Sidewinders
Author: Robert V.S. Redick
Publication Date: July 6, 2021
Publisher: Talos
Description:
The worst of rivals, the closest of friends, the two most wanted men in a war-torn world: Kandri and Mektu Hinjuman have cheated death so often it’s begun to feel like a way of life. But nothing has prepared them for the danger and enchantment of the Ravenous Lands. This sprawling, lethal desert is the brothers’ last hope, for they have killed the favorite son of Her Radiance the Prophet, and her death-priests and magical servants are hunting them day and night.
But there are dangers even within their caravan. Some of their fellow travelers worship the Prophet in secret. Others, including Mektu, have become obsessed with a bejeweled dagger that seems to afflict its owners with madness or death.
At stake is far more than the lives of two runaway soldiers. Kandri is carrying an encoded cure for the World Plague, a disease that has raged for centuries—while far from the desert, certain criminals have learned just how lucrative a plague can be. Are they using the Prophet, or being used by her? Who, in this game of shadows, can Kandri trust?
He knows one thing, however: they must reach Kasralys, great and beautiful fortress-city of the east. Only there can the precious cure be deciphered. Only there can Kandri seek word of the lover who vanished one night without a trace.
But Kasralys, never conquered in 3,000 years, is about to face its greatest siege in history.
"Master Assassins was one of the top 2 or 3 books I've read in the past decade, so [Sidewinders] had a LOT to live up to. And it did a fantastic job—I pity the next book I read having to struggle out of the shadow of this tome… Redick has built something magnificent here." —Mark Lawrence
"Sidewinders is a triumph in every single way to its predecessor and one of the richest worlds you can find in the fantasy genre today... Revisiting the desert lands of Urrath is the equivalent of rediscovering a long-lost passion." —Under The Radar SFF Books
Praise for MASTER ASSASSINS:
“This book has everything I love: Clean, crisp worldbuilding. Characters that live and breathe. A story that teases and surprises me. I like Master Assassins so much I wish I'd written it, but deep down, I know I couldn't have written it this well.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss
“The prose is spectacularly good. Your adrenaline will flow. Your emotions will be toyed with. You will find yourself drawn in, turning the pages and worrying that fewer and fewer remain. I read a lot of good books. Quite a few very good books. This is one of the rare 6-star series openers I’ve encountered.” —Mark Lawrence, author of Prince of Thorns and Red Sister
“Robert Redick really nailed this one. What a great story! Fascinating plot and characters, and all of the author’s formidable skills at play. I cannot wait to read the next one.” —New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks
"Redick’s powers of invention in this book are superb. He manages to reinvigorate his chosen mode of heroic fantasy by sheer force of description, his language always muscular, vibrant and well-calculated. The cast of characters is vast and believable . . . A hell of a ride." —Paul di Filippo, Asimov's
“An exquisitely written mix of heart-stopping action, masterful storytelling, and enchantment. Redick is a gifted wordsmith with a ferocious imagination. Master Assassins will produce many sleepless nights. I guarantee it.” —New York Times bestselling author Mira Bartók
“A blazingly smart thrill-ride of an adventure. The world of Master Assassins is deep, mysterious, terrifying, and utterly real, and I'll follow Redick's heroes, the mismatched brothers Kandri and Mektu, wherever they go in it. I can't recommend this book highly enough.” —Daryl Gregory, author of Spoonbenders
“Redick’s long-awaited return to fantasy is the start of a truly satisfying epic.” —B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, “The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2018 So Far”
“Subtle and layered, evocative and true.” —Michelle West, Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine
“With spare, sharp-edged prose, Redick balances his rollicking adventure story against a tale of love and uneasy brotherhood, offering a thrilling glimpse into a world both haunting and haunted. His finest work to date.” —Jedediah Berry, author of The Manual of Detection
“An at once engrossing, entertaining and superlative read. The world building is epic and the characters developed well within the movement. I look forward to this series and the continuation of the Brothers Hinjuman quest.” —Koeur’s Book Reviews
“[A] taut, deftly-plotted story. . . carries the drama and suspense without collapsing the weight of building a world and setting up a few more books’ worth of storyline.” —B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
“Though it is only April 6th, and there are many books left to read this year, Master Assassins has cemented itself in AT LEAST my top 3 books of the year, maybe even #1. It is that good....I recommend Master Assassins to everyone. Period.” —FanFiAddict, 5/5 Stars
“You know I’ve always liked you.”
She met his eye as she spoke. It was the simple truth, but her glance forgave him for not believing a word.
“And dislike?” he asked. “What would that resemble?”
“Don’t find out.”
They spoke in the same wry tones they used at court. And indeed his posture in the high-backed chair was fit for dinner with the lords of the realm: spine straight, chin high, dark eyes level upon her. But they were a long way from court. When he blinked, the man’s eyes sparkled in the morning sun, but it was only because tears had frozen at the tips of his lashes. He twitched at wrists and ankles, where the ropes were tightest.
The chair itself was lashed upright upon a raft.
From the shore, the woman in the white fur coat watched the motions of the prisoner’s wrists. She had oval cheeks below bright tapering eyes, olive-brown skin, black hair straight as a curtain, long braid tucked away inside her hood. A sober face, and thoughtful, the expression attained not at all by accident: a face befitting the youngest Chancellor of Kasralys in six centuries, which is what she was.
The thaw had come early; across the wild river, chunks of ice like broken battlements were gliding downstream. But here by the banks among the cottony reeds, a delicate crystal skin had frozen anew overnight, and now blazed, perishing, in the morning sun. The raft’s nearest edge was beached in mud, but the rest was afloat. Heaving and shifting. Eager to be off.
“Shooting stars last night, did you see them?” asked the prisoner. “Quite extraordinary. Even portentous, if you believe in that sort of thing. I counted twenty-one.”
An odd number, thought the woman. Good luck for friendship. Who was it told me that?
Somewhere downstream a horse nickered, impatient. The man lifted gray eyes to the forest behind her. The woman waited in silence.
“You expect me to say something, Lady Kosuda,” said the man, “but you must know I have nothing to say. If I did, those hellish dogs would have gotten it out of me by now.”
“They’re wolves, Ursad,” she said.
“Wolves, then. What do I care? Demons at your beck and call is what they are.”
“You were not harmed, I trust.”
“I was brutalized, precisely as you intended. Scared out of my mind. This is nothing by comparison.”
The woman, Kosuda Sarika Serr, glanced meaningfully downriver, where the spray of the great falls rose in a cloud.
“Nothing?”
Copyright © 2021 by Robert V.S. Redick
Redick is a former faculty member in the Stonecoast MFA program and an environmental justice consultant. He has lived and worked in Indonesia, Argentina, Colombia, and many other countries. Master Assassins (Talos Press, 2018), the first book in The Fire Sacraments trilogy, was a finalist for the European Booknest Award for Best Novel, and was featured on numerous Best of the Year lists.
Redick is currently a Visiting Professor with the University of Nevada, Reno’s MFA Program. He lives with his partner in Western Massachusetts.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2845500.Robert_V_S_Redick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertvsredick
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