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Empire of the Dawn by Jay Kristoff (HarperVoyager £22, 800pp) We’re back for a third instalment of life – but mostly death – in the twilit empire of Elidean. Under a sunless sky, armies of vampires, shapeshifters and other assorted monsters roam the land in a quest for blood and domination. Gabriel de Leon, our -battered, indestructible, demi-vampiric hero, is back. His mission? To stop the armies of the dead, lead by the monstrously vile Fabien Voss, from taking Augustin, capital city and the only hope for the future. In the way? Pretty much everything that needs slashing, gouging, smiting and cleaving. There’s also a lot of swearing and drinking (red stuff, mostly) and a smidge of hope (see title). Another bloodily -brilliant, -gorgeously gory epic. Ice by Jacek Dukaj (Head of Zeus £25, 1,200pp) Gleissen, mysterious ice-nests, are creeping westwards from the vastness of Siberia and submerging cities in their icy grip. Even history has -succumbed to the great freeze – so no First World War or -Russian Revolution. Eternal student Benedykt is dispatched to the frigid East on a secret mission via the Trans-Siberian express. It’s his entry to a world of plots and counterplots as spies, cranks and scientists are drawn to the mysteries of ice. Mighty, relentless, unhurried, this extraordinary work by the much-garlanded Polish author is glacial – in the best way. It dazzles and grips as it carves out a new world of -science, -history and pure imagination. Slow Gods by Claire North (Orbit £20, 432pp) While a mysterious civilisation brings news of an impending supernova-driven catastrophe, some galactic powers get down to the business of evacuating -billions of souls from threatened -planets, while others jockey for position with their rivals – -politics as usual. Events are seen largely through the eyes of Mawukana na-Vdnaze, a uniquely gifted space pilot, but how has travelling through the blank spaces within the void changed him? On one level, Slow Gods plots the metamorphosis of a humble man from debt-slave to -vengeful, mystical, quantum revenger. On another, it’s a vast tragi-comedic masterpiece of love, loss and good manners in the face of sure and certain death.
