Soleri

Michael Johnston

2017 • 368 pages

Ratings4

Average rating3

Michael Johnston brings you the first in a new epic fantasy series inspired by ancient Egyptian history and King Lear. The ruling family of the Soleri Empire has been in power longer than even the calendars that stretch back 2,826 years. Those records tell a history of conquest and domination by a people descended from gods, older than anything in the known world. No living person has seen them for centuries, yet their grip on their four subjugate kingdoms remains tighter than ever. On the day of the annual eclipse, the Harkan king, Arko-Hark Wadi, sets off on a hunt and shirks his duty rather than bow to the emperor. Ren, his son and heir, is a prisoner in the capital, while his daughters struggle against their own chains. Merit, the eldest, has found a way to stand against imperial law and marry the man she desires, but needs her sister’s help, and Kepi has her own ideas. Meanwhile, Sarra Amunet, Mother Priestess of the sun god’s cult, holds the keys to the end of an empire and a past betrayal that could shatter her family. Detailed and historical, vast in scope and intricate in conception, Soleri bristles with primal magic and unexpected violence. It is a world of ancient and elaborate rites, of unseen power and kingdoms ravaged by war, where victory comes with a price, and every truth conceals a deeper secret.

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Series

2 primary books

#1 in The Amber Throne

The Amber Throne is a 2-book series with 2 released primary works first released in 2017 with contributions by Michael Johnston and Michael Johnston.

Silence of the Soleri

Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

The Speculative Shelf

3.5 out of 5 stars – see this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Soleri follows five characters who must negotiate an ever-changing web of deceit and conflict as they each vie for power in the sprawling Soleri empire. The story and setting were reminiscent of Game of Thrones but with tighter pacing and an Egyptian flair.

This marks author Michael Johnston's first solo novel and it's certainly an impressive debut — it's equal parts epic and intimate, as we're dealing with a small set of characters with political ambitions on a large scale. The writing is clear, concise, and moves the narrative along at a nice pace.

I sped through the first half of this novel before encountering a ~100 page stretch in the second half that really felt stagnate and lost my interest. Johnston employs an unsustainable barrage of fun plot twists in the first half that probably should have been spread more evenly throughout the book. It was not until the final few chapters that I was brought back to what was so good about the novel to begin with — twisty, intriguing family dynamics against the backdrop of an interesting world with a rich history.

July 10, 2017