The Unflinching Ash by Angela Armstrong

Released: 12 July 2021

Published by: Norsou Books

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 353

Amazon | Author Website | Goodreads

In a world like ours, Mystics once ruled the night. Well, so long as they were men. On Ash’s day of naming, she chose the Mystic path nonetheless. The same illusions that garner gasps of awe from the lamp-lit crowds earn her scorn from the basilica. There is only one way forward: a perilous quest – earn the Queen’s Seal, a badge of honour, and immunity. She’ll simply have to avoid being hanged, burned or drowned first.                                                                                                   

When one of my favourite authors of all time, Rachael Craw, put this book on my radar I knew it must be something special! It's clear that Angela Armstrong knows how to pull together a YA-crossover-fantastical story with a strong female lead, healthy dose of humour and key message echoed below that "there isn't one right way to forge a brave path". Read on for more!

Author Interview with Angela Armstrong

Firstly, a big congratulations on publishing The Unflinching Ash! How did the experience of writing this book compare with the novelettes you have released in the past?

The writing experiences for the Gen2K novel and novelettes and The Unflinching Ash had a surprising amount in common. Both were written in answer to disappointment, and then asking, “What if..?”. The Gen2K stories were born of my own infertility crisis, and the discovery of little-known consequences for undertaking IVF treatment.  I then asked, “What if after millions undertook this treatment, the worst happened?” For The Unflinching Ash, I left an international magic show with my three daughters, frustrated by their uncertainty about whether they could aspire to be a magician or only a magician’s assistant. I then asked, “What if there were more renowned female Illusionists?”

While the impetus for writing in both worlds was similar, my approach for each was very different. The Unflinching Ash was written for a long time with an excellent editor from one of the big houses giving me feedback – it was always intended as my chief commercial debut. The Gen2K pieces were what I wrote while I waited. As most people know, busy editors don’t always reply right away. So I could giddily send 15K words of new Ash materia and watch my Inbox, but it would be some time before the editor would come back with notes on what had become a new version of a 100K manuscript. So I filled my back catalogue, did next to nothing to promote it, and waited for the next set of directives for Ash. This allowed me to always be writing, and hopefully offers any keen readers who devour Ash the pleasant surprise of finding more by this author, if they go looking.

What drove you to write in the genre of YA fantasy and what's it like as an author coming up with worldbuilding elements as well as portraying characters which readers can relate to?

A double-barrel! Like a fair share of other writers, I was once a High School English teacher.  I also reviewed screeds of YA ARCs and interviewed YA authors for publishers such as Walker and Hachette for a decade. So I know a little about this age group, the YA market, and the coming-of-age characters populating it. I love YA. While it’s never too late to discover the magic of reading, so many life-long readers’ devotion is earned during those crucial years, and that’s something I want to be a part of. There is a lot of discussion right now about YA no longer being for YA. I lament if this is true!  I hope that instead of striving to push any adults who are reading YA out, we do our best to reclaim any young adults no longer in. For me, one of the most beautiful things about strong YA, is that those stories appeal beyond the young adult years. How incredible if a book keeps being good, as you grow older? Thus, I hope bookstores will file The Unflinching Ash as Cross-over Fiction – great for ages 15+, or confident younger readers. I’m hoping adults will read Ash alongside the young people in their lives. 

You also might find it in the Alternative History, Historical Fiction or YA sections.  Ash is often dubbed as Fantasy, but strictly speaking, I’m not sure it’s fantastical. This is a story about the magic and mystique drawn from within, rather than the magic a mage might conjure with a wand. It’s about illusions, mentalism and showmanship rather than spells.  I hope in it you’ll find a world like ours, but different, with a sassy heroine worth rooting for.  I thrilled in re-imagining our dark ages a little brighter for having Ash in it.

What are some of your favourite and also most challenging aspects of writing that people may not always recognise or talk about?

One of my favourite things about writing is re-reading my own stuff after I’ve set it aside for a while to work on something else. It’s a treat to return to something with fresh eyes and have you sneak up on you. 

I have always backed myself – I know I can write.  But self-promotion is hard. I want readers to know I can write, but I’m no peacock. Finding a way to say, “Do you see my feathers?” without fanning them out is proving difficult.  

