This is a solid start to a series. I’ll caveat that with there are many disparate story lines to keep track of. But there is a main one that we follow, Daimon and Saana. Daimon is the adopted son of a sar (nobility). Saana is the chief of a clan of Tjakorsha (normally known as raiders). But Saana and her clan are running from something much worse that has taken over the Tjakorsha and are just looking for a place to settle. Daimon and Saana must work together to try to get their disparate cultures to work together so they can all survive. The additional POVs that are in the book seem to be more of a setup for the rest of the series, and are in other parts of the world. They were interesting to help with world building, but it was a little jarring going from chapters of Daimon and Saana to the princess playing the role of crime boss. This book does a fantastic job of creating multiple cultures and how they clash. From the people of Black Keep and the Tjakorsha, but also the ultra-poor and rich of a far-flung city. It explores relationships, identity and character development. I can’t wait to see where this series goes.

DNF at 64%

While I did not finish this book I have a lot of thoughts on it and mostly good ones — the reason for the DNF is a product of my realizing I just don’t care enough and surgery messed up my reading.

Black Coast has a handful of really compelling characters though not all of the cast is super developed and a dynamic I loved was snuffed out pretty quick. Overall there is only one character I was really interested in personally and that isn’t enough for me.

Dragons are more like feathered dinosaurs — but still very much dragons — and I loved that. The other amazing thing about this book is the way language is handled. The author was able to effectively convey nuances within these languages and develop the characters all while using English and no meaningless-to-the-reader made up words.

As far as the plot you’re always left interested in what happens next, but the narrative appears to be needing a bit of clean up. We have a couple POVS who are two sides to the same coin and read so smooth in contrast. And then we have a couple others who have yet to feel like they fit more than halfway through. Maybe this changes by the end, but for the first half it doesn’t work.

All in all this one isn’t for me but it doesn’t read as a bad book. I just couldn’t be bothered mostly due to life circumstances. I recommend checking it out for yourself.

The Black Coast is a fantasy book that centers mostly on two cultures trying to live together peacefully.

We follow two main POV characters. Saana, the chief of the Brown Eagle Clan, has led her people across the sea to settle in a country that they have previously raided. Daimon is the son of the Black Keep Thane. His people have always hated the raiders. Most of the book revolves around Saana and Daimon trying to get their people to live and work together despite their differences. We also get several side character POV’s that are connected to Saana and Daimon. I loved this part of the book.

We follow two other characters that are separate from Saana and Daimon. This is the part of the book that didn’t work for me, and why I’m lowering my rating. I was not at all invested in the Tila and Jeya storylines. Towards the end of the book, I found myself skimming their chapters because I couldn’t care less what was happening.

3.5 stars

A slow start building into an expansive vision of a new world. However when that world encompasses a people fleeing from a demonic warlord, seeking shelter with those they've raided--well fear, unforgiveness and hate might have to give way what's necessary for the survival of two very different cultures who once were enemies.
Interesting concepts but for some reason I just wasn't relating that well. I mean I'd have thought I'd be won by dragons, a demonic warlord, Knights, battles, ferocious clans people. But all I can think is early England--Vikings, the Celts, the Druids, the Romans (no dragons--unless I count St George) still it's all there--a saga in the making!

A Rebellion Solaris ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

I had very high expectations for this book. However, so far I've found this book to be slow moving and confusing. Also, there isn't a character that I can truly embrace. The history of the different empires is truly overly complicated. I will not post this review on-line. I will try to give it another chance later. Right now, it's a hard push to finish this novel.

I have not read anything by Mike Brooks before, but when I saw this book floating around social media, I was intrigued and subsequently grateful to receive an eARC from NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing.

Driven out of their lands by a daemon known only as The Golden, the Tjakorshi -- lead by their female chief, Saana Sattistutar -- made the treacherous voyage across the seas to Narida, specifically to Black Keep, a land they had raided many times before. When seeking parlay, Daimon Blackcreek betrays his law father and law brother -- and his own honor -- to attempt something unthinkable: peace, between his people and those of Tjakorsha. Elsewhere in Narida, war is brewing as the God-King's rule is threatened by the Splinter King and his family, and with rumors that Nari (the first God-King) has been reborn.

