The Fires of Vengeance (The Burning, 2) by Evan Winter
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The Fires of Vengeance (The Burning, 2)

by

Evan Winter

(Author)

4.6

-

4,108 ratings


In order to reclaim her throne and save her people, an ousted queen must join forces with a young warrior in the second book of this "relentlessly gripping, brilliant" epic fantasy series from a breakout author (James Islington). Tau and his Queen, desperate to delay the impending attack on the capital by the indigenous people of Xidda, craft a dangerous plan. If Tau succeeds, the Queen will have the time she needs to assemble her forces and launch an all out assault on her own capital city, where her sister is being propped up as the 'true' Queen of the Omehi.

If the city can be taken, if Tsiora can reclaim her throne, and if she can reunite her people then the Omehi have a chance to survive the onslaught.

  • The Burning
  • The Rage of Dragons
  • The Fires of Vengeance

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ISBN-10

0316489794

ISBN-13

978-0316489799

Print length

544 pages

Language

English

Publisher

Orbit

Publication date

June 21, 2021

Dimensions

6 x 1.75 x 9.2 inches

Item weight

2.31 pounds



Popular highlights in this book

  • “Yes, that’s the lie everyone unaffected by hidden hardships believes.”

    Highlighted by 338 Kindle readers

  • “The lie isn’t that we can’t be their equals. The lie is that they were ever anything but our equals.”

    Highlighted by 263 Kindle readers

  • “Lady Gifted, as far as I know, the only path to becoming what others cannot is to suffer what others will not.”

    Highlighted by 258 Kindle readers


Product details

ASIN :

B07ZZ1Y1PK

File size :

7719 KB

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Editorial reviews

"Winters's stunning debut fantasy epic is rich in complex characters and a well-wrought world with both European and African influences. ... This impressive series launch holds tremendous promise."―Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Rage of Dragons

"People ask the last book I couldn't put down, and I tell them The Rage of Dragons. The tension rises with every page until you fear it will break you in two."―Peter V. Brett, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Warded Man on The Rage of Dragons

"Expertly structured with a keen eye for action and character, The Rage of Dragons is a captivating epic heroic fantasy from a major new talent."―Anthony Ryan, author of Blood Song on The Rage of Dragons

"The Rage of Dragons takes the best parts of epic fantasy and sets them in a refreshing and inventive new world, a gripping tale that makes clear the true cost of war and colonialism with one of the most enthralling hero's journeys I've read."―S. A. Chakraborty, author of City of Brass on The Rage of Dragons

"Compelling, expansive and rich. Winter has created an exciting and immersive world of magic, vengeance and wonder"―Micah Yongo, author of Lost Gods on The Rage of Dragons

"A refreshingly brutal and imaginative tale of survival and revenge. Evan Winter's battles are visceral, bloody masterpieces, and Tau's climb from exiled Lesser to legendary warrior is earned in a way few writers could hope to match."―David Dalglish, author of the Shadowdance Series on The Rage of Dragons

"A Xhosa-inspired world complete with magic, dragons, demons and curses, The Rage of Dragons takes classic fantasy and imbues it with a fresh and exciting twist."―Anna Stephens, author of Godblind on The Rage of Dragons

"Wow. This book hits the ground with stunning action and danger, and it barely lets up as the pages fly by. I loved the African-influence culture, the unique use of dragons and demons, the complex martial and class hierarchy, and it has a magic system unlike anything I've seen before. What a terrific set up for a series!"―David Anthony Durham, author of The Acacia Trilogy on The Rage of Dragons

"Winter's debut will draw strong comparisons to George R.R. Martin and Brandon Sanderson, and the strong African influences and ties create a singular, exciting epic with intriguing characters and culture. Readers will be clamoring for the next installment."―Library Journal (starred review) on The Rage of Dragons

"Intense, inventive and action-packed from beginning to end - a relentlessly gripping, brilliant read."―James Islington, author of The Shadow of What Was Lost on The Rage of Dragons

"The Rage of Dragons is an uncompromisingly brutal fantasy in a unique, fascinating world I want to see a lot more of. Fans of Anthony Ryan's Blood Song will love this."―Django Wexler, author of The Thousand Names on The Rage of Dragons

"A unique military fantasy....The fast-paced action will have readers eager to follow Tau into the next book of this captivating epic."―Booklist (starred review) on The Rage of Dragons

"The Rage of Dragons is what fantasy was always meant to be. Winter will pull you into a world of revenge, war, and fire. This isn't just a book, it's an unforgettable experience."―Sean Grigsby, author of Smoke Eaters and Daughters of Forgotten Light on The Rage of Dragons

"Intense, vivid and brilliantly realized - a necessary read"―Anna Smith Spark, author of The Court of Broken Knives on The Rage of Dragons

"Page-turner replete with demons, dragons, and really bad dreams...fantasy fans will find this an absorbing, fast-paced table-setter. "―Kirkus on The Rage of Dragons

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Sample

CHAPTER ONE

JABARI ONAI

Will he die?”

