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A review by vinayvasan
When the Heavens Fall by Marc Turner
3.0
3.5 stars actually
This is a fantastically ambitious book only matched by how difficult it is to access the book. Immense in scale while focusing on a single conflict, When The Heavens Fall can truly be compared to Malazan: Book of the Fallen.
Like Malazan (I might keep saying that through this review), it pretty much starts in media res. You land right smack in the middle of an unrest, and features 4 apparently disparate storylines that converge (duh) but its never quite as simple. It takes almost more than half of the book before the first storyline converges and then diverges almost immediately. This is a story featuring jealous insecure wheeling-dealing gods, psychotic power hungry capricious necromancers, young inexperienced possibly possessed king, a guardian warrior, a spider goddess' pawn a on a quest along with an assortment of other interested parties making a play for a great object of power that could topple gods. As I said, single conflict but immense in scope
The pacing of the book is rather measured. Its not the usual breathless stuff and what Marc Turner does really well is show us all characters in a single chapter. That takes care of the narrative speed and heft as you just spend enough time with the character to keep you hooked in.
But be warned its not an easy read. Its challenging and complex and possibly unwieldy until it all starts coming together. The world building is a bit patchy, well developed in a few regards, minimal in others.
That being said, its difficult to believe its actually a debut novel. The confidence to tackle such an ambitious plot sets the bar very high indeed for book 2. On we go to it next
This is a fantastically ambitious book only matched by how difficult it is to access the book. Immense in scale while focusing on a single conflict, When The Heavens Fall can truly be compared to Malazan: Book of the Fallen.
Like Malazan (I might keep saying that through this review), it pretty much starts in media res. You land right smack in the middle of an unrest, and features 4 apparently disparate storylines that converge (duh) but its never quite as simple. It takes almost more than half of the book before the first storyline converges and then diverges almost immediately. This is a story featuring jealous insecure wheeling-dealing gods, psychotic power hungry capricious necromancers, young inexperienced possibly possessed king, a guardian warrior, a spider goddess' pawn a on a quest along with an assortment of other interested parties making a play for a great object of power that could topple gods. As I said, single conflict but immense in scope
The pacing of the book is rather measured. Its not the usual breathless stuff and what Marc Turner does really well is show us all characters in a single chapter. That takes care of the narrative speed and heft as you just spend enough time with the character to keep you hooked in.
But be warned its not an easy read. Its challenging and complex and possibly unwieldy until it all starts coming together. The world building is a bit patchy, well developed in a few regards, minimal in others.
That being said, its difficult to believe its actually a debut novel. The confidence to tackle such an ambitious plot sets the bar very high indeed for book 2. On we go to it next