Synopses & Reviews
The Heart of the World is a land in strife. For fifty years the Holy Empire of Mann, an empire and religion born from a nihilistic urban cult, has been conquering nation after nation. Their leader, Holy Matriarch Sasheen, ruthlessly maintains control through her Diplomats, priests trained as subtle predators.
Ash is a member of an elite group of assassins, the Roshun, who offer protection through the threat of vendetta. Forced by his ailing health to take on an apprentice, he chooses Nico, a young man living in the besieged city of Bar-Khos. At the time, Nico is hungry, desperate, and alone in a city that finds itself teetering on the brink.
When the Holy Matriarchs son deliberately murders a woman under the protection of the Roshun; he forces the sect to seek his life in retribution. As Ash and his young apprentice set out to fulfill the Roshun orders, their journey takes them into the heart of the conflict between the Empire and the Free Ports…into bloodshed and death.
Review
“Something special…Buchanan writes vividly and well, and the story grips from the astonishing opening sequence to the unexpected conclusion.”
—The Times (UK )
“Farlander is a manic romp that takes in politics affecting nations at war as well as bringing the people who shape these nations into sharp focus. Theres a little something here for everyone. Farlander kicks off Col Buchanans debut series in some style and promises great things for the future.”
—Graemes Fantasy Book Review
“In Farlander, Col Buchanan weaves a tapestry of characters embodying youthful inexperience, military adventurism, jaded professionalism and wisdom, and the excesses of temporally expressed religious fanaticism into a fast-moving novel that, for all its fantasy elements, explosively addresses the universal questions facing any society.”
--L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
“Farlander is until the last page a well-done Novel of Education; since the education is that of an assassin, it's an exciting read as well as a thought-provoking one. Only at the conclusion does Col Buchanan show who was really being educated, which makes this a truly exceptional book.”
--Dave Drake, author of The Legions of Fire
Review
“An impressively imagined war-ravaged world.”
--Publishers Weekly
“Something special . . . Buchanan writes vividly and well, and the story grips from the astonishing opening sequence to the unexpected conclusion.”
--The Times (UK)
“The writing is mature, the action sequences gripping and suitably bloodthirsty, and there's a plot twist or two. . . . [A] vivid, impressively detailed work.”
--Kirkus Reviews“Two pages in to Farlander I was hooked . . . Ill certainly be reading the next book, for I have a feeling that its going to be even better. Nice one, Mr. Buchanan.”
--Neal Asher
“Completely absorbing. Once I was into it, I just couldnt put it down.”
--Glen Cook
Synopsis
Buchanan makes a stunning epic fantasy debut with this first novel in the Heart of the World series about an elite group of assassins in an empire born from a nihilistic urban cult.
Synopsis
The Heart of the World is a land in strife. For fifty years the Holy Empire of Mann, an empire and religion born from a nihilistic urban cult, has been conquering nation after nation. Their leader, Holy Matriarch Sasheen, ruthlessly maintains control through her Diplomats, priests trained as subtle predators.
Ash is a member of an elite group of assassins, the Roshun, who offer protection through the threat of vendetta. Forced by his ailing health to take on an apprentice, he chooses Nico, a young man living in the besieged city of Bar-Khos. At the time, Nico is hungry, desperate, and alone in a city that finds itself teetering on the brink.
When the Holy Matriarchs son deliberately murders a woman under the protection of the Roshun; he forces the sect to seek his life in retribution. As Ash and his young apprentice set out to fulfil the Roshun orders, their journey takes them into the heart of the conflict between the Empire and the Free Ports . . . into bloodshed and death.
About the Author
Col Buchanan lives in Lancaster, England. Farlander is his debut novel, and the first novel in the Heart of the World series.