The Egril.
Cruel. Savage. Monstrous barbarian killers.
The trouble is, they’re cunning too, with a penchant for strategy that always keeps them one step ahead of the game. And when that game centers on world domination, it turns out the Egril are grand masterclass players. Not the kind of thing you want to discover when you’re trying to bring your nation back from the brink of destruction.
With a premise like that, you begin to appreciate why I’ve been chomping at the bit, waiting for this sequel to We Are The Dead to arrive. And Mike Shackle doesn’t disappoint.
Take a quick peek at the back cover blurb:
*******
From Tinnstra, it took her family and thrust her into a conflict she wanted only to avoid. Now her queen's sole protector, she must give all she has left to keep Zorique safe.
It has taken just as much from Jia's revolutionaries. Dren and Jax - battered, tortured, once enemies themselves - now must hold strong against their bruised invaders, the Egril.
For the Egril intend to wipe Jia from the map. They may have lost a battle, but they are coming back.
If Tinnstra and her allies hope to survive, Jia's heroes will need to be ready when they do.
*******
So, what does A Fool’s Hope bring us?
Well, our favorite characters from the first book are still there: Tinnstra, Dren, Jax and Yas. We watch them evolve through pain and fire to become the kind of people Jia needs to survive . . . though not everyone will make it. This is war, after all.
Those we’ve met before in passing also get fleshed out: young Queen Zorique; the mage Assagod; Captain Ralasis, to name a few. As you will see, they become much more integral to the overall story arc as time passes. Helping you relate to their individual circumstances in a graphic, often personal way.
We’re also given a greater clarity of what life is like for the invading Egril, through the eyes of a new character, Mateon. A clever move, as through him we discover the true futility of war, especially where everyday folk are concerned. Mateon has been raised from birth to be a soldier, and the perfect instrument of his bloodthirsty god, Kage. Yet he struggles to reconcile the rhetoric of his superiors with the unjust treatment of the Jian people, and the brutality vested upon them. But will he suffer for such a blasphemous viewpoint?
Even better, the waning magic of this incredible world – only hinted at or rarely seen in the first book – is brought to the fore and given center stage. And Shackle does so in the most dexterous of ways. (Genius really, and not what you’ll expect).
Yes, war can and does bring out the best – and very worst – in people. Loyalty costs nothing, but it’s a priceless commodity in an arena where life is cheap, and betrayal is cheaper still. . . (Keep an eye out for the criminal element left in Kiyosun city, the Weeping Men).
A Fool’s Hope presents you with great narrative from a new writer who has become an instant favorite of mine. Believe me, I know a great story when I read one, and Mike Shackle will soon be up there with the likes of Joe Abercrombie and George R. R. Martin.
This is gripping fantasy set in a world rent by war, discarded ethics, and a savage, ‘stay alive in any way you can’ philosophy. The characters are human. Damaged and flawed and disappointing in all the right ways. But somehow, they hold it together and survive . . . barely!
Marvelous stuff – and a definite candidate for your reading list.
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![A Fool's Hope: Book Two (The Last War 2) by [Mike Shackle]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51dxOaIWpTL._SY346_.jpg)
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A Fool’s Hope is the second instalment in the The Last War series by Mike Shakle.Many People say that the second book is often the weakest and the hardest to write book in a trilogy. I completely disagree with that statement. Some of my most favorite books of trilogies are the second tomes. My two most favorite examples are The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers and the Nevernight Chronicles, Darkdawn. And like those two I have to admit I enjoyed reading A Fool’s Hope even more than its predecessor We Are the Dead.A Fool’s Hope picks up straight where We Are the Dead left off. As in the previous book we meet our main protagonists again: Tinnstra, Zorique, Jax, Yas, Dren and Hasan. The chapters are told by an omniscient narrator from their point of view. But we also met new characters like for example Ralasis, a famous sea captain of Meigore. Not only the Jians and Meigorans get their own chapters but also two Egril: Mateon and Francis. Mateon is a young boy who just became an Egril Skull-soldier. I honestly enjoyed his chapters as he shows the reader that most Egril are simply mislead humans who are religious fanatics but if confronted with the reality of war, they suffer as much as everyone else and not all of them are evil monsters: „Just stay alive, kid, and maybe one day we walk away from all this shit. Maybe pretend it never happened.“The other Egril whose perspective we get to know is Francis, a chosen, being at the court of Meigore. He might not be as mad as Monsuta from book one but he is not better in anyway.Not only do we get new Egril and Meigore perspectives but also Zorique gets her own chapters. To not spoil too much I will keep quiet about her, just let it be said that she is amazing! 👑We also get chapters of our well loved protagonists and some manage to fulfil their character arcs with Tinnstra leading the way. There is not much left of the little scared girl she used to be but she turns fiercer and fiercer. „Whatever happened to the girl who was afraid to fight?“ ⚔️All of them have to carry their burden from the first 📚 book. But they’ve all also grown so much in book one already.Like „We Are the Dead“ A Fool’s Hope is very fast paced with its velocity reaching a climax towards the end. It is never easy for me to find time to read with two kids but towards the end (around 2 hours till the ending) I simply could not put the book down and got less sleep than normally.There are some processes that come to an end in this second instalment but many are left open and will -hopefully – be concluded in the next book. On the last page we already catch a glimpse about what is to come and I anticipate and dread it at the same time.As in his debut the world building in this book is superb and it offers many different tropes. Mike Shackle once said on twitter that there is even a love story to be found. Well, after reading that I did expect a bit more in that field but he did not lie. There is love, hate, violence, time travel, magic, blood, darkness and throughout the book the reoccurring fool’s hope.So I assume this book will be found in the grim dark fantasy section.But is it really grim dark?Of course there is violence, blood, murder and mayhem but in contrast to other books, which are not considered grim dark, e.g. J.R.R.Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice, there are certain lines that are not crossed. One incident had me dreading what was to come immensely. At some point in the book Yas – who turned into one of my favorite characters – is separated from her boy Ro. I kind of expected to get torture, rape and abuse as with for example Theon and Ramsay in J.R.R. Martin’s aforementioned book. Lucky for me it did not get as bad as I apprehended it.„They thought her weak because she had a child, because she cared about people, about her city.“I am not saying that this book is not dark but there are grimmer books that do not carry the title grim dark.It still is no book for the too soft hearted but I am not the toughest person there is on this planet and I immensely enjoyed reading this book.So far -and I expect it to stay this way- this is my most favourite book 📖 I have read in 2020. And this series is on the best way to turn into one of my absolute favourites. That is also why I hope that it will get translated to German at some point so I can pester my friends to get it or give it to them as a present. 🎁
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