Ruins of Smoke

I received this novella to judge as an SFINCS finalist. Opinion is my own, and does not represent that made by the team. I did also happen to purchase this in paperback, as I prefer to read physical, and I liked the cover a lot.

To me, this hit very similarly to Ryan Cahill’s The Fall. From the jump there is tension, action, emotion. The author sets up a battle that is already not going well, therefore the reader knows the stakes are high, and that there’s bound to be a near bottomless fall. There are multiple POVs and the author manages to make the reader care individually for all of them in the very short time you spend with each.

The Essence and the Deceiver are locked in an endless battle. Their chosen avatars destined to duke it out for eternity. This selection, and the transference of powers felt very similar to Marvel’s Moon Knight to me. They are imbued with power, can speak to their masters, become ageless, and live to serve. Too bad they also happen to be brothers.

In just 100 pages, the author makes you care for the characters, the world, the crumbling city, and feel each loss as they pile high. It’s well written, fast paced, and certainly an enticing sampler of what’s to come in the series itself. I’m intrigued by his different demonic creatures, as well as the different fighters the king has at his beck and call. Particularly the battle sisters and Smoke Riders.

Please check this one out!

I was given this novella by the author in exchange for an honest review.
This novella is set in the Know World, which is ruled by The Usharian Empire. A corrupt entity known as the Deceiver has returned to destroy the world, but in order to do so, he needs to find an avatar that can do his bidding. Although this is a short book, the author manages to fit four POVs, but there isn't much world building, which is understanding due to the dimension of the book and, for that reason, novellas are hard for me to rate and not my cup of tea. However, I was left wanting more of the world and magic system, so I give one star to the concept.
The story begins with a ton of action, for the Deceiver has found his avatar and is creating havoc throughout the lands. Monsters of different kinds are coming from the depths of the land attacking the people of The Usharian Empire. Jeha is a sentinel of the Empire, she is one of the sisters that are meant to protect the King and she fights until her very end, never failing her duty. Matala is a young smokesmith that has never been in a real battle and has just learnt how to control the smoke. He's terrified at first, not knowing what to do, but has the battle progresses, he finds courage to fight and manages toc lose one of the rifts. Agor is the King's brother, an imperial general that decides to act after seeing all of the destruction caused. Alamankar is the King of Ushar and the world's most powerful man, for he controls the opposite force of the Deceiver, the Essence and has to find a way to defeat his old enemy. I liked the story, always wanted to know what was going to happen next, it's a good preview for the first book in this series, but, in my opinion, four POV's were a bit much for such a short story.
Overall, I would give this novella three out of five stars. Novellas are not my favourite, I find it hard to connect with the characters and story in such a short amount of time, but I was definitely left interested in Seeds of War!