Pillar of Ash by H.M. Long: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Pillar of Ash by H.M. Long

Pillar of Ash is the fourth book in The Four Pillars fantasy series. It used to be Hall of Smoke series, but for this final book they’ve changed the series name for some reason. It’s a Norsk inspired fantasy world according to the author, though not in such an obvious way that readers would easily recognize the inspiration. I took it to be a mix of Native American, Asian and Roman cultures; mostly tribal with direct interaction with gods, and one large empire in constant war with them.

First two books followed Hessa, an Eang warrior who set out to kill false gods. Third book followed Thray, Hessa’s adopted niece as she journeyed to north to find her origins. Fourth book follows Hessa’s twins Yske and Berin.

Yske is a healer who has learned her trade with Aita, a former goddess of healing. She’s partaken in the secrets of the Hall of Smoke and received godlike features herself. When her excitable twin informs her that he’ll form an expedition party to search the edge of the world, she goes with him to keep everyone safe. As a parting gift, Aita gives her the ability to miraculously heal almost every wound. But it comes with a great cost.

It’s not an easy journey and Yske’s skills are often needed. The final task waits at the edge of the world. She needs to revive a near immortal who has been resting in ice for several years, someone who has personal meaning for her. But if she does it, she’ll launch the end of the world.

The book is told in Yske’s point of view and the reader follows as she struggles with the consequences of her healing powers. Her patients aren’t always grateful and the reader is left wondering why she bothers. Berin especially is so annoying that only a sister could love him enough to travel to the edge of the world for him.

In hindsight, nothing really happens in the book until the party reaches their destination. There are creatures to fight and a journey to endure. But something is constantly going on, so it doesn’t matter. The entire plot happens in the last third of the book. There’s a great build-up to the world ending—and then it’s dealt with a literal deus ex machina solution that Yske has no part in. She and the reader are left to watch it from the side.

Thinking of the series as a whole, none of the follow-ups rose to the brilliance of the first book. Thray and Yske didn’t have Hessa’s trauma and rage that propelled her to journey to kill the false gods. Yske’s motivation for following her brother wasn’t compelling, and although she grew to be an interesting character, she relied too much on her godly gift to be a similar underdog facing the gods as her mother was.

Nevertheless, the book was a good conclusion to the series. Things were nicely tied up and this reader is satisfied. Still, there’s a lot to explore in the world yet, so if the author decides to continue, I’ll definitely read more.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Barrow of Winter by H. M. Long: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Barrow of Winter by H. M. Long

Barrow of Winter is the third book in Hall of Smoke fantasy series set in a tribal world of old and new gods and the peoples who used to worship them until Hessa, the protagonist of the first two books, destroyed the system and killed some gods, making way for one true god and their three primal god siblings. Events take place twenty-five years after the first book.

The protagonist is Thray, Hessa’s adoptive niece. She’s the daughter of Ogam, a winter god killed by his goddess mother, and a human woman. She’s serving as a priestess of the one true god in a small fishing village, preparing to get married, but she is plagued by the question of her immortality.

She’s put herself time and again in situations where she should die. Every time, she’s saved by her grandfather, Winter. So, when people arrive from north to her village and tell her there are plenty of Ogam’s children where they come from and they can give her the answer, she leaves with them, despite Winter’s warnings.

Things aren’t well in the north after Ogam’s death, and Thray’s siblings aren’t what she had hoped they would be. She doesn’t know who to trust and what to do with the answer she finally receives—or how to deal with the way it was delivered. She’s at odds with her family too, Hessa and her brother, for lying about being on a mission from god, so returning home isn’t appealing either. And then she has to choose between her newfound siblings and her homeland.

This was a good book. The pace was fast, there was nothing unnecessary, and the ending was satisfying and conclusive, though rather painlessly delivered. Thray, the sole point of view character, was compelling, even if she wasn’t quite as complex as Hessa as a protagonist, and rather obstinate in her quest. I didn’t share her idea that if she turned out to be an immortal, she wouldn’t be able to love anyone because she would have to watch them die, but that was the only way she was able to see things.

There were many secondary characters, but most of them didn’t have an impact on the story. Bad guys were fairly obvious, but there were interesting characters among them too. Thray’s fiancé was a bit of a bore and only existed to follow her around like a puppy, with no say on decisions about their relationship. Hessa only had a small side role, but it was interesting to see her from the outside, after spending two books watching the events from her point of view.

This was a stand-alone book, and if it turns out to be the last in the series, it leaves things in a satisfying place. But the ending was open enough for new adventures too. I wouldn’t mind reading more.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Temple of No God by H. M. Long: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Temple of No God by H. M. Long

Temple of No God is the follow-up to H. M. Long’s excellent Hall of Smoke. It is fantasy set in a pre-industrial, tribal world that resembles partly ancient China, partly native American cultures, and partly ancient Rome, with a unique pantheon thrown in the mix.

At the end of the first book, Hessa, the last remaining priestess of warrior goddess Eang, killed all the false gods, hers included, and freed an ancient god Thvynder. This book takes place ten years later. Hessa is the High Priestess and the leader of her people. They’ve had a chance to rebuild their villages, but every year, she leads her tribe to raid the border areas with Arpa, the old enemy of her people, now in disarray without gods and the emperor who gets his power from them.

Then a new god arises in Arpa, and with it a possibility that there will be an emperor once more. Hessa’s god sends the people who worship them to Arpa to make sure the right person is crowned as the emperor. The book is one long campaign that ends at the temple of no god in the middle of the Arpa empire, where the divine coronation is to take place.

