“The Gutter Prayer is captivating and complex. Guerdon is a city that seethes with history, horror, and hidden secrets” (Nicholas Eames).
A group of three young thieves are pulled into a centuries old magical war between ancient beings, mages, and humanity in this wildly original debut epic fantasy.
Enter a city of saints and thieves . . . The city of Guerdon stands eternal. A refuge from … thieves . . .
The city of Guerdon stands eternal. A refuge from the war that rages beyond its borders. But in the ancient tunnels deep beneath its streets, a malevolent power has begun to stir.
The fate of the city rests in the hands of three thieves. They alone stand against the coming darkness. As conspiracies unfold and secrets are revealed, their friendship will be tested to the limit. If they fail, all will be lost, and the streets of Guerdon will run with blood.
The Gutter Prayer is an epic tale of sorcerers and thieves, treachery and revenge, from a remarkable new voice in fantasy.
Well, this is a special book.
I downloaded it a while back after recommendations from both The Grimdark Fiction Readers & Writers group on FB and William King. It took me longer to get round to it than I wanted. Two reasons why.
1 – my TBR list is out of control.
2 – I got lost (nicely so) in a few series. (I’m looking at you Bernard Cornwell, Giles Kristian and Nnedi Okorafor.)
It was worth the wait.
The imagination is stunning.
The prose is sublime.
The world is grimly realistic.
There is a history and depth (Literally. Tunnels. Lots of tunnels. Full of horrible things.) to the city which is unpeeled slowly.
The characters are well-rounded.
There is a foul-mouthed saint who SPEAKS IN CAPITAL LETTERS A LOT and has a flaming sword. (Aleena deserves her own book).
There is humour, politics, justice and injustice and, of course, death.
As for the ending? See my earlier point about imagination.
Other points:
I don’t normally like guns & swords mixing in fantasy. This novel does it well. As did The Raven’s Mark. There is another similarity between the two books: Jere and Ryhalt. Those two thief-takers/ monster hunters would make a great double act. (If you could keep them out of the bar.)
I also don’t like too many non-human races. This maybe odd in a fantasy reader but I find it off-putting, especially when they are new races. There is only so much ‘world-building’ I can take before I get lost. This novel has the right balance of humans, ‘established’ non-human races and new creatures: the Crawling Ones, which are utterly foul.
And the names? They are pronounceable and there isn’t an apostrophe in sight. Thank you.
I haven’t got many criticisms. I got lost in a few places and had to reread a few sections to check who was doing what to who(m) for what nefarious reason. The book also meandered a little in the mid-section, though, to be fair, that could have been my insomnia playing tricks on me. Otherwise, that’s it.
Again, this isn’t a long or critical review, but I’m not going to pick faults for the sake of it.
Like I said, it’s a special book. One to reread.
If you’re a fan of fantasy and/or grimdark, then you MUST read this amazing debut novel!!!
I loved this original fantasy.
Right from the start I knew this was going to be something very different to my usual fantasy reads. I loved the story that slowly unfolded regarding the trapped gods and how certain factions planned to unleash them, while others worked to destroy them. Cari and her friends get caught up in the middle of it all, or so it seems!
I liked Cari and Spar the most, though there are plenty of characters to root for. I loved how different the story was having trapped gods, saints, ghouls, stone men, worm creatures, tallowmen and other weird and wonderful creations.
This is a brilliant debut novel and I had a great time reading it. It always surprised and shocked me, and often had me thinking what on earth is going on here!
The end was a thrilling page-turner, whilst still providing an emotional and satisfying conclusion. I want to continue with the next book now, so waiting until next year is a real bummer!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for supplying me with a copy.
This is quite easily the best book I’ve read in the last several years. This was a PHENOMENAL story. I’ve never experienced a written tale that becomes its own being quite like this did. It is deliciously complex, with rampant twists and turns that just when you think you have everything figured out, something new emerges and turns everything on its head. The setting really drives the story, you can practically feel Guerdon living and breathing from the first page. This was masterfully done, I can’t wait to see what magic this author weaves in future works! Thank you so very much for the opportunity to review this spectacular jewel!
ALL THE STARS!!!
George R.R. Martin without all the rape. Brandon Sanderson without the extra five hundred pages of drudgery.
Epic fantasy has a new king: Gareth Hanrahan. Bow down nerds.