“As the man’s blade slowly pressed through her robes, pricking her stomach, Syline screamed her frustration and pulled her arm back. She stabbed forward. She felt the blade pierce his flesh and heard his strangled gasp as it pushed through his ribs.”
Syline Petranski’s parents, siblings and descendants are more in the warrior line that the sorcery line. However Syline, the black sheep of the family, would rather wield a wand than a blade, and dreams of becoming a world-class mage. Unfortunately her “apprenticeship” turns out to be more sudden, more challenging, and more bloody than she could possibly have imagined, as she is forced to flee her home in the thick of an unforgiving winter to take on the role of both hunter and hunted. As Syline strives to save her parents and vanquish a deadly foe, she collects a number of formidable companions along the way, each of whom have their own challenges and their own secrets…
Perth-based novelist A.G. Charlton’s debt to extra-literary sources such as Warhammer, Dungeons & Dragons and video gaming is very much evident in his debut fantasy novel Taking Flight: Tomes of Ascension. This is no bad thing. Judging from the writing, Charlton has clearly read widely within his genre (Brandon Sanderson et al.); however within the classic hero’s journey structure there is a propulsive, page-turning energy of the kind that can only come from role-playing and gameplay where one is confronted by, and must interact with, others whose motivations and actions can’t be so easily predicted. (A shoutout to Shoshanah Graves for the great cover art, too.)
So yes, as the body count increases in proportion to the rising action, each encounter more bloody than the last, there is also enough humour, pathos and multi-dimensional characterisation to ground that action. Of course there are demons, vampires, imps and other creatures, some more, some less, human; but as Syline, Thelonius, Lauralee, Laes, Corax the raven and others draw closer to the inevitable epic (and it is EPIC) showdown with the evil Lady Jane and her infernal familiars, one gets to know and love this motley band of protagonists whose collective fate may be uncertain but who are surely destined to inhabit the inevitable sequel. Syline and Charlton are, it seems, only just getting started.
Taking Flight: Tomes of Ascension is published by Shawline Publishing
A. G. Charlton & Taking Flight: Tomes of Ascension