Name: Hope and Red
ISBN: 9780356507125

Jon Skovron

IN A FRACTURING EMPIRE SPREAD ACROSS SAVAGE SEAS, TWO PEOPLE FIND A COMMON CAUSE. HOPE, the lone survivor of a village massacred by the emperor's forces, is secretly trained as a warrior and instrument of vengeance. RED, an orphan adopted by a notorious matriarch of the criminal underworld, learns to be an expert thief and con artist. Together they will take down an empire. Perfect for fans of Brent Weeks, Brandon Sanderson and Peter V. Brett, HOPE AND RED is destined to be the next fantasy blockbuster.

Hope and Red

Sheila

Entertaining, if generic. This book was really heavy-handed & try-hard in its attempts to sound 'feminist' by pushing multiple instances of wholly unjustified self-doubt due to being female followed up with "YOU CAN DO IT!!! GIRL POWER!!!" Normally this is all well and good, but the execution jars when it's done by a male author. That, and I would have appreciated 100% fewer uses of the phrase 'cunt-droppings'. 

The ending was good though, and have to give this book a +1 for including a trans character, and this book has a killer cover sooooo maybe I'll keep track of book 2?

In a fracturing empire spread across savage seas, two young people from different cultures find common purpose. A nameless girl is the lone survivor when her village is massacred by biomancers, mystical servants of the emperor. Named after her lost village, Bleak Hope is secretly trained by a master Vinchen warrior as an instrument of vengeance. A boy becomes an orphan on the squalid streets of New Laven and is adopted by one of the most notorious women of the criminal underworld, given the name Red, and trained as a thief and con artist. When a ganglord named Deadface Drem strikes a bargain with the biomancers to consolidate and rule all the slums of New Laven, the worlds of Hope and Red come crashing together, and their unlikely alliance takes them further than either could have dreamed possible.

Hope & Red

Siobhán

Oh My Freaking Gawd!!!!! I went into this not expecting too much. Adult fantasy novels tend to be a hit or miss for me. So if I don't have expectations I don't get too disappointed when it's not good. However, on the flip side it also means I get to be pleasantly surprised from time to time. And let me tell you, Hope and Red blew my socks off. It was absolutely outstanding. It was quite simply freaking epic!! 

Read more at: http://weeshubbasworld.blogspot.co.uk...