Without giving too much away, is there a particular quote or moment in the book which is particularly meaningful to you?

This quote comes from when we meet Ash’s sister, Grete:

Grete wore caution like a crown.  Although Ash and Grete were both born from the same Mapa and Papal, the sisters were antipodean enchantresses.  To Ash the Mysteries had dealt passion, grit and tireless intent, which she carried like a loaded quiver on her strong, lithe frame.  Grete’s appeal was no less, but instead came by way of caution, calm and censure – an attractive safe harbour expressed in her soft edges and soft speech.  Both young women had thick dark hair and the blessing of symmetry on their side.  Both could sneak.

This quote is particularly meaningful to me because it introduces an essential paradigm for the story – these two are both strong, impressive women, but they have responded to trauma and plotted their course in very different ways, and that’s okay – there isn’t one right way to forge a brave path.

If there were three key messages you'd hope readers would be able to take away from The Unflinching Ash and bring into our world, what would they be?

1) There isn’t one right way to forge a brave path. Find yours and take it, allows others to choose their own. 

2) Don’t let the haters get you down.

3) Confidence does not make a woman a b*tch. 

Can I say that?

After this impressive release, could you give us a hint at what you're working on next?

Kind. I'm already elbows deep in a contemporary middle grade magical realism novel set in New Zealand.

About the author

Before writing books, Angela studied English and Film at the University of Otago, taught full-time in schools, owned an art gallery, and reviewed books for trade publishers. She lives with her husband Haki in Northland, New Zealand, where she devotes her non-writing hours to home-schooling three chatty daughters who have inherited a fierce love of words from their mother.

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{Author Guest Post} Bonnie Wynne on lawyer skills and creative writing

High-flying lawyer turns courtroom drama into blockbuster novel success. Sadly, I’m talking about John Grisham, not myself. As far as lawyer-novelists go, he takes the crown for most famous. But even Charles Dickens dabbled as a law clerk, and Harper Lee dropped out of an Alabama law school at age 23. So what turns so many respectable legal minds into starving, bohemian artists?

Maybe the real question is what turns creative writers into lawyers. A home truth: law school is where you go when you love writing but also love money. So off I went to learn the law, bright-eyed and eager, with a briefcase full of dreams and unfinished manuscripts about dragons.   

The Venn diagram between lawyer skills and writer skills is basically just a circle, and the most obvious shared skill is ‘sitting down’. We do a lot of that. But the second most obvious is language. Lawyers spend all day wrestling with the written word. Every sentence must pull its weight. These days, I can draft cleanly and hack through superfluous adverbs like a machete through the underbrush. A writer must kill their darlings, and I have no qualms about executing mine on sight. And I like to think it works both ways; that my creative side gives my law writing a little extra pizzazz. My boss may disagree (as he strikes out the word ‘pizzazz’ from my draft).

Law school also teaches you to see an argument from both sides. That’s not so different from the job of a writer: to put yourself in the shoes of somebody else. Imagining the point of view of an orc is a little different from imagining the view of opposing counsel (or is it?), but the principle is the same.

The Ninth Sorceress tells the story of Gwyn, who was raised in a travelling wagon by a stern and emotionally distant father figure. My own childhood was crushingly normal, so I had to imagine the world from her perspective. Who would you become if you were forbidden from having friends? How would you react to the abrupt and cataclysmic upheaval of your life? Those were the questions that intrigued me as I was developing Gwyn’s character.

Lawyers are detail-oriented by nature, and that’s a great skill to develop if you want to write well. My favourite podcaster Tim Clare always talks about crunchy specificity, which basically means steering away from the broad and obvious word choices and picking something with texture, something that suggests a world or a time period or a cultural milieu. It’s putting your protagonist in a clumsily hand-stitched sarafan instead of a shirt and trousers. I often fantasise about tattooing crunchy specificity onto my forehead.

Law school teaches you to be specific, with statutes and precedents and case law. Sure, you can show up in court and ramble about how ‘it’s the Constitution, it’s Mabo, it’s the vibe’. (But please don’t). And sure, you can write about how your wizard’s library smells of dust. But that’s an obvious choice, and it’s not going to wake up the dozing peanut-crunchers in the back row. What else? Floor wax? Woodworm? Buckram? Specific, specific, specific.

