History Literature / WindAndSparks

* ArcherArchetype: Ness. He stays dangerous even without a bow and at melee range, thanks to a throwing ax and knives.

* AncientArtifact: Gift-extinguishing arrowheads and knife, the remnants of War of Power, made to kill magicians. Anything made by the Sculptor.

** So-called Healers. Yes, they can [[HealingHands heal with magic]], and if a patient is alive, a Healer can fix anything. But where Healers truly shine, is creative new ways of using magic, bordering on CrazyAwesome {{Mad Scientist}}s. The Sculptor was a Healer too.

* PortalNetwork / TeleportersAndTransporters: The Paths of Petals created by the Sculptor. Very probably a reimplementation of some ancient weave. Each set of petals looks like a mosaic of a flower on a stone floor surrounded by yard-high curved stone fangs. A Walker steps onto the petals and imagines where she wants to go, then she and everybody on the petals are moved to the petals in the place she imagined. An empire-wide network has been "grown" when the Sculptor was alive, but none more after he died. During the Dark Revolt the Mother of Walkers supposedly "put the petals to sleep" to prevent the rebels from escaping. She was killed, and nobody has ever figured how to wake the petals. [[spoiler:Actually, they were switched off by the rebels' leader in case Mother calls for reinforcements. She also got killed, and neither Walkers nor Damned know the truth.]] Since then most Petals were destroyed, only a few hundred remain.

* OurElvesAreBetter / ScrewYouElves: The "better" part is averted or subverted at every opportunity.

Many centuries ago The War of Power devastated the world of Hara, but failed to resolve the conflict between Heaven-powered Walkers and Hell-powered Necromancers. Both sides retreated to the opposite ends of the last habitable demon-infested continent and tried to mind their respective businesses. The last major conflict -- The War of Necromancers, when southern necromancers and renegade ex-Walkers invaded the Walker-controlled northern Empire of Falcon -- happened five centuries ago. Now The Damned invaded the Empire again, and this time they may win.

->He who chases the wind will find the storm.
->He who sows the storm will reap the hurricane.
->If the hurricane brings you to revenge -- dig one grave for yourself.

* SurprisinglySimilarStories: The hero is locked in a cage next to a cage with two {{Funny Foreigner}}s. One of them speaks pretty fluently, is big and strong and at times talks like a WideEyedIdealist. The other one is a ball of fur, who only speaks a single phrase that makes little sence (yet his friend understands him perfectly) and is busy digging a way out. Dogs are involved. No, this scene is not from the ''WesternAnimation/ChipAndDaleRescueRangers'' pilot.

''The Cycle of Wind and Sparks'' or ''The Chronicles of Hara'' tetralogy by Alexey Pehov (often spelled "Pekhov") is a loose sequel to ''The Chronicles of Siala'' set millennia later in the new world created by the winner of The Game. New readers won't miss much, but those who read Siala trilogy will enjoy some {{Mythology Gag}}s, {{Continuity Nod}}s and {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s.

* TheEmpire: Perhaps an inversion. The Empire ruled by Falcon family (no other name is given for it in the books, just "the Empire") is more like TheKingdom. Harsh, corrupt, unjust, affected by the stagnating Tower of Walkers, but still better than any viable alternative. Its arch-enemy, kingdom of Nabator, is more of a VestigialEmpire bent on revenge.

'''The Cycle of Wind and Sparks''' or ''The Chronicles of Hara'' tetralogy by Alexey Pehov (often spelled "Pekhov") is a loose sequel to ''The Chronicles of Siala'' set millennia later in the new world created by the winner of The Game. New readers won't miss much, but those who read Siala trilogy will enjoy some {{Mythology Gag}}s, {{Continuity Nod}}s and {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s.

* XMeetsY: The ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' setting things right in downscaled [[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Randland]]. In a world that ''Literature/GarrettPI'' would like.

* XMeetsY: The ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' setting things right in downscaled [[Literature/WheelOfTime Randland]]. In a world that ''Literature/GarrettPI'' would like.

