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After a cataclysmic war of the gods, the last of humanity huddles in Bastion, a colossal ringed city. Beyond the outermost wall lies endless desert haunted by the souls of all the world’s dead.
Trapped in a rigid caste system, Nuru, a young street sorcerer, lives in the outer ring. She dreams of escape and freedom. When something contacts her from beyond the wall, she risks everything and leaps at the opportunity. Mother Death, a banished god seeking to reclaim her place in Bastion’s patchwork pantheon, has found her way back into the city.
Akachi, born to the wealth and splendour of Bastion’s inner rings, is a priest of Cloud Serpent, Lord of the Hunt. A temple-trained sorcerer, he is tasked with bringing peace to the troublesome outer ring. Drawn into a dark and violent world of assassins, gangs, and street sorcerers, he battles the spreading influence of Mother Death in a desperate attempt to save Bastion.
The gods are once again at war.
"Gritty and unrelenting. A great read."--Petros Triantafylou- Booknest.eu
"The fertile soil of Mesoamerican mythology, warped through the lens of Fletcher's hyperkinetic imagination, yields hypnotic, terrifying results."--Brian Staveley, author of THE EMPEROR'S BLADES
"With every novel he writes, Fletcher has a way of contributing something brilliantly twisted and utterly unique to the Fantasy (orscifi) genre, and I found Smoke and Stone to be his best work yet." --Grimdark Magazine
"Ancient, bloodthirsty gods, street sorcerers, rival gangs, faith, and sacrifice all come to play a part is this dark and original tale from one of the best in the biz. It's bloody, enthralling, and grimdark as f*ck. "--fanfiaddict.com
"Michael R. Fletcher has written an amazing book about the devastation left by a war of gods. Filled with forced oppression, and the sacrifice of millions. Gods, who in desperation to save their worshipers, created a city in which the remains of mankind dwell. Strangely enough, it's weirdly magical. There's a haunting feeling of both hopelessness and possibilities."--grimmedian.com
"Set in a unique and finely crafted world decimated by war, rich in both history and beliefs evocative of Mesoamerican culture, this story is suffused with ageless deities of endless monikers determined to topple the current structure of the pantheon. These renewed and ongoing battles between fickle gods threaten to trigger bloodshed between men, revealing well-kept secrets that will surely shatter the fabric of society. Devoted priesthoods and heretical assassins, savage street-magic fueled by carefully formulated concoctions of narcotics and divine will, public sacrificial rituals to appease blood-thirsty gods, the world-building in this book is both astonishing and impeccable."--whispersandwonder.com
"Smoke and Stone is post-apocalyptic fantasy magnificence..."--novelnotions.net
"It's unapologetic. It will make you uncomfortable. It might even offend you. Please don't let that stop you. Art shouldn't be comfortable. Good art should be the exact opposite, and this book delivers."--bookwormblues.net
"It is a dark tale full of unconventional ideas with that special kind of madness that only Fletcher can provide. " --fantasybookreview.com
Genre: Fantasy
Trapped in a rigid caste system, Nuru, a young street sorcerer, lives in the outer ring. She dreams of escape and freedom. When something contacts her from beyond the wall, she risks everything and leaps at the opportunity. Mother Death, a banished god seeking to reclaim her place in Bastion’s patchwork pantheon, has found her way back into the city.
Akachi, born to the wealth and splendour of Bastion’s inner rings, is a priest of Cloud Serpent, Lord of the Hunt. A temple-trained sorcerer, he is tasked with bringing peace to the troublesome outer ring. Drawn into a dark and violent world of assassins, gangs, and street sorcerers, he battles the spreading influence of Mother Death in a desperate attempt to save Bastion.
The gods are once again at war.
"Gritty and unrelenting. A great read."--Petros Triantafylou- Booknest.eu
"The fertile soil of Mesoamerican mythology, warped through the lens of Fletcher's hyperkinetic imagination, yields hypnotic, terrifying results."--Brian Staveley, author of THE EMPEROR'S BLADES
"With every novel he writes, Fletcher has a way of contributing something brilliantly twisted and utterly unique to the Fantasy (orscifi) genre, and I found Smoke and Stone to be his best work yet." --Grimdark Magazine
"Ancient, bloodthirsty gods, street sorcerers, rival gangs, faith, and sacrifice all come to play a part is this dark and original tale from one of the best in the biz. It's bloody, enthralling, and grimdark as f*ck. "--fanfiaddict.com
"Michael R. Fletcher has written an amazing book about the devastation left by a war of gods. Filled with forced oppression, and the sacrifice of millions. Gods, who in desperation to save their worshipers, created a city in which the remains of mankind dwell. Strangely enough, it's weirdly magical. There's a haunting feeling of both hopelessness and possibilities."--grimmedian.com
"Set in a unique and finely crafted world decimated by war, rich in both history and beliefs evocative of Mesoamerican culture, this story is suffused with ageless deities of endless monikers determined to topple the current structure of the pantheon. These renewed and ongoing battles between fickle gods threaten to trigger bloodshed between men, revealing well-kept secrets that will surely shatter the fabric of society. Devoted priesthoods and heretical assassins, savage street-magic fueled by carefully formulated concoctions of narcotics and divine will, public sacrificial rituals to appease blood-thirsty gods, the world-building in this book is both astonishing and impeccable."--whispersandwonder.com
"Smoke and Stone is post-apocalyptic fantasy magnificence..."--novelnotions.net
"It's unapologetic. It will make you uncomfortable. It might even offend you. Please don't let that stop you. Art shouldn't be comfortable. Good art should be the exact opposite, and this book delivers."--bookwormblues.net
"It is a dark tale full of unconventional ideas with that special kind of madness that only Fletcher can provide. " --fantasybookreview.com
Genre: Fantasy
Praise for this book
"The fertile of Mesoamerican, warped through the lens of Fletcher's hyperkinetic imagination, yields hypnotic, terrifying results." - Brian Staveley
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