An ornate yet dark fantasy, with echoes of Mervyn Peake, Robin Hobb and Jon Courtenay Grimwood. An original and beautifully imagined world, populated by unforgettable characters. Lucien de Fontein has grown up different. One of the mysterious and misshapen Orfano who appear around the Kingdom of Landfall, he is a talented fighter yet constantly lonely, tormented by his deformity, and well aware that he is a mere pawn in a political game. Ruled by an insane King and the venomous Majordomo, it is a world where corruption and decay are deeply rooted - but to a degree Lucien never dreams possible when he first discovers the plight of the 'insane' women kept in the haunting Sanatoria. Told in a continuous narrative interspersed with flashbacks we see Lucien grow up under the care of his tutors. We watch him forced through rigorous Testings, and fall in love, set against his yearning to discover where he comes from, and how his fate is tied to that of every one of the deformed Orfano in the Kingdom, and of the eerie Sanatoria itself.
**
Review
a finely-crafted thriller... that will appeal to fans of Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch and Jon Courtenay Grimwood. -- Jack Parsons SciFiNow featuring swordfights, violence and full-tilt action...familiar intrigues with a darker more gothic touch" -- Saxon Bollock SFX 20140301 It is a fast paced novel, economically layered but deceptively detailed. I found the character descriptions and locations exceptionally realised as I flew through the story in what felt like shared real time -- Joe Gordon Forbidden Planet International 20140304 The characters are fantastically created here. They feel complete and have multiple layers. I also liked the fact that they're not perfect -- Pat Scattergood Curiosity of a Social Misfit 20140218 Den Patrick is an extremely talented author, creating a detailed and complex world that is effortless to read -- Ed Fortune Starburst Magazine 20140226 The Boy with the Porcelain Blade packs a lot of punch and is extremely well written in an excellent literary style which is sadly often absent in modern fantasy... The Boy with the Porcelain Blade is a rich, literary fantasy thriller which bodes well for the rest of the series UPCOMING 4 ME 20140220 a singular and brilliant fantasy debut My God It's Raining 20140326 Amongst many of the existing fantasy books currently published Den Patrick makes an original and exciting entrance...I am definitely in for more stories set in this intriguing world. Den Patrick is off to a good start, a true gem in the making! The Book Plank 20140309
About the Author
Den Patrick was born in Dorset in 1975 and shares a birthday with Bram Stoker. He has at various times been a comics editor, burlesque reviewer, bookseller and games workshop staffer. Anything to avoid getting a real job in fact. He lives and works in London. His first three books for Gollancz, the War Manuals, are released in autumn 2013. Three novels, The Erebus Sequence, are in the works. http://www.denpatrick.com/
Description:
An ornate yet dark fantasy, with echoes of Mervyn Peake, Robin Hobb and Jon Courtenay Grimwood. An original and beautifully imagined world, populated by unforgettable characters. Lucien de Fontein has grown up different. One of the mysterious and misshapen Orfano who appear around the Kingdom of Landfall, he is a talented fighter yet constantly lonely, tormented by his deformity, and well aware that he is a mere pawn in a political game. Ruled by an insane King and the venomous Majordomo, it is a world where corruption and decay are deeply rooted - but to a degree Lucien never dreams possible when he first discovers the plight of the 'insane' women kept in the haunting Sanatoria. Told in a continuous narrative interspersed with flashbacks we see Lucien grow up under the care of his tutors. We watch him forced through rigorous Testings, and fall in love, set against his yearning to discover where he comes from, and how his fate is tied to that of every one of the deformed Orfano in the Kingdom, and of the eerie Sanatoria itself.
**
Review
a finely-crafted thriller... that will appeal to fans of Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch and Jon Courtenay Grimwood. -- Jack Parsons SciFiNow featuring swordfights, violence and full-tilt action...familiar intrigues with a darker more gothic touch" -- Saxon Bollock SFX 20140301 It is a fast paced novel, economically layered but deceptively detailed. I found the character descriptions and locations exceptionally realised as I flew through the story in what felt like shared real time -- Joe Gordon Forbidden Planet International 20140304 The characters are fantastically created here. They feel complete and have multiple layers. I also liked the fact that they're not perfect -- Pat Scattergood Curiosity of a Social Misfit 20140218 Den Patrick is an extremely talented author, creating a detailed and complex world that is effortless to read -- Ed Fortune Starburst Magazine 20140226 The Boy with the Porcelain Blade packs a lot of punch and is extremely well written in an excellent literary style which is sadly often absent in modern fantasy... The Boy with the Porcelain Blade is a rich, literary fantasy thriller which bodes well for the rest of the series UPCOMING 4 ME 20140220 a singular and brilliant fantasy debut My God It's Raining 20140326 Amongst many of the existing fantasy books currently published Den Patrick makes an original and exciting entrance...I am definitely in for more stories set in this intriguing world. Den Patrick is off to a good start, a true gem in the making! The Book Plank 20140309
About the Author
Den Patrick was born in Dorset in 1975 and shares a birthday with Bram Stoker. He has at various times been a comics editor, burlesque reviewer, bookseller and games workshop staffer. Anything to avoid getting a real job in fact. He lives and works in London. His first three books for Gollancz, the War Manuals, are released in autumn 2013. Three novels, The Erebus Sequence, are in the works. http://www.denpatrick.com/