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  • Published: 1 August 2008
  • ISBN: 9780553819670
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 688
  • RRP: $39.99
Categories:

Acacia




The bestselling historical novelist turns to epic fantasy with a powerful story of treachery, murder and revenge...

Ruling from the island of Acacia, the emperor of the Known World has inherited an apparent peace and prosperity won by his ancestors generations ago. He's an intelligent man, a widower who dotes on his four children and it is this devotion that obliges him to hide a terrible secret from them: that their prosperity rests on the dark realities of trafficking in drugs and human lives. A man of integrity, he hopes that he might bring an end to this vile trade, but powerful forces stand in his way. And then an assassin strikes, a lone killer sent by the Mein, an ancient foe long ago exiled to the frozen north. Now the Mein have returned to take revenge on their old enemy and begin a series of brutal surprise assaults on Acacia. Mortally wounded, the emperor puts into play a plan that will allow his children to escape, to fulfil their destinies. And so begins a quest to avenge a father's death and restore an empire - this time on the basis of universal freedom...

  • Published: 1 August 2008
  • ISBN: 9780553819670
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 688
  • RRP: $39.99
Categories:

About the author

David Anthony Durham

David Anthony Durham was born in 1969 in New York City to parents of Caribbean ancestry. He is the author of the bestselling historical novel Hannibal: Pride of Carthage and his debut fantasy novel, the first book in the Acacia trilogy, won him the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer at the 2009 Hugo Awards. He lived in Scotland for several years but now lives in Massachusetts where he is working on the final novel in the trilogy.

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Praise for Acacia

Vastly entertaining...Will good win out over evil? In Durham's morally ambiguous world, the uncertainty is part of the thrill

STRANGEHORIZONS

Durham brings to mind Tolkien with the expert detail with which he's built his alternate land. This could be the arrival of a fantasy classic

SFX magazine

David Anthony Durham has won acclaim for his historical novels, and brings his knowledge of the past and other cultures to create a rich and compelling world on his first foray into fantasy. His skilful storytelling, depth of characterisation, and an ability to unsettle reader expectations is reminiscent of George R.R. Martin, but his is a distinctive new voice

Lisa Tuttle, THE TIMES

Where this sort of thing really works is not just in the attention to detail, but the attention to character. And with its epic duels and mighty sea battles, the whole thing is suffused with a feeling of Greek myth and legend

DAILY TELEGRAPH

This is a novel that Shakespeare would have loved! Durham is rebuilding fantasy from the ground-up.

James Patrick Kelly

Sprawling and vividly imagined fantasy...Durham has created a richly detailed alternate reality leavened with a dollop of magic and populated by complicated personalities grappling with issues of freedom and oppression.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

He is a master of the fantasy epic...How will it all end? If the first volume of this projected series is any indication, in brilliant - and brutal - defiance of fantasy conventions.

WASHINGTON POST

Complex, multi-layered...a world whose history feels as real, complicated and unpredictable as our own...whose characters and events will be as real in the minds of his readers as history itself.

SFSITE

Entertaining and engaging...If War with the Mein is an indication of what is to come in this epic saga, Durham could be making a very big name for himself.

SFFWORLD