The Path of Flames (Chronicles of the Black Gate Book 1) Kindle Edition

For a fantasy novel to really succeed for me, it needs to build a world that uses medieval and magical tropes but still feels unique, with intriguing lore and fresh, developed characters. Path of Flames succeeds with a unique fantasy world, somewhere between Wheel of Time and Song of Ice and Fire in how overtly magical and amorally political the world is. The characters are also great- the POV characters all have distinct, developed voices that makes you care about them, and open up richer understanding of what living in this world is like.But beyond the world building, a fantasy novel has to be fun to read, and Path of Flames had nailed that. Tucker writes action scenes that suck you in and play out like movies in your mind. They're always gripping, there's plenty of them, and they build from gritty, medieval swordplay to epic combat not out of place in an anime. His action never drags, and never feels gratuitous.All in all, this is a great start to a new fantasy series. The story is exciting and satisfying, but I finished it wanting to jump into what comes next.

MY INTRO TO THE ‘CHRONICLES OF THE BLACK GATE’: Initially, I sought to learn about the story that edged out Josiah Bancroft’s SENLIN ASCENDS in one branch of Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. However, I admit to feeling some hesitation when I read that THE PATH OF FLAMES is over 600 pages long and the first in a planned pentalogy. Investing in a doorstop series requires quite an investment, not the least of which in patience which I do not possess an abundance of. Then I learned of the sort of short story prequel—ESCAPE FROM BYTHOS—and decided to read it as a compromise, intending to stop there. The story is short in length but long on intrigue—a succulent teaser that dares you to stop there. Obviously, I couldn’t and proceeded to the subject of this review.MY RATING: Four stars to the novel as a whole. Five stars without the Tharok POV.Bear with me while I explain the star rating.THE THAROK POV. This intrigues when first encountered. The kragh—Tharok’s species—promises a score of tales rich, exotic and mysterious. As you continue to encounter Tharok, however, it becomes baffling because you remain none the wiser as to where he fits in the main story arc. The more his POV comes up, it starts feeling like an unwanted interlude delaying progress into the main adventure. You can almost skip the Tharok POV altogether and likely not miss it. For most of this book, only the name of Tharok’s species—an Orc-werewolf-like creature—feels germane, tangentially mentioned. Towards the end, you do get an idea of where Tharok and the kragh might fit in the larger narrative but it doesn’t get much of a foothold in this book.The odd and curious thing though is that if you read the Tharok POV on its own, it makes for a 4-5 star novella. It delivers on the rich, exotic, mysterious tale it initially signaled. Tharok's attempt to rise from defeat is compelling in itself. But as a POV in this particular book, it never quite feels organically linked, like runners on parallel tracks likely headed towards one finish line but running in separate races.THE MAIN STORY. Phil Tucker knows how to make an entrance with an adrenaline-fueled opening salvo. The epic battle is a skillful introduction. The knights of the warrior class, the religious leader and the sorcerers of the faith, the opposing empire and its dark sorcerers, the Orc-like soldiers on the frontlines—the lines are drawn, all are on display like chess pieces on a board. And then there’s Asho—squire to a cruel knight who unexpectedly shows valor on the battlefield and rises to great heights.The Ascendant Empire is a caste society, hierarchically structured, symbiotically linking religious fortune to social status. The blessed are born to noble or warrior classes with all the attending temporal benefits. The lower classes, through sacrifice, seek to be reborn higher up the class and race ladder. Eventual exit from the mortal plane is the ultimate objective of all.In contrast to Enderl Kyferin’s Bythian squire Asho stands Kethe, Enderl’s daughter born into privilege but secretly desiring to be a knight. Kethe desperately seeks the approval of the father she deemed larger than life. Discovering that Enderl had sharp edges she was completely unaware of will cause her internal turmoil.Following Enderl’s death, Kyferin Castle becomes vulnerable and a coup of a sort occurs, displacing Enderl’s widow, Iskra, and all those loyal to her. Asho and Kethe are unexpectedly thrown together in exile in an abandoned hold with a long-forgotten origin. In exploring their place of exile, Iskra and her retinue will be forced to revisit the history of their people, the foundation of their society and the genesis of their faith.I won’t deny there is room for streamlining and trimming of the fat in this long tale but it possibly boils down to personal preference. What I may personally deem superfluous may be essential or particularly entertaining to others. Also, there are a few predictable turns but I admit they are no less engaging when they finally occur as signaled and satisfying besides.THE SUPPORTING CAST. While Asho and Kethe may be deemed the anointed leads of this story, it is in the support cast where it truly shines and becomes compelling. The eyes of the ordinary, flawed, cowardly, broken, ill-equipped men and women surrounding Asho and Kethe are the best windows into every nook and cranny of this narrative. Audsley the timid and indulgent academic, Iskra the tortured wife thrust as heir to the kingdom, and Tiron the former knight turned long-suffering prisoner hovering between a haunting past and an unanticipated future.THE ENDING: As Phil Tucker knew how to make an entrance, he likewise knows how to make an exit. He ends with a spectacular conflict and the promise of more and even greater ones.THE PATH OF FLAMES is an ambitious endeavor, certainly epic in scale with a gigantic cast of characters. The story has so many moving parts requiring a deft hand to tame into cohesion. Phil Tucker is no amateur storyteller. Rather, he is fearless and aggressive in marshaling his characters, fashioning his world, and corralling his story. This is Fantasy with a capital “F” and Epic with a capital “E”.READ IT—in all capital letters.