* DarkIsNotEvil: When we get to see necromancers' POW, their art is no more evil than its practitioner allows it to be. On the other hand necromancers do believe they get their power from Abyss, Hara version of Hell, with sinners and demons. Actually it's The House of Pain, which isn't pleasant either. And it seems to offer much more ways to kill, maim and use HumanResources.
** Soul Eater short story states otherwise. It indicates that Walkers have significantly greater direct combat capability, while Necromants are shifted more towards dealing with otherworldly creatures. Walkers inability to deal with those resulted in creation of the Red Order.

* TheNecrocracy: Possible in Sdis. Some top-sphere necromancers choose to become {{lich}}es and continue to live that way. Some don't like the idea and prefer to die of old age. The latter includes the current ruler of Sdis, Gafur, because of the events in ''Soul Eater''. Since mortals come and go and liches remain, eventually the majority of Sdis ruling establishment should become liches. It is never explained why this hasn't happened yet.
** It is directly stated that liches are outlawed and hunted vigorously.

* NightOfTheLivingMooks: A necromancer spell can create a very localized version, when undead are fighting the living and the fresh corpses join the undead army. It's quite hard, few necromancers can control more than ten bodies at once, and even for the strongest the limit is around 30-40 bodies. But when a strong necromancer or Damned dies, all his powers are converted to such spells and nearby dead start to rise spontaneously and attack every non-necromancer. As one character puts it: "They don't kill necromancers in Sdis. More trouble than it's worth." For Damned the affected area may span hundreds of leagues, approaching regional ZombieApocalypse. And it isn't limited to just walking dead: a few of them may become "fishes" -- undead covered with many small pieces of metal, who walk to groups of living and explode, killing them with shrapnel. This goes on until they run out of energy (weeks or more) or until a necromancer puts them to rest. Cutting heads off works too.

* MedievalEuropeanFantasy: AfterTheEnd of a {{Magitech}} civilization.
* MedievalStasis: There seem to be no changes in non-magic technologies in a millennium or two. And magic has been in decline all that time. From magicians being unable to learn complex spells of old, to a {{Magitech}} sewer falling into disrepair.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Luk. Just an ordinary lazy fat guard and borderline [[TheGamblingAddict gambling addict]]. When the fortress gets stormed in the prologue his survival seems to be sheer luck. Then he manages to hack through several zombies. He is absolutely useless when traveling through the forest. Then he surprises Ga-Nor by giving him a very detailed description of enemy patrols in the occupied village: routes, numbers, timetables, even hidden ambushes and possible unobserved paths. He got this all just by sitting on the same spot in bushes and watching. Then he spends some time defending another fortress, and again is among the few survivors despite fighting on the front line. Somewhere on his way he [[TookALevelInBadass levels up]]. By the end of the second novel he is still no match for Ga-Nor, but they easily dispose of a large Nabator patrol (2 footmen against 7 horsemen). And then there was the stunt he pulled with a solar demon...

* RedShirt: Too many to list. For example, of all borderguards introduced on the first four pages only Luk makes it to the end of the prologue (Ga-Nor too, but he is only mentioned and appears later). It's a no-holds-barred magical war, where not burning everybody on sight is already merciful.

* SnakePeople: Shay-za'ns or "Burned Souls". Upper torso of a human without ears and nose, short snake tail below. The [[http://jacketupload.macmillanusa.com/jackets/high_res/jpgs/9780765334893.jpg front cover illustration]] from ''[[http://us.macmillan.com/chasersofthewind/AlexeyPehov Chasers of the Wind]]'' is accurate enough. They don't crawl, they fly with magic, albeit no higher than 2-3 yards above ground. Desert dwellers, unsurpassed archers (of ColdSniper variety), [[IAmAHumanitarian who like to eat sentient creatures]], especially Je'arre. [[UnreliableNarrator According to legends]] they used to belong to the [[WingedHumanoid winged people]] Je'arre, but revolted against their god, the Dancer, and he took away their wings and souls; they die the final death and don't go to Blessed Gardens or Abyss. Considering the Dancer's general disposition, one has to wonder what the Abyss did they have to do to anger him. Or maybe that wasn't the Dancer at all.

