Hey fellow Bakker-Fans,
Here's a new voice in fantasy that i think could find some fans in these hallowed halls
His homepage can be found here :
http://marktbarnes.com/He writes fantasy that has a touch of technology in it in how he portrays magic and in that magic is used in the industry (for example skybarges that glide through the air with the help of magic-engines). So think more "Final Fantasy" instead of "medieval european fantasy". It's an intrigue based story but he also has old orders that pop up that have training in the mental arts etc. etc. . And his chapter openings contain also short excerpts from inworld books that have an almost bakker-like quality (as in philosophical "essays" and quotes etc. ). The cultures in this world are more asian- and arabic-inspired than the classical western-europe based fantasy-kingdoms of other books.
I really dig his first book, started the second one and i think he gets better. Don't get me wrong, he is not as complex and thought-provoking as Bakker, but i think it is still a very good debut.
Here's the cover of the first book and the book blurb:
An uneasy peace has existed since the fall of the Awakened Empire centuries ago. Now the hybrid Avān share the land with the people they once conquered: the star-born humans; the spectral, undead Nomads; and what remains of the Elemental Masters.
With the Empress-in-Shadows an estranged ghost, it is the ancient dynasties of the Great Houses and the Hundred Families that rule. But now civil war threatens to draw all of Shrīan into a vicious struggle sparked by one man’s lust for power, and his drive to cheat death.
Visions have foretold that Corajidin, dying ruler of House Erebus, will not only survive, but rise to rule his people. The wily nobleman seeks to make his destiny certain—by plundering the ruins of his civilization’s past for the arcane science needed to ensure his survival, and by mercilessly eliminating his rivals. But mercenary warrior-mage Indris, scion of the rival House Näsarat, stands most powerfully in the usurper’s bloody path. For it is Indris who reluctantly accepts the task of finding a missing man, the only one able to steer the teetering nation towards peace.
