Revenant Winds

by Mitchell Hogan

ISBN 9781548051952

Disclaimer: I received a free review copy of this title courtesy of the author.

Millennia ago, the demon Nysrog was defeated and sent back to the hell from which he arose. But some of his followers survived, and now the Tainted Cabal may be stirring. While society at large has forgotten the devastation of that final battle, the churches and the sorcerers remember, and will do anything to prevent Nysrog from rising again. When an ancient ruin is uncovered near a northern settlement, the Church of Menselas and the Church of the Lady Sylva Kalisia form an uneasy alliance to protect the villagers from the stream of Dead Eyes unleashed by the breach of the ruin. But each member of the party has their own secrets and motivations that may endanger the mission, and perhaps the world itself.

I got off to a bit of a rough start with this novel, which opens in the perspective of Niklaus, the Chosen Sword of the goddess known as the Lady Sylva Kalisia. Niklaus has served the goddess for centuries, and dreams of becoming a god himself so that he can join her as her consort. His sexual motivations are extremely skeevy, and I didn’t particularly enjoy being in his point of view. Fortunately, Niklaus is only one of many narrative perspectives in the story, so I didn’t have to be constantly in his head, up close and personal with his sexual fantasies, which might have been a deal breaker.

The other dominant point of view belongs to Aldric Kermoran, who is both touched by the god Menselas, and is also a sorcerer, though his church tends to shun sorcery, and view him as cursed. He dreams of being a healer, but he is frequently tasked with the Church’s dirtier deeds, and worries he will never be allowed to settle down and hone his craft. His ability as a sorcerer has been hampered by the Church’s teachings, as he believes he should only use his dawn-tide power, and shun the dusk-tide, even though almost all powerful sorcery requires the use of both. However, meeting the sorcerer Soki in Caronath causes him to begin questioning this divide. Though obviously a master of her massive dusk-tide power, the more Aldric gets to know Soki, the more sure he is that she is not evil. And he may need his dusk-tide power in order to survive what is to come.

The odd woman out is Kurio, a nobleman’s daughter who escaped an abusive home life, and survives on her wits and thievery in Caronath’s underworld. Though her perspective is present from early on, Kurio’s exact relationship to the rest of the story is unclear for much of the book. Obviously she is on a collision course with the main narrative, but how precisely she fits in is slowly pieced together. Her journey begins when she is hired to steal a magical artefact that turns out to be more trouble than it was worth.

One of Hogan’s great strengths as a writer, as I noted in my reviews of his previous book, Blood of Innocents, is his ability to build his narratives around groups of characters who are bound together by a common cause, yet have a turbulent alliance that could collapse at any moment. Niklaus and Aldric’s churches do not traditionally get along, and the two men could not be more different. Joining their group is Valeria, a high priestess of Sylva Kalisia, who resents Niklaus’ position in the church. Two mercenaries seem to be driven mostly by a desire for treasure and adventure, while Razmus and his sorcerer daughter Priska are at odds with one another. Priska is torn between interest in learning more about Valeria’s church, and learning to better master her sorcery from Sokhelle, who is a powerful sorcerer in her own right, as well as Aldric’s not-so-secret love interest.

Revenant Winds also features an interesting interplay between magic systems. First we have the sorcerers, whose magic is based on mathematical calculations, and the power of sunrise and sunset. The god-touched require no such devices, but their powers are much more limited in scope, depending on the aspects of their god or goddess. Aldric can use his god’s power to heal, while Valeria can call upon her goddess to inflict pain. Finally, there seems to be a third type of power, demon magic, distinct from the other two types of power. The demonic power is less explored in this volume, since the demons are largely hiding in the shadows, but look set to play a larger role in future installments.

Revenant Winds is a strong series starter with interesting characters, an intriguing magic system, and ample room for more world-building as the story continues. Unfortunately for me, my favourite character looks to be dead heading into book two, but that isn’t going to stop me from awaiting the next installment in the series.