Brian Ruckley’s debut, the first volume in the Godless World trilogy, is a welcome addition to the fantasy canon, and if you like your fantasy gritty and dark, you may well want to check this out. In terms of influences, it reminded me of Tad Williams, George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire, and of Bernard Cornwell’s Arthurian and Viking historical series, which might lack the overt fantasy elements but evoke images of the same kinds of martial society as we encounter in Winterbirth, dominated by grizzled sword-toting warriors, with feuds that pass down from generation to generation.

In many ways, we have the classic human / elf set-up to start with: the humans (or Huanin) of the martial society at the centre of the book are organised in to Bloods, large dynastic tribes, such as Lannis and Kilkry. Each Blood has a Thane, and those Thanes swear allegiance to the High Thane, of the Haig blood, so we end us with Kilkry-Haig, Lannis-Haig, etc. This society is reflected in that of The Bloods of the Black Road, a schismatic group unified by their religion who fled through the Vale of Stones in to the far north many generations before. Believing in a kind of bloody version of Calvinist Predestination, the Bloods of the Black Road have skirmished with the True Bloods for years, but it’s been all quiet on that front for a while, and the True Bloods are busy pursuing ambitions to the South. The Lannis Blood, traditionally in the front line of holding back the old enemy, is thus left dangerously exposed. It’s this setup which reminded me strongly of GRRM’s A Game of Thrones.

The elves, known to this world as Kyrinin, or colloquially as woodwights, are traditional enemies of humanity. In their aloofness and essentially alien natures they remind me strongly of Tad Williams’ Zida’ya – humans may be able to communicate with them, work with them, but can never truly relate to them. Ruckley introduces the idea of Huanin-Kyrinin half-breeds as the only magic-wielders, able to touch and manipulate the magical continuum known as The Shared. These na’kryim are a nice twist on traditional fantasy magic-wielders, as being half-breeds they are not fully trusted by either race, and must keep to the shadows. One such, Aeglyss, will clearly be central to the fate of both races.

Winterbirth is fantasy dominated by battle and war, with magic taking a back seat, in this volume at least. While the naming of characters and the appending of -Haig to everything took me a while to get used to, I thought the characterisation was pretty strong, and the core cast of characters is kept fairly manageable, which is not always the case in this kind of book. The descriptive writing reflects the harsh, unforgiving environment in which the story is set and underpins the plot very nicely. In the best manner of a fantasy trilogy, things are looking pretty bleak by the end of the first volume, and we still have a lot to discover.

Unlike some of the fantasy I have read of late, Winterbirth does not try to subvert or redefine the genre, and that’s no bad thing by any means. What it has done is reminded me what appeals to me about fantasy in the first place, and reinforced my love of some of the classic genre tropes. Brian Ruckley is an excellent addition to the fantasy scene, and I shall certainly be reading the sequel, Bloodheir, once I get my hands on it.

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