The Sanguine Sands

The Sharded Few #2

by Alec Hutson

The Heart of the Heart has been found.

In the ruined palace of the Radiant Emperor the Light shard had been hidden for a thousand years, but now a sliver of its power has entered the flesh of Heth Su Canaav. Once Hollow, he has been reborn as one of the Sharded Few. Its discovery will shake the world . . . if anyone lives to tell of its existence.

For hunters stalk the refugees from the Duskhold. Powerful Sharded, unnatural sorcerers, and creatures that they cannot yet comprehend. Deryn and Heth must flee to the ancient city of Karath, where they hope answers await about who was behind the attempt to murder Rhenna Shen, and why one of the mysterious Elowyn directed them to find the House of Last Light.

The north lurches towards war, Shadow and Storm closing around the flickering Flame, while the Blood scheme in the black ziggurats of the Sanguine City, and far away something stirs in the frozen wastes where the disciples of Ice cling to an ancient faith . . .

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Epic Fantasy

528 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2025

Reviews

[Mihir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the full review over at Fantasy Book Critic

Overall rating = 4.5 stars

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: I’ve been besotted with this world and story since Alec Hutson first granted me an ARC of The Umbral Storm. The first book was an incredible start and it was my favourite book of 2022 alongside being FBC’s SPFBO Finalist selection. The author had gone through very trying personal situations and that’s the major reason for the 3 year wait between TUS and its sequel. But here we are and when The Sanguine Sands landed in my inbox, I was overjoyed as I couldn’t wait to see how the author upped the magnificent story that was The Umbral Storm.

The Sanguine Sands opens up with a prologue wherein we get to see a further corner of the world and within it a very creepy monastery with a wild interior design. I believe the timing of the prologue corresponds to the latter half of TUS. The story opens with our POV characters Alia, Deryn, Heth and lady Rhenna as they are the only survivors of the assassination attempt. However Alia and Heth are not longer just “hollow”. They have now newer aspects to themselves and have been given a path towards the free city of Karath. Wherein they must find the House of Last Light and learn more about the mysteries of the world. However they also have to lay low while making the journey as Rhenna wishes to know who truly was behind the assassination attempt. All of this and more machinations abide in this thrilling sequel which ups the ante in every department.

Let me state the obvious, I was a huge fan of the first book and hence one might wonder how objective my review can be. Let me assure you, I was very apprehensive about this sequel as anticipation can often kneecap one’s favourites more than anything else. Alec had also written a different fantasy title in between (The Pale Blade) this series and that meant he was returning almost 3 years to this sequel. I was so wrong about having to worry as I can safely shout that this book is triply magnificent.

Once again the worldbuilding shines as we get more knowledge about the various Sharded holds but also about various geographical aspects of the world and get a nautical journey as well. The author also illuminates other races that are present in the world and here I must highlight the author’s love for turtles within his books (you’ll know when you see it).

This book outdoes its predecessor in one more aspect, TUS’s start was said to be a bit on the slower side by some but here there’s no slowing down at all, from the moment the foursome start their journey towards Karath to the exciting climax, the plot pace is ever engaging. Another plus point in the characterization and herein the trio of Alia, Deryn & Heth get more to do. Alia particularly also gets more chapters than in the first volume. Plus one of my favourite secondary characters from the first book Kaliss gets a POV turn and her chapters are even more action-packed than the rest of the book.

The character work has to be lauded as we get to see all three of our POV characters break out of their mould and learn to adapt to new (& frankly scary situations). I enjoyed how the author is allowing these young characters to age into the adults they will becoming. Alec Hutson is a person who knows how to keep the readers enticed with his characterization and this series is another fine example of it.

This book similar to the first one is absolutely filled to the brim with worldbuilding and within this sequel we get to know more of the world’s history, theological past and magic system workings. I can’t reveal more because they are all huge spoilers but safe to say, most if not all of my curiosities (as spoken with Alec in our interview) were answered. I LOVED this aspect as it made the worlbuilding junkie go gaga. Lastly the ending was just perfect, it ends the story so precisely and with such a tantalizing premise that I felt the climax was better than its predecessor.

For me, there were only two minor complaints about this book. First that it ends on such a tantalizing note and now we have to wait until the third book releases to find out what happens next. Secondly I think the author kept the story with a very tight focus on the main POV characters. I thought that there was a possibility that if we could have seen more of the events in the north and it would added to the epicness of the story. However that would also detract from the plot’s tightness and maybe I would be complaining otherwise.

CONCLUSION: The Sanguine Sands is a sequel that made me an even bigger fan of Alec Hutson. Epic worldbuilding and fantastic characterization have been Alec’s forte but this series is turning out be his best one yet. If you love epic fantasy then you can’t miss out on The Sharded Few saga.

[Alec Hutson]

Hey! Just letting folks know who might be following my reviews that the second book of The Sharded Few is coming out April 7th.

[Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

disappointed

Book 1 was amazing and I was expecting a strong follow up. Book two tried to do too much and in the end was boring with the GOT style of reverse fortunes for the Main Characters. I don’t think I’ll continue reading/following the series.

Rating: 2/5
Cover: 3/5
Narration: na
Favorite Line: na

[Cameron Snook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a tough time with immersion in this book, which was heartbreaking since the clues and foundations of a great story with interesting characters were apparent, but the delivery of the story was only “good enough”. “Good enough” to string together a narrative with many threads over thousands of years and to our character’s present, but not “good enough” to have had that story felt naturally earned.

