Download Kings of Morning (Macht Trilogy) fb2, epub

by Paul Kearney

ISBN: 1907519394
Author: Paul Kearney
Language: English
Publisher: Solaris; 1 edition (July 14, 2011)
Category: Genre Fiction
Subcategory: Literature
Rating: 4.6
Votes: 610
Size Fb2: 1286 kb
Size ePub: 1775 kb
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Paul Kearney Genre Fiction English

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Kings of Morning (Macht . .has been added to your Cart. Kearney's Macht Trilogy is an entertaining read of escapades into an ancient time. A world of swords, spears, brutal battles, horse cavalry, loyalty, and betrayal, I had to read all three

Kings of Morning (Macht . A world of swords, spears, brutal battles, horse cavalry, loyalty, and betrayal, I had to read all three. It's a pleasure to find an author who eloquently puts their imagination into words and breathes life into characters.

Paul Kearney’s Macht trilogy concludes here, in Kings of Morning, with a return to the Asurian Empire and another attempt to overthrow the great king Ashurnan

Paul Kearney’s Macht trilogy concludes here, in Kings of Morning, with a return to the Asurian Empire and another attempt to overthrow the great king Ashurnan. Thirty years ago Rictus of Isca marched across a continent as a lowly spearman in a mercenary army of ten thousand; now, clad in the Macht’s incredible armour, the Curse of God, he rides as the highest advisor to Corvus, the genius who has united an entire people under his banners.

Paul Kearney has been described by some as a master of military fantasy and by me as an author who can . These facts – as I believe they are facts – are brought to a head in the final book in ‘The Macht’ series, ‘Kings of Morning’.

Paul Kearney has been described by some as a master of military fantasy and by me as an author who can combine the best parts of fantasy with grit and realism an enough blood to drown a horse. One of the notable exceptions to fantasy stereotypicality that Paul Kearney expresses in his writing is a complete disregard.

Читать онлайн Kings of Morning.

Paul Kearney Kings of Morning PROLOGUE They lay in the heather with the sun on their backs and stared east, the bees busy in the tangled fronds and roots about their faces, the scent of the birthing summer all about them, a fragrance as old and as new as life itself. They were perched on the tawny hillside like ticks on the flank of a great-backed hound, the land unaware of them, going about its existence as it had these thousand. Читать онлайн Kings of Morning.

For the first time in recorded history, the ferocious city-states of the Macht now acknowledge a single man as their overlord. Corvus, the strange, brilliant boy-general, is now High King, having united his people in a fearsome, bloody campaign. He is not yet thirty years ol. generation ago, ten thousand of the Macht marched into the heart of the ancient Asurian Empire, and fought their way back out again, passing into legend.

Paul Kearney was born in Northern Ireland. Kings of Morning is the fifth book he has published with Solaris.

By (author) Paul Kearney. Paul Kearney was born in Northern Ireland. He studied Old Norse, Middle English and Anglo Saxon at Oxford University, and subsequently lived for several years in both Denmark and the United States. His first novel was published at the age of 25 in 1992. He has been a professional writer ever since. At present he and his family live by the sea in County Down, in a croft with a boat by the door.

Kings of Morning is the third and concluding book in Paul Kearney's Macht sequence, which began with 2008's excellent The Ten Thousand and continued with 2010's even better Corvus. As with those books, Kings of Morning mixes fantasy with historical fiction and even a hint of SF: Kuf, the planet on which the books take place, is apparently an alien world and the Macht seem to be the descendants of human settlers/invaders, with the natives a notably different humanoid race. The influence of Alexander the Great on Corvus's story is clear, meaning the general trajectory of the.

Paul Kearney (born 1967) is a Northern Irish fantasy author. He is noted for his work in the epic fantasy subgenre and his work has been compared to that of David Gemmell. Kearney was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, in 1967. He studied Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, and Old Norse at Oxford University before spending several years in both the United States and Denmark before returning to Northern Ireland. He currently lives and writes in County Down.

Kings of Morning by Paul Kearney (Paperback, 2012). Science Fiction & Fantasy. Current slide {CURRENT SLIDE} of {TOTAL SLIDES}- Compare similar products. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (Paperback, 2012). 448. Country of Publication.

For the first time in recorded history, the ferocious city-states of the Macht now acknowledge a single man as their overlord. He is not yet thirty years old but Corvus will lead an invasion the like of which the world of Kuf has never seen. A stunning mix of fantasy informed by military and classical history, with the most captivating of heroes.For the first time in recorded history, the ferocious city-states of the Macht now acknowledge a single man as their overlord. Corvus, the strange and brilliant boy-general, is now High King, having united his people in a fearsome, bloody series of battles and sieges. He is not yet thirty years old. A generation ago, ten thousand of the Macht marched into the heart of the ancient Asurian Empire, and then fought their way back out again, passing into legend. It has been the enduring myth of Corvus' life, for his father was one of those who undertook that march, and his most trusted general, Rictus, was leader of those ten thousand. But he intends to do more. The preparations will take years, but when they are complete, Corvus will lead an invasion the like of which the world of Kuf has never seen. Under him, the Macht will undertake nothing less than the overthrow of the entire Asurian Empire.

Comments:

Siatanni

Excellent interpretation of The Anabasis. I particularly enjoy the "organized chaos" of combat, as described by Mr. Kearney. If you enjoy a more "realistic" fantasy world, with many parallels to our own world, this is an perfect series. I would also recommend his "Monarchies of God" books.

Axebourne

Great series.