This was a good book. Well-written and well-paced, with a straightforward plot that was easy to follow. The chapters were short and there was nothing unnecessary.

But it wasn’t as great as the first book. Nothing was truly at stake, despite the possibility that the rebuilt empire would ignite the ancient warfare. Hessa, the sole point of view character, had nothing to lose. The need to keep her people safe was a good incentive to take on the campaign, but it wasn’t enough to carry the plot.

The first book built on Hessa slowly realising that the goddess she had worshipped and killed for was false, and the reader was taken on a journey of revelation and growth with her. Her rage and need to revenge the people she loved drove the plot.

This book had nothing. The gods are gone and so is Hessa’s rage. She’s a ghost of her former self. There’s no fervour and nothing drives her. The emotional bonds she formed in the previous book are on the background, and the few scenes where she shows affection to her family members feel tagged on. She never has to act on any of her beliefs and she isn’t tested. Not even coming face to face with her former torturer elicit a proper reaction from her and she’s perfectly willing to go with him simply because he has lost his memory of the events.

The emotional payload here is about Hessa’s marriage. Between the books, Hessa has married High Priest Imnir, an odd choice that made me wonder if I’d missed a book because he wasn’t in the first one. We learn nothing about him and don’t have a chance to form an emotional bond with him when we already learn that the marriage is failing.

Imnir is struggling with the loss of his first family, which drives his actions, but which have no emotional meaning for the reader, as we haven’t been there. Hessa, secure with her family and tribe, has nothing to contribute to his struggle. She wants family and children, but not so much that she would force him to confront his grief that is over a decade old already.

We catch up at the tail-end of the marriage, without witnessing the good there might have been and what has been lost. Hessa’s dithering between letting him go and trying to make the marriage work has no meaning. Imnir’s actions fail to make the impact they’re supposed to, because Hessa doesn’t truly care and so the reader doesn’t care. Compared with the betrayals of Hessa’s goddess in the first book, the lack of emotional impact becomes even more pronounced.

Nevertheless, the book was satisfying enough, even if it was light compared with the first. Hessa wasn’t all-powerful, despite the magic she carries, and the solution at the end that worked best for her people came with some personal sacrifice for her. It would’ve meant more, however, if the author had concentrated on the friendships formed in the first book instead of the emotionless marriage. The ending left me feeling good for having read the book, but nothing much else. It doesn’t seem like there will be more books, but I’m sure I’ll read them if there are.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hall of Smoke by H.M. Long: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Hall of Smoke by H.M. Long

Hall of Smoke is the debut novel of H.M. Long, and what a great debut it is. It’s stand-alone fantasy that starts deceptively small and grows into epic proportions. I received a free review copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The book is set in a pre-industrial, almost tribal world that doesn’t instantly or obviously refer to ours, though the largest warrior culture reminded me of Rome and the smaller ones of both North American native cultures and Asian cultures. It’s a good mixture where nothing is so directly borrowed that it would jar and everything blends together to form something unique and new. The mythologies and habits are rich and they are brought up organically as the story flows. Countries and cultures have formed around different gods and though languages and habits remain fairly similar, the gods’ dislike of one another has transferred to humans too. Wars and raids are regular.

The main character is Hessa, a warrior priestess of Eang, the goddess of war. The country and people are called Eang too and the priests Eangi, which was confusing at times. She’s the only point of view character and the narrative is in deep first person, which works very well. She’s young (nineteen, maybe), but thanks to the constant wars, an experienced warrior. The priests and priestesses of Eang aren’t chosen; they are born with a special gift from the goddess, a fire that both makes them superior soldiers and heals them too. Other gods haven’t gifted their followers with anything similar.

The story begins at a low point in Hessa’s life. She has failed to perform a task from her goddess to kill a visitor to her town, and as a consequence has been stripped from her position as a priestess. While she’s in a remote shrine to pray for forgiveness from Eang who refuses to answer to her, her entire town is butchered by followers of a different god—an unprecedented occurrence. She’s the only priestess of Eang left in the whole country and she’s in disfavour. But her goddess finally appears and promises her that all will be forgiven if she finishes the task given to her. From that point on, throughout the book, she’s carried by one goal: finding the man she was meant to kill so that she can have a place in the hall of death with her loved-ones.

But things aren’t easy or straightforward when one is alone and facing several enemies. While she tries to locate her prey, Hessa learns that the entire world is in upheaval, and not just among humans, among the gods too. As her goddess increasingly fails to come to her aid, she starts to question her devotion and the task given to her. Little by little, as her faith unravels, the stakes become higher, until Hessa finds herself as a pivotal player in gods’ war against each other.

This was a very satisfying story. The plot flows organically from one event to another, with Hessa learning and growing along it. The pacing isn’t fast, but the chapters are fairly short and there is constantly something going on that makes you want to keep reading. Because of the first person POV, the side characters remain slightly vague, and none of them become more important to Hessa than her task, but I liked most of them. And I especially liked Hessa. She’s resilient and determined, and capable of adjusting her worldview when the old one becomes untenable. And in a true manner of epic fantasy, the person who has lost all becomes the most important person in the world. Since this is a stand-alone, the ending is satisfying and doesn’t leave you with a need to read more.

The book is well-written and the language is beautiful. However, there was a glaring, recurring grammar mistake that became so irritating that I have to mention it, just in case there’s time to fix it before the final version is published: the first person singular objective case pronoun is me, not I. It was so seldom in correct form that the mistake had to be deliberate. Other than that, the book was a joy to read.