* SurprisinglySimilarStories: The hero is locked in a cage next to a cage with two {{Funny Foreigner}}s. One of them speaks pretty fluently, is big and strong and at times talks like a WideEyedIdealist. The other one is a ball of fur, who only speaks a single phrase that makes little sence (yet his friend understands him perfectly) and is busy digging a way out. No, this scene is not from the ''WesternAnimation/ChipAndDaleRescueRangers'' pilot.

** Rona starts as a capable young Walker, but no match for Damned, or even top-tier necromancers. In the end she can hold her ground against anybody, and even make them retreat.

** Layen doesn't seem to have progressed as much, but revealing all those hidden memories and [[spoiler:living as a ghost attached to Ness and then forcing a Damned out of her body]] probably counts as something.

* BeastMan: Yumi. Cannot speak properly, can run on fours, can pass as a dog if he shuts up and doesn't show his hands. A [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter very cute]] green dog with excellent tracking abilities.

* DarkIsNotEvil: When we get to see necromancers' POW, their art is no more evil than its practitioner allows it to be. On the other hand necromancers do believe they get their power from Abyss, Hara version of Hell, with sinners and demons. Actually it's The House of Pain, which isn't pleasant either. And it seems to offer much more ways to kill, main and use HumanResources.

** Damned as a group lost coherence when their unofficial leader Retar and then the most capable magician Ginora were killed during the War of Necromancers. Tal'ki holds them together, but she cannot replace them.

* LethalJokeCharacter: Yumi. At first he's just a shy dog-sized RidiculouslyCuteCritter covered with green fur, who incessantly babbles something about a dog. Gbabak claims to understand him, but he must have gone crazy from too much time locked in the cell with Yumi. A hundred pages later Yumi turns out to be a decent tracker. Later he proves to be able to eavesdrop on people and retell everything to Gbabak, who can retell it in a language heroes understand. Still later he makes himself a blowgun and demonstrates just how deadly he can be, and even kills a necromancer who targeted Ness. And he's good at finding safe way through swamps.

* Typhoid, one of the Damned, a 500-something years old witch, who quickly develops a grudge against the latter three[[spoiler: after they killed her]]. She'd kill them on sight, but she needs them alive.

* OurElvesAreBetter: Subverted at every opportunity.
** Their kingdom is a VestigialEmpire with every House plotting against others. Del'be sees the advantages of peace, but the clans of professional executioners living far from the front lines wouldn't have it.

* TeleportersAndTransporters: The Paths of Petals created by the Sculptor. Very probably a reimplementation of some ancient weave. Each set of petals looks like a mosaic of a flower on a stone floor surrounded by yard-high curved stone fangs. A Walker steps onto the petals and imagines where she wants to go, then she and everybody on the petals are moved to the petals in the place she imagined. An empire-wide network has been "grown" when the Sculptor was alive, but none more after he died. During the Dark Revolt the Mother of Walkers supposedly "put the petals to sleep" to prevent the rebels from escaping. She was killed, and nobody has ever figured how to wake the petals. [[spoiler:Actually, they were switched off by the rebels' leader in case Mother calls for reinforcements. She also got killed, and neither Walkers nor Damned know the truth.]] Since then most Petals were destroyed, only a few hundred remain.

* ZombieApocalypse: A necromancer or a Damned can create a very localized version, when undead are fighting the living and if the living die, they quickly join the undead army. It's quite hard, few necromancers can control more than ten bodies at once, and even for the strongest the limit is around 30-40 bodies. But when a strong necromancer dies, all his powers are converted to such spells and nearby[[note]]if a necromancer was particularly strong, 100 leagues is still "nearby"[[/note]] dead start to rise spontaneously and attack every non-necromancer. And it isn't limited to just walking dead: a few of them may become "fishes" -- undead covered with many small pieces of metal, who walk to groups of living and explode, killing them with shrapnel. All the dead join the army of corpses. This goes on until they run out of energy (in weeks or more) or until a necromancer puts them to rest. Cutting heads off works too.

'''Wind and Sparks''' or ''The Chronicles of Hara'' tetralogy by Alexey Pehov (often spelled "Pekhov") is a loose sequel to ''The Chronicles of Siala'' set millennia later in the new world created by the winner of The Game. New readers won't miss much, but those who read Siala trilogy will enjoy some {{Mythology Gag}}s, {{Continuity Nod}}s and {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s.