Book Review and Giveaway: The Horns of Ruin

The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers

What do you do when you're one of the last of a dying religious cult?

If you're Eva Forge, the last Paladin of the Cult of Morgan and the heroine of The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers, you fight with every last heartbeat for your dead god. Eva lives in the city of Ash, once home to three gods who were brothers. Two gods died long ago when one murdered the other, but the cults of all three still exist in the city. Eva's cult has lost members and is dying off slowly...and then, quite suddenly, events occur which make Eva believe the end of her cult is being hastened rapidly.

If this does not sound all that steampunky, that's because The Horns of Ruin is more fantasy than technological gearcrunching. Eva fights with magically charged weapons and spells, and the gods of her world are quite real and quite godlike. But the city of Ash is filled with monorails and glass and iron and "pedigears" and strange alleyways, like any self-respecting steampunk metropolis should be, and this mashup of dark urban fantasy and sci-fi (some have coined the term "noired" - noir + weird) tells a twisting, complex story.

The dialogue in The Horns of Ruin is one of its best aspects, sharp and fast-paced like a movie from the 1930s. Eva is aggressive and feisty, regardless of whether she's protecting the remaining members of the Cult of Morgan or sparring with members from the rival cults. She encounters several different factions in an increasingly murky, multifaceted conflict which goes back to the initial betrayal amongst the god-brothers, finding that the stories handed down aren't necessarily truthful depictions of what really happened. (And, meanwhile, there are other races outside the city, possibly looking to invade...)

In summation, The Horns of Ruin is a dense fantasy with a steampunk bent, which can get confusing at times and leaves some unanswered questions (although it's possible this is part of a series). Eva is a refreshing protagonist, however, who tries to cut through the mysticism and explain what's happening, even as she fights like the holy terror she is. And as a librarian, I have to love a tale which includes a class of people called the Librarians Desolate.

Eva is interviewed at Booktionary (well, until she loses her patience); more information on The Horns of Ruin is available from Tor.

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We have a copy of The Horns of Ruin to give away! To enter the contest, post a comment below, telling us which of the following cults sounds most appealing to you (provided you had a choice and could enter the cult of your own free will):

    - Amon the Scholar

    - Alexander the Healer

    - Morgan the Warrior

Deadline for entries is Friday, December 10, and the drawing will be in our usual madcap fashion. Good luck!

Comments

[mordicai]

I have to admit, I've always been a bigger fan of pantheons-- even in DnD & like to make seemingly ill-fitting pantheons-- like Asmodeus & Pelor as brothers with Bane & Erathis as the evil & good children of Asmodeus. Isn't that a more fun thing than just a plain old "cleric of Erathis?"

[Jinnet]

Ha! I almost started to compare it to a DnD world, but stopped myself before I wandered too far off the path. (I am not the expert on these things in my house, so I'd probably get it all wrong anyway...)

[zeb cook]

I'm going with Amon, because it has a perfectly respectable Egyptian ring to it and it's got the word "Scholar". If I'm dealing with ancient cults I want the wherewithal to unearth those ancient long forgotten secrets.

David "Zeb" Cook

[mordicai]

Oh-- I want to withdraw myself from the contest, only because I'm affiliated with the publisher & that wouldn't be fair. I stand by my answer, though!

[Steampunkcom]

I think I'd go with Amon the Scholar, just because it sounds like that cult would have all the best secrets. I'd be concerned that Alexander's secrets might all be snake oil.