The Thousand deaThs of ardor Benn

released OUT NOW! 784 pages | Paperback/ebook

Author Tyler Whitesides Publisher Orbit Books

Children’s author Tyler Whitesides makes the jump to writing for adults with this hugely ambitious epic fantasy.

His hero, Ardor Benn, is a charming con artist hired to pull off the heist of a lifetime by stealing the King’s regalia. The fact that Ardor’s client is an elderly priest more interested in doctrine than money hints at the motive behind the assignment. The first act is a high-spirited caper as Ardor and his team infiltrate the royal court. The tone turns darker and more violent in the second act as they head to an island where dragons roost. The world-building is detailed without becoming burdensome as Whitesides imagines an economy built around Grit – refined dragon excrement that possesses a range of fantastic properties, from Drift Grit that nullifies gravity to Barrier Grit that acts like a forcefield.

None of this would be truly engaging without memorable characters, and a lynchpin of the story is the stumbling courtship between Ardor and Quarrah Khai, a cat burglar recruited for the mission who provides the hero with an excellent foil. Whitesides can be guilty of excess banter in his dialogue – must everything be a quip? – but this is a cracking introduction to a new fantasy world that demands further exploration. David West