It’s been just over 4 years since I released A Wizard’s Forge in September 2016, and I honestly thought we’d reach this day a whole lot sooner than we did. After all, just as A Wizard’s Forge was a leaner, meaner version of Blade of Amber, A Wizard’s Sacrifice was to be a streamlined version of A Wizard’s Lot. It took me less than six months to revamp Book One; the Book Two rewrite was supposed to be a snap. After all, Wizard’s Lot was already in better shape than Blade, right?
Wrong.
After a slash-and-burn purge of all the chaff, which itself took me two years, I’d winnowed the manuscript down from a 210,000-word tome to my goal of 150,000 words. But it took another revision after the beta readers, and another, major year-long overhaul after the development editor’s review before the manuscript finally assumed its present form. Final polishing and refining was done over the summer, as the proofreaders uncovered more errors and the audiobook narrator brought other stumbles to my attention.
But at last, for better or worse, the apron strings are cut and this baby’s in the wild.
Whew.
I hope you like it.
Oh, you have questions? Sure, go ahead and ask.
Hey, I'm one of the 12 people who read A Wizard's Lot. Is the story any different?
Yes and no. You know how HBO’s Game of Thrones always hit all the major plot points as GRR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, but the TV show and the books often took completely different paths to reach the same destination? That’s how it is with A Wizard’s Lot and A Wizard’s Sacrifice. They’re the same general story but completely different books, and even though Sacrifice is much, much shorter, it contains a lot of scenes and events that weren’t in Lot. So yes, please do give Sacrifice a try.
I haven't read A Wizard's Forge but I've heard stuff about it that makes me think I wouldn't like it. Do I need to read it before reading A Wizard's Sacrifice?
Forge deals with some troubling topics, and I recognize it’s not for everyone. So rest easy, Sacrifice-curious but Forge-averse readers! While the difficult events of Forge are alluded to in Sacrifice, they’re not repeated. And although Sacrifice is a direct sequel to Forge (and your experience will be richer if you read both books), both stories are self-contained and can be read as stand-alones. One reviewer of Sacrifice who hasn’t read Forge said he had no trouble following the story.
Speaking of reviewers, where can I find out what other people thought about Sacrifice?
I’m so glad you asked! I’ve been honored with some really nice reviews already:
“In this gripping epic, Justice’s worldbuilding is extensive. … The author fills the pages with striking passages. …. [A] riveting sequel.”
Kirkus Reviews
”Highly charged with emotion, magic, alien life forms, time travel, and the violence of warfare. A seamless blending of science fiction and fantasy.”
Fantasy Faction
“An imaginative and truly epic fantasy in a rich and variegated world of magic, monsters, and science.”
Fantasy Hive
”The Woern Saga continues with spectacular twists and turns … that lends significant depth to familiar characters and brings legends to life while managing to build the suspense through each unexpected turn of events.”
Critiquing Chemist
”A vibrant and engaging read. A.M. Justice is a master of high stakes political intrigue.”
Booknest
”A beautiful and heart wrenching journey.”
Genre Minx
You can also always check the Goodreads page.
In what formats can I buy A Wizard's Sacrifice?
You can purchase the Kindle version from Amazon and the paperback from any book retailer. If you’d like a signed paperback, you can order one from my website. (And if you sign up for my newsletter first, you’ll get a code you can use to buy a signed paperback for half off the cover price, plus shipping.) The audiobook should be available by early November, and narrator Leah Casey has knocked it out of the park.
Will there be any more books in the Woern Saga series?
Vic and Ashel’s story, as it begins in A Wizard’s Forge, finishes with A Wizard’s Sacrifice. I am working on a third novel called A Wizard’s Legacy, set about twenty years later, that deals with the aftermath of the events from Forge and Sacrifice, and there are multiple short stories either available or in the works. You can get two of those for free right now:
- “The Weight of Bliss” (wherein we meet the physician Moralen when he was a troubled young man; this story won the 2016 Writers Digest Popular Fiction Award for Science Fiction)
- “Kill Squad” (in which readers learn why wizards are so very rare in Vic’s time; requires newsletter sign-up)
Thank you for following this blog and supporting my work!
AM Justice 