The Judas Blossom: Book I of The Nightingale and the Falcon (Nightingale and the Falcon, 1)

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Bloodmage is the second book in Stephen Aryan’s series Age of Darkness and the sequel to his first book in the series, Battlemage. If you are looking for a gritty, dark, and gutsy book to get your teeth in to then Bloodmage is for you. Full of dark allies, spies, murders and magic, Stephen Aryan definitely does not disappoint with his second book in his series the Age of Darkness.

A diamond in the fantasy rough. The Judas Blossom is entirely focused on creating an intricate historical world for us to explore and discover for ourselves. I couldn’t put it down.” As a fan of historic fiction, I am very comfortable reading Judas Blossom, it reads like one of the better Bernard Cornwall novels, or a Ben Kane. The sense of history and place is well realised. All historic fiction bends the narrative to make for a better pace, and when you have a character who can produce flames from their body, your book is never going to be historically accurate. Aryan never set out to write that book, but instead use real world inspiration for a low fantasy alternate history book. In this, he nailed it. All empires fall. It happened to the Greeks and the Romans. This is the story of the Mongols as well. One day, it will happen... As I mentioned earlier,I just like Aryan's characters. I think he balances them well and gives them plenty of depth and diversity. This is why we read! A historical fantasy at the very top of it’s game, and it should be on top of everyone’s reading pile. Characters that feel fresh and authentic, a plot that explores the fate of the Mongol empire with all of the breathtaking action and twists that you love to see in modern fantasy. An early contender for book of the year.”The writing here felt engaging and exhilarating, and getting to learn some real history by following a fantastical cast made it an extra fun read. I found the pacing balanced, the plot exciting and I’d recommend this to fans of Ken Liu, David Hair and anyone who wants diversity of cultures in their fantasy. Publisher Eleanor Teasdale acquired world English and audio rights from Juliet Mushens at Mushens Entertainment for Aryan’s The Nightingale and The Falcon trilogy. The Judas Blossom will be published on 11th July 2023.

An imaginative and sprawling epic fantasy reimagining of the Mongol Empire’s invasion of Persia, following the lives and treacherous journeys of four key figures in the heart of war. It doesn’t depart from it very much at all. All of the main events are real. Some of the characters are based on real people, but some are fictional. Some of the organisations and groups in the story are real. Some are not. Most of the time, I was dancing between the raindrops, and where there was a gap, I had more room to invent. The best example is Princess Kokochin. According to history, she came to Persia to marry a Khan, and three years later, she was dead. Not a lot is known about her. So there’s a big question mark, and that made me curious and intrigued. It also allowed me to create whatever I wanted. His youngest son, Temujin, struggles to find his place in his father's bloody rule. After another failure, Temujin is given one last chance to prove himself to Hulagu, who is sure there is a great warrior buried deep inside. But there's something else rippling under the surface… something far more powerful and dangerous than they could ever imagine… That’s really difficult to answer. The most fun, or the most interesting character, is the one I’m working on right now for book 3. I have to find a way to relate and connect to all of them. I have to care about all of them as well so that I can make them feel as real as possible for the reader. That way, even if the audience doesn’t like a character, hopefully, they can understand their motives.Byrne and Fray are guardians who are investigating horrible murders. I liked them and their hunt for the killer. Byrne is a friend, almost a father figure, to Fray and that's mostly how I saw him; I don't feel like I got to know him very well and I was a bit indifferent to him. However he meant a lot to Fray and he made his impact that way.