As they’re wont to do, Suvudu has released another 50-page excerpt of an exciting new novel on their website. This time around, it’s Mark Charan Newton‘s City of Ruin, one of my favourite novels of last year!
‘Last year?’ you say.
‘Well,’ I respond. ‘You see, Newton’s books are released about a year ahead of time in the UK and Canada… so I get to read them early!’
‘I wanna read them early!’ you whine.
‘Then rejoice! Just check out The Book Depository. Free worldwide shipping from the UK! Even better, if you like City of Ruin, you can also order its sequel, The Book of Transformations, which won’t be out in the US for at least another year!’
‘Thanks, Aidan!’ you shout. Absolute jubilation warps your face and tears of joy rolling down your cheeks. ‘You’re an amazing blogger and advocate of great Fantasy novels.’
‘Yah, I know.’
Newton has some interesting thoughts on City of Ruin:
[City of Ruin] is about a siege. It’s a war story. Villiren is a city under threat from an outside force, a race not natural to the world in which the book is set. I invested a lot of the narrative in building up to the war, because to make this war story more powerful, I added in some personal stories. The reasoning was that if the reader was invested in characters beforehand, then they would care when the invasion begun and their lives are at threat. So there are love affairs, a crime plot (with a serial killer), a gang leader whose marriage is breaking down uncontrollably.
You can read the first 50 pages of City of Ruin, and read the rest of Mark’s thoughts on the novel, on Suvudu.
