Imagine The Fire by Steve Gowland

 

Hello Book Nerds

Here we are to talk about books, and today I am here to talk about the new release from SC Gowland.

I was lucky enough to do a cover reveal for the book prior to release and the cover is amazing

It's not long ago that the first trilogy The Soul's Abyss spectacularly concluded with Darkness Falls. However, instead of taking a break, putting his feet up having a cup of tea whilst contemplating what direction the next book will go. Steve Gowland goes and defies convention and graces us with another story set in this universe. Imagine the Fire, is a prequel story set before The Soul's Abyss and before the Walkers.

ABOUT THE BOOK

BEFORE THE TIME OF THE WALKERS - DARKNESS THREATENED THE LAND, THE POWER OF MAGIC CHANGED FOREVER AND THE FUTURE OF THE KINGDOM HUNG IN THE BALANCE.

In the kingdom of Essealar, a rival power threatens the King’s plans to build his empire. As his sanity crumbles, a secret power must be found to help him achieve his aims. He will stop at nothing to accomplish his goal, but everywhere he looks is fire and he cannot see the realm beyond his madness.

Daria Ravesh has spent a lifetime in loyal service to the King and is distraught at his decline. When she meets Edris Fane, she knows his unparalleled powers are all her King needs – but will he become her greatest ally or ultimate rival?

When Edris Fane’s family is threatened, and his people attacked, he must join the King to fight for the freedom and peace he craves, but by unleashing his anger reveals to him the true power of the darker side of magic – the Guldur – which could destroy him and all he holds dear.

Heroes will rise, enemies will fall, but chaos will reign.

REVIEW 

As usual, this is a story full of adventure and intrigue. The story centres around Reng, the original owner of the Black Crown (yes, the black crown from The Soul’s Abyss series) and his desire to win the war over Ul’ Thadra and his people. What we see is that Reng is a master of getting exactly what he wants and how he will use any method to get it.

When he encounters Edris Fane, a practitioner of magic. Reng offers him trinkets to get him to learn the magic that he knows – The Guldur. However, thing don’t go as planned, both for Reng and for Edris Fane.

Again, I thoroughly enjoyed this instalment in the world that Steve Gowland has created. On the whole, I think that prequel books are quite difficult as they have to fit in with already established worlds and lore, and yet bring something new to the story, and Imagine the Fire does this extremely well. We learn all about Reng and his fight against Ul ‘ Thadra and get some background on some other aspects that have already been introduced to, such as the Walkers and The Soul’s Abyss itself. We see how Reng interacts with The Dark Crown , and how he uses it to subjugate those around him. Not only that we get to see how other aspects of the world that we know in the Soul’s Abyss are created.

One of the things that I particularly enjoy about Steve Gowland’s books are his characters and their interactions with other each other, and whilst the characters of this book may at first seem new, there are some parallels with other characters in the series, and they have similar interactions with each other.

As well as that, his writing style is warm and likeable, particularly when Edris Fane meets up with long lost friends. 

Furthermore, on e of the things that always gets me in his books is the dialogue between the cast. Steve Gowland writes some of the best dialogue and it flows really well, both accentuating the characters and moving the story along. 

The story itself slots in nicely with the already established world that Steve Gowland has created with The Soul’s Abyss and is an enjoyable tale in itself. I would love more people to come to these stories and read them because I think that they deserve far more exposure than they have now. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the stories that Steve Gowland has wrote. They have that style of being familiar whilst introducing something interesting and if you haven’t read them, go and give them a try. And if you like books with animal companions in them, Steve Gowland has some of the best animal companions in there, and we even get the precursors to the Pantheras that appear in later (earlier) books.

The book is a quick read, both in book size and in pace. It never falters, never gets lost. It just pounds on to its inevitable conclusion and takes the reader along for the ride.