Beneath A Thousand Skies

Summary:

ONCE MARKED, ALWAYS MARKED…

The war that was won is lost. His country razed and friends dead, Cailean Catil seeks the miserable solace of inebriation. But fate has other plans for ill-lucked men.

An ocean away, he returns to the Galrun Muir, the order from which he was previously exiled. Seeking answers as to why they now worship the monster haunting his dreams, Cailean embarks on a quest to confront the ghost of Gabriel Muir and seal his tomb. Should he succeed, all will be made clear.

But some truths are better left dead.

THE GUILT WILL ALWAYS CALL YOU BACK…

Fiel has lost everything. Her niece is dead at the hands of Te Mirkvahíl and her country has been razed by the demon’s legions. But fate has other plans for ill-lucked women.

An ocean away, in the city Harbanan, Fiel resumes her search for Vare Tal-úlm. Her journey leads her to the monster-hunting Galrun Muir who claim not only to have knowledge of Vare, but of Fiel’s previous visit to their hallowed grounds.

Lady Mirkvahíl, they say, has returned.

THE DEAD RISE…

Behtréal has won. Helveden is a ruin, the Ariathan Empire is dead, and The Keepers’ Wrath is his to wield. With it, in the dead city Banerowos, he can rewrite history and reclaim lives lost—he can bring his people back.

But things are not so simple as that, for within the dead city Behtréal must contend with the guilt of memory and all its ghosts.

MADNESS IN TRUTH…

The doors have opened.

Welcome in.

How do you write a review for a book that is in so many ways intensely personal – both to the author, but also to each reader that opens its pages and loses themselves in the labyrinthine existence of the elseworlds? I’ve said before, and will reiterate here, Tarzian’s books are ones that have to be experienced by each individual reader, and I am intensely aware that what I find within this glorious dark exploration of emotional devastation and wounds, of twisting, changing possibilities and realities, of hope and grief, and of a deep philosophical questioning of life and it’s worth and the idea of fate, is entirely different to what you or the next reader might come across.

What I can say, that for myself – I LOVE this book. Every time I pick up one of Tarzian’s books, I know that I am in for a complete and utter disconnect from this world and being plunged entirely into world(s) of these novels; and with each and every book I think it’s impossible for me to fall in any deeper. House of Muir has more than proven that wrong, and this is a book that I have been lucky enough to see from it’s early stages through to the masterpiece that was released today. A book that has haunted and consumed me since those first stages; and yet reading it in its completion was another experience entirely. It’s a mediation, a dream, a nightmare and a deep philosophical discussion against the atrocity of the world and its possibilities, all rolled into one, and then woven into a deeply fantastical story with some of the most sublime writing I’ve ever had the pleasure to read.

‘The Guilt will always call you back.’

One of the reasons House of Muir hits so hard – and one of the reasons it will hit differently for each reader, and probably differently for that same reader at a different time; is that Tarzian is almost painting this story with emotion. Even if you are swept up, or lose track of the iteration of each character, or the time and place where the moment is; the emotion is so visceral in all elements of this story that it hits.  Grief. Anger. Guilt. Love. Momentary Joy. Each one is a character, a full-colour, fully realised apparition that shifts with the moment and events; and as emotions do it is different with each character and each iteration of each character, and I always found something to connect with because of that. One of the things I adore most about Tarzian’s writing is the sheer ethereal beauty of his writing, and yet some of the sharpest, most poignant moments are where that drops away to the simplicity of the core emotion in that moment. There’s a moment where one character goes ‘Mama’ and it’s a single word, and yet the force with which it hit, had tears in my eyes and that full on audible gasp as the emotion landed.

“Because your mind allows it—finally. A psyche ruled by rage and grief prevents its master from obtaining closure. It clouds their thoughts, slowly killing all the happiness they once possessed’

Emotions and emotional writing have always been a massive part of these books, but it felt like House of Muir took it further. As though it was a chest sliced open, and all the layers pulled back to reveal the heart pulsing in the middle – and everything feeding into it. It meant that returning to these familiar characters, to these shifting, changing events and identities, and choices old and new, had a whole new depth and flavour. I can’t wait to have a physical copy of House of Muir, so I can sit and consume both Vultures and Muir together and follow those developments, but even having had a gap between reading the two, Tarzian’s characters immediately pulled me back in and it felt like this time with that peeling away, we were getting to see who they could be outside of this cycle of guilt and entropy. Even in the darkest moments, in the face of lies and betrayal, it felt like there was hope in the darkness; and general sensation of motion – not just in the characters themselves but the world(s) to, an invisible pull towards something and as a reader I was pulled in right alongside them.

And this bled out further, into the worldbuilding and the story itself, as elements that had been introduced in Vultures are being peeled away to reveal new truths, and more lies, leading us deeper and deeper – until it almost felt like a long-waking epiphany. About the truth of the world, of the characters themselves, of the weight of emotion… and a mirror reflection for the reader, because of that sheer emotional connection forged between the story and ourselves through the power of Tarzian’s grasp on emotions.

“Memory is a peculiar, if not horrifying, thing,”

House of Muir also saw the worldbuilding mirror that unfolding; not so much in vastly different locations, as there are many familiar names here (as well as some new); and where we did venture into new territories the connection with the story was strongly formed right from the moment we were introduced to them. The idea of memory and place is beautifully played with here, especially with the idea of how those memories can be layered and tied to different times and people too, so that buildings and trees, ruined as they may be carry a life of their own.

Tarzian has always had this element, with the ruined cities carry so much weight of history; but it felt stronger here, perhaps, because there was a growing awareness that these were just one reality, one iteration of the world among many. It’s a very human thing to cling to the familiar when faced with the unfamiliar, and it felt very much like that was at play here; as the characters had that stripped away, the memories and places they knew became more precious and therefore more present. Yet at the same time, the story is pushing down those walls – and I had shivers towards the end with the mentions of the Dead Sun; and the ending as well. This world – their world – is changing and I can’t wait to see what happens when those walls shatter.

House of Muir is absolutely Tarzian at his best. This book has taken all the elements I loved from Vultures and the Adjacent Monsters series, and gone hold my whiskey. This is a book that makes me think of that moment in the Fellowship of the Ring film with Galadriel’s ‘Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn!’ moment, because that is such an apt way of looking at this book. It is horrifying and dark, and a nightmare made real. But it is also exquisitely beautiful, with the feeling of a dream and the faint glow of hope on the horizon.

This is without a doubt my book of the year. I am already planning a reread once I get a physical copy, and know that I will be revisiting it many times in the future. It has been impossibly hard to review, because I absolutely believe this is a book that will resonate differently with each reader – but I cannot recommend it highly enough. If you love dark fantasy, beautiful writing and a book that will take you down dark, and winding roads to discover far more than you might expect then this absolutely one you should be picking up.