Imperial Visions
Some pre-Christmas reading - or the perfect gift?
For new subscribers since last Christmas, there will be a number of regular seasonal posts over the next six weeks, notably the annual Christmas Quiz, coming out on Sunday,1 and the annual forecasting contest (in January) - and, of course, the results to each of these - as well as an annual year in review. This post is the first of these seasonal posts.
I’ll be aiming to include plenty of the usual public policy / politics posts in between, so all readers get something they’re interested in over the festive season.
Once a year I like to remind you, dear reader, that I’ve written two fantasy novels - and encourage you to try them.
Both Imperial Visions and its sequel, Visions in Exile, are available in Kindle for the bargain price of £1.99.
Or, if you’re not keen on fantasy yourself, the paperback versions make a great Christmas present for a friend or family member who does.2 There’s also a hardback illustrated version of the sequel, Visions in Exile.
Why should I try your books?
If you’re reading this, you presumably like my writing - and with nearly 1500 other subscribers, you’re not alone in that. So why not try something else I’ve written?
The slightly longer answer is that if you enjoy fantasy, but a somewhatthoughtful fantasy that as well as seers, demons and battles, also has a richly textured world which explores the politics and religion of the societies in which it’s set, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy them.3
But what are they actually about?
Imperial Visions and Visions in Exile are fantasy novels set in a c. 18th century world, featuring two main characters: Thomas, an Imperial diplomat who discovers he has the power to see the future, and Rianda, a young queen of a nation squeezed between the expansionist powers to its north, and a greater enemy, allied with dark powers, to the south.
Visions in Exile takes up the story where Imperial Visions left off.
Forced into exile, the young queen Rianda takes refuge in the hills, where the forces that have occupied her homeland relentlessly pursue her.
Even Thomas, the last True Seer, cannot help her, for he has departed, seeking to master his powers. In the mystical city of Linnarson, riven with feuds between merchants and mages, he will meet new friends and old allies - and learn many things he did not expect.
But beyond the southern passes the true enemy waits, as the Desert gathers its power.
Buy Imperial Visions - for Kindle - and in paperback
Buy Visions in Exile - for Kindle - and in paperback - and in illustrated hardback.
This year’s theme: Children.
Last year I published the equivalent of this post in the second week of December and was told by readers far more organised than me that everyone sensible had already got all their Christmas presents by then. So, organised readers, this one’s for you!
As one reader once said, ‘If you want a book where a government official worries about what the Public Accounts Committee will say about the amount of money he’s spending on demon fortifications, this is the book for you.’
The characterisation and world building* of both books is really strong, but the pacing is quite slow. If you like to soak in characters and worlds then I think you'll like them; if chapters where "nothing happens" frustrate you, then probably given them a miss.
*Social rather than mechanistic. While the second book reveals I G Mansfield has some system in mind behind the magic, it's not foregrounded. Think Tolkien rather than Sanderson.