This is a throughly enjoyable book that fits into a familiar high fantasy frame while offering plenty of surprise and the possibility of subverting those expectations. There's a lot going on in this book and Tucker didn't always take the expected path. More than once I was expecting a sequence of events to progress in a certain way, only to find that Tucker had something else in mind. Perhaps most intriguing of all, Tucker clearly means to undermine the status quo of the world he's created. I'm looking forward immensely to watching him cut away the anchors of this society just as a storm descends upon it.I particularly enjoyed Magister Audsley's chapters. His rambling, one-sided conversations with Aedelbert made me chuckle and the Magister's mind gives us a view into the history and mythology of this world, which I always appreciate. In addition, his discoveries around the 2/3rds mark were, while not exactly unexpected, compelling, intriguing, and a delicious set up for what is clearly a larger arc that will be explored in later books.I grew to appreciate Tharok's chapters, but in the early going, his isolation from the rest of the story caused me to grumble more than once when switching back to his POV. I could see that Tharok's story was leading to important things, but his lack of contact with the other characters--especially considering ALL the other POV characters interact with each other--did draw me out of the story. However, Tharok wrestles with a highly interesting dilemma regarding a certain item in his possession and it was this facet of his story that made his chapters interesting.That being said, I think the book borders on having too many POV characters. I was surprised to reach about 22% on my kindle before any of the POVs were repeated and this seemed like a bit too much for my personal taste. However, I think Tucker handles the POVs well. These POVs are generally fairly well-drawn. They fall across the spectrum in terms of magical abilities, personalities, and histories, so each reader should find one to latch on to. In less capable hands, the number of POVs might have caused the story to fumble and never recover, but Tucker clearly knows what he's doing. These comments, then, are less a criticism and more an attempt to make potential readers aware of my experience.There were several instances, especially in the earlier chapters, of what I believe to be some proper noun confusion: place names appearing with different spellings (some minor, some dramatic) a few pages apart, etc. This issue mostly seems to have been ironed out later on, but I wish an editor had caught them.I like where the various plot points left off at the end of the book--a few gentle cliffhangers, plenty left unexplored and unanswered, and a score of ways for the story to unfold from this point on. I will definitely be continuing with this series!

The cover was surely of an elf? However, in this book he is called Asho and is a Bythian, who are thelowest in the "pecking order" of humans and treated as slaves and worse by those "higher up" the human chain.That Asho is elevated to a squire is explained in the book, though he is still reviled by most people.His loyalty is to Iskra, Lady Kyferin and he fights alongside other knights and Iskra's daughter, Kethe, whowants to be a knight instead of a simpering maid. Both Asho and Kethe discover mystical powers in themselvesthat neither really want, but use to defend themselves.Alternating with this story is that of Tharok, a mountain Kragh - I think a bit like a troll but more intelligent!His tribe has been wiped out and he has to survive to join up with another tribe and seek revenge on the enemy.There was some interesting magic in the book and no explicit sex (or even romance) or swearing.Although it is book 1, some issues were resolved at the end so if you didn't want to read about the ongoingadventures, you wouldn't feel it was left as a cliffhanger.

Alpha heroine who really got on my nerves. Definite role reversal with hero and heroine. However, I don't find aggressive, prejudiced,spoilt brat heroines appealing. I found the heroine shallow, incredibly selfish and very anti heroine which if that was what the writer wanted then well done as she succeeded.I think however had the heroine's motivation been a bit more than just 'Im going to prove myself to my Dad' then I might have been more sympathetic but instead I found that motivation insufficient to excuse her single minded self seeking cruelty as there is no indication from the story that she was either mistreated or marginalized which might explain her perspective. She in fact appeared to have been spoilt and indulged and had sufficient personal freedom enough to pursue and openly display martial skills other highborn girls would have been punished for acquiring. The put upon, mistreated and honourable elf like hero is so much better than her, except for his stupid attraction to her.

On some POV books, you inevitably find yourself groaning when certain characters names pop up. That genuinely wasn't the case here. Fantasy in the genre of sword/sorcery and orc/like characters. I could tell 15 pages I that I would like it. For fans of GOT/KKC etc instantly bought the 2nd book

I was really pleasantly surprised with this book. The world building was excellent, the premise of the book engaging and the characters were well developed. I'm an avid reader of fantasy novels and with the exception of books from the likes of Brandon Sanderson etc. this is one of the best books I've read this year. Looking forward to the next installment, already pre-ordered!

Really enjoyed reading this book and recommend it.