That brings me to the next great lawyer skill: research. At work, my browser history would put you to sleep. But at home it would put me in jail. Torture with hot irons. How to dispose of a body. How to make gunpowder. In law and in fiction, it pays to know what you’re talking about. Or if you don’t know, at least you can sound like you do. Research: the backbone of any convincing lie.

One thing every writer needs is discipline. Writing is work, even when you’re enjoying it. It’s tempting to go play video games or watch another episode or pair your entire sock collection. Those things are easier and more fun (well, maybe not the socks). And it’s no surprise that discipline is a mandatory skill in law school. If you’re a natural procrastinator (hello), the terrifying onslaught of essay deadlines and take-home exams will beat it out of you.

You can’t force inspiration – sometimes you turn the creative tap and only a trickle comes out. But you can force your butt into the seat. I wrote The Ninth Sorceress piecemeal over the course of a decade. But I wrote the first draft of Book 2 in just a few months, my fingers clacking at the keys so fast they started getting friction burns. Luckily, the warring wizards of The Ninth Sorceress are a lot more fun to write about than tortious misfeasance.

If my writing career takes off, it would be nice to eventually leave the law books behind. But in the meantime, I owe a lot to my legal training. And if I ever get sick of gods and alchemists, maybe I can try one of those twisty courtroom thrillers. John Grisham, I’m coming for your crown.

THE NINTH SORCERESS, Bonnie Wynne's debut fantasy novel, is slated for release February 13.

About the book

The Ninth Sorceress (The Price of Magic #1) by Bonnie Wynne

Released: 13th February 2020

Published by: Talem Press

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 360

Goodreads | Talem Press | Amazon

In the blackest dungeon of the Clockwork City, a prisoner lies bound in silver shackles. Who is she? And why are the wizards so afraid of her?

Seventeen-year-old Gwyn has no family and no past. Apprenticed to a half-mad herbalist, she travels the snow-blasted High Country, hawking potions in a peddler’s wagon. Her guardian hides her from the world like a dark secret, and she knows better than to push for answers. But when she discovers she is hunted by the goddess Beheret, Gwyn is drawn into a deep and ancient tale: of chained gods and lost magic, of truths long buried and the rising of a war she never could have imagined. Wizards and their magic-sniffing hounds pursue her – as does a stranger in a smiling mask, who calls her by an unfamiliar name...

But what really terrify her are the dangerous gifts she’s spent her life suppressing. Now, Gwyn must step out of the shadows and take charge of her destiny – even if the price is her own soul. The Ninth Sorceress is the breathtaking first instalment of The Price of Magic, a sweeping fantasy saga full of rich storytelling and tangible magic.

About the author

Bonnie Wynne studied Writing and Cultural Studies at UTS, and completed her law degree at the University of Sydney. After a brief stint in legal publishing, she now works for the Australian government, deciphering ancient law tomes.

She lives in Sydney with her cocker spaniel, Percival Hector (Canine Inspector). When she's not reading or writing, she can be found playing video games, booking her next holiday, or elbow-deep in flour.

THE NINTH SORCERESS is her debut novel and the first book in her series, THE PRICE OF MAGIC.

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{Guest Post} Strong female characters in YA fantasy By Bronwyn Eley

What do you think of when I say ‘strong female’? Do you think of an overzealous, over-confident, opinionated and harsh-looking female? I guess some would. Because, for some, women will forever be seen as the ones who love, the carers, the ones you go to for comfort. This is not a bad thing. But women being anything more than that – women who are bold with their emotions, confident with their sexuality, ambitious in the workplace – can be seen as going ‘against our true nature’.

But what is so important to me, when writing, is representing reality. I’ve met women who are as above: caring, homely, sweet, there for you when you need them. I have also met women who are cold, cruel, lost, confused, angry, selfish and vapid. I have met women who are intelligent, brave, ambitious and passionate.

What I believe is that ‘strong women’ encompass many – if not all – of these qualities. That a ‘strong woman’ might still be vapid and cruel at times, but she will have the capacity to overcome those petty emotions and be a better person. Representing strong women in YA – in all books – does not mean we present perfect women. Women who are only brave, intelligent, beautiful and ambitious. Because that’s not realistic. Show me one woman who has never made a mistake – who has never been cruel or selfish – and I will fall over from shock.

