Kings of the Wyld was a fairly traditional, and therefore safe, story about a group of aged mercenaries “getting the band back together” for one last rousing adventure. Its feathers had been daubed in black paint, and its beak was smeared with blood to make it look feral, but Tam wasn’t convinced. She passed a snake-headed gorgon chained by her neck to brackets in the wall behind her, and a black horse that breathed fire into the face of someone fool enough to inspect its teeth.

Rose and her untouchable and picturesque companions in Fable decide to fulfill their tour dedications that oppose the oncoming threating invasion from the horde which Rose is all too familiar with, with her incarceration at Castia a few years before. The end of the last book leads into this and some old friends come back and there is laughter, drinking , sacrifice and sorrow along the way. From their first War of Faith, the sisters of the Bloody Rose made a name for themselves as brutal executioners. The fact that it understands that bond is what makes the action sing, why you care so damn much for what happens to these people.KoTW itself had many musical references and was influenced by the music and bands of the 1970’s and with Bloody Rose, it is influenced by the music and bands of the 1980’s. That’s Giantsbane,” said the boy next to her, as if the north’s favoured sons required an introduction. The narration was ok, but nothing special and again a disapointment because the narrator in the first book with particularly its selection of US southern accents and drawls (to my English ear anyway) set an amazing tone and brought the world to life but here, there was no attempt to re-create that atmosphere.

The Militant Sisters had moved from planet to planet, mercilessly butchering the cultists they encountered without stopping to free the imprisoned. Or that a seamstress who killed her husband down in Rutherford is claiming to be the Winter Queen herself? KoTW featuring Saga its grizzled, legendary and past its heyday band is one of my all-time favourite books and I will continue to shout its praises for all to hear. I thought about which song lyrics or video game characters were chosen for this story, and these references often had backstories that intersected with the plot of Bloody Rose. Bloody Rose delves deeper with more history and lore being revealed featuring some great world-building and making it a book that is accessible to both old and new readers of Eames work.Fable lead the way for the new generation of bands, striving for greatness, trying to eclipse the legacy of the older generation and wanting to step out from the shadow of legends to leave their own mark and go down in history as one of the all-time greats. When most sensible debut authors produce something as spectacularly good as Nicholas Eames did with his Kings of the Wyld opener to "The Band" series they tend to follow up with something that gives the fans exactly what they want.

However, firstly, KoTW is, itself, awesome and I’m sure that you have already read it anyway, if not then hang your head in shame and rectify this grave injustice right now.SPOILER BEGINS* Rose suffers from a crippling self-doubt because of how famous her father was and is, one that sees her risking her life in new and dangerous ways despite her new situation *SPOILER ENDS*. Despite that, Tam often took this route on her way to work—not because it was quicker, but because it quickened something inside of her. They say he’s the very last of his kind, and that he’s never made a wager he didn’t win, and that his sword, Madrigal, can cut through steel like it was silk.

Bloody Rose is absolutely littered with references to 80’s music, from Prince to Men Without Hats, to a whole bunch I probably missed on my casual read-through. Eames joyfully mashes rock music elements and epic fantasy tropes to create the equivalent of a 500-page heavy-metal guitar solo: loud, frenetic, unpredictable, and gripping . My words, poetic as at times I can be pail in comparison to the awe-inspiring work of fun-filled escapist wonder that Eames has crafted with Bloody Rose.

Reminded her of the stories her mother used to tell, of daring quests and wild adventure, of fearsome beasts and valiant heroes like her father and Uncle Bran.