The Silverblood Promise

Positioned squarely in the tradition of fantasy caper novels, the winning debut and Last Legacy series launch from Orbit UK editor Logan pits a rogue with a heart of gold against a corrupt oligarchy. Lukan Gardova, disgraced ex-scholar turned card sharp, follows a mysterious note from his recently murdered father to the trading city of Saphrona, where his father’s ally, the wealthy Zandrusa, is being framed for a different murder. Following his instincts (“Passion before reason”), Lukan, who has never met Zandrusa, entangles a motley crew including a clever street urchin, an all-knowing beggar, and a cool fixer to rescue his father’s friend and squelch a coup plot. Logan has an evident fondness for both the choreographed crime of Scott Lynch’s Gentlemen Bastards series and the underdog politics of Seth Dickinson’s Baru Cormorant books, while adding hints of a deeper backstory of lost empires and legendary supernatural threats. Readers may be rattled by the occasional jarringly contemporary wording (“intelligence network”; “civil rights”) but will be entertained by the sincerity of Lukan’s quest. This promises good things to come. (May)