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Thrice~Crossed Swords Trilogy #2
The Pillow Knife
The day of reckoning draws close.
Miranda Solitaire, first lady of the Convergence, would risk anything to avert the crisis she helped to provoke, but the Grand Duchess has other plans in mind. How can Miranda save the Unity from the threat of wild magic if she can't even save herself?
Daniel returned to Bromwich expecting triumph; found only pain and sorrow. A censor, badged and bladed, he carries the law's command. But what use is that when your brother is a terrorist, and your master is your enemy?
Gangsters, lawmen and rebels: Jonathan lost everything in the conflict between them. But everything happens for a reason. He thinks he's found an answer in the Gods. Or have they found an answer in him?
Miranda Solitaire, first lady of the Convergence, would risk anything to avert the crisis she helped to provoke, but the Grand Duchess has other plans in mind. How can Miranda save the Unity from the threat of wild magic if she can't even save herself?
Daniel returned to Bromwich expecting triumph; found only pain and sorrow. A censor, badged and bladed, he carries the law's command. But what use is that when your brother is a terrorist, and your master is your enemy?
Gangsters, lawmen and rebels: Jonathan lost everything in the conflict between them. But everything happens for a reason. He thinks he's found an answer in the Gods. Or have they found an answer in him?
682 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 31, 2020
3 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
A.M. Steiner
4 books43 followersAdam M. Steiner hails from Highgate, North London, a place of wild forest and crumbling graveyards. He spent his schooldays raiding the local library, and paying attention to his teachers when they spoke of ancient gods. Later in life, he travelled the world, had many adventures, and learned a great deal about the murky worlds of business, politics and magic. When he is not writing dark fantasy novels, Adam fences épée and longsword. He recently returned to Highgate to raise semi-feral children with his perfect wife.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 31, 2020
Magic darker and more real than Harry potter 😀
The first thing to note about this book, is that it's bigger, as in double the size of the censors hand. It leaves the censors hand feeling like it was just the opening scenes for this book.
Next up, it's darker. The censors hand had a dark side, this takes the story to a whole new level, the characters are deeper, more real, with all their flaws and confusion. Family ties are stretched and broken with trust and betrayal the order of the day.
Don't trust anyone. Except me when I say read this now
The first thing to note about this book, is that it's bigger, as in double the size of the censors hand. It leaves the censors hand feeling like it was just the opening scenes for this book.
Next up, it's darker. The censors hand had a dark side, this takes the story to a whole new level, the characters are deeper, more real, with all their flaws and confusion. Family ties are stretched and broken with trust and betrayal the order of the day.
Don't trust anyone. Except me when I say read this now
September 23, 2020
Dan-Dan & The Witch
Rating: 4.5
A truly dark tale. I thought I was in for the usual happy go lucky middle book you always receive in a fantasy trilogy. This wasn’t the case. We had deep, dark secrets revealed, betrayals decades old and some days fresh. I’m usually very good as sussing out how a book will conclude from pretty early on and I must say I was thrown for a loop.
Another thing I love in all writing but I found a lot of in this particular story was quotes that stuck with me. If you like them as much as I do then this book is for you.
Cover: 3.5
Narration: N/A
Favorite Line: “People cannot be improved they can only be punished.”
Another
“A picture may tell a thousand words, but the eyes can be deceived”
Rating: 4.5
A truly dark tale. I thought I was in for the usual happy go lucky middle book you always receive in a fantasy trilogy. This wasn’t the case. We had deep, dark secrets revealed, betrayals decades old and some days fresh. I’m usually very good as sussing out how a book will conclude from pretty early on and I must say I was thrown for a loop.
Another thing I love in all writing but I found a lot of in this particular story was quotes that stuck with me. If you like them as much as I do then this book is for you.
Cover: 3.5
Narration: N/A
Favorite Line: “People cannot be improved they can only be punished.”
Another
“A picture may tell a thousand words, but the eyes can be deceived”
September 2, 2020
Better than The Censor's Hand, in my unbiased opinion.
Update 2nd September 2020: Paperbacks should now be available in all major markets on Amazon.
Update 30th August 2020 : Very happy with the initial responses to the launch and feedback from the advanced review copies. Also with the interest in The Censor's Hand this seems to have provoked. The paperback's cover should be back from the artist in the next couple of days, meaning that the paperback should be released in early September.
Update 2nd September 2020: Paperbacks should now be available in all major markets on Amazon.