The main storyline in The Black Coast follows Daimon Blackcreek (of Narida) and Saana Sattistutar (from Tjakorsha) as their people try to make peace. I think the author did a really good job of capturing potential issues that might arise from years of contention between two seemingly-disparate people and cultures, and how they might work together. The rest of the plot didn't take up near as much page-time, but it did set up really nicely a lot of future plot arcs in the subsequent books in this series.

As an epic fantasy, and the first in a trilogy to boot, it did take a little to get into the flow of the story, but that's just because there's SO MUCH detail the author put into world-building -- providing distinctive cultures for the peoples of the land, crafting a plethora of believable characters, war dragons, etc. -- it was, understandably, a little overwhelming at first. But once I got into a rhythm, the story flew by and felt more natural.

I also really liked the inclusivity and LQBTQA+ rep in this book. There were many queer characters present in this book, and it was (mostly) treated as the norm with no one blinking an eye, which I think is so important. Another important aspect set out in the beginning was the idea of gender in Alaba: "Alabans claim that concepts of 'man' and 'woman' do not apply, and insist they have either five or six genders, depending on how they are counted", and their tonal variations on "me" depend on whether they wish to be perceived as high masculine, low masculine, high feminine, low feminine, gender-neutral formal, or as no gender. There were scenes that emphasized the idea of not misgendering anyone before knowing for certain their preferences, and it was something that I thought was really great, especially in epic fantasy.

There was just something about this book that felt...refreshing. Now I can't wait for the next books in this series...

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion publishing for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

P.S. I will add the link to my Amazon review once it goes live.

I read Mike Brooks’ SF series featuring the crew of The Keiko and absolutely enjoyed it. I got a copy of his new fantasy book, The Black Coast, from NetGalley and went into it with the same enthusiasm.
I wasn’t disappointed.
I will admit that it was a bit slow to start but once it got going for me, it moved.
If you are a fan of fantasy novels, you’ll definitely find something in this book for you.
Give it a go.

I want to thank the author and publisher of this book for the opportunity to read it prior to publication. Although I thank them for their generosity, my evaluation of this book is not influenced by that generosity.

<i>The Black Coast (The God-King Chronicles, #1)</i> is an epic fantasy tale that really is an interesting discussion on everything from sexuality and gender to class and cultural-collisions. As such, this isn't just a fantasy novel without teeth. The story in this book primarily examines the collision of two worlds when raiders from across the sea appear at the Black Keep, the southernmost part of Narida. At first, the Naridans of the Black Keep fear that the raiders have come once again to ransack their village. Instead, the raiders' Chief has brought them to the Black Keep to settle away from a warlord who has been taking over all of the clans where they are from.

The ruler of the Black Keep, Lord Asrel Blackcreek, decides the only option for dealing with the raiders is to fight them, even though this would mean his death, his sons' deaths, and the death of every man, woman, and child in the Black Keep. The Chief came under the banner of peace, but Lord Asrel's adopted son, Damien, believes that working with the Chief is the only way to save his life, his families' lives, and the lives of his people. So in a daring move, he goes against his father and older brother and has them both locked up as both the people of the Black Keep and the Raiders attempt to navigate the two cultures and the language barrier that exists between their people.

As if that's not enough, you have the gay king of Narida and his sister, who is really doing her best job to keep the country running smoothly. You have peasants in the north who are aligned with a family that has a different claim on the Naridan throne and The Golden who the raiders were running from in the first place.

Needless to say, this book has a lot dead bodies by the end of it and enough political intrigue and backstabbing for any reader.

Oh, and there are dragons. Different types of dragons. There are big giant dragons that people ride, rattle dragons that can be sort-of controlled and there are razor dragons who can gut someone. There are others, but those three are the main ones that really play prominently in this first book in the series.

So, that's a lot going on for a debut book in a new series.

