{"id":733,"date":"2013-01-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T20:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/?p=733"},"modified":"2025-05-03T13:56:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T01:56:15","slug":"mages-blood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2013\/01\/01\/mages-blood\/","title":{"rendered":"Mages Blood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\"><strong>David Hair<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\"><em>Jo Fletcher Books<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Otago Daily Times, 2013<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Local author David Hair\u2019s <em>Mage\u2019s Blood<\/em> is an epic undertaking, set in an alternative past, one where magic rather than technology defines the balance of power between civilisations, thanks to a maverick preacher named Johan Corin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Some 900 years before the events detailed in this book, Corin created a potion intended to bring his disciples closer to God but instead gave them the ability to harness the forces of the elements to devastating effect, and those who survived this transformation went on to found powerful dynasties that have made the Western continent of Yuros the ascendant force in the world.\u00a0 One of their most impressive creations is the Leviathian Bridge, a magically strengthened structure that emerges from the sea between Yuros and the Eastern landmass of Antiopia during the 12-yearly ebbing known as the Moontide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Originally intended to facilitate economic and cultural exchange between societies, the Bridge\u2019s last two appearances have seen Yurosian armies invade and dominate their weaker neighbour, and now the Western Emperor is gathering his forces for a Third Crusade. But the powers of the Magi have waned as the original bloodlines have become diluted through the generations, and this time the East is preparing to fight back.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A mixture of fantasy and alternative history, <em>Mage\u2019s Blood<\/em> is set in the year before Moontide, and follows three individual storylines that converge as they develop. I enjoyed spotting the points of correspondence with Hair\u2019s world and our own and found the slow revelation of the connections between the different plots similarly satisfying, with a number of \u2018aha\u2019 moments as each piece fell into place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The story is well written and exciting enough to keep me involved right to the end, but at 671 pages, and with the promise of several more books to come (it is the first in a quartet), it felt frustratingly like a very long introduction that never quite reaches the main action.\u00a0 It is wonderful to see a New Zealand fantasy writer being picked up by an international publisher, and the novel is as good as anything coming out of Europe or America, but readers need to be aware that they are embarking on what is likely to be a long ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Hair<br \/>\n<br \/>\nOtago Daily Times review 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[180,190,370,500,18,407],"class_list":["post-733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","tag-180","tag-david-hair","tag-fiction","tag-nz-author","tag-odt","tag-speculative-sci-fi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1705,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions\/1705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}