A great sci-fi/fantasy book like no other; the SFX describes it as “An extremely unusual, familiar, yet at the same time extraordinarily original novel”

It’s the second I’ve read by the author Steph Swainson, the first was called ‘The Year of Our War’.

Of note is that the female author has gone with a male central character. And what a character. Addicted to drugs, an outcast, a rebel and a rogue, a thief and an Immortal. But fragile and immensely likeable.

Which made me think that perhaps this was a deliberate ploy to get to her mainly-male audience? I’m not even sure if there is a gender imbalance between readers of this genre.

Here’s an excerpt

“I never believed love existed. I wanted to smash it all into shards and cut myself with the sharpest.”