CSFF Blog Tour: Martyr’s Fire

When a lord’s city is filled with secrets he can sense but not see; when the enemies he once beat seem determined to win again, and when they are strangely adept at disappearing, and strangely adept at reappearing; when frauds come with lying blessings and lying relics, and win the hearts of a lord’s subjects – when all this happens, what is a lord to do?

Flee, I guess.

Martyr’s Fire is the third book in the Merlin’s Immortals series. Written by Sigmund Brouwer, Merlin’s Immortals takes readers back to the fourteenth century, and to things even older yet – the Druids, and Merlin.

In Martyr’s Fire, Brouwer maintains the historical mien of the earlier books, along with the carefully woven web of hidden truths, conspiracies, and mistrust. Certain things are different in this outing. In some ways the scope of the novel is wider here – Brouwer took his readers to a more diverse array of settings, and made greater use of England’s legends.

In other ways, though, the scope of the book is more limited. Few new characters were introduced, and none of them became principal characters. While the plots of the earlier books revolved around taking a city and going to war, Martyr’s Fire has more the air of a personal quest, a few people on an adventure.

And I enjoyed it. Of all three books in the series, I like this third one most; to be honest, I liked it more than I expected to based on the first books. Not that The Orphan King and Fortress of Mist were bad, but somehow I reached a new level of enjoyment with Martyr’s Fire. I even enjoyed the writing style more.

Two other things I appreciated about this book: I appreciated the heroine, full of intelligence and spark, and every inch the hero’s equal; and I appreciated that though Brouwer portrays the darkness that existed in the Catholic Church, he does provide glimmers of the light.

As a whole, this series has a low level of violence, for which I salute the author. Too many writers fall prey to the idea that nothing is exciting until somebody dies.

Martyr’s Fire is an interesting novel, with a wealth of intriguing historical details and a clever fusing of mythic elements into the actual world. The cast of characters is also interesting, and occasionally fun. Recommended – Martyr’s Fire, and Merlin’s Immortals.


In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

CSFF Blog Tour: Fantasizing History

One would naturally assume that a series called Merlin’s Immortals would be a straight-up, magic-and-swords fantasy series. But one would naturally be wrong.

In Merlin’s Immortals, Sigmund Brouwer slowly lifts the veil on two secret circles, long at war with each other – the Druids, and Merlin’s Immortals. You would think that Druids – those terrible pagan priests, with their terrible pagan rites – would show the darkest kind of magic. They were usually – in that period between the rise of Christianity in the west and its decline – portrayed as sorcerers.

But in this series, their tricks are simply science acutely applied, though confessedly with devilish purposes. I can’t remember any instance of magic in any of the three books I read. The story is also firmly rooted in our own world and even our own history; the precise year is given. The medieval setting – so cherished in fantasy – is a thoroughly historical setting here.

Still, there are two distinct ways in which Merlin’s Immortals lays claim to the title speculative fiction. In the first, it plays at the fringes of Arthurian legends; second, in putting forth the continuing existence of the Druids and their secret war well into the fourteenth century, Brouwer writes an alternative history of England.

Perhaps the use of the Arthurian legends merits the fantasy label. But whatever else these books are, they are probably not the fantasy novels you were expecting.


To see Martyr’s Fire (Book 3 of Merlin’s Immortals) on Amazon, go here; to see Sigmund Brouwer’s website, go here.

To see reviews and commentary on Martyr’s Fire, visit the CSFF blog tour:

Red Bissell
Beckie Burnham

Theresa Dunlap
Emma or Audrey Engel
April Erwin
Victor Gentile
Nikole Hahn
Becky Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Rebekah Loper
Jennette Mbewe
Amber McCallister
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Writer Rani
Nathan Reimer
Jojo Sutis
Steve Trower
Phyllis Wheeler
Deborah Wilson
Rachel Wyant

CSFF Blog Tour: The Orphan King

We have all heard that knowledge is power. But few have ever known it, or demonstrated it, as well as Thomas. An orphan, and in effect little better than a slave, yet he has power. He has a rare ability, the ability to read. Rarer yet, he has books to read.

Rarest of all is the sort of books he has. With these books, he could conquer kingdoms. For these books, others would conquer kingdoms. And they would do anything they had to, to get them from Thomas.

The Orphan King is the first book of the Merlin’s Immortals series, written by Sigmund Brouwer. It is set in England, in the year 1312, and surrounded by the facts of the day – from the name of the king to hunger to the brown charity cloth of monks. This historical structure, together with the scholarly and even scientific nature of Thomas’ power, gives the book more realism than fantasy usually enjoys.

The characters are nicely done – from the loathsome Geoffrey to the world-tested knight to the irrepressible Tiny John. Thomas, as is common for royalty and especially protagonists in fairy tales, is not as vivid as his supporting cast, yet he still stands as a good character. His attempt to buy horses, and the knight’s intervention, was a fine moment for both of them.

Sigmund Brouwer proved adept at evoking both people and places. But he had, as a writer, a habit of explaining things – either in dialogue or in the narration – where, and sometimes when, he ought not to have. Some explanations could have been demonstrated through the story; others were not needed at all. Readers did not need, for example, Thomas’ thoughtlessness in asking after Isabelle to Katherine pointed out so thoroughly.

The Orphan King is a story of mystery more than magic, of deception and doubt more than action. The novel raises many questions and leaves the most interesting unanswered. And though it takes place seven centuries ago, the story seems to look back to things that were ancient even then. The pieces are intriguing to any fantasy reader – Merlin, and an old fortress thick with secrets, and Druids, and Immortals. If you care to put them together, pick up The Orphan King and begin.


And now, for the intrigued, we have links:

The Orphan King on Amazon;

Fortress of Mist (second book of Merlin’s Immortals) on Amazon;

and Sigmund Brouwer’s website; he has, by the way, a perfect name for an author. Just hearing it, you can imagine it on a book cover.

Finally, and most enlightening, we have the tour links:

Gillian Adams
Julie Bihn
Thomas Fletcher Booher

Beckie Burnham
Janey DeMeo
Theresa Dunlap
Victor Gentile
Nikole Hahn
Jeremy Harder
Ryan Heart
Janeen Ippolito
Becky Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
Rebekah Loper
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Anna Mittower
Eve Nielsen
Nathan Reimer
James Somers
Steve Trower
Phyllis Wheeler

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.