Having negative qualities does not mean she is not a strong woman. In fact, having the strength and self-awareness to know when she has made a mistake and overcome it...that is strong.

Elizabeth Bennet (or, rather, Jane Austen) said it well in Pride and Prejudice when Darcy is listing the qualities he believes mark an accomplished woman. That she must have thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing and the modern languages. That she must conduct herself in a manner worthy of respect. Basically, he was talking about upper-class women who must be ‘perfect’ at all times.

When Elizabeth says she is not surprised that Darcy has only met six accomplished women in his life, Darcy asks why she is so ‘severe upon her own sex’.

Elizabeth’s response has, to this day, stuck with me. She says ‘I never saw such a woman, I never saw such capacity.’

The fact that Darcy seems to believe it is a slight against women that Elizabeth doubts finding a woman with such qualities is extremely naive. This is perhaps what Austen intended. Women are complex creatures, just as men are. Humans are complex and just because we have flaws and negative qualities does not mean we aren’t good people, that we aren’t strong.

Relic was my first attempt at writing young adult fantasy and I hope that I’ve done it justice. From the beginning, it was extremely important to me that all my characters – women and men – were represented in a true light. I chose to set my novel in a city that – for the most part – did not discriminate based on sex. I wanted to give my female characters every chance to be who and what they wanted to be. This is one reason I made Kaylan a blacksmith. Being traditionally a man’s occupation, it is not uncommon in the city of Edriast for there to be female blacksmiths. Kaylan is not the first and she won’t be the last. In Edriast, there is no gender segregation when it comes to occupation. Women can be blacksmiths. Men can be nannies. There are jobs. These are humans. They do the work; it’s as simple as that.

This is certainly a personal ideal of mine; something I wish was a reality. It might be someday!

YA is an incredibly important genre because of who it is aimed at. That’s not to say people outside the ‘young adult’ age bracket don’t read YA. I am outside that bracket and I write YA, as well as read it. YA is not just for young people. It is for the young at heart, for people who crave adventure, for people who want to remember.

But, of course, YA is read by young adults... by people whose minds are open and still forming, gobbling up anything and everything in their journey to find out who they are. So the characters that they read can have a huge influence on who they become, on what they see as normal, on what they see as right and wrong. Stories have incredible power to shape us.

YA fantasy is an interesting genre too because it is often set in a world that is like our past – in medieval times. During those times, women were treated like property. Women were seen as the weaker sex. Women were seen as mothers, were seen as a means for pleasure for men and were limited in too many ways. So it’s interesting that in YA fantasy, in a setting so similar, that we often lean towards representing these kick-ass, savvy and powerful women. Strong women in this world is not uncommon, right? But take those all qualities that we desire or expect out of a strong woman and chuck them in the past, in a world without technology, without the comfort many of us are used to and what happens? We get women who can fight, women who are not limited, women who are heard. This is not true of all YA fantasy but authors take this unique opportunity and let their female characters embrace it. As a reader myself, I have come to expect this in YA fantasy. I want women saving the world, going on adventures, being bold, being challenged, making mistakes and rectifying them.

There’s still work to be done with how both women and men are represented in literature. For me, with Relic, creating realistic women was one of my top priorities. Showing how women really are, while also showing that it is not just bravery and skills with a sword that make a ‘strong woman’. Strong women still make mistakes, still cause others pain, still suffer themselves and perhaps they are stronger for it.

About the book

Relic by Bronwyn Eley

Released: 12th September 2019

Published by: Talem Press

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 497

Goodreads | Booktopia | Amazon

In the city of Edriast, there is no deadlier duty than to serve as the Shadow. As the personal servant of the powerful Lord Rennard, the Shadow's life is all but forfeit. Rennard possesses one of five rare and dangerous Relics – a jewel that protects his bloodline, but slowly poisons everyone else in its proximity.

When the current Shadow succumbs to its magic, nineteen-year-old blacksmith Kaylan is summoned to take his place. It's an appointment that will kill her. As the time Kaylan has left ebbs away, hope begins to fade...

That is, until she discovers a plot to destroy all five bloodlines in possession of the Relics. A rebel force plans to put an end to Rennard's rule and Kaylan suddenly finds herself embroiled in a cause that might just be worth fighting for. But no cause is without its costs.