As for an analysis of this book, again without giving away any spoilers, some of the discussion about gender at the beginning of the book was a bit confusing. I liked how the author tried to play with the idea of a society with so many interpretations of gender that they each had their own pronunciations and meanings, but I think this was a bit heavy-handed at the beginning instead of feeling natural. I felt the same thing with the class of the two cultures and their issues over same=sex love, marriage, and sexuality. Although the author included these elements to say something about our modern world, these elements just appeared heavy-handed. To the point where there was an unnecessary coming-out scene complete with tears and screaming and yelling.. I just didn't find this trope necessary and it actually takes you away from the story itself. I found the discussion of gender somewhat more natural, but still a bit heavy-handed.

Overall, I found the book highly enjoyable and easy to read.

I didn’t finish this one. I struggled to keep interested in some of the POVs and a plot choice I really didn’t like in one of the POVs I had been enjoying convinced me to just admit defeat.

I did really like the world building, and I thought the way gender was portrayed was really interesting, but I just couldn’t get into the story itself.

The Black Coast by Mike Brooks, was a book that I found hard to get into. At halfway through the book I was still confused as to who the Protagonists were, and found it hard to keep all of the different scenes and characters straight as they bounced back and forth with no apparent structure. I didn’t enjoy the way the characters spoke about themselves in the third person; I personally found it annoying. By seventy-five percent through The Black Coast I was finally hooked enough to keep reading and wanted to know how it would end. I have to admit that I enjoyed the last few chapters of the book far more than I had the beginning. By the end of the book I understood basically who was who and what their role was in the book. But there were still chapters stuck in between ones with a story line I would have loved to continue reading. I felt like they broke up the flow of the story but inserting them in between chapters with a progressing story that had my interest.
By the end of the book I was interested in what would happen to the village of merged clans; Black Keep and Brown Eagle, and the two main characters, Daimon and Saana who fought and bled together. I enjoyed reading it and am thankful that Net Galley gave me the opportunity to read an ARC copy.

I was given a free copy of Black Coast by Mike Brooks (author), Rebellion/Solaris (publisher) and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. Black Coast is the first in the God-King Chronicles.

I would characterize Black Coast as traditional fantasy, possibly epic fantasy.

This review will not have any spoilers.

The world building in this story is straightforward. Majority of the story takes place in a feudal setting with a lord, manor, and people who work in the fields of the lord’s land. A smaller part of the story takes place in port cities.

Dragons are featured in this story but not like they are typically shown in fantasy novels. The dragons in this story are out in the wild but they can be domesticated.

An important feature of the world-building are gender, identities, and cultures. The characters refer to themselves in the third person which took a little getting used to but did not detract from the story. Mr. Brooks did a solid job in showing the struggles of people two different cultures to be able to live, work, and fight together. The people from the two different cultures trying to co-exist is an aspect of the story.
I do not think a magic system is featured in this story.

The story has multiple character point-of-views. I was very interested and engaged in some of the character arcs and less so with a few of other characters. I found the characters featured in the feudal setting to be developed and fleshed out and I wanted to read more about them.

The parts of the story that featured characters not in the feudal setting were slow and I think did not add or move the major plot in this story forward. I got the sense the parts of the story featuring these characters to be setting-up plot points for subsequent stories in the series. I would have preferred if the antagonists such as the feudal lord, who is featured briefly in the story, was featured more in this novel. I think I would have been interested in reading from his point of view about his motivations and beliefs that lead to his actions. I would have like to have spend a little more time with the characters who came after one of the main characters and her clan. I would have preferred if they were more developed so their culture and motivations for going after the main character and her clan would be understood and why they are important to the story.

I had difficulty with is all the events that take place in this story transpires over a two-week period and made feel the ending is abrupt and not satisfying.

Mr. Brooks has created an interesting world and two engaging and interesting main characters, but the some of the other characters that I did slow the story and the issues I had with the ending impacted my enjoyment of the novel.

I rate Black Coast 3.25 stars.

I would like to thank Mr. Brooks, Rebellion/Solaris, and Netgalley for the free ARC.

4/5 stars
Recommended for people who like: high fantasy, multiple POVs, dragons, intricate plots

This review has been posted to Goodreads and my blog as of 3/3.
TW: some homophobia

I really enjoyed the world of Black Coast and the clear world-building effort that had been put into it. Each of the different places and peoples/cultures were unique without being unrealistic. The religions and histories were well thought out, and even the language(s) had their own backgrounds. Some of the cultural practices seem strange, and indeed they do cause tension between the Tjakorshi and Naridans, and I found the manner of identification (referring to oneself as 'your son,' this warrior,' etc.) to be a bit unwieldy at first, I got used to it and barely noticed it the more the book went on.

