Mark Smylie

Loses one star for gratuitous and nonconsensual sex. Obviously an RPG world - places and history described in loving, exacting detail, while characters are superficially intriguing but ultimately barely sketched and/or inconsistent. Absolutely no character growth, and not a lot of character agency. Plot is remarkably by-the-numbers dungeon crawl. Some interesting scenes showed promise, but no follow through. Reading was a slog but I kept up because there were sparks, and one and a half fascinating characters - or perhaps I should say that their potential is fascinating. Writing and editing pretty solid, just lacking depth. Sad.

[EDIT] after some thought, while everything I said still stands, I have to admit the final twist was ingenious, and it reflects back on prior events, showing some hints that are not quite effective foreshadowing, but are clever nonetheless. I'd give another half star, if I could.… (mais)

(Leaving a review as hopefully will have more chance of being seen than the questions section...)

Looks like Black Heart is still going to be published:

https://www.patreon.com/marksmylie

"Originally an imprint at Prometheus Books, Pyr was late last year sold to another outfit which is uninterested in publishing the sequels, leaving the unfinished manuscript without a future home. So without an immediate publisher for BLACK HEART, I have found myself looking for a new way forward for the book. I hope this Patreon will help set the stage for self-publishing the novel when it is finished (250k+ words are already done, with about another 75k to go)".

"37 chapters are already complete as of the launch of this Patreon, with about 10 to finish".… (mais)

I won't hold back - this is a train wreck of a book. At first pass, these are the stock characters every GM has dealt into an ongoing campaign, the initial quest as straight forward as they come: rob the ancient tomb, plunder some gold, get the magic sword.

Why read it, then? There's an argument there. You could say its because it's a Michael Bay train wreck, a Wachowski style production. Larger than life explosions, Brandon Frazier as one of the male leads, over the top dungeon crawler.

And then chapter one starts.

The Barrow is a well written tale of gritty fantasy. The biggest problem this book faces, I think, is that if you haven't read the comic it's a prequel to, then there's no way to filter the volume of information being dumped on you. What's important? What's filler? I couldn't tell, and that's a problem. In a sea of gritty fantasy epics, this is certainly dark, more adult than most of its competition. Sadly, it didn't work for me, but it wasn't from a lack of style or ability, so your mileage may vary.

The ARC for this novel was kindly provided to me by Pyr for review.… (mais)