Blurb:

Upon the black sands and beneath the ever-watching eyes, a tale of shadow magic and ancient mysteries unfold in this new dark epic fantasy series. For fans of Brandon Sanderson and Chris Wooding.

In the desert city of Yontar, Nya cares for her sick mother. But when Nya is arrested, her mother's death is all but certain unless Nya joins a secret project that promises her freedom. If she survives.

Rai, a mercenary, has a shadow dark enough for two. In his quest to discover the nature of the creature living in his shadow, Rai collides with old friends and new enemies, stumbling into an ancient mystery that could mean the end of the world as they know it.

All the while, a darkness stirs and rebellion threatens, helmed by a man who promises justice will reign.

Review:

Harbinger of Justice is an impressive debut novel and entry into the Shadowbinder trilogy by Andrew Watson. I’ve put off this book for way too long and I’m so glad that I’ve finally read it. Harbinger of Justice was an extremely imaginative, dark fantasy epic that felt new and fresh.

There are two main protagonists that we follow for the majority of the book: Rai, a hired mercenary with a dark, powerful companion, and Nya, a street urchin looking to care for her abusive mother. Watson does a fantastic job balancing the story between those two main points of view (POVs), creating a tension that forced me, as a reader, to keep reading because I wanted to know what was happening in the other person’s story as we bounced from POV to POV.

Watson has created a unique concoction with Harbinger of Justice. There are Egyptian vibes throughout the book, injected with the mysterious worldbuilding of Stranger Things and some comic relief a la Nightblood from Sanderson’s Cosmere. This sounds like an odd mix that may not land well, but it goes to demonstrate Watson’s ability as a storyteller, because it worked perfectly. 

There is deep worldbuilding throughout, some of which we’ve started to explore and much of which is only hinted at for future books in this series. While the story wasn’t overly complex, the character work and fascinating worldbuilding made the book fly by and feel like we were moving at breakneck pace.

This was Andrew’s first book, and there were some tells of that with some of the wording and phrasing. But again, this was an exceptionally strong debut novel. I’ll be starting his prequel novella, Silence of Silver, this evening and will be eagerly anticipating the next book in the series: The Black Mantle.

Harbinger of Justice delves into sandy Tarris, through the mysterious Dark Place, emerging with the reader’s beating heart in its bloody grasp, begging for more.