The voice woke him, returning him to torture. He knew he was in a hospital bed in Citadel City’s Guardian Keep and that his body had been blasted by dragon fire, but Jabari Onai did not know why the Goddess would keep him alive in such misery.

He tried to open his eyes, and pain roared across his face in scorching waves. His eyelids had melted and fused together, leaving him to peer out at a world as if from behind a field of long grass.

He made to speak, to beg Tau or the Sah priestesses and priests to release him from his anguish, but he couldn’t make a sound. His throat was too badly burned to manage it.

“I won’t tell you he’s going to die,” Jabari heard a woman’s voice say, “but I can’t say that he’ll live either.”

The speaker moved toward the foot of his bed, and through the jagged gaps between his burned eyelids, he caught a glimpse of her standing next to Tau. She was a priestess of the Sah medicinal order.

“He’s only survived this long because he’s Noble,” she said. “Their bodies can withstand more and they heal faster than us, but the damage that was done to him… it’s a miracle he’s still breathing.”

“He’s a fighter,” Tau said. “He’s always been one, and if you can give him any sort of chance, he’ll take up the fight and do his best to win it.”

“We won’t give up…,” she said.

Jabari heard a chair being pulled across the floor. It creaked when someone sat in it.

“I’m here, Jabari. It’s Tau and I’m here.”

“He can’t hear you,” the priestess said. “The pain… we’re giving him herbs to help him rest. It’s too cruel otherwise.”

“Will it disturb him, if I’m here?” Tau asked.

“No,” she said. “We should all be so lucky to have someone with us at the… at a time like this.”

Jabari heard footsteps. The priestess was leaving, and when the sound of her shoes tapping against the floor faded, Tau leaned over him to take his hand. He did it gently, but it didn’t matter.

Pain exploded from Jabari’s burned fingers, and unable to make a sound or resist, he stared through the holes in his eyelids at his friend’s scarred and worried face, hoping beyond hope that Tau could see enough of his eyes to recognize the light of consciousness in them. Tau didn’t see—he kept hold of Jabari’s hand—and desperate for any relief, Jabari sought refuge in his other senses. He caught the scent of leather, bronze, and earth from Tau and struggled to pull comfort from the familiar, but his agony made room for nothing but itself.

“I want you to know you did it,” Tau said. “You’re the man you always wanted to be. You don’t need the blood of a Greater Noble to be an Ingonyama, not when you have their spirit, their courage.”

He could hear Tau choking up, and that hurt too.

“Jabari, no matter what comes, I’ll make certain the Omehi remember you for that.”

There was silence for a while, and though his mind was slow, sluggish from the herbs, in his head, Jabari was screaming. The burns demanded it.

“It could have been different, neh? If not for the testing?” Tau said, whispering. “Feels like a thousand lifetimes ago. I just wanted to see you succeed, but when has the world ever cared what a Lesser wanted?”

Jabari would never forget that day. Tau had sparred with that spoiled brat, Kagiso, bloodying the fool in front of Guardian Councillor Abasi Odili. He’d been stupid enough to injure the Petty Noble, and Odili, intent on seeing the Lesser repaid for the insult, tasked Kellan Okar to remind Tau of his place.

Refusing to let his son face the already legendary Indlovu initiate, Aren fought Kellan Okar instead, losing his hand in the bout. It was a tragedy, but Jabari, like everyone else, could see that Kellan was trying to spare Aren’s life, and it could have ended there. It should have ended there, but Tau picked up his father’s fallen sword and aimed it at Kellan’s back.

Stupid. There were Lessers and Drudge everywhere, and they all saw what Tau did. He’d threatened a Noble and Abasi Odili couldn’t overlook that. The guardian councillor had Tau’s father killed and then he called off the Indlovu initiate testing, threatening the stability of Kerem as a fief.

In just a few short breaths, a personal tragedy had become a disaster, and it only got worse. On the march home, Tau attacked Lekan, accusing Jabari’s brother of being responsible for Aren’s death, and twice in one day, Tau forced the hand of his betters. It had broken Jabari’s heart to do it, but the only way he could save Tau from himself was to remove him from Lekan’s reach, and so he banished his lifelong friend from Kerem.

Tau’s voice pulled Jabari from the memory. “They killed my father and I was going to make them pay. I was going to join the military so I could challenge each one of them to a blood duel. I wanted to kill them and it was the only way I could do it without the Nobles coming for my family.”

If Jabari didn’t know how the story ended, he’d have sworn he was listening to the ravings of a madman.