Each part of the book is prefaced by a short 'scholarly' passage describing some aspect of the world's languages, cultures, or creatures. While I'm sure these are meant to be helpful and give background/foreshadowing info, the only one I actually read all the way through was the very first one, which described the meanings of the six gender pronouns used by one of the book's languages. That one actually was helpful, since two of the POVs utilize that language and it's helpful for remembering how people are referring to one another.

I really liked the two main plots in the book: one of the Tjakorshi settling in Blackcreek and the other of the Naridan royal family attempting to assassinate the Splinter family. I generally liked following the characters of each plot and learning about the people, places, and politics, however I think each plot would've been better served getting its own book. While there are obvious implications for how the Splinter assassination can impact the Tjakorshi-Naridan settlement, there are less clear implications for the reverse. Further, the two plots and sets of characters do not actually come together in this book and I think they could've been served better each having their own book, then coming together in a later one (as I assume will happen), especially since the POVs got somewhat unwieldy.

In terms of the POVs, there's about four major ones, with another handful of minor ones bringing the total up to, I think, 7 POVs. Now, four main POVs isn't bad and I've read a number of books with this number of narrating characters. The problem arises when we begin adding the others into the mix and giving them a handful of chapters here and there, and then it gets very complicated keeping track of who's who and where. I can understand adding some additional POVs for moments that will have a later impact but for which none of the main characters are present, though I think I'd prefer if it was 3rd limited rather than 1st, but that was not the case here. We started out with our main four...then we add Rikkut, then Evram, then Zhaana, and while these characters have important roles to play I question whether those roles, perhaps with the exception of Rikkut, really required their own chapters. Evram and Zhanna probably could've been given one or two chapters to fill in some gaps, but I didn't need to know past the bare details of what Evram was up to or that Zhanna was bored in the palace (especially since it didn't tell us anything new about her character or relationships). So, due to the confusion I had for the first 30% of the book due to POVs, I had to knock down the score slightly.

In terms of characters, there's a pretty hefty cast, but Brooks does a good job giving each their own personalities and feels, so it didn't really ever feel like I was reading a Daimon chapter when I was reading Tila or Saana, or like Jeya had the same voice as the others. The side characters were also distinguished well, though I'm really only going to hit on these main four characters since, again, the cast is pretty large.

Tila is an interesting character to read. She's the first POV we're exposed to in the book and, at first, I really did not like her. However, as the book went on and she went on her own plot adventure I began to like her more. Tila is part of Plot B, which centers around the Naridan royalty (aka Tila and her brother, Natan) deciding to assassinate the Splinter family, who claimed to have more of a right to the throne and as a result needed to flee to another country. She's not really a good person but she's certainly good at what she does and has decent reasoning behind why she does what she does (not that I agree, but I can certainly see how she got to where she did). It's obvious she cares for her brother, whom I would've liked to see more of, and is loyal to her family and country. Something I thought Brooks did cleverly was to switch around the 'masked vigilante' character by having the princess be the one who was masked the the vigilante wall around bare faced. Tila definitely walks a tricky line and I'm curious to see how that will play out for her.

Daimon is, I think, the next narrator and is less likeable. He's fine in his first chapter, but later on he does and says stuff that makes me feel apathetic toward him...but at the same time I didn't want him to die, so maybe I don't totally dislike him, but still. He certainly has a lot of weight on his shoulders trying to make the Tjakorshi-Naridan melding work, which is Plot A, but I also feel like if he maybe didn't still have the mindset that they were no-nothing savages that it might go a bit better, especially at first. I understand that he can't change everyone's minds, but I do think Daimon has a responsibility to correct people when they say in front of him, and especially in front of any Tjakorshi, that the Tjakorshi are uncivilized or savages. Like, it's not that hard and would go a long way toward reinforcing the idea that that kind of behavior is unacceptable. I think one of my problems with him is that he's so stuffy for most of the book. Anyway, he definitely has his flaws but there are times when I do like him and enjoy reading his POV, especially when he's around his brother.