As her life hangs in the balance and rebellion bears down on Edriast, Kaylan must decide where her loyalties lie – and how she'll leave her mark on the world. Relic is the absorbing first novel in The Relic Trilogy, a thrillingly dark YA fantasy series.

About the author

Bronwyn joined the military right out of high school, where she learnt (among other things) to disassemble and reassemble a rifle blindfolded. After that she spent a lot of her time travelling around the world. Her favourite places (so far) are Scotland, Mongolia, Iceland and Ireland. Bronwyn finally found her natural habitat when she landed her first job in the publishing industry. While she has always been a writer, it was only when surrounding herself with books that she realised her life’s dream was to become an author. Relic is her first novel. Bronwyn lives in Sydney and spends her time eating chocolate, reading and practicing her martial arts.

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{Guest Post} The 'coming of age' narrative in YA fantasy by Helen Scheuerer

Readers are probably familiar with the 'coming of age' themes that tend to come up in YA contemporary novels. But the ideas around growing up and all the changes and challenges with come with it are also explored in other genres. To discuss more about how it comes up in the realm of fantasy I've brought in an expert! Author Helen Scheuerer has stopped by on the blog today to talk about how this idea features in her series The Oremere Chronicles...

On the ‘Coming of Age’ Narrative In YA Fantasy 

When Eugenia and I first discussed the concept of this guest post, I was eager to write about ‘coming of age’ as a theme in fantasy novels. I felt that my trilogy The Oremere Chronicles explored this idea in depth. However, as I sat down to draft this post, I realised just how difficult it is to sum up the importance of such a theme.

Exploring this type of narrative got me thinking of numerous ‘coming of age’ classics in fantasy, as well as my own books. Why do these novels matter to us? How can we relate to the journeys of characters in non-existent, magical lands? Below is my attempt at delving into those questions...

Despite the fact that YA fantasy narratives take place in fantastical, magic-oriented worlds, now more than ever, they reflect the experiences of our young people today. The genre lends itself well to ‘coming of age’ theme, because just like in contemporary times, characters in these books challenge political systems, power hierarchies and social constructs, as well as the more ordinary aspects of life: navigating relationships, families and changing friendship dynamics.

The most powerful of these novels always depict the inner journey of a character, rife with turmoil, as he or she grows up, which is why ‘coming of age’ is such a prominent theme throughout the fantasy genre.

In fact, the fantasy genre as a whole suits the ‘coming of age’ narrative; with characters often embarking on a large-scale physical adventures that trigger their inner journey (think: Frodo from Lord of the Rings, Celaena from Throne of Glass and Lira from To Kill A Kingdom). As a young adult author myself, it’s a theme that has certainly woven its way into my books. I find it’s something that’s come quite naturally rather than as a result of a conscious decision on my part as creator.

For example, the 19-year-old protagonist in my series, The Oremere Chronicles, Bleak, is a great example of this… In her hometown, Angove, she’s in a bit of a rut. Self-medicating with alcohol to overcome grief, she rarely thinks of anyone but herself. However, a journey is forced upon her and it’s over the course of this quest that she’s made to look inward at who she is, and define her place in the world. It’s a classic ‘coming of age’ scenario.

Most YA fantasy books focus on a character similar age to their target reader (17-19 usually) and there’s a good reason for this. It’s the age where we tend to question ourselves and our surroundings the most, which leads to numerous types of inner conflict.

But being a young adult is also a test of how you interact with the broader world around you. Often it’s these external things that can trigger a ‘coming of age’ journey. Tragedy, loss, meeting new people, experiencing a new place and perhaps generally learning about the cruelty of the world, can all lead to the inner growth of a person/character.

The fantasy genre offers up these instances by the truckload. In my books in particular (Heart of Mist, Reign of Mist and the upcoming War of Mist), we journey with Bleak as she learns how to deal with figures of authority and systems of power, questions her heritage, as well as the difference between right and wrong. All notions that further the development of any character. It just so happens, she’s growing up at the same time.

I also made sure not to limit my characters to a certain age bracket, because as we know, the world isn’t made up of just young adults. But it’s how our young adult characters interact with those older and younger around them that provide our protagonists with room to grow, as well as offer our readers a reflection of their own real life experiences.

