Bradley P. Beaulieu has knocked it out of the park again with the fourth installment of the Song of the Shattered sands series. Beneath the Twisted Trees continues to follow Ceda’s efforts to free Sehid-Alaz from the bonds of the remaining Kings of Sharakhai though I feel that a significant portion of focus became devoted to the crisis on a larger scale. The Mirean and Malasani fleets are at the doorsteps of the beleaguered city and is only made worse by the internal machinations of the Kings and the Qaimiri queen Meryam.

I found myself enjoying the perspectives of Brama and Davud most of all in this installment. Brama is dealing with his revised association with the ehrehk Rümayesh (slightly more equal footing) and gives a good insight into the Malasani movements. Davud is sneaking around Sharakhai with Anila after escaping the clutches of the Kings and trying to make contact with a group of other mages. Ceda’s chapters are always interesting since so much shifts around the choices she makes. Emre… well, I found his chapters pretty boring this time around. And let’s not forget Ramahd, who treads on treacherous ground and remains on Meryam’s bad side.

While many, many important things happened in Beneath the Twisted Trees, it somehow managed to feel like a mere prelude to the next book. Because of this inexplicable, probably just me feeling, it’s getting 4.5 stars rather than a perfect score. It was pretty cool though – lots of tense scenes, action, magic, and the expected level of plotting (plottery?). It was engaging and I loved the thrill of flipping to each new page, never knowing quite what would happen next.

I look forward to the next installment and it’s hard to believe this series isn’t getting the attention it most certainly deserves. As I type this it has fewer than 200 rating on Goodreads and it’s been out since July. Granted, maybe everyone else is being just as slow as I am about reviewing things. If you’re looking for a book full of rich, well-thought world building and an incredible storyline then this may just be a series you need to check out!

Beneath the Twisted Trees is the fourth in Bradley P. Beaulieu’s The Song of the Shattered Sands series. It’s filled with the intricate world-building, the emotional depth, the detailed characterisation we’ve come to expect; all of that wrapped up in a plot which has a constant roiling boil of tension, punctuated by explosive revelation, the narrative ground shifting underneath the reader’s feet. It is, in short, rather good. If you’re here after the first three books, and want to know if you should carry on – then here’s the unequivocal yes. There’s a lot going on here (it’s a rather thick book), but a strong, rewarding story is being told as a result.

So here we are, anyway with a city surrounded by a desert. The city is its own welter of political concerns, but the desert is no longer quiescent. And of course, there are third party actors. Those looking in from outside, seeing something they can exploit, a rival they can bring down, a threat that can be neutralised.

So lets talk about the desert. It’s at the hart of the text, an environment which surrounds and swallows characters whole. This is a space filled with baking sands, and with the occasional life-giving oasis. Fleets sail across it, with tough wheels to drive the sane and trim sails to take advantage of the win. Sailing the dunes is not for the faint hearted, but here we have the potential, crackling like lightning between the grains of sand. The silence, the life, the soaring birds of the desert are all there, an ecosystem which exists as a force much like the ocean, washing people upon it. As they struggle between themselves, the sands are always there, waiting to seize upon anything abandoned.

In the centre of this unrelenting seeming-emptiness sits Sharakai. Less a city on a hill than a city between the dunes. It has high walls, and pits for fighters, and markets, and kings, so many kings, and a resistance willing to fight and die for change. The city is ruled by the king,s, a rapidly diminishing number of immortal oligarchs. Their slow removal due to infighting and enem action, and their struggles with their children, desperate to rise to the power they see as their birthright, are brutal, vicious, and entirely believable. When rulers carry divinity and the gift of immortality, still one may rise up to claim what one things they are due. The city is a heartbeat, fast and brutal and bloody, unforgiving and certain. Until it skips a beat. Then, things may struggle out of control.

In this liminal space, between the Kigns and the desert, we find Ceda, once again. The kings are monsters, that’s undeniable. They use their immortality to suppress history, to hide atrocities behind what may be nominally considered lesser atrocities. But they keep the city safe, swathed in sorcery and ruthlessness. Though they do not accept internal opposition, still less are they willing to accept external power. But that’s changing here, in these pages. As Kings are eliminated, the populace fees their hand less on their shoulders. But external forces are poised to fill the vacuum, fleets from across the sea and beyond. The text does a good job of showing us Malasani, Qaimiri, as distinct cultures, with their own goals and loyalties, and with rulers whose decisions will make or break them. We spend more of our time amongst these powers in this book than we had previously, and by the end, they each feel like a living, complex culture with its own needs and mores.
As ever, Sharakai is alive, and the desert, perhaps more than previously, is alive; now those who step upon the sands in trepidation take their turn.

