As I was writing Fires, my father passed away, and going through that pain and loss was the most difficult thing I’ve had to do in all my life. I wasn’t anywhere near normal for an entire year after his passing and that alone was enough to make the experience of writing these two books vastly different. I wrote Rage just for me, while hoping that a few other people might care. I also wrote Fires for me, but it was now also for so many other people too, and one of those people is my father. The Fires of Vengeance is dedicated to him.

The most glaring grievance I had was an apparent inconsistency regarding a relatively serious injury Tau sustains during ones of these fights early on in the story. One moment he is laid out flat, completely unable to move due to the sheer agony... the next he is up and hobbling about. The Fires of Vengeance begins immediately after the events in The Rage of Dragons, with yet another war on the horizon. Two queens, sisters, are at odds. Tau continues to fight oppression, racism & himself. Tau’s quest for vengeance is one of the major forces that drives forward both this book and The Rage of Dragons, and Winter continues to do an amazing job of exploring what kind of effect that single-minded quest for violence can have on a person’s psyche. The vast majority of Firesis told from Tau’s point of view, allowing plenty of time to really dissect all the deep and dark places he pushes himself to on his journey. There’s also the fact that Tau may or may not be losing his mind, as he finds himself constantly haunted by literal demons. One of the secrets to Tau’s strength is his grueling training in Isihogo, the underworld where demons dwell and from which the Omehi priestesses draw forth the magic to do things like turn warriors into hulking goliaths or bind dragons to their will. The longer a person spends in Isihogo, the greater the chance it’ll permanently damage their mind…and Tau has spent a lotof time there. Image courtesy of Orbit BooksFair warning, what I write here will undoubtedly sound more negative than I intend. The book was enjoyable for the most part, but there were a handful of elements that seriously detracted from my experience. We are still following Tau's story and see nearly everything through his eyes, but other characters are starting to shine as well and we do see a bit of their POV's. This story is written with so much passion and love and just manages to keep me wanting to read more and never stop. The action is visceral and violent, the prose is engaging and straightforward and as the quote to start this review should tell you, it occasionally drops some serious knowledge.

The fight sequences are a perfect mixture of dizzying and coherent. The supernatural horror is like a fever dream come to life, a PTSD nightmare ripping into our world to hunt for flesh. The rules of the magic and the lore are both mysterious and well established, easy to understand and thrilling and constantly surprising. The action scenes are like if you took the best fight choreographer on the planet and made him into a brilliant character writer. It's a perfect fusion of these two very different styles of storytelling that bring all the strengths of both and combine them. I love this magic system. More and more I have been recognizing the value of a magic system with costs, realistic progression, and high consequences for failure. This one has it all. The magic is used in unique ways which brought even more uncertainty and tension to the plot. And of course, there are dragons. Enough said. Before you were a writer, one of the many hats you wore was director and cinematographer. Has that skillset been beneficial to you in your writing?A brilliant continuation combining Evan Winter’s excellent prose, characterization, world building, and edge of your seat action. The Rage of Dragons was described as having aspects of Game of Thrones and Gladiator. In contrast, The Fires of Vengeance does not revolve so much around arena combat as its predecessor does, but it still maintains the well-crafted dynamics between the members of Scale Jayyed. Whilst they are maturer now, it remains similar to Anthony Ryan’s Blood Song and Mark Lawrence’s Red Sister in continuing the always enjoyable tale of a group of friends forged through adversity.