Regardless of the target readers or the theme itself, coming of age stories aren’t just for young adults. This is shown in the wide-reach of YA books - they transcend our years, with adult readers ranging from mid-twenties right up into their eighties. In fact, I’ve had an email from a 76 year old saying how much she related to my books.

Perhaps we ‘come of age’ numerous times in our lives, which is another reason why the theme is so popular across all genres of literature.

I’d love to know what your favourite fantasy ‘coming of age’ stories are. Feel free to share them in the comments below!

WAR OF MIST, the epic conclusion to Helen Scheuerer’s The Oremere Chronicles is slated for release July 25. You can add it on Goodreads here 

The Oremere Chronicles

Buy Heart of Mist | Reign of Mist

Goodreads Heart of Mist | Reign of Mist

About the author

You can learn more about Helen on her website

Helen Scheuerer is a YA fantasy author from Sydney, Australia. Her debut novel, Heart of Mist, was the bestselling first instalment in her trilogy, The Oremere Chronicles.

After writing literary fiction for a number of years, she was inspired to return to her childhood love of fantasy by reading the work of Sabaa Tahir, V.E. Schwab and Sarah J. Maas.

Helen holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts, majoring in Creative Writing, and a Master of Publishing. She is also the Founding Editor of Writer’s Edit (www.writersedit.com), one of the world’s largest online learning platforms for emerging writers.

She is now a full-time author living amidst the mountains in New Zealand.

Reading Widely: Fantasy/Paranormal novels on my 2018 reading list

There has come a point where I feel like I’ve been neglecting certain genres, or at least I haven't given them a proper chance. I’ll be the first to admit that I'm not usually the biggest fantasy/paranormal reader, with the last time I really got stuck into a series was with Hush Hush, Fallen, and maybe a Jennifer L. Armentrout at some point…

Yes, that was something of a ‘phase’, and truth be told, I did enjoy those books back then (around seven years ago). Would I re-read them? Well, you never know – but I think it’s safe to say I might judge them a little differently today.

Those thoughts aside, I’m genuinely looking to once again branch out with an open mind and try something new. I’ve been reading some fantasy novels sporadically over the past few years, though 2018 is as good a time as ever to finally dedicate more space on my shelves and in my reading schedule to shaking things up a bit.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (The Grishaverse #1): How have I not read a Leigh Bardugo book yet? The hype speaks for itself so my expectations are high, but since Six of Crows is also on my list, I'd better get to this series first. 

Year One by Nora Roberts (Chronicles of the One #1): Even with Nora Roberts being such a prolific writer, this would be the first of hers I've explored. It might not fit quite so neatly into the fantasy genre, but the magical elements, dystopian edge and dark, gritty premise definitely has me intrigued. 

Thief's Cunning by Sarah Ahiers: I actually read Assassin's Heart not too long ago and enjoyed it overall, thanks to the thrill of those huge betrayals and twists towards the end. I'm hoping to see more worldbuilding in this sequel.

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb: Another book on assassins, but I couldn't go past Robin Hobb. Her works take up a sizeable chunk of our sci-fi/fantasy section at the bookstore I work at, and I could swear I have a copy of this floating around on my shelves somewhere - it's time to bring it back out and finally read it.

Wintersong by S Jae Jones: I ordered a copy of this for myself recently after seeing other bloggers rave about it, and the musical element really piqued my interest.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (The Infernal Devices #1): A re-read! I really loved this book when I first visited it years ago, and I want to continue with the series. My one concern? The love triangle. On the other hand, the historical setting in Victorian London is what I'm really here for. 

Uprooted by Naomi Novik: A book that's been sitting on my shelf at home that I still haven't gotten to, and that's going to change.

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman: I've only read Neil Gaiman's graphic novels of The Graveyard Book, The Sleeper and The Spindle and Hansel & Gretel which were all brilliant. I think reading short story collections is a useful way to gain a broad overview of how an author writes, and Fragile Things looks like a promising place to start. 

Dark Lover by J.R. Ward: I haven't read any stories about vampires since Twilight, so this should be interesting. 

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss: It's without a doubt that Patrick Rothfuss writes absolutely beautifully, and I think I really need to read this book a second time before Wise Man's Fear to truly appreciate it. 

What fantasy writers do you swear by?