Mountain Barber
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The City That Would Eat the World is out now!
🕑 Added 2025-02-11 14:55:03 +0000 UTCThea is a washed-up mimic exterminator who expected more out of life, not some hero from stories. Aven is an impulsive wandering adventurer whose personal goddess is constantly getting her into trouble. Neither of them have the slightest interest in getting involved in world-shaking historical events.
History doesn’t care what they want, unfortunately, and it’s fallen right into their laps in the shape of a godslaying weapon from a fallen civilization. Thrown together out of chance, Thea and Aven will have to learn to work together if they want to survive their pursuers.
Because if they fail, and the weapon falls into the wrong hands? The results won’t be pretty. No one’s going to be using it on some random street corner goddess, teakettle god, or any of the other countless teeming millions of divinities on Ishveos.
No, there’s one target that sits above all others.
Cambrias, Whose Watch Never Ends. Cambrias, whose power has given rise to Cambrias’ Wall, the greatest city in the known multiverse- a city that has already covered much of a continent, and is strip mining entire mountain ranges for space and building material. A city that threatens to spread across the entire surface of Ishveos.
And there’s no shortage of folks willing to kill Thea and Aven in order to stop the Wall, no matter the consequences.
Here's hoping I've finally remembered all the various social media locations to post the announcement on...
Oh, and for Mage Errant fans, I can finally share some awesome news- I'm doing a deluxe illustrated Mage Errant omnibus with Wraithmarked! The Kickstarter is launching next month, and I'm super excited about it.
Comments
John Bierce
Thanks so much!
William Organ
Finally started reading and listening today. It's AMAZING at even just a few chapters in. Thea is instantly magnetic, the gods magic system is wide open a playground, and the worldbuilding is already in motion so early. Well done John, I'm really excited for this new story!!
moose
I bounce around a lot with books. You should definitely check out the raven tower though. I just finished sword of kaigen, very sad she discontinued the series, now I'm reading blood over bright haven and r. F. Kuangs babel book.
John Bierce
I'm a big fan of both M.L. Wang and Ann Leckie, though I haven't read Raven Tower yet!
moose
The gods in her book the raven tower strongly remind me of characters that could exist in the setting of more gods than stars
moose
THANK YOU. I'm going through all your old posts now plus I picked up the sword of kaigen and blood over bright haven. Have you read any of Anne leckie's stuff? It's phenomenal and I think you'd enjoy it.
John Bierce
Thanks so much! Already hard at work on book 2, In the Court of the Mimic Queen!
moose
Your book was awesome. I read the wrack the other day and just finished this one. I need more my dude.
John Bierce
Awesome, happy to hear that!
Baber Khalid
This book does a lot to justify my love of fantasy genre. The way you went the whole wall street theme in this with a magic system is just…. I love it.
John Bierce
Thanks so much, really glad you enjoyed it! And that you loved the Haeverian Fountain Incident as well!
John Bierce
I do actually know the calculation, I just really hate doing math, and it changes literally every month hah
John Bierce
Ishveos is approximately the size of Earth! And the Wall is bigger than Alaska, smaller than the US. As for why there's no maps... well, maps and cartography are a huge sub-theme of the series, and it just feels wrong to have a map for that, at least a traditional one! Partially for thematic reasons, partially for vibes reasons- I definitely want readers to feel a little lost inside the Wall!
John Bierce
Thanks so much!
John Bierce
Yep, that's an error, thanks for letting me know!
John Bierce
Dangit I thought I got all of those, thanks for letting me know!
GreenUruloki
Just finished it. 10/10. Gave me the same vibes in places as your short story: Urban Planning Case Study: The Haeverian Fountain Incident. (Which is one of my favorite of your short stories) I love the intersection between magic and politics/economics/theology/etc... literally no other author is doing what you are doing and I love it. Loved the characters, loved the world, loved the flashbacks, loved everything. Great job!
Su E
I was surprised that there wasn't some form of map depicted tbh. The wall is on a moon not a planet but of course it could still be a large moon
GreenUruloki
Hey, dunno if this is the correct place for this. I noticed in chapter 17 that Puhkirian is referred to twice as 'he/his' instead of 'they/their.' Dunno if this is on purpose or a mistake. Just wanted to let you know. (It is also possible I am also wrong so sorry if that's true as well!)
FoolRegnant
Maybe this is just a kindle settings thing, or a deliberate choice, but I don't see it in any other books and I don't remember it being in the previews, but I'm seeing a lot of underlined words where I would expect them to be italicized. In the following, after is underlined in Kindle. "Want to try and arrest me, wait until after we keep the horrible god-killing weapon out of the hands of murderous gangsters, yeah?"
Matthew Bartlett
I pre ordered the Kindle and audible versions and send another kindle version to my dad. Hope that makes you analytics happy. 😁
Yulerule
Just finished reading the book, and I loved it! I have to ask though, how big is the Wall in Earth terms? Is it comparable to a US state or a country?
Angela Roberts
Yay!!!!
Yaboku
I see. I was kinda wonders about the algorith or something similar. Probably not something you know though.
John Bierce
Uhhhhh I'd have to do the math, but honestly, whichever works for you is fine by me. I wouldn't put out my books in a format if I wasn't okay with my earnings there.
Nickolaus Wilhite
How impossible will it be to read the whole thing on my lunch break? So excited!!
Su E
I took the day off to read this 😅. Thanks so much for another intriguing world
Yaboku
YES! Btw, I wanted to know whether directly buying the book helps you more than just Kindle unlimited.