Update 30th August 2020 : Very happy with the initial responses to the launch and feedback from the advanced review copies. Also with the interest in The Censor's Hand this seems to have provoked. The paperback's cover should be back from the artist in the next couple of days, meaning that the paperback should be released in early September.
September 7, 2020
This is the second book in the Thrice-Crossed Swords Trilogy. I happened across the first book "The Censor's Hand" as a freebie a few months ago and the author sent me an ARC of this one for an honest review. This book picks up right where the last one left off and answers many of the questions from the first one. Not all, and of course there are new ones now but...it's a trilogy.
The series takes place in an alternate reality from ours, there are some similarities, especially geographically and historically. There is magic, but not in the way you normally think of it. Magic is mainly used to make "constructs", items that keep everything running (like factories and ships) although those who can control it can also use it in other ways. It is tightly controlled by the Honourable Company of Cunning which sell these constructs to whomever offers the most for them.
Partway through the first book I realized that I wasn't all that thrilled with any of the three main characters. They all kept saying and doing things that put them in worse and worse situations which made it hard to feel for them. In the long run though I realized that the characters are just a part of the story, not the story. The politics, the religions, what's going on behind the scenes, what's happening to the magic and why, the world-building itself is the story.
I love a book that is so well written, you can really picture it in your mind as you read. This is prime material for a movie or series, everything is there. The creepy looking Masters, the Censors with their ability to "see confessions", The Convergence, the different towns and cities, the minor characters who all are integral to the story. And going into the wild magic is well, wild. There's so much going on yet it's all connected.
There were no major typos, in fact hardly any typos at all which was refreshing. I am looking forward to the third part of this saga, especially after all the twists and surprises at the end of this one.
The series takes place in an alternate reality from ours, there are some similarities, especially geographically and historically. There is magic, but not in the way you normally think of it. Magic is mainly used to make "constructs", items that keep everything running (like factories and ships) although those who can control it can also use it in other ways. It is tightly controlled by the Honourable Company of Cunning which sell these constructs to whomever offers the most for them.
Partway through the first book I realized that I wasn't all that thrilled with any of the three main characters. They all kept saying and doing things that put them in worse and worse situations which made it hard to feel for them. In the long run though I realized that the characters are just a part of the story, not the story. The politics, the religions, what's going on behind the scenes, what's happening to the magic and why, the world-building itself is the story.
I love a book that is so well written, you can really picture it in your mind as you read. This is prime material for a movie or series, everything is there. The creepy looking Masters, the Censors with their ability to "see confessions", The Convergence, the different towns and cities, the minor characters who all are integral to the story. And going into the wild magic is well, wild. There's so much going on yet it's all connected.
There were no major typos, in fact hardly any typos at all which was refreshing. I am looking forward to the third part of this saga, especially after all the twists and surprises at the end of this one.
August 29, 2020
I loved this book, with language as lovely as an embroidered living room couch, and characters alive enough to be standing before you fighting. If there is a roaring fire in this picture, it would be Steiner's blazing imagination, that combines historically arcane and obscure knowledge with the brilliant jewels of fantasy invention. The twisting plot transported me as an entirely invisible observer to a world difficult to drag myself away from. The story is peppered, too, with wisdom, the timeless observations that make writing breathtaking.
The characters continue on from the first in the series, but have matured, and have had to, just to survive the tempest of Lundenwic on the brink of implosion; the entire nation teeters between dictatorship, anarchy and vassalage. The tolerance of magic that might have pushed the slave-based economic and religious puritanism towards a freer, more prosperous, potential, has become corrupted and Miranda must discover its source, all the while battling the nation's hatred. Daniel embarks on an epic voyage of self-realisation, discovering vast new power as a censor. His brother Jon is chosen by the gods with explicit divine signs, but has yet to discover why. The new capabilities of these two must surely feature in the next novel.
And that is my only complaint: the third in the series was not immediately ready for me to continue.
The characters continue on from the first in the series, but have matured, and have had to, just to survive the tempest of Lundenwic on the brink of implosion; the entire nation teeters between dictatorship, anarchy and vassalage. The tolerance of magic that might have pushed the slave-based economic and religious puritanism towards a freer, more prosperous, potential, has become corrupted and Miranda must discover its source, all the while battling the nation's hatred. Daniel embarks on an epic voyage of self-realisation, discovering vast new power as a censor. His brother Jon is chosen by the gods with explicit divine signs, but has yet to discover why. The new capabilities of these two must surely feature in the next novel.
And that is my only complaint: the third in the series was not immediately ready for me to continue.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews