Never Die

Mark Lawrence, the author of the grimdark series “Broken Empire,” said of Rob Hayes's writing ability, “(he) is one of self-publishing rising stars.” Mark Lawrence is unquestionably right. This story is the epitome of fantasy; it pits dark against light, has epic fighting scenes, heroes that are not quite perfect, and a subtle undercurrent of rye humor.

“Never Die” is centered around Ein. A boy who is not quite right and has been sent on a quest from God, a death God. For Ein's mission to succeed the mysterious and powerful Emperor of Ten Kings must fall. Also, to succeed in his quest Ein must walk barefoot across the cities, mountains, and rivers of the countryside and never don footwear. Ein must select champions to fight the Emporer for him, and these champions must die first so that their souls are tethered to Ein.

The champions are where Hayes really excelled in his story writing. Often when reading fantasy characters, an author tends to muddle together different character tropes to be some kind of quasi trope hybrid. But usually, they are similar from story to story. That isn't the case here. First of the champions is Itami Cho, AKA Whispering Blade the fastest and quietest warrior in the kingdoms. A spoken word from her can shatter walls and tear apart bodies. Secondly, Emerald Wind is a bandit who is the real self-centered bastard most of the story. He is able to blink in and out of existence moving from place to place. I find that his unabashedly disreputable character is refreshing and adds an excellent counter-balance to Itami Cho because not all heroes are good people. Thirdly we have Iron Gut Chen. He has an impenetrable skin and an impenetrable ego. He needs to consume massive amounts of wine to be happy and reminds me of a jolly sumo wrestler. Lastly, Bingwei Ma rounds out Ein's literal dream team. Bingwei is the greatest living master of wushu ever to live. He uses no weapons and has never lost a fight.

As you can see, this is a team of heroes not cut from the traditional cloth. Each also has a weakness one is good but tortured, in the case of Ikami. One is gregarious but full of himself in the case of Chen, and you have one that is chaotic with a streak of goodness, buried deeply. During the journey of the story, there is the day to day peril of existing, not enough food to eat or angry villagers, punctuated with bouts of violence and battles. This keeps the frenetic pace of the story plausible and comfortable. Hayes knows as a writer how vital pacing is, that the slow moments in a story are just as important as the wild crazy ones. As these heroes move towards their overall goal of slaying the Emporer, I found myself cheering for this band of miscreants and heroes. Will they succeed in their quest? Will they tear themselves apart first. Can Ein keep the band together through the threat of not giving them a full life again? The questions are answered beautifully in the denouement of the novel. It takes the reader to places that I had no idea where coming. I absolutely loved and appreciated the ending.

I am new to the worlds of Rob Hayes and his wonderful fantasy novels. But I am sure as hell going to stay around and make myself comfortable. If his other books are one-tenth as good as this one is, I am in for a treat. Come for the story of “Never Die” but stay for the heroes. You will be happy you did.