Saana is the Tjakorshi chief who brought her people across the ocean to flee from The Golden. She's already done a lot of hard work by the time the book opens and hopes everything will work out but also isn't totally confident it will. I liked Saana better than Daimon and I think she might be one of my favorite characters in the book. She lets things roll off her fairly easy and is pretty determined to make things work. Saana also, admittedly, has some negative thoughts and words about how the Naridans live, but I also feel like she's more willing to give, perhaps because she knows they don't have any other option other than to play nice. One thing I really didn't like about her was the homophobia, which I have many thoughts about and will get into below. Overall I like most of Saana's character and empathize with the struggles she faces trying to get everyone to work together when the Naridans and Tjakorshi of the town end up at odds with one another again and again, but I'm not a fan of the homophobia aspect, even if she has vowed to change that.

Jeya is the last main narrator and is my other favorite character in the book. She is a thief living in Adaba and happens to steal from (and is promptly caught) a very rich person whose identity is kept 'secret' for most of the book but whose identity is also, at the same time, totally obvious. Anyway, she has an interesting way of looking at the world and I enjoyed reading through her eyes. I almost feel like she's a younger character, but her mysterious friend is referenced as an adult by someone else and she has a younger friend herself, so I assume she's at least majority age, if not older. I could actually probably stand to read a whole book about Jeya's adventures, screw the other plotlines, and hope things turn out well for her considering the mess she's inadvertently walked into.

And super quick, since it is relevant, Rikkut works for The Golden, a draug that is attempting to do...something...with the world. I'm not quite sure what. He's terrifying enough that he slaughters towns and sent Saana and her people running across the ocean, but he also claims he's trying to save people. Right. I'm not entirely sure what he's actually doing, but I doubt it's good. Rikkut is an unpleasant character. Definitely my least favorite narrator, and I kept hoping throughout the book that he'd die. But he does make a good character for seeing what the villains are up to.

Now, back to the homophobia. Narida is LGB friendly (idk about T it doesn't really come up) and Tjakorsha is not. Several characters explain it as a need for survival (one that oh-so-coincidentally got caught up in their god), but that doesn't make it any better and there's a couple of scenes where that really comes to a head. I especially don't like how it comes up the first time: a gay man gets drunk and kisses another man without consent. Like, this couldn't've come up literally any other way?! Two guys taking care of their kid or the scene later in the book, perhaps? The trope of the predatory gay plays so heavily into homophobic narratives and into the history of LGB representation that it feels very icky here, particularly since it was the first encounter with an openly gay character in the book. So, while the homophobia is addressed (Daimon actually handles this fantastically and is willing to go to bat for LGB Naridans and Tjakorshi) and there's is a proposed attempt to start overcoming it, I did not like it and knocked the score down.

Overall I enjoyed the book, though Plot A had somewhat of a deus ex machina ending, in my opinion. The Narida-Tjakorsha settlement is the heftier plot in this book and as such we get to know more characters from that plot than from Plot B. I liked Tavi, Zhanna, and Darel, who all come from Plot A, but really only liked Galem and Natan as side characters from Plot B.

I don't think I can review this book because after a while the third person speech irritated me to the point I couldn't finish the novel. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read it. I guess I am just not the right audience for the book.

Thought this was an interesting read. Reminded me a bit of Game of Thrones meets The Witcher meets Jurassic Park.

It was a bit difficult to get into at the beginning. The novel is told from multiple POV. Once I could picture the characters and what was going on in each story I can say I looked forward to reading each chapter. I’m eager to read the next book in the series.

I’d give it a 3.5/5. I’d recommend this book to others. I was pleasantly surprised, especially by an author I’ve never read from before. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3752699889

*Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion publishing for the eARC of this incredible title!!*

I will start this by saying I’m pretty sure this book has made me fall in love with fantasy again. Vikings, nobility, and dragons - oh my! As someone who read a lot of fantasy series as a kid/young adult, I have been hard pressed to find anything that translates well to my adult brain. Mike Brooks really did it with this incredibly captivating book, and I can’t wait for the rest of the series.

