Squiers has once again proven himself worthy of the title of Bard. No one-trick-pony, he has created a universe as different as one could possibly be from the world of the Crimson Shadow.
Here we follow an incredibly hard to kill character in a post-apocalyptic world. The story begins in a desert of glass - shards both large and small, remnants of the glass mountains and trees that were worn down over the years since the world as everyone knew it went belly up. Not just one god, many had a gleeful hand in destroying the planet and most of what lived on it.
Now, I consider myself a loner. I prefer dogs to people any day of the week. Our protagonist is also a loner, but unlike me, he takes offense when bothered, mostly because people are trying to kill him. Thulu isn't exactly impossible to kill, he just doesn't stay dead. It takes an incredible amount of effort for short-term results. Between the time it takes for the first effort to be made and the last, which does the job, Thulu manages to take out everyone stupid enough to accept the job of trying to put an end to him. Once he gets over the fact that he's been killed again, he has a cozy chat with a god. At some point, he wakes back up in the state that killed him. Most, if not all, of his fatal injuries have healed.
Squiers signature level of sarcasm is present throughout. That has been one of the things I love about his work. The protagonist takes it a bit (okay, a lot) further and spices up his sarcasm with liberal levels of creative speaking. Thulu is unabashedly unashamed to treat man and gods to his completely unvarnished opinion on everything. And before you think of saying you aren't interested, think twice before saying something he might take offense to.
The world as seen through Thulu's eyes is dismal. Yet the most redeeming thing, in my opinion, is his ability to see how long any given person he looks at has left to live. It's this ability that kept me reading. And with continued reading I wanted to know why he could see another person's life span.
As always, Squiers doesn't disappoint. Yes, there's language that could make a sailor blush, probably even fall mute at the creative and prolific use of such language. However I don't feel it's used as a way to lengthen the story. Thulu uses such language in much the same way others might say, 'well shoot.'
If you've followed Squiers at all, then you already know how detailed oriented he is at building a world. This one is no different. You won't regret stepping into another universe from the Bard, Nathan Squiers.
5 stars
