Mage's Blood

by David Hair Narrated by Nick Podehl

Overview

David Hair is the award-winning writer of two young adult fiction series, The Aotearoa and The Return of Ravana (based on the Vedic epic The Ramayana). Mage's Blood, the first volume of a series called The Moontide Quartet, is Hair's first work of adult fantasy. In a starred review of Mage's Blood, Publisher's Weekly said, “This multilayered beginning to the Moontide Quartet plunges readers into a taut network of intrigue and mystery that tightens with each chapter. Hair portrays a stark and beautiful world breaking apart, with both good and evil characters desperate to reshape it through magic, war, and treachery. This strong debut should draw in fantasy readers of all stripes.”

Most of the time the Moontide Bridge lies deep below the sea, but every twelve years the tides sink and the bridge is revealed, its gates open for trade. The Magi are hell-bent on ruling this new world, and for the last two Moontides they have led armies across the bridge on "crusades of conquest." Now, the third Moontide is almost here, and this time the people of the East are ready for a fight...but it is three seemingly ordinary people that will decide the fate of the world.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Hair's first foray into adult fantasy is similar in scope to George R.R. Martin's Ice and Fire and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time novels and is sure to please those authors' many fans."—Jane Henriksen Baird, Library Journal (starred review)

"I quickly became immersed in the world Hair created and devoured it in the course of a few days. As soon as it's available, I plan to read the second book in the same way—the story is that good."—Spencer Green, Online Fantasy Network

"MAGE'S BLOOD is action-packed and memorable. The book was such a page-turner that I couldn't put it down...it was a well written, unique and enjoyable read."—Miss Literati

"[Mage's Blood] often recalls Frank Herbert's Dune novels.... Among the payoffs are plenty of cliffhangers, including one that nicely ushers in the next volume—which fans will await eagerly."—Kirkus Reviews

"This is an exotic story of dangerous magic and intrigue that kept me turning the pages until late into the night."—Lesley Livingston, award-winning author of the Wondrous Strange trilogy

"This multilayered beginning to the Moontide Quartet plunges readers into a taut network of intrigue and mystery that tightens with each chapter. Hair portrays a stark and beautiful world breaking apart, with both good and evil characters desperate to reshape it through magic, war, and treachery. This strong debut should draw in fantasy readers of all stripes."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Moontide quartet is David Hair's explosive debut as an epic fantasy writer and should be read by all with an interest in gritty fantasy and alternate histories."—Fantasy Online

"Pretty bloody special."—Sleepless Musings Of A Well Groomed Moustached Man

Kirkus Reviews

Sprawling first installment of a promised quartet involving the usual elements of swords and sorcery but with surprising and pleasing twists. New Zealand–based YA author Hair spends a great deal of time here worldbuilding, and the fantastic geography that he conjures is both captivating and improbable. Not least of its disbelief-suspending features is a bridge that rises from the depths of the sea every dozen years, allowing the power- and wealth-seeking Magi to mount crusades in the land across the water. Naturally, the residents of that land don't cotton to the incursions. Neither does every resident of the invading power, whose political complexities are both Byzantine and Mandarin. The Moontide Bridge that adjoins Yuros and Antiopia, some reckon, is the chief cause of their world's miseries. In its sometimes-pedantic explorations of the racial, class and religious differences that separate the two continents, Hair's novel swerves into J. K. Rowling territory, while in its mystical geography and anthropology, it often recalls Frank Herbert's Dune novels. By comparison with these two models, Hair often lays on the fantasy-speak a little thickly: "Most of us have greater aptitude at one or more of the four Classes of the gnosis....My element is fire and I am strongest in Thaumaturgy and hermetic-gnosis." Yet, as the novel unfolds and Hair charts both its physical features and its actors, bearing such resonant names as Antonin Meiros, Belonius Vult, Gurvon Gyle, Ramita Ankesharan and Cymbellea di Regia, it gathers both speed and force. Hair is adept at building characters as well as worlds, and his attention to his female players is welcome in a genre that too often excludes them. The tangles of place names and walk-ons require concentration on the reader's part, but in the end, the story is satisfying enough to make the effort worthwhile. Among the payoffs are plenty of cliffhangers, including one that nicely ushers in the next volume--which fans will await eagerly.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172523533
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	09/02/2014
Series:	Moontide Quartet , #1
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Lucia tapped a stack of papers. "You have all seen the papers and each of you has participated in discrete discussions concerning Magister Vult's plan for the Crusade, but this the first time we have been able to father together. Let me emphasize, gentlemen, that we here will decide the fate of millions of people—the fate of nations. The course of the Third Crusade will be determined by us, not on the battlefield but here, in this room, by those gathered here at my request." She looked at her son, the emperor, and added, "At our request."

Gyle wondered if she outranked him now, being a living saint. I bet he's wondering that too.

Lucia looked around the table. "I will clearly define the situation so that we are all of one understanding. Then we will agree the way ahead." She got to her feet and began to circle the table. Her voice became clear and emotionless: less saint and more angel of retribution.

"It will not have escaped your notice, gentleman, that the Golden age of Rondelmar has begun to dim." The emperor looked displeased at her words, but didn't interrupt. "Though outwardly it looks like we were never stronger, the purity at the heart of Rondelmar's rightful dominance of the world has beun to tarnish. Impurity has been allowed to enter this realm, by men who care more for gold than for love of Kore. The merchant cabals prosper, while we who love Kore and the emperor must struggle for what was once ours by right. A great evil was done, and it must be undone. The evil I refer to is, of course, the 'Leviatan Bridge' —that cursed creation of Antonin Meiros and his godless cronies." She slapped the table, suddenly angry. "when Kore made this land, he made two great continents, separated by vast oceans, and he commanded his sister Luna to make those waters impassable, so that East should never meet West. Learned, noble, enlightened West and base, depraved, idolatrous East should never meet, under Sun or Moon—so it was written.

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