The Vanguard Chronicles - Review
Link to the author's (H. L. Tinsley) personal website
Book 1: We Men of Ash and Shadow
Blurb: (From Book 1) Amidst the gas lamp shadows former soldier-turned-mercenary John Vanguard hunts criminals at the behest of his corrupt employer, Captain Felix Sanquain. Shamed by his deserter past and seeking to make amends for his many misdeeds, a chance encounter with Tarryn Leersac – a skilled young would-be-assassin fallen from the graces of high society – leads Vanguard to become an unlikely mentor.
Charged with hunting down the killer of two guards left washed up on the banks of the canal, the further Vanguard delves into the underbelly of the city the more he finds himself entangled in a web of secrets and lies. A prominent aristocrat is missing. Crime lords, con men and harlots run amok and the city teeters on the brink of another revolution.
With his already precarious reputation hanging by a thread, Vanguard must piece together how and why the last war came to pass, find a way to earn redemption for his mistakes and come to terms with the past in a city where few survive, and even fewer can be trusted.
Review: It turned out I never wrote a review of this book, and I am just noticing a year later..... So I will do this off memory: I liked the character of John Vanguard, I found Tarryn tremendously creepy, and despite disliking the novel as a whole, I could recognise that many plot and setting elements were done well. This book was just not for me, and I have no plans of reading further into the series.