This hols true of the characters as well. Ceda remains the star, here. Her feral energy pours off the page, even when she’s lost in thought. She has to take a lot of decisions very quickly, and though some of them are difficult, still the text crackles with the choices she makes. Ceda, not to put a point on it, kicks arse She’s not afraid to get into a fight – indeed, quite the reverse. At the same time, she’s embracing the mysticism of her life, of the powers she’s having to embrace on her own course for revenge and for truth. And even more, she’s coming to terms with being a leader, not just a fighter. With having to make the hard choices which get people killed. While the kings will stand and make the argument that each sacrifice is necessary, Ceda’s evolution is in parallel. She’s not willing to sacrifice friends on the altar of power – or at least, not yet. The truth will out.

And in her search she’s supported by a fantastic interweaving of parallel tales. There are the blood mages on the run, desperate to avoid notice, but trying to break free nonetheless. And the aide to the Qaimiri queen, a man desperate to rescue his monarch from herself, and willing to take horrendous risks with body and soul to do so. And the pair of a man and a desert djinn, a warped love story whose truth has yet to be entirely realised, but lies mapped in desolation. And the fellow seeking to turn back the tide of Malasani, an old friend of Ceda’s whose compassion may be his greatest weakness.

They all live and breathe between the leaves of the book, and they each drive the plot in their own way. Fundamentally though, the people feel like people. The entities – desert ghosts, deities, immortal kings – are strange and real and terrible, but still you can eel something of their needs. Ceda is the heart, but every one else is a key to the text as well.
I won’t go too far with the plot, but if you’ve come this far, through the rich, detailed world and the convincing, heartfelt characters, you won’t be surprised by the emotional investment. The story pulls no punches here, building up and creatively detonating tension, and making you care about each of the maladjusted characters. There’s parts that are a slow boil conspiracy, parts that are a fast-paced adventure, and segments which are a sweeping, epic scene of combat. Each has emotional integrity, and will grab you until its work is done.

Its an absolute stormer of a text, given a pitch perfect fusion of characterisation, universe and plot; as such I would say that you should pick it up.

4.5 / 5 ✪

Twisted Trees is a departure of sorts from the previous books of the series as the Kings no longer take center stage. I mean, they’re still involved, and Çeda’s main goal is still to bring them down, but the focus in Twisted Trees goes instead to Sharakai.

War has come to the desert.

Brama, Emre and none too few of the Kings find their destinies caught up in the battle for the Amber Jewel. Emre heads the delegation from the Thirteenth Tribe—first in an attempt to reunite the other twelve tribes, then on to the invading Malasani as they sit before the walls of the city. But will it be dispute from without or betrayal from within that dooms this mission? Brama—alone with the ehrekh Rümayesh—roams to desert in search of beauty and wonders, but instead finds more than he imagined and is swept up in a gamble to bring Sharakai to ruin. The Kings—Ihsan, Beşir and Hamzakiir (masquerading as Kiral)—seek to save their city by any means necessary, while Hamzakiir seeks only to save himself from Meryam’s clutches.

Meanwhile Ramahd seeks the Qaimiri queen’s downfall; for the murder of her father, betrayal of their people, betrayal of Ramahd himself. Davud and Anila find themselves alone with enemies on all sides, with both the Kings and Sharakai’s new queen searching for them, they must seize on any ally in an attempt to save themselves. And yet, where will their desperation lead them? In the desert, Çeda searches for answers. Riddles, poems, stories—anything that will help her bring down the Kings. But first she seeks to free the asirim, remnants of her lost tribe. And this alone may prove too daunting a task. Nalamae, goddess of the Haddah, hides from the elder gods of the desert. Centuries prior, the other desert gods chose to deal with the Kings of Sharakai, while she abstained. The mystery remains: why? And why now do the other gods—Yerinde particularly—all seek her head?

In addition to these, there are the Malasani, the Mirean, the Qaimiri: all come to the Shangazi to pluck the Jewel from the sands. A work of epic fantasy at its finest, Twisted Trees weaves together a half-dozen POVs with multiple plots into a single epic story; which is but part of a greater, over-arching story. Blood, lies, love, plague, betrayal, and hope abound in this tale, which begins the second half of Beaulieu’s six-book Shattered Sands.

And it was… actually really good.

I had few issues with the book; for the most part I really enjoyed it. Starting from the events of A Veil of Spears—which featured a plot I really enjoyed with an ending that was somewhat uneven and disappointing—Twisted Trees picks up and carries on, expertly blending action with the intricacies intrigue and subtlety. It’s good to see that after four main, plus another six or so novellas set in the world, the Shattered Sands is still going strong. The plot and stories and weave of Twisted Trees continues to impress, and though I didn’t absolutely adore every chapter, there were none that I hated, either.

As with any book, there were those POVs I found myself more excited for than others, though they changed it up a bit throughout as individual stories are wont to do. Overall Brama, Hamzakiir and Ramahd intrigued me, while Emre and Anila fell short. Çeda, Davud and the other Kings failed to wow or disappoint in equal measure (bit disappointed a bit by this, as I’d always been wrapt by Çeda’s chapters, particularly).