The book started out with what felt like a LOT of characters and moving parts but Brooks did an incredible job of tying everyone together quickly and the character development had me looking forward to each point of view, rather than favoring any characters over the other. There are a lot of plot points coursing through this book but the two most important are regarding the two warring races who must attempt to live together to escape something far more sinister, and a high born princess fighting to keep her family’s hold on the throne of Narida.

The characters range from low born thieves to actual princesses and everyone contributes something to the plot or to the readers knowledge of what is going on. By the middle of the book everything felt like it was crashing inwards, in the best possible way. I couldn’t put this book down as I needed to see which characters were going to overlap and how they were going to be incorporated into each other’s story lines.

I genuinely appreciated Brooks’ use of gender pronouns for the certain groups of people. Gender is no one’s business but theirs and until they assign themself a gender in conversation it is disrespectful to assume. I feel that this is very relevant in our current society and there was a great contrast of people “not understanding” the gendering and those that broke it down perfectly for them. It felt like a great teaching opportunity for people that might not understand how important gender pronouns are to people who identify differently than how they look.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy reads - the world building done in the book has left me with incredible images of the lands and has me dreaming of fighting razorbacks or racing across dangerous oceans filled with slithery water dragons. Shoutout to Black Coast for inspiring me to read more fantasy in 2021!!

I really liked it! The book started slow and the jumping of perspective between different stories made it rough to keep up at first. As the stories progressed I could see how they were going to impact each other. The book does end with unresolved issues for all the three stories, but I really want to see how they all turn out.
All of the main characters are having moments of introspection and forced changes to themselves. The issues in the story will make you think and realize we have some of the same problems in our world. I am looking forward to the next book.

Epic-fantasy lovers need to read this in 2021.

I am no novice to the genre, and I relish the first chapter confusion as I slowly, page by page get acclimated to a new world and fit together the jigsaw pieces of its laws and customs. This story leaves you stranded and alone and wondering what is going on and I loved it. There were point of views aplenty to enrich the lore, fully developed and distinct cultural identities and backgrounds, and a cast of easy to love characters.

I was especially impressed by the author's use of language to convey colloquialism - some cultures used different tones to express gender, so the page is riddled with so many accent grave and accent aigu symbols I thought I was back in high school French class! Another culture referred to themselves completely in the third person, which was a little tough getting used to, but it really added that extra layer of intricacy that epic fantasy thrives on. And at the forefront to this tale, the brutal collision of two groups of people with a sordid past - one a warrior refugee clan seeking a new home, the other a traditional, straitlaced people hesitant to accept them.
Amidst the chaos and bloodshed, our hero and heroine Daimon and Saana go to great lengths to try to secure peace between their rival groups. But there are dark forces approaching from across the sea, and these two must learn to bury the past if they are to survive the future. It all made for a high-action, high intensity tale that veterans of the epic fantasy genre will adore.

OH! AND THERE'S WAR DRAGONS. SO....YEAH.

I am highly anticipating the sequel!

Thank you to netgalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Large in size, and ambitious in scope, The Black Coast (book one in the God-King Chronicles) perfectly lives up to the saying, “Slow and steady wins the race”. While it did not contain as much action as I was expecting, it was still a fascinating read.

The main storyline of this book features two separate cultures trying to coexist peacefully. A clan of the Tjakorsha people have just shown up at the Black Keep. Normally, that is cause for huge concern, as the Tjakorsha are raiders. However, in this instance, something has changed: the Black Eagle Clan is hoping to settle alongside the people of the Black Keep and live peaceably. Daimon of the Black Keep goes against the wishes of his law-father to allow this, adding an extra level to this already-unique plotline. This meshing of two very separate cultures makes for an engrossing story. There is no lack of danger or action, but the main risk is with two very different cultures attempting to mesh and live side-by-side.

There is much more to The Black Coast than just a joining of two cultures, and this is where things got a little muddy for me. I wanted so much to like the other storylines, especially that of Tila, a political mastermind with a double life (which I will not spoil by discussing). Unfortunately, they failed to suck me in. While the world is huge, with unique cultures, traditions, and speech patterns, I was left feeling a little overwhelmed by it all. It was a bit much for me to keep track of, and I’m sure I missed something important. It didn’t matter in the long run, though, because the Black Keep storyline was so interesting.

