The Last Blade Priest: : WINNER of The Kitschies Red Tentacle Award 2023

by W P Wiles

Overview

**WINNER of The Kitschies Red Tentacle Award 2023**

An epic fantasy with rich world-building and a wry take on genre conventions from a Betty Trask Award-winning author

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Inar is Master Builder for the Kingdom of Mishig-Tenh. Life is hard after the Kingdom lost the war against the League of Free Cities. Doubly so since his father betrayed the King and paid the ultimate price. And now the King’s terrifying chancellor and torturer in chief has arrived and instructed Inar to go and work for the League. And to spy for him. And any builder knows you don’t put yourself between a rock and a hard place.
 
Far away Anton, Blade Priest for Craithe, the God Mountain, is about to be caught up in a vicious internal war that will tear his religion apart. Chosen from infancy to conduct human sacrifice, he is secretly relieved that the practice has been abruptly stopped. But an ancient enemy has returned, an occult conspiracy is unfolding, and he will struggle to keep his hands clean in a world engulfed by bloodshed.
 
In a series of constantly surprising twists and turns that take the reader through a vividly imagined and original world full of familiar tensions and surprising perspectives on old tropes, Inar and Anton find that others in their story may have more influence on their lives, on the future of the League and on their whole world than they, or the reader imagined.

File Under: Fantasy [ Nightmare Crows | Scarred Altars | Broken Stone | Unlikely Elves ]

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857669827
Publisher:	Watkins Media
Publication date:	07/12/2022
Pages:	520
Sales rank:	662,220
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Will Wiles was born in 1978 and is the author of three previous novels (all published by Fourth Estate); The Way Inn, Care of Wooden Floors and Plume. He is also a freelance journalist and has written on architecture and design for a wide variety of magazines and publications.

Editorial Reviews

03/28/2022

Wiles (Plume) delivers an impressive epic fantasy that evidences his background writing about architecture; the careful construction of both the plot and the world’s physical features make suspending disbelief easy. The story focuses on two very different characters: Inar Astarsso, the chief builder for the Kingdom of Mishig-Tenh, whose life was shattered by accusations that his father betrayed his people; and Anton, blade priest for a decadent religion that worships Craithe, the God Mountain. Two years prior, Mishig-Tenh lost a war to the League of Free Cities because Inar’s father disclosed a vulnerability in the walls of the kingdom’s capital. Inar survived the retribution that killed his father, but remains at risk of losing his life, and thus has no choice but to accept an assignment to spy on the League. Meanwhile, Anton struggles with the demands of the monstrous creatures guarding Craithe, who require a return to human sacrifice. Wiles takes his time having his protagonists’ cross paths, but the payoff is worth the wait. This gripping novel demonstrates the value of thoughtful, well-planned worldbuilding. Agent: Antony Topping, Greene & Heaton. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"This gripping novel demonstrates the value of thoughtful, well-planned worldbuilding."
– Publishers Weekly

"Wiles has built an immersive world with nuanced inter-group dynamics and humane characters."
– Literary Review

"From beginning to end, Wiles combines vivid landscape writing and rich characterisation to powerful effect. The result is epic in every sense: The Last Blade Priest is a refreshing, subversive and wonderfully realised fantasy novel."
– M.T. Hill, author of The Breach

"W.P. Wiles embraces and transforms the archetypes of epic fantasy with impressive ingenuity. Vivid, vital, humane and deftly told, The Last Blade Priest’s all-too-human characters and its world of dying gods, berserker cults and devastating superhuman powers will haunt your imagination long after you’ve turned the last page."
– Paul McAuley, author of War of the Maps

"A novel of marvellous scope and inventiveness: fantasy is rarely as smart, immersive or scintillant as this."
– Adam Roberts, author of The Thing Itself

From the Publisher