My largest issue with Twisted Trees were the relationships. Or love-triangles. Or… whatever. About a month ago, I read the Tattered Prince (backstory on Brama and Jax’s relationship) to ready myself for Twisted Trees, so I was rather disappointed to find that Jax wasn’t even IN this book. Not that Brama seems to notice. Does little to further Emre and Çeda’s relationship either, though again each pursue their own. In fact, everyone (every POVC) seems to have turned a blind eye to their history before this book. YOLO, and whatnot.

Let’s see… there are some other smaller issues, which were mostly unimportant. I had an issue with a bit of uneven pacing—particularly towards the end. Quite similar to the the pacing in A Veil of Spears, really. There’re souls in animals now, and it’s not as big a revelation as it should be. … I don’t care for the US cover? Yeah, I guess that’s it.

Beneath the Twisted Trees actually exceeded my expectations in a big, big way. I definitely enjoyed it. More so, in waiting a few days between finishing and reviewing it, I was able to reread a bit of the sections that confused/annoyed me, which really helped me enjoy it more. Some books leave a bad taste in your mouth and sour after you finish them, others are bland and remain bland. Very few does my opinion of them go up in the week after I read them. And this one did. Excellent read—definitely recommend it. And yes—you really do need to start at the beginning of the series. There’s so much going on that you can’t just jump in.

Reviewing the next installment of a book is always tough. It's even tougher when the book blew your mind and you can't quite fathom the words to explain it. Beneath the Twisted Trees is marked by its gorgeous descriptions, its witty dialogue and a driven storyline which beats a bloody path through the ensuing chaos.

IT. IS. FLAWLESS. (I'm clapping after every word if you can't tell...)

And if the thought of beautiful – if bloody – descriptions, inventive weaponry and a unique magic system weren’t enough to whet your appetite then the character personalities might just push you over the edge.

With flawed characters, a fascinating world, and a veritable cornucopia of antagonists throughout, This is a powerful and impressive series. Bradley P. Beaulieu has crafted a captivating and well imagined world which promises great things to come in all his future books. Fantasy fans who have yet to discover him: Now is the time!

Oh Çeda. You get into the most amazing shenanigans. Better and better ones as this series goes.

Okay, so, since this is book four, I’m going to do my level best to avoid spoilers.

Çeda and her Shieldwives are intent on freeing Sehid-Alaz, the king of the cursed asirim, from the clutches of the Kings of Sharakhai. Meanwhile, the kingdoms surrounding Sharakhai are taking the opportunity to try and conquer the city, and everyone is caught up in the chaos. Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnn.

This installment in the Song of the Shattered Sands follows several characters that we have met and come to know fairly well over the course of the series, but Çeda is still the main character of my heart. <3 Well, Emre is a close second. They aren’t together much in this installment… but they both have very important parts to play in the world of the Shattered Sands, and they just happen to be in different areas. Çeda spends a pretty good deal of this story being the badass I know she is though, and so I didn’t have to try at all to cheer for her to win the day.

I found myself cheering more and more for characters I was largely indifferent towards up until this point, like Brama, who is with the Mirean fleet, dealing as well as he can with a mysterious illness that has broken out. Also, Davud and Ramahd, who have come together in this book and are using all kinds of blood magic to stop the Queen of Qaimir from enacting horrible shenanigans on everyone, as well as attempting a rescue of a friend who was captured by one of the Kings.

This was a well written and engaging story with plenty of twists and turns making it exciting and hard to put down. The world in this series is so well built that I can very easily imagine myself in a desert while I’m reading it. A vast, sandy desert that one can sail across in massive sand ships. But it’s the characters that really bring this world to life.

Things happened in this one that left me with questions about the fate of certain characters, but it wrapped up this installment enough that I was still satisfied with the story and yet will eagerly await the next volume. Eagerly, eagerly await perhaps, due to the aforementioned fate of certain characters. ^_^

Up until this point in the series, I have listened to the audiobooks (they have a fantastic narrator, if you’re into that kind of thing). I have to say that I kind of missed the narration aspect, but it was interesting picking up a print copy of a series you’ve only listened to. Especially given that this one has so many interesting names in it, like Çedamihn, Sümeya, Külaşan, and Kameyl, that I would definitely been stumbling over how to pronounce if it wasn’t for the audiobooks I had listened to prior to this. Plus, I imagined many of the characters names in the narrator’s voice, which is always a plus. This might be one that I’ll have to buy in audio when credit day comes around, as it would be a great credit investment. :)

All told, I really liked this installment of the Song of Shattered Sands, and I very much look forward to the last two books in the series. I can’t wait to see how it ends, because the stuff that’s happened up until now has been pretty bonkers! I definitely had 4.5/5 stars of fun with this book. Çeda for the win!~

Thanks to the author as well as Berkley via NetGalley for the review copy. :)