The Blood Debt: Books of the Cataclysm: Two (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: heavy lifter, young flyer, other wardens, Haunted City, Highson Sparre, Sky Wardens (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A baffling situation gets more complicated in the second entry in Australian author Williams's Books of the Cataclysm series. A far-future Earth has been shattered into different, isolated zones where magic has replaced electricity and where humans uneasily share space with ghosts, golems and animated statues. Two young men, Sal and Skender, who were friends in the first book, The Crooked Letter (2006), undertake separate quests to rescue parents from the results of stirring up arcane turbulence, especially by creating a potentially dangerous homunculus that brings two souls back from the void. The motives of the people around Sal and Skender are unclear or questionable; their own long-term goals are uncertain; and the action breaks off before anything has been resolved except that they'll follow the homunculus's trail. The detail of Williams's imagined world and his characters' concern with the moral consequences of their actions compel interest, though readers will have to wait until the final installment to see whether all the pieces fall into a coherent, satisfying whole. (Oct.)
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Product Description

In a remote city on the edge of two worlds, where blood has power and water is more precious than freedom, three far-flung friends unite on a quest to save their families. Sal Hrvati’s estranged father has brought more into the world than the woman he loved. Instead of saving her from the Void Beneath, he has summoned an unknown creature—a creature with a mission of its own and a past that stretches back to the beginning of the world. The quest to find both of them entangles Sal and his companions in a hunt for magical treasure on the floor of the Divide, a mighty crack in the earth inhabited by creatures that are not remotely human. Desert landscapes and dirigibles feature in a fast-paced fantasy that combines romance, adventure, and humor with an original take on magic.

The Books of the Cataclysm take inspiration from many arcane and mythological sources. In positing that this world is just one of many "realms," three of which are inhabited by humans during various stages of their lives, it begins in the present world but soon propels the reader to a landscape that is simultaneously familiar and fantastic.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 476 pages
• Publisher: Pyr (October 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591024935
• ISBN-13: 978-1591024934
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,177,395 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, September 23, 2006

By	N. Linke "nicoruby" (Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Blood Debt is awesome! Williams' books just keep getting better. Although this could be read easily as a stand alone, do yourself a favour and go and read The Crooked Letter and then read this! Then just try and stop yourself reading the third book! Fantastic characterisation and pageturning prose set in a mystical and unpredictable world. Five stars!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Killed a great idea., December 19, 2007

By	twingle93 - See all my reviews

Williams really should have just made this a seperate series, if he wrote it at all. To put "books of the Cataclysm" on the cover almost seems like false advertising.

The first book would get five stars, this sequel has almost nothing in common. What started out as truly inspired, surreal "end of the world" story, with realities colliding, monsters in the dark, all cities merging, all of humanity being devoured, etc has now become one of "stone mages", "mani'kins" and "gliders" and more sterotypical themes that could be found in any generic fantasy novel. If I wanted to read about things, I could taken my pick, but I don't, but I was tricked into reading about them anyway.

Now its thousands of years into the future, and all characters from the first one are dead, and the one surviving one changed beyond recognition. No, scratch that. The entire series is changed beyond recognition. Yod is only mentioned once, which is an insult considering how big a role he played in the first book.

The book was also overlong with cliched situations and junvenile dialogue, new indistinguishable, unlikeable characters who bicker with one another, and whose largest concerns are dealing with local burucrats and getting attacked by golems. The first book had mind-blowing imagery of our world turned upside down and had awesome potential. This second book should have focused more on that, but no. Bring back the eery, chilling composite city and the twins fleeing in a world gone mad.

I want Kafkaesque, not a mediocre Final Fantasy world.

4.0 out of 5 stars A Millennium Later, September 16, 2009

By	Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: Blood Debt: Books of the Cataclysm: Two (Paperback)

Blood Debt (2008) is the second fantasy novel in The Cataclysm series, following The Crooked Letter. In the previous volume, Hadrian searched the three realms for his twin brother Seth. They were reunited in Sheol and made their choice. Ellis also made a choice and the twins found themselves within the Void Beneath, becoming the first Lost Minds.

