The Hand of the Sun King cover art

The Hand of the Sun King

Pact and Pattern, Book 1

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The Hand of the Sun King

By: J.T. Greathouse
Narrated by: Jeremy Ang Jones
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About this listen

My name is Wen Alder. My name is Foolish Cur.

All my life, I have been torn between two legacies: my father's, whose family trace their roots back to the right hand of the emperor. My mother's, whose family want to bring the Empire to its knees.

I can choose between them - between the safety of empire or the freedom of rebellion - or I can seek out a better path...one filled with magic and secrets, unbound by suffocating legacy, but one that could shake my world to its very foundation.

For my quest will bring me face-to-face with the gods themselves. And they have been watching. Waiting to make their move....

The first book in the Pact and Pattern series. Fans of Robin Hobb, Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn and R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War will love the magic running through every chapter.

©2021 J.T. Greathouse (P)2021 Orion Publishing Group Limited Coming of Age Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction

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Critic reviews

"A great coming of age story about a foolish boy who seeks to unravel the secrets of magic and maybe do something good in the process. I absolutely loved it." (Nick Martell)

"An original fantasy filled with magic and culture, the story of a character torn between two names, two loyalties and two definitions of good and evil." (Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times best-selling author)

"Hands down the best debut of the year. Scratch that; this is one of the best debuts I've ever read." (Novel Notions)

"Sublime prose and pin-sharp characterisation combine to produce a captivating epic of conflicted loyalties and dangerous ambition." (Anthony Ryan, New York Times best-selling author)

"Brilliantly told and immediately engrossing, filled with magic, mistakes, and their merciless consequences." (Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter)

"An exciting new voice in epic fantasy." (SFX)
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Most relevant  
Really liked the story overall I often didn't want things to go the way they did but that made the story all the more original up there with most of the modern fantasy series and look forward to seeing more

Pretty damn good

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The narrator’s voice performance is patchy and something happens to his audio recording systemically throughout the audiobook — so much so that at times it seemed it was someone else entirely!

The novel itself is really good and I plan to try book two at some point; the narrator did a fair job in dramatising some of the scenes but the inconsistency of his voice was very annoying

Great story but

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I've read several fantasy books that borrow from Eastern themes, of these this book has been my favourite. From the unique magic system to the rich but surprisingly neighbourly host of characters there is little that detracts from the sheer experience this book imparts. Exceptional.

Exceptional

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