On April 18th, Serial
Box released Born to the Blade, a series
combining the visionary high fantasy setting and tense politics of series like Game
of Thrones and Mistborn. Created by Michael R. Underwood, Born to
the Blade is Serial Box’s first release in the high fantasy genre, and was
written in a TV-like writer’s room by the talented team of Underwood (Ree Reyes
series), Marie Brennan (World Fantasy Award finalist), Malka Older (Infomocracy),
and Cassandra Khaw (Bearly A Lady).
The series was acclaimed by critics at Geek
& Sundry, Io9,
Inverse,
Wired,
and Den
of Geek, among others. To be frank, many of the critics who decided to
pass on coverage at the time did so because of the format of the serialized novel.
Buy link:
Blurb:
Youth. Ambition. Power. Oda no Michiko and Kris Denn have
much of the first two, and crave the last. To get it, all they must do is
survive.
For centuries, the Warder's Circle on the neutral islands of
Twaa-Fei has given the nations of the sky a way to avoid war, as their chosen
warders settle disputes through magical duels of blade and sigil. But that
peace is on the edge of crumbling, crushed between the aggression of the
Mertikan Empire and the determination of the still-free nations to not be consumed.
Twaa-Fei may be neutral, but it is also home to a million
intrigues, schemes, and deadly intentions. Michiko and Kris arrive in this
treacherous world together, bladecrafters eager to serve their countries --
Michiko as a junior warder for Kakute, a vassal of the empire, Kris as an
upstart challenging to win a seat for their home, Rumika, in the Circle. But
before the young bladecrafters have even settled in, a power struggle erupts, a
man's head is parted from his shoulders, and every good thing Michiko thinks
she knows about the empire comes into question. The two young diplomat-warriors
are surrounded by warders of experience, each with their own ambitions: chief
among them Warder Ojo, whose home island of Quloo is in danger of falling from
the sky, and Warder Lavinia, who represents the empire in all its contempt and
brutality.
A storm is coming, and Kris and Michiko stand at its eye.
Will it bind the nations of the sky together... or tear them apart?
About Serial Box
Serial Box, which NPR recently called "the
HBO of reading," produces original series that are released in ebook and
audio episodes through their app(s), website, and third party retailers
(iTunes, Amazon, etc). Readers/listeners pay $1.59 week by week or $18 in
advance for a whole season (10-13 episodes). Serial Box brings the power of
appointment-based consumption to reading for the first time since Charles
Dickens & Little Nell. Visit serialbox.com for more
information.
The Team
Marie Brennan (World Fantasy
Award finalist, Prix Imaginales for Best Translated Novel); Malka Older (Infomocracy,
Senior Fellow for Technology and Risk at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in
International Affairs for 2015); Michael R. Underwood (“Stabby”
Award-finalist Genrenauts series, the Ree Reyes Geekomancy series; North
American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books; Hugo
Award-finalist podcaster with “The Skiffy & Fanty Show”); Cassandra Khaw
(Clarkesworld, Fireside Fiction, Uncanny, Shimmer, Bearly A Lady, video
game writer)
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