Steph Swainston, The Year of Our War

The Year of Our War

Steph Swainston

Eos, Jan 2005, $13.95, 400 pp.

ISBN: 0060753870

For two millenniums the Insects have swarmed, trying to destroy the Kingdom of Awia though the Insect Wall has kept them confined to the Paperlands. Still they keep trying to breach the wall and regain what the humanoids took back from them. Ultimately, they want to turn all of Awia followed by the Plainsland and Morenzia into lands of paper tunnels and hives. War is a way of life.

The immortal King Dunlin Rachiswater of Awia and his Circle of fifty knights keep a vigil at Lowespass, near the Wall and one inside Insect territory. The assaults have increased lately and the monarch and his court are very concerned. Mercurius "Jant" Comet is a junkie with a criminal past who has the ability to journey to the alternate realm of Epsilon where he has built a castle that could prove to be the final escape once the inevitable Insects doom Lowespass and the surrounding lands as even the King anticipates that will one day happen.

This entertaining fantasy hooks the audience from the onset and never lets go as readers will wonder if the Insects will overwhelm the Kingdom and if yes what then. The storyline is exhilarating as the action-packed tale moves quickly yet provides fans with a deep look at an intriguing society where immortals live, but are far from perfect as the "hero" shows. Steph Swainston writes a fantastic, gripping, epic fantasy while paying homage to the Roman and Greek Gods.

Harriet Klausner