A fantasy-author from Northern Ireland who was born in 1967.He is best known for his "The Monarchies of God" series, which is his greatest success, prompting Steven Erikson to say in an interview
that it was the best series he has read in years.
A thing worth noting is his time at the military (nine years) and his great interest in history. Both of it is flamboyant when reading about the strategies employed by the characters of his books. They are very sensitive and show that the author knows the wielded weapons and their best use in battle. Hollywood Tactics are a very good way to get yourself killed in his works, as some characters have to find out. Through a lot of books his interest in historic seafaring is also eminent.
Bibliography:
Stand Alone Novels- The Way to Babylon (1992)
- A Different Kingdom (1993)
- Riding the Unicorn (1994)
- Primeval: The Lost Island (2008)
- Hawkwood's Voyage (1995)
- The Heretic Kings (1996)
- The Iron Wars (1999)
- The Second Empire (2000)
- Ships from the West (2002)
- Hawkwood and the Kings, a rerelease of "Hawkwood's Voyage" and "The Heretic Kings", published in 2010.
- Century of the Soldier, a rerelease of "The Iron Wars", "The Second Empire" and "Ships from the West", published in 2010
The Sea Beggars
- The Mark of Ran (2004)
- This Forsaken Earth (2006)
- Storm of the Dead (unpublished)
The Macht
- The Ten Thousand (2008)
- Corvus (2010)
- Kings of Morning (2012)
Anna Francis
- The Wolf in the Attic
- The Burning Horse
Tropes present in Kearney's works:
- Crapsack World: While not every World is this, they all are very dirty and generally inhabited by selfish humans who do not care very much about others. Expect the most ruthless and pragmatic characters to win, or at least to survive.
- Historical Fantasy:
- The Anna Francis books, taking place in Oxford University in The Roaring '20s, and featuring C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien in minor roles.
- The Macht trilogy falls in here, featuring retellings of Anabasis and the life of Alexander the Great.
- Hollywood Tactics: Not generally averted as some characters make use of them. But their life expectancy is rather short.
- Magic from Technology: it's mentioned briefly in Corvus that the Macht people came from the stars and that their first city had walls of metal. Chances are good that they're meant to be a remnant of a spacefaring civilization, and the "Curse of God" cuirasses are leftover pieces of a more high-tech sets of armor.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Corvus is clearly meant to be Alexander the Great.
- Shown Their Work: All the historical terms are used correctly. The use of the word Polemarch for Strategist is one of the milder examples. Some military authorities you will only recognice if you are familiar with the military organisation of the Persian Empire. But where it really gets hardcore is the seafaring in sailing ships. Even if English is your first language you will have some problems with the denomination of parts of the ships and the names of different kinds of wind.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: As allready mentioned the author is a huge history buff (his own words). Therefore there are a lot of similarities to historic events. A very good example is "The Ten Thousand", which is basically a renarration of the Anabasis of Xenophon. The author only added magic and new races. If the reader knows his history he will have a lot of unexpected fun.
- War Is Hell: A theme that is prevalent throughout his entire work. Anyone Can Die and An Arm and a Leg are in full effect.
