I was reading some old notes in prep for some final edits on Deathless Council and I need you to know that parts of Tamara's internal monologue re: Sean in the first book goes like this:
Tamara, seconds after bursting out of the wall: This guy's the tallest and biggest one here. He's probably the biggest threat. I estimate he's late twenties, early thirties.
Tamara, after Sean has opened his mouth: He's under twenty-three.
Tamara, by the end of Immortality Thief: I have taken custody of a large teenager.
(Tamara, in Unkillable Princess, right after Sean has casually mentioned he's twenty-five years old: ???!??!??!?!?????)
I just finished The Immortality Thief by Taran Hunt, and it's one of the best books I've read in a while. The basic premise is that soon after humanity abandons Earth and reaches the stars, an alien race called the Ministers shows up and subjugates their colonies. A thousand years in the future, one colony stellar system was able to fight off their oppressors and formed the militaristic Republic, which remains at war with the Ministers who rule the other populated stellar system. The main character, a smuggler named Sean, is conscripted by a Republican senator to go on a dangerous mission to a derelict research station orbiting a star that's about to go supernova, where it's believed the humans of old Earth squirreled away the Philosopher Stone. With the Stone, the Republic thinks they'll finally be able to defeat the Ministers
I was expecting a suspenseful, atmospheric grind through the abandoned spaceship. Instead, a squad of Ministers immediately shows up and captures Sean et al. The Ministers also believe the Stone is vital for their nefarious plans, and can't risk the Republic getting it first. Almost as soon as the Ministers take control, we discover that the spaceship isn't empty at all, but is instead full of countless horrible monsters: the remnants of the genetic experiments for eternal life that comprise the the Philosopher Stone
Isolated from the others, Sean and one of the Ministers have to team up to make it to the Stone and get off the spaceship alive. It turns into a horror story in the vein of Prey (the 2017 video game) as they have to stealth past and fight through hordes of vicious humanoid predators, childlike scavengers with way too many teeth, and the ship's rogue autorepair nanobots. They also encounter a Republican soldier who had been stationed on the ship for the past five years, who is the only surviving member of a previous team sent to recover the Stone. They're going to kill each other when they reach the end, but for now the other monsters are even worse. It turns into the most wild example of found family I've ever seen
The narrative style is very interesting. Sean has some form of PTSD from when the Ministers destroyed his home as a child, so various events in the story trigger flashbacks to that. It's a neat way to explore the backstory, but it flows really well with what's happening in the present. There are some pretty deep mysteries that get slow-dripped to the audience this way, like "what are the Ministers really" and "what happened on Sean's home planet," and I really enjoyed figuring them out
There's a really cool "there's something on your back" sequence near the climax. Not going to spoil what happens, but he pegs something is wrong way faster than Donna did, and it's so funny watching him gripe his way through the altered events. He's such a fun character and really balances the horror well
I loved your books and just finally finished The Unkillable Princess last night. Since I am clearly going to age to death before book three, would you please bless me by telling me The Gang's (tm) favorite ice cream flavors?
(Also I am curious if the bird symbolism was intentional)
--Sincerely, A Fan
I am actually working on edits for The Deathless Council on this very day, so stay alive. IT WILL COME.
Now for the important part, i.e. ice cream:
SEAN: I think Sean is capable of eating an objectively disgusting ice cream and genuinely enjoying it. The more the people around him say things like "what are you eating?" and "are you crazy?" and "no one could possibly enjoy that", the better that ice cream would taste. This is because the social aspect of ice cream eating is more important to him than the flavor. Sean is starved for love not sugar and negative attention is easier to attain than positive.
That said, if he had to pick an actual favorite flavor, it would probably be a flavor he liked as a kid. I want to say strawberry--especially since strawberries can be grown locally on Kystrom. I, Taran Hunt, think that strawberry ice cream is gross, so I can't personally relate. But my wife loves it so I'm forced to admit that there are people out there who do. One of them is Sean Wren.
TAMARA: Chocolate. But dark, rich chocolate. The kind of ice cream that has a little bit of bitterness to it.
INDIGO: Indigo is so old that he has lived through hundreds of years of dessert evolution. Flavors shift as the availability and quality of ingredients change. He wouldn't identify a particular flavor as his favorite because, from his perspective, flavor isn't a constant. Instead he would pick a specific flavor from a specific time and place. He likes interesting flavors with depth. I once had an incredible olive oil and rosemary ice cream at the wonderful (and unfortunately closed) Morgenstern's in NYC. Indigo would like that.
On the other hand, he'd also enjoy a really good vanilla. Which means that the three leads could eat a Neapolitan ice cream together and all leave happy.
The bird symbolism for the Ministers was intentional! Sean is afraid of the Ministers, especially at the start of The Immortality Thief, and he sees them as predators. Predatory birds are visually fragile but fierce, swift, and deadly. They're not mammals, so they come off as slightly alien. Because birds are what remains of dinosaurs, there's a connection to a past that is immense, deadly--and extinct. All of that worked for what I wanted to convey of the Ministers.
Thank you for your message! I really appreciate hearing from people who enjoyed my books. Now I'm going to go back to working on The Deathless Council. I promise.
Hi Hi Heloo! Saw your little note about birds in a prev ask, and so, for no reason at all, what kinds of birds would you associate with your characters (as many as you want or think of)?
This ask made me realize that I mentioned the bird symbolism for the Ministers in the last ask but somehow forgot to mention Sean WREN.
Sean: wrens, sparrows, finches. Harmless little social creatures that chatter a lot. Prey to larger birds.
Tamara: Probably a corvid (crows and ravens). Smart animals. Omnivores.
Indigo: I need you to know that I spent a very long time today reading Wikipedia articles on various kinds of hawks, falcons, and eagles in an attempt to nail down what kind of