All things must die. If death will come regardless, then we do not need to fear it or to run from it. We can live instead.
The priests of Vatu are locked in an endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Their constant reincarnations are defined by service to the dark spirit, hatred for each other, and ruling the world of eternal night in which they live, broken only by a single day each year when Vatu releases the Sun. They have suffered and enjoyed this existence for millennia, for an eternity... until now.
In the Tower of the Sun at the centre of the world, the reborn Utas returns to fulfill his destiny to become High Priest. He has scarcely completed his education, however, when a shocking secret of his resurrection emerges. Now questioning everything he knows, he takes a path never before followed in his long existence. Yet darkness and pain still shadow everything he does, and all his attempts at freedom seem only to lead back to Vatu.
Can Utas ever escape hatred and death, or will darkness forever rule his heart as it does the shadowed land?
About the Author :
David Rae lives in Scotland and grew up in a world where hordes of workers spill out of factories, a world where fog and smoke shroud all kinds of creatures, a world where ruined castles, factories and houses are haunted by ghosts, gangs and memories. He lives in a world where witches have been burned at the cross and martyrs have been hung on the Gallowgreen. Since a child, he has tried to capture that world in words, poems, and stories. He has read every trashy novel, every children's book and every comic that came his way. Thank God for public libraries. He studied Botany, Architecture, Mathematics, Computers, Geography, and Ecology. He worked in a candy factory (not as an Oompa-Loompa), as a scaffolder and ditch digger. He has worked as a draftsman and as an ecologist, as a statistician and as a policy maker. He is married and has four lovely children and now lovely grandchildren. And he continues to read and to write and marvel at the world he lives in.
Review :
"David Rae once again mesmerises and enthrals with his second instalment in The Sun Thief trilogy. Just as in Crowman, the incredible prose draws the reader in, and holds him spellbound in a place filled with light and dark, exquisite beauty and bleak depravity. We see the deep complexities that make up the man Utas. How he grapples with his destiny, his place in the world. Crowtower expands on the mythos and inner workings of Tower of the Sun, treating the reader to a journey of discovery, despair and forgiveness." - Elizabeth Eckstein, author of Quicksilver & Brimstone
"I loved the explorations of free will in this book, along with the themes of identity and personable responsibility. This is a very spiritual book, and I found it very intellectually satisfying. Rae's writing is spot on. His beautiful descriptions combined with succinct prose means he juggles complex ideas, symbolism and action without losing the reader." - Iseult Murphy, author of 7 Days in Hell
"Labyrinthine, magical, and engrossing, David Rae has once again filled each page with mesmerizing imagery, elegant beauty and chilling corruptions. If you long to lose yourself in a truly spell-binding read, look no further." - Reedsy