Anarasida

Loved this book

Just_paw

Kearney's Macht Trilogy is an entertaining read of escapades into an ancient time. A world of swords, spears, brutal battles, horse cavalry, loyalty, and betrayal, I had to read all three. It's a pleasure to find an author who eloquently puts their imagination into words and breathes life into characters.

Melipra

I read the entire series, and was not disappointed with this conclusion. This author is very underrated. Looking forward to his next work.

CONVERSE

I was really drawn into the characters in this series. This series is definitely worth taking the time to read.

Xava

It s paul kearney s classic
But the bttles r too easily won, no advesaries infront.
The ending was good but i was hoping for more development

Although the battles are good and the campaign is gritty, this book really lacks emotion and momentum. It makes you feel like you marched 100 miles with a mouthful of dirt and a spearhead in your gut. What went wrong?

Story:
This is the finale of the Macht Trilogy, but it doesn't feel like it. It has the same characters as the other books, but there really isn't any kind of continuity aside from the battle campaign. (And then Corvus sacked this city... and then Corvus occupied this city... and then Corvus defeated this army...) There aren't any character arcs that continue from book to book and many of the important scenes are written so matter of factly, that they lack emotion.

Kings of Morning chronicles the bloody conquest of Corvus's Army as they attempt to extend their kingdom. The first 130 pages deals with a rival kingdom and how much it sucks to live there. A young boy, wrongfully accused of spying gets raped, tortured, and castrated for no reason. There is dissention within the royal family as well, and these things always get bloody. These scenes just feel thrown in there to make the reader hate these guys, so Corvus can be the good guy as he conquers their cities.

Characters:
You should be able to describe a character without mentioning their job or what they look like. Unfortunately, this is almost impossible to do with the characters in these books.
My name is Corvus and I lead.
My name is Rictus and I stab.
We are soldiers and we do what they tell us to do.
I'm the bad guy and I torture little boys and beat and humiliate women.
There you have it.

Without deep characters, there is only one thing to root for and that's the military campaign of Corvus, which is pretty linear.

Writing Style:
The battles and attention to detail regarding the campaign are great. Paul Kearney also paints a gritty picture of the life of a soldier. This is his strength and very few writers can do this. But there are not enough happy scenes to offset the torture, war, battle, dying, rape, stench of sweat, corpses, etc... The book is really dark. If a soldier marches 20 miles in the blistering desert sun and finally gets a drink of water, it should not taste like horse pee. And even if it does, it should taste wonderful to the character because it's keeping them alive. You need little happy things every so often or you'll just depress your audience.

Unfortunately, many of the dramatic scenes are mostly told to us and don't really unfold. The main story really isn't presented to us in a way that we can root for the characters. This is mostly about a linear military campaign.

World Building:
This reads like a desert region in the Bronze Age. Soldiers march with spears and take on other cities. There is also very little detail about the cultures of each race. There're no fantasy creatures, magic, etc... It's pretty basic.

Action:
The action is epic, gritty, and leaves behind miles of corpses. There are fights, sieges, battlefields, armies on the move, etc... This is the strength of the book. You really get a sense of what it is like to fight in a battle line against a charging horde of enemies.

Maturity: Mature
Kid Rape, Gore, Violence, Torture, Language... This book is pretty hard core and kids shouldn't read it.

Overall:
The Macht Trilogy
The Ten Thousand was just OK.
Corvus was a Great Book.
Kings of Morning takes a big step backwards and is just OK.

This book has great battles and tactics, but it's lacking in a few major areas. The characters don't grow and develop. Many of the conflicts are resolved so quickly, that there is no drama or suspense. You just read, "And then these guys surrendered to Corvus." There should be a scene where Corvus can't afford to fight these guys because his men are exhausted and wounded, and can't waste the time or resources to fight them. Maybe winter is coming and the passes will be snowed in. Maybe another city will get reinforcements within the month, and they have to sack it as soon as possible. If they can't sack it soon, they'll be outnumbered 5 to 1. These perils should be explained to the reader and they should be given time to think about the consequences. This leads to suspense and drama.

Many of the characters lack personal goals outside of the military campaign. I know that this is hard to write with soldiers hundreds of miles away from home, but there's gotta be something in their lives besides sticking a spear into a rival soldier. Maybe two soldiers are competing against each other in enemies slain, scars, collected ears, or loot. Maybe there's a scribe in the company who is writing about the soldiers and they're all trying to find ways to separate themselves from the average grunt. Maybe there's a trash talking guy in the group.

The lack of character arcs also hurts. Maybe a new soldier who is deathly afraid of battle becomes a hero. Maybe a veteran loses his humanity because he has seen so much death. Maybe a hero loses a leg and has to deal with it. Maybe there's the guy who gets promoted to Captain, but isn't qualified. Maybe there's the guy who is qualified and gets overlooked...

Sadly, all of the characters in this book are flat.

Read this book if you like gritty chronicles of soldiers and epic battles.
Read this book if you like visceral and intense action.
Avoid this book if you can't handle kid rape.
Avoid this book if you need deep characters.
Avoid this book if you like high fantasy with magic and dragons.

If you enjoyed this book, read Hawkwood and the Kings by Paul Kearney or any of the David Gemmell books, especially Legend, Waylander, Sword in the Storm, Winter Warriors, or the Lion of Macedon. If you want more character, read the Blackhearts in the Warhammer Universe. If you want more fantasy and can handle evil characters, check out Malus Darkblade or The Grimblades, also in the Warhammer Universe.