Soleri: A Novel

by Michael Johnston

Overview

Michael Johnston brings you the first in a new epic fantasy series inspired by ancient Egyptian history and King Lear.

The ruling family of the Soleri Empire has been in power longer than even the calendars that stretch back 2,826 years. Those records tell a history of conquest and domination by a people descended from gods, older than anything in the known world. No living person has seen them for centuries, yet their grip on their four subjugate kingdoms remains tighter than ever.

On the day of the annual eclipse, the Harkan king, Arko-Hark Wadi, sets off on a hunt and shirks his duty rather than bow to the emperor. Ren, his son and heir, is a prisoner in the capital, while his daughters struggle against their own chains. Merit, the eldest, has found a way to stand against imperial law and marry the man she desires, but needs her sister’s help, and Kepi has her own ideas.

Meanwhile, Sarra Amunet, Mother Priestess of the sun god’s cult, holds the keys to the end of an empire and a past betrayal that could shatter her family.

Detailed and historical, vast in scope and intricate in conception, Soleri bristles with primal magic and unexpected violence. It is a world of ancient and elaborate rites, of unseen power and kingdoms ravaged by war, where victory comes with a price, and every truth conceals a deeper secret.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765386489
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/13/2017
Series:	The Amber Throne , #1
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.40(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

MICHAEL JOHNSTON has always been an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy. He studied architecture and ancient history at Lehigh University and earned a master’s degree in architecture from Columbia University. Michael worked as an architect in New York City before switching to writing full time. He is the co-author of the YA Heart of Dread trilogy (Frozen, Stolen, and Golden) with his wife Melissa de la Cruz and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.

Editorial Reviews

02/06/2017
The political is personal in this elaborate opening segment of a high fantasy series that entwines family quarrels with imperial ambitions. An enormous empire controls its subject kingdoms through the ancient practice of hostage taking. King Arko Hark-Wadi, spared being a hostage in his youth, is given back his son but must surrender himself to the imperial court, a virtual death sentence. His daughters quarrel over a hastily arranged marriage to a usurper, uniting their subject kingdoms but splitting their romantic hopes. Their mother, now the chief priestess of the imperial sun god, schemes to become first minister for the unseen emperor and must play off the ambitious top general against her estranged husband, all while trying to discover why the sacred grain crop is failing. Johnston (Golden) relies on history and myth (a god named Mithra-Sol, an emperor named Tolemy, five sacred days at the end of the year) to ground his work, but the uneasy mix of ancient practices of marriage and modern sensibilities toward love muddy the characters’ motivations and make reader loyalties uncertain. Agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Soleri is bloody and utterly epic. A huge saga in a rich and deeply original world.” —Lev Grossman, New York Times bestselling author

“Prepare to be ensnared in a web of ruthless politics and unbridled ambition, where even the authority of the emperor may be based on an ancient deception. Johnston builds an immersive world with elements of Egyptian and Roman history, myth, and religion. This story seethes with twists and turns, betrayals and secrets, and will keep you guessing until the very last page.” —Cinda Williams Chima, New York Times bestselling author

“Michael Johnston successfully blends ancient Egyptian history, empire building, and myth to form the beginning of an exciting addition to the fantasy genre.” —Manhattan Book Review

From the Publisher

2017-05-02
First installment of a fantasy series featuring a power struggle over the remains of an ancient empire, from the co-author (with wife Melissa de la Cruz) of the Heart of Dread trilogy (Golden, 2016, etc.).The vast Soleri empire controls its four subject kingdoms by holding the kings' heirs hostage. Since the godlike Soleri rulers never appear in public—it's death to look upon their faces—a human First Ray serves as intermediary between them and the people. King Arko Hark-Wadi of Harkana never became a hostage (his father fought a war to prevent it), but Arko's son, Ren, isn't so fortunate. While Ren's older sisters, Merit and Kepi, quarrel over marriage to a neighboring king, Arko receives a summons to attend the emperor (a virtual death sentence), thus triggering Ren's release. Meanwhile, Sarra Amunet, Mother Priestess of the imperial sun god cult and also Arko's estranged wife, schemes against a powerful rival to become the next First Ray. Her main duty is to preside over the annual eclipse ceremony, or Devouring, but, ominously, the eclipse fails to occur for the first time since the empire's founding. These developing plotlines gradually expose the empire's rotten heart, with gods nobody believes in, imperial weakness concealed by a ruthlessly bureaucratic cruelty, and impending mass starvation. The hardworking backdrop borrows heavily from ancient Egypt and similar sources, but the sensibilities displayed are entirely modern. In broad outline all these portentous events sound quite feasible and intriguing, but the details quickly blur and dissolve in the light of the characters' persistent blundering and lack of forethought. And of real originality there is little evidence. A pedestrian opening volume.

Kirkus Reviews