“I thought I could become enough of a fighter to challenge and best an Ingonyama like Dejen Olujimi,” Tau said, and as if the man’s image was etched in his mind, Jabari could still see the soldier who’d killed Tau’s father.

Dejen Olujimi had been more muscle than man. Dejen Olujimi had been one of the Omehi’s best fighters.… Had been.

“I was so angry,” Tau said. “I went to see Lekan before leaving the fief.”

That part Jabari had not known, and he felt his breath come faster.

“I went to tell him that when next we met, I’d kill him for his part in my father’s death.”

For the first time since waking, Jabari’s pain pulled back.

“Lekan came at me with a knife. He’s the one who gave me the scar,” Tau said, letting his fingertips brush the mark that ran from his nose to his cheek. “I fought him. I—I defended myself, and… he died.”

He died. That was how Tau put it. He died. The words boomed in Jabari’s head like a war drum.

His mother had cried for days when they found the body at the bottom of the stairs. An accidental fall, they’d been told, a slip after too much drink. His mother had cried and cursed and become withdrawn. She’d lost a son and a piece of her soul that day.

“I fled to Kigambe, tested in the Ihashe trials, and made it into Jayyed Ayim’s scale,” Tau continued. “I was lucky, and just like you said, there’s no better umqondisi than Jayyed.”

Jabari prayed for the strength to strangle the Lesser he’d called a friend and treated as an equal. His brother hadn’t been perfect, but no one was. Lekan had just needed a chance to grow into himself and his responsibilities, but that chance was taken away when Tau stole him from the world and from his family.

“I gave my life to training. I was determined to be enough of a fighter to find justice for my father’s death. It was the only thing that mattered before I saw Zuri in Citadel City.”

Jabari’s pain was back and the medicine in his system called to him, offering him oblivion, if he’d take it. He preferred the pain. He wanted to hear everything Tau had to say.

“She saved me, Jabari. The life I’d made wasn’t worth living. Finding her in this city saved me.” Tau paused.

Tau let go of his hand and Jabari thanked the Goddess. It galled him to lie helpless while his brother’s murderer coddled him.

“It was here that I had my first chance at Kellan Okar. I was goaded into a fight with him in one of the city’s circles. I wanted to tear his insides out and thought I could do it,” Tau said. “I’d already learned to fight with two swords, and I was good, very good.” Tau laughed, bitterly. “Kellan destroyed me,” he said.

He should have killed you, Jabari thought.

“I’d given every waking moment to my training. I’d become the strongest fighter in the Southern Ihashe Isikolo, but I was still no match for him. Zuri had to save me from him, and I had to flee this city like a runaway Drudge.”

Because you’re no better than one, thought Jabari.

“I’d given my life to become the fighter I needed to be, but it wasn’t enough,” Tau said. “I had to give my soul to the cause too. So I did.”

Jabari didn’t understand, and he waited for Tau to explain.

“What I discovered is more curse than gift, and it’s there, waiting for any foolish enough to reach for it. You see, we all have demons,” Tau said. “I just learned to use mine.”

He was speaking in riddles.

“My scale, we made it to the Queen’s Melee, and it was the first time Lessers would compete in it in a generation,” Tau said. “I was part of the improbable and, Jabari, I’d become the impossible. I was finally ready for Kellan Okar, and then I learned that Queen Tsiora had brokered a secret peace treaty with the Xiddeen, threatening everything I’d worked for.”

Tau must have been uncomfortable with where his story was going. He kept shifting in his chair, making its legs scrape the floor.

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About the authors

Evan Winter

Evan Winter

Born in England to South American parents, Evan Winter was raised in Africa near the historical territory of his ancestors. He always wanted to be a writer, but went to university first, tended bars in two countries, became a director and cinematographer whose work has been viewed more than 500,000,000 times online, met a couple conmen in the process, was threatened by UK mobsters in a case of mistaken identity, worked with wonderful A-list celebrities, unbelievably talented unknowns, and became the Creative Director for one of the world's largest infrastructure companies, all before realizing that the words in his head would never write themselves. So, before he runs out of time, he started writing them.

More to the point, he grew up reading fantasy, loving fantasy, and believing that it's our stories that make us who we are. He remembers being fourteen and sitting on his bed for countless hours in the summer, reading Robert Jordan with Sarah McLachlan's music playing in the background. He remembers being transported to brilliant worlds of magic, heroism, conflict and wonder. He remembers the lessons learned when he grew up alongside Rand, contemplated life with Drizzt, fought against hard odds with Druss, and decided that, even if doing the right thing ends up badly, Ned was a good man who should be emulated.

Evan remembers thinking that, though he has but one life to live, by reading and writing he could experience a thousand more.

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