Half of the book felt like a series of Wiki articles. I could understand the difficulty in balancing extended sections of exposition and actual story since the story seemed so entangled with the fantasy world/universe’s history, but holy cow. Key word “felt”, because with the pacing, not a lot usually happened with our characters between the major sections of exposition. Plenty of dialogue between our main characters and others began naturally but then quickly devolved to them just learning about the world.

This book was littered, and I mean littered, with Wheel of Time allusions. Wheel of Time was great, and personally I love allusions to other fantasy series, but after so many references I got close to my threshold of appreciating them. These references made me particularly aware of the broken desert-dwelling people, who were known to be dangerous to intruders, great warriors, and honor-bound to a fault. Yikes.

Almost every conflict the characters experienced featured a personal pet peeve I now call “catastrophizing for nothing”, which was when a first-person narrative insight developed into an imagined worst case scenario for the immediate future, but then the actual scenario had a relatively inconsequential resolution or a predictably heroic resolution. The intention here *i think* was to develop tension for the reader, but when every character did it so frequently for everything ranging from a potential character death to a potentially unrequited exposed crush, the tension in these moments was lost. As a result, every instance of “catastrophizing for nothing” had me tempted to skip ahead until the actual story continued or hoping the worst would actually happen. If this occurred occasionally with a specific character I would consider it as only a pet peeve and wouldn’t mention it. Sadly it was prevalent enough that the immersion during the intended higher-tension moments of the story was often lost.

I have more to say about 1) the main characters regarding their actual motivations and passiveness, and 2) the appropriate build-up to large conflicts, but will end my review here for now.

[Bhav · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first book as a foray into pretty interesting world. I didn't exactly gravitate towards any characters too much, but found them all interesting enough. The second book does a good job of expanding the world, but does so in a way that takes away from the rest of the story.

There were a lot of times where a decent chunk of exposition was dumped onto the reader, and it definitely took me out of the experience. Another issue was that it felt like the book flip flopped quite a bit on whether the characters had agency or not. Sometimes it felt like they were driving the story, but other times, moreso towards the end, it felt like things were just happening to them or they were just easily falling into the plans of others.

I felt like Deryn and his elemental were basically non-existent in this book. They are in the book, but only really at the mercy of others' plans or to basically find/provide us with more exposition. I thought being an elementalist would lead to some ripples in the story/world, but it was more of a whimper than anything else. Also, the reveal of their being easily two other elementalists also made Deryn feel like a character I didn't need to care too much about.

The book is a decent length where a lot happens, but I also feel like so much of it was also full of fluff. It's maddening to basically have one foot on either side of the line, but I swear this book is a heavy blend of good and bad. So much happens, but not really. Characters are cool, then not. People are powerful, but maybe not really. Honestly, it felt like all the cool action was happening with Kaliss and the war between factions, and not the three characters we were following around.

Overall, it was a fine read and I'll probably check out the next one, but it was definitely a sharp drop-off from the first book.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alec Hutson is a master world builder. As one that has read his other books, I can attest that this series does that at its finest. Furthermore, the characterization of Deryn, Heth, Alia, and Rhenna (which to me, was the weakest part of the first book), has clearly improved in this sequel. The lore of the world is also very interesting- and I'm pleased that Hutson added a recap of the previous book right at the start, in case if there was something missed/forgotten.

[DMC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very satisfying - want more!

Great second book to the series - our heroes are bonding and growing in power, the main villain (I think?) is revealed, some really good surprises by which I mean they surprise you but you realize the groundwork for the surprise was laid in the story (not just a gotcha). Godspeed getting book 3 out, Alec!

[John Sturges · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5. If you have Kindle Unlimited and if you like modern fantasy read this series! Good characters, intriguing magic system and world building, inventive story line!Pacing in middle lagged for me. Slght POV confusion(different than 1st book) other than that this could have been almost a 4.75 for me!

[Brad Towers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book

I've read and enjoyed many of Alec Hutson's books, and this one is among the best. It greatly expands the world of the Sharded Few, and it raises the stakes. The heroes go through an epic journey and develop in interesting directions. Lots of adventures, epic fight scenes, plenty of twists and turns, and a lot of heart. Can't wait for Book 3!

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much going on with stilted pauses for exposition drops to try and fill in for world building. Characters were more like plot devices than people with any established personality. Also they have cool magic powers in a magic world yet anything weird happens and other people are crazy.

Making this review to remind myself to not continue the series.

[Shane Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great edition

It took a while for the author to finally publish this second installment but I'm so glad he did. It continues the story along many different twist and turns and I so look forward to the continuation of this series.

[Luke Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF 85%

I liked the plot but it was dragging on so long, the main character didn't use a shard ability for like 60% of the book, his hidden OP didn't make any progress, etc.

The plot actually got more interesting around 75% but nothing ever happens.

[Vivek Satyasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

This book has been a long time coming. Glad I waited! I think this a great follow up to the first book, and looking forward to the next!

[Thomas Brayford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as entertaining as the first unfortunately

[Andy Lightcap · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this follow up to Hutson’s Umbral Storm. Couldn’t put it down and really enjoyed how the world of the Sharded Few expanded. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Kenneth G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would