A thousand years or more after the Cataclysm was suspended, most people followed either the Wardens of Air and Water or the Mages of Stone and Fire. The Wardens lived near the ocean and the Mages lived in the interior. They were separated by the Divide, a vast man-made chasm.

In this novel, Skender Van Haasteren the Tenth is a Stone Mage trainee. He is the latest in a line of respected Stone Mages. His father is an instructor and Principal of the Keep, the school for Stone Mages.

Shilly of Gooron lives in a hidden dwelling near Fundelry. She has the talent of sensing Change forces, but she cannot directly affect the Change. Yet she can borrow the talents of others to use these forces.

Sal Hrvati lives with Shilly. He is a wild talent, depending neither on air nor stone. He has direct access to the Change forces.

Tom is a Sky Warden Engineer. He has talents with both machinery and Change forces.

Chu Milang is a resident of Laure and a former miner. She damaged her wing and lost her license while attempting a dare. Now she is seeking ways to restore both.

In this story, Tom comes looking for Sal and Shilly. Sal's biological father -- Highson Sparre -- apparently had constructed a homunculus and used it in some ritual. A man had died from fear and the Homunculus left across the wilderness. Highson followed the construct.

Skender learns that his mother is lost. His father tells him that she has not contacted him through the Change for two days. Skender decides to go searching for his mother and his father tells him where to go and gives him the keys to a buggy.

Sal, Shilly and Tom ride a buggy after the warden search party that is following the Homunculus. Eventually they reach the searchers, who have been stranded in a null zone where the Change cannot reach. It appears that the Homunculus leaves a wake behind it that temporarily nullifies the Change.

Skender reaches Laure several days after his departure from the Keep. He searches the Divide near Laure and then checks the tunnels under the city. When he gets stuck in a narrow tunnel, Chu rescues him and gives him some advice.

Skender is searching on the wrong side to the Divide. The city on the other side is the most likely place to find his mother. The Aad has long been deserted by humans, but is inhabited by monsters from the Divide. They start thinking of ways to get to the other side.

Sal, Shilly and Tom join the Sky Wardens. Tom gets their vehicles moving again and the party heads toward Laure. They reach their side of the Divide before the construct arrives. The wardens spread out and conceal themselves from the Homunculus with camouflaged hides.

Chu and Skender get permission from the Magister of Laure to repair her wing. But the Magister only gives a license to Skender. That night they both fly in the wing to reconnoiter the other side of the Divide and notice the arrival of the wardens. Shilly also notices their wing in the sky.

The next day, Chu and Skender fly back over the Divide just before the Homunculus arrives. They fly into the null zone and the Change amulets on the wing lose their powers. When the wing crashes, Sal rushes out to them while Shilly sets off a flare to call for aid.

This tale reunites Sal, Shilly and Skender momentarily, but Sal soon flies off with Skender to find his mother. Shilly goes to Laure with the Sky Wardens. Later they discover that the Homunculus is not the only problem in Laure.

The story frequently mentions prior encounters between these three about five years previous. These encounters are described within the Book of the Change series, published only in Australia. Hopefully that series will eventually be reprinted in the USA.

Another book -- The Devoured Earth -- seems to be part of this series. It too has only been published in Australia. From the description, it would seem to follow the previous volume and thus might be the second book in the Cataclysm series.

For those who are as confused as I am, the Book of Changes trilogy apparently came first. Then the Crooked Letter was written as a prequel. Possibly The Devoured Earth is a second prequel.

This novel follows the Book of Change sequence. Then comes The Hanging Mountains, the sequel to this novel. Read and enjoy!

Recommended for Williams fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of abrupt Changes, impulsive quests, and a bit of romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin