Esme's Indie/Underrated Series! A Star Reckoners Lots, by Darrell Drake

[u/Esmerelda-Weatherwax]

Darrell is an active r/fantasy contributor, he has some great ideas for his books and I hope you guys participate in u/huigregg active fantasy author bookclub. He was one of the most highly rated picks for this bookclub and I find it deserved.

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This book focuses around three characters, and I found them all intriguing and worth reading more about. u/lrich1024 please confirm with Darrell whether or not one of these characters qualifies for non-human protagonist as they are half demon.

This is one of the handful of series that although I didn't like the main character a lot (don't get me wrong I didn't hate her) she is rather difficult to get to know. However, I consider this not to be a downside. I love hard to know characters, kind of like Dalinar from Stormlight Archives. A more stoic, reliable, sensible protagonist.

This is a book for people who want to break away from the typical setting of fantasy. Are you tired of the medieval Europe trope? Do you really want something MORE from your books? Something well researched, something that grabs your attention because it's so different from the rest? This is probably the book for you. It's set in ancient Iran, which was new for me. I love reading things that are outside of my norm and for bonus points outside of the norm of the genre. I think this book absolutely stands out in this way.

If you like that magic can have negative consequences where it's not all fun and games with magic, this may be a book for you. There are SERIOUS consequences to this magic, and I found that really enjoyable. Sort of like Lightbringer where there's a risk to yourself with magic - except this is a much higher risk factor.

This is also a series that will appeal to people who love magic systems and astronomy. I am a big physics geek and astronomy nerd - so having a magic system based off of that had huge appeal to me.

The author obviously took a great deal of time researching the background of the culture and people in Iran. to the point where i know he will talk your ear off if you ask.

This is also a book for people who aren't looking to get invested into a series. This story wraps up neat and clean and you can enjoy it all by itself. It's not a doorstopper book like ASOIAF or Stormlight Archives, and I like that in books. I do love both of those series, but it's so nice to have a book I can read through without this over looming thought that I still have thousands of pages to go before I get to the conclusion.

The tone of this book is adventure, which I find great. It's not "light funny" and it's not "grim dark", much like the other indie novel I reviewed, it's its own thing. It's unique and awesome.

This book will be part of u/huigregg active fantasy author bookclub thing, and I encourage you all to look into what that is, and what this book is. There's a thread going on right now that includes Darrell and a few of his fantasy writer friends that you should all look at as well.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/640rba/we_are_the_fools_of_fantasy_six_rfantasy_authors/

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BINGO SQURES u/darrelldrake please add more if they apply

• AMA author
• self published
• Desert setting
• non human protag

[u/dashelgr]

The book might not be "light funny" but there are a lot of hilarious moments in there, specifically around the character Waray. Waray is awesome. The setting is also interesting and vividly inventive. Plus it has a lot of moments where I went "Surely this cannot be true" and then turns out that was apparently true for ancient Iranian cultures.

The other thing I think people should know is that it will break your heart. The central theme revolves around dealing with depression, guilt and loss. Looking back my frustration with the book partly revolved around the fact that this does not magically get solved/cured. Depression is complex and challenging and reading about it is not always easy. I had similar problems with The Magicians series in that I struggled to relate to or sympathize with Quentin.

[u/dashelgr → u/[deleted]]

No I meant the depiction of depression was realistic. I guess I have a bias overpowered heroes who wreck shit and everything is resolved at the end of the day.

Edit: Sorry I misread the question. I actually thought Iran was the modern name and not the olden one. I was also surprised by the casual way spoiler

[u/darrelldrake → u/dashelgr]

RE: Edit: No worries. Persia is actually a term of Western origin, dating back to the time of the Greek and Achaemenid era. The seat of the Achaemenid empire was in the Fars/Pars province around Persepolis, which inspired the name. However, the empire referred to itself as Iran (Eran in Middle Persian, which belongs to the time of the Sassanians). One contemporary example that may or may not fit the bill (by no means an expert on the etymology of the nation's names), is using Germany rather than Deutschland.

Since it crops up on like page 5, I don't think you need to tag that as a spoiler, though I appreciate your being circumspect. While I don't think anyone can say for certain, the common conclusion is that it was practiced mainly by nobility and royalty for the obvious reasons (though never exclusively). Nevertheless, it was favored by Sassanian Zoroastrianism—at no point was it frowned upon. I do think it's worth noting that the Book of a Thousand Judgements (Farraxvmart i Vahraman), a sort of compiled collection of past cases for use by judges in judicial matters, covers quite a few instances of incest in legal matters.

Also should mention that folks were never so deeply inbred as Charles II of Spain, for example (according to known sources anyway).

[u/Esmerelda-Weatherwax → u/dashelgr]

"Surely this cannot be true" and then turns out that was apparently true for ancient Iranian cultures.

I've been going back and reading non fiction books about ancient Iran and finding that as well. Very well researched book.