The Black Coast seems to be a book that is entirely set up for the rest of the series. I was left intrigued but feeling like I was still waiting for things to start. Another book that I had a similar reaction to was The Dragonbone Chair, the first book in the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams. As with that book, I have a feeling that The Black Coast is ramping up to what will be an amazing series, one that rewards patience. Go into this book expecting a slow buildup, epic worldbuilding, and a lot to mull over.

Fleeing the demon that is taking over the Tjakorshi clans, the Brown Eagle clan has left their home and sailed across the sea to settle at Black Keep, in Narida, a place they have previously raided. Understandably, the people of Black Keep assume that these raiders are here to pillage their lands, but they don't have the resources to fight off the entire Brown Eagle clan. When the clan chief arrives flying a flag of parley, the thane of Black Keep expects treachery and chooses to attack. The thane's adopted son, however, chooses to trust the clan chief and turns on his father and brother in exchange for terms of peace, in hopes that this decision will save the lives of everyone in Black Keep. Now, these two peoples have to figure out how to live and work together, despite language and cultural barriers, as well as a long history of violence between them. Meanwhile, there are other forces at work in Narida and elsewhere that threaten to engulf them all in war.

Brooks does some fascinating things with gender, language, and culture in this novel. Each of the book's three cultures has its own unique patterns of language which clearly differentiate between them. For instance, Naridans speak about themselves in the third person and place a lot of emphasis on relative social standing in the way they address each other, while Alabans have five genders (high feminine, low feminine, high masculine, low masculine, no gender), indicated through inflection, plus a gender neutral default pronoun form used either to refer to strangers whose pronouns are unknown or to oneself when one doesn't want to give out personal information about one's gender identity to strangers. Each culture handles gender and queerness differently, where Kiburu ce Alaba is obviously very accepting of transgender identities, Narida is entirely accepting of same-sex couples but also sexist and unaccepting of trans identities, and Tjakorsha is homophobic but has equal rights for women.

My issue with The Black Coast is in its pacing. It often felt slow to me, a problem that I think was exacerbated by the number of POV characters and the way it set up plot threads for later books. It throws a lot of POV characters at you at the beginning, about one every chapter for the first 7 chapters or so and a few more added later. Most are not very important. This meant that there was a lot to take in at the beginning, and it took a while before the plot felt like it was starting to take shape. A couple of the plot threads have little payoff in this book; they had little screen time and they only barely started to connect to the main plot at the very end of the book. They're just setup for what comes next, which felt unsatisfying to me.

There were elements I really enjoyed, such as the world building around gender and language and the way Brooks dissects the flaws in Naridan and Tjakorshi culture. I liked seeing them try to navigate all of the tension around their shared history, language barriers, and cultural misunderstandings. Even so, I found the first half of the book to be a slog until I learned who all of the characters were and reached a point where I felt like I understood the scope of the story and where it was headed. With so many POV characters, this was a little less character-driven than I like, because there are only a couple that I feel I really got to know. In this way, the novel had the feel of a 90s-era epic fantasy, just with more modern gender politics. Brooks does some really neat things here, but unfortunately, some of it just wasn't my style. This is the book for you if you love the style of the epic fantasy of a few decades ago, but also want it to be queer and feminist.

An amazing book in a uniquely imagined fantasy setting that explores what comes after a war. Mike Brooks is a relatively new voice in the fantasy genre but, I’m sure that The Black Coast will sweep readers away into the world he created with the first book in The God-King Chronicles.

This multi-POV story is filled with realistic, layered and fascinating characters that have their own personal struggles. I loved watching them grow over the course of the plot; getting to spend time with characters that are ultimately working towards a better world is extremely refreshing for this genre.

Also, I want to highlight the fact that The Black Coast is a book that has a queernorm world! I love seeing fantastic queer representation and identity exploration in adult fantasy since it isn’t as common as it is in young adult novels.

With war-dragons, armoured knights, sea-faring raiders, dangerous magic and intense battle scenes, The Black Coast is sure to please any fantasy reader.