More First, Last, Everything. And this time it's author Vincent E. M. Thorn.

Vincent E. M Thorn is a fantasy author based out of Atlanta. At time of writing, Thorn is currently working on the next book in the Dreamscape Voyager Trilogy, as well as other projects to be announced later. In addition to his love of books, he is a lover and collector of art and music.

I was going to go a different way with this, at first; it would be very accurate to say the first book I ever enjoyed reading was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (I am a dirty American, so I didn't hear its proper title until years after I had acclimatized to the American title). JK Rowling is responsible for making me realize books can be wonderful, and set me on the path. However, while it's possible that if not for the adventures at Hogwarts I might very well have become one of those troglodytes who boasts about how they haven't read a book since high school, I instead want to address a different first: my first Epic Fantasy.

When I was thirteen, I read Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, the first book in his much beloved and genre-defining saga, the Wheel of Time. To be perfectly honest, that first book was a little bit of a climb, but it had such a grand scope and epic scale that always manage to reel me in when at that point in my life I may have given up on any other book with such a steep learning curve. Rowling may have introduced me to books and fantasy, but Jordan introduced me to my favorite sub-genre.

And it changed me.

I had already decided a couple years earlier that I was going to be an author. However, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time was the whetstone that sharpened my mind and my style. Other authors have impacted my style, of course, and continue to impact me as is only natural, but Eye of the World was the bedrock on which I truly began to cultivate my understanding of what storytelling could be.

Yesterday (at time of writing) I finished The Warrior Moon, by K Arsenault Rivera, the third book in the Ascendant series (following after The Tiger's Daughter and the Phoenix Empress). I have to say, it was a rather satisfying finale, even if the last four pages seemed a little too neat and tidy for the preceding bloodbaths and hardships. There is a stylistic choice utilized in this series that I absolutely love when it's done right, but it seems to be very rarely employed because when it's done wrong, it can destroy your story: In many stories I read, the author often feels the need to justify why magic happens or works a certain way, especially if it's core to the story. Rivera, however, simply decided the magic is. Why are these characters divine? Because someone had to be. Why does the magic do this? Because it does. And she made it work, creating a sense of wonder that encapsulated not only the magic itself, but the world that was touched by it. Her characters were an excellent balance of being consistently flawed without being obnoxious self-parodies about it, and through out it, I really cared for most of the characters from start to finish. 

This kind of question is almost a war crime. No matter which answer I give, I feel like I am betraying others I love. Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Brian Staveley and Brandon Sanderson all have touched my heart in so many ways, and are all authors that, whenever they release a new book in a series, I will drop whatever I'm doing to read it.

But I am going to address the Song of Shattered Sands series, Bradley P. Beaulieu, and not just because I know Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive has already been addressed in one of these First/Last/Everythings (much as I love it). This series starts with the Twelve Kings in Sharakhai. The titular city, Sharakhai, is ruled by the eponymous Twelve Kings, immortals who have governed the desert city for four hundred years, as it was bequeathed to them by the gods. Our main heroine, Cedaminh Ayanesh’ava, wants revenge for the kings killing her mother. But that classic summation doesn't do this story justice.

This story has just about everything I love in spades. For a start, Arabian Nights is one of my favorite aesthetics, and female warrior protagonists are probably my absolute favorite archetypes, and add in a rogue's wit and I cannot resist. A factions within factions of villains who run the gamut from the noble demon trope, to the evil by association, to truly deplorable and unrepentant. Shades of moral grey. And perhaps the most important part of any epic fantasy: The magic. Like I touched on when discussing The Warrior Moon, I love when an author isn't afraid to simply let magic do its thing without feeling the need to justify it. Not to say there are no explanations, of course, but like Rivera above, Beaulieu trusts that readers can accept a certain amount of 'A Wizard Did It' to create a more wonderful story.

The characters are wonderful no matter where they fall on the moral spectrum (and chances are they move along it), and the actual story is always progressing, and the status quo changes twice per book, which keeps everything fresh and intriguing.

Fans of the authors I listed will likely enjoy this one as well, cannot recommend highly enough.

Excellent entries, Vincent!

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