all the characters still live. There is actually a consistent story which is followed through the whole book, the characters are more fully developed (instead of just being eaten by dragons) and it's an all round improvement on the first trilogy.

The Splintered Gods does suffer from 'second book drag' or 'the great swampy middle' as Jim Butcher calls it, and the cliffhanger ending had less punch because I was a little bored of it (and the Black Mausoleum kind of gives away what happens next). But all in all I liked this, it was definitely better than books 2 and 3 of the previous trilogy!

[Aaron Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more I read this extended series through three trilogies by Stphen Deas the more I enjoy them. Quite the weird and epic world he's got. What an incredible backstory of the original breaking of the earth. Anyway, I hope the next one is out soon. Also, I'm glad that this trilogy is finally catching up with where the standalone book left off.

It's funny too, because I wasn't really that impressed with his first trilogy in this universe.