The SFF debut of 2011???

Tor Books are pushing this one as the next big thing. Whether or not Peter Orullian's The Unremembered, first volume in The Vault of Heaven series, lives up to the hype and becomes the 2011 SFF debut of the year remains to be seen. But it's no secret that the novel has garnered a lot of rave reviews among Orullian's peers. For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe.

Here's the blurb:

The gods, makers of worlds, seek to create balance—between matter and energy; and between mortals who strive toward the transcendent, and the natural perils they must tame or overcome. But one of the gods fashions a world filled with hellish creatures far too powerful to allow balance; he is condemned to live for eternity with his most hateful creations in that world’s distant Bourne, restrained by a magical veil kept vital by the power of song.

Millennia pass, awareness of the hidden danger fades to legend, and both song and veil weaken. And the most remote cities are laid waste by fell, nightmarish troops escaped from the Bourne. Some people dismiss the attacks as mere rumor. Instead of standing against the real threat, they persecute those with the knowledge, magic and power to fight these abominations, denying the inevitability of war and annihilation. And the evil from the Bourne swells….

The troubles of the world seem far from the Hollows where Tahn Junell struggles to remember his lost childhood and to understand words he feels compelled to utter each time he draws his bow. Trouble arrives when two strangers—an enigmatic man wearing the sigil of the feared Order of Sheason and a beautiful woman of the legendary Far—come, to take Tahn, his sister and his two best friends on a dangerous, secret journey.

Tahn knows neither why nor where they will go. He knows only that terrible forces have been unleashed upon mankind and he has been called to stand up and face that which most daunts him—his own forgotten secrets and the darkness that would destroy him and his world
.

If you want a taste of The Unremembered, Peter Orullian has posted the prologue on his official website. Follow this link to read the extract.

Here are two book trailers produced to promote The Unremembered:





There will be 4 more webisodes set in the world of The Vault of Heaven, so stay tuned for more!

I haven't read it yet, though I plan to do so. It will be interesting to see how well-received Orullian's debut will be. Will it create waves the way Naomi Novik, Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie and Patrick Rothfuss' debuts did in years past, or will it fail to live up to expectations? Time will tell. . .

21 commentaires:

Lookf4r said...

sounds painfully cliche, but maybe he rises above it.

R.J. said...

Based on the blurb alone, it leaves me cold. Dark lord, dark creatures, spellsongs, hero without a past..feels like a mishmash of descriptions of other fantasy novels. BUT if he pulls it off in style, with quality, I'll read it.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, up front I can't get really enthusiastic about it.

Not that any other book really matters any more since the crippled god just came out and July 12 is D-day

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/03/03/dance-with-dragons-date/

Mavis said...

you are killing me Pat! how can you be late on this one?!?

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/if-update.html

(sorry for off topic, but this was the most recent entry)

Brett said...

I'm divided on that book. The extract was interesting, but it's clearly not going to be the focus of the book. The summary you posted - the protagonists on a strange journey bit - doesn't really catch my interest.

It looks like a library read for me. If it really catches my interest, I'll buy it.

Adam Whitehead said...

Orullian has strong competition. Mark Lawrence's PRINCE OF THORNS is picking up similarly speculative advance notices.

It'd be quite cool if, in the year of the final MALAZAN novel, the new Rothfuss, a new Abercrombie, a new Sanderson (if a rather slim one), two great new Abraham novels and, of course, ADWD, we also got at least two major new epic fantasy debuts breaking through as well.

Anonymous said...

Well?
There's a firm release date at last for ADwD, and you don't have anything to say?..

Aaron said...

Hmm... Amnesiac young man living far from the action wonders about his heritage. Where have I heard this before?

Aaron said...

Oh, and 2 strangers come to take the boy and his friends on an adventure... WoT, anyone?

nutschell said...

Thanks for sharing the blurb. This looks like an awesome read! can't wait to get a copy

Anonymous said...

Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legends fade to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again...

Insert Evil presence returning to the world, sprinkle in a mysterious and powerful duo from legendary orders who show up, have them whisk the clueless hero away with a girl and his 2 best friends to face his destiny.

Sounds rather stale, and with the most generic plotline of them all. No doubt it'll be a huge hit...

Josh said...

Sounds an awful lot like The Eye of the World to me.

Unknown said...

Looking forward to this one... On a side note -- Dance with Dragons on July 12!

Unknown said...

Looking forward to this one... On a side note -- Dance with Dragons on July 12!

Anonymous said...

"Millennia pass, awareness of the hidden danger fades to legend, and both song and veil weaken"
"Trouble arrives when two strangers—an enigmatic man wearing the sigil of the feared Order of Sheason and a beautiful woman of the legendary Far—come, to take Tahn, his sister and his two best friends on a dangerous, secret journey."

*cough* WOT *cough*

Anonymous said...

Might be worth noting that Orullian posted his own blurb of the book, as the one you have, Pat, was written by the publisher:
http://orullian.com/vaults/overview.html

Given this, I'm in.

Anonymous said...

sweeeeeet map on his website. Writing screams of MSWord thesaurus...
and:
'Dossolum broke his formal tone, a fierce indignation infusing his words. "Quietus!" he roared.'

painful redundancy means painful read...

Still, i might buy it for that map.

Dan Smyth said...

Going to second what Adam said. Would love to see some more goodness come out in epic fantasy this year, but based on the offering I seriously doubt this will be it.

Anonymous said...

I started an advanced reading copy and, while the writing seemed good, the story seemed ridiculously cliched so I put it down.

Anonymous said...

People are saying Wheel of Time but boy oh boy does that sound exactly like the plot of Elfstones of Shannara or is it just me?

Spencer said...

There are books in the fantasy genre that are so great they make you want to stand up at the end and offer the author a round of applause. I for one can say I had to do such a thing at 2 am, to the surprise of my wife. This book has everything a reader can want in a book from extreme high emotion filled chapters to amazing action sequences. Decisions for the characters actions hold real consequences, rarely have I seen it that well done. People may criticize that it sounds like a wheel of time redux or things like that. I can attest that after having read it it was no where close the the same story redone.
Please don't let the back blurb put you off. It does the book no justice. Read what Peter has had to write concerning his own blurb on Peter's Blog I was fortunate to get to read the entire book as an advanced reader copy. I couldn't put it down, I had to read the book as fast as I could. I would highly recommend this book to everyone that enjoys an amazing read. I'll post a much more in depth review once it's actually out to discuss more of the book.