Tracy M. Joyce

The Chronicles of Altaica make for a great read, the kind that you keep reading as you stumble off the bus and still read right up until you arrive (sigh) at the door of the day job. Adventure and danger, hard rides and mountain crossings, spies and plots and murders, primal magic and goddesses, war and strategy, skirmishes and battles and desperate duels. Here is a whole world of rivalries, peoples, cultures and absorbing characters.

In the first part of The Chronicles of Altaica, the villagers fled an invading army, got swept out to sea and then were rescued by people in another country that they knew nothing of. My difficulty now is to urge you to read this sequel, Asena Blessed, without blurting out 'spoilers'. I will highlight some aspects of the world building and the characters that I particularly liked.

Animal guardians have become a feature in fantasy tales since their appearance in Phillip Pullman's books. We readers may have grown used to these linked animals existing mainly for the sake of the humans, like enhanced pets. Tracy Joyce turns that idea on its head by considering the wild nature of the linked animal. What if the linked animal has its its own intentions; and what if it could be too powerful and difficult to control? Some scenes in Asena Blessed took me by surprise me because the guardian acted on its own account, and the result was not remotely cutesy.

Complicated heroes. Throughout the first book the reader identifies with the dilemmas of the central character, Isaura. In Asena Blessed, however, she is swept unwillingly into the spirit realm and emerges more conflicted than ever. Her resulting actions are not necessarily noble at all times. I often blinked at the turn of events. 'Did she really do that?'

Matriarchs and Female Warriors. To say this book includes 'strong female characters' is an understatement. Among the Altaicans, all adults train for fighting and the tattooed and hardened women ride with the men. Key movers in this story include the female keepers of lore known as 'Kenati', the matriarch of the wolf-like Asena clan , the Lady Malak, who strives to undermine the power of the tyrant Ratilal, and an intervening female spirit who may or may not be a goddess but who in any case seems to be playing her own game.

Plausible Warfare: We have all endured movies and novels in which the fighting scenes are over the top: every warrior seems to know all the modern martial arts. Bows fire multiple arrows at a time, arrows and sword blades cut like lasers through the heaviest body armour, and so on until it all gets silly. Not so here. The tactics, weapons, armour, siegecraft and melees are based on the author's research of warfare in our own non-Altaica world. The fighting here is brutal, the wounds nasty, and soldiers do appalling things to civilians. This is a fantasy world but it is no fairy tale.… (meer)

Your reviewer made a classic blunder when buying Book One of the Chronicles of Altaica: not getting Book Two at the same time. And made another blunder on opening it for 'just a quick look' at lunchtime. I was embroiled in desperate situations on page 38 before realising I was late for work. Quick peeks are not going to work for you with this pacy story. Fortunately 'Asena Blessed' is now to hand and I will be soon immersed once more in this world created by Tracey M. Joyce.

'Her stories are gritty, a little dark and morality is like quicksand. You won’t find any unicorns or fairies here.' (Tracymjoyce.com.)

From the first lines we are on the run with Isaura fleeing a huge army devastating her home. She and some of her community flee down river in a barge which the wind and currents take out into the ocean despite all they can do. The desperate group endures storms and scorching sun and, as the food runs out, they begin squabbling. As the long days pass hope ebbs away, and they become suspicious of one another, particularly of Isaura who, we learn, is not considered 'one of them.'

'Two things your race is known for -magic and murder. Hill clan witch!' .... No one would look at Isaura, no one would speak to her.

Much of the engrossing first part of the book takes place in the cramped confines of the barge. Tensions and fears are exacerbated by the harsh conditions. We readers are plunged into a time of starvation, death and grief, complicated by the corrosive power of envy and a mire of moral complexity. We even get a little romance when Isaura finds herself awkwardly playing cupid to Gabriela and Jamie, who are among her few friends.

'My kingdom for a good looking man who has a fully working brain'. Isuara.

As the refugees drift on helplessly toward apparent death, the action shifts to the peoples and complexities of Altaica, 'a land rich in tradition; ruled by three powerful clans. A land with a history marked by warfare; where magic as we know it does not exist. Instead what is here, in abundance, is a more primal power. (Back cover.)'

'By the gods, how long have they been on this boat? How much longer can they last?' Umniga the Kenati of Bear Clan.

Umniga, a wise woman who discovers the strangers has her reasons for wanting to rescue them, altruism not being the first. She and her acolyte Asha can't do it alone but must persuade the clan chiefs to help. They mistrust one another and see no reason to trouble themselves over strangers. They want to know what is in it for them. A canny play of brutal politics between factions now begins, breaking out inevitably into conflict. When we pick up again with Isaura's particular fate we are hurtling at a hard gallop toward the second book, Asena Blessed.

You can obtain signed copies of the books at Tracy Joyce's website. The beautiful covers of Altaica and Asena Blessed are designed by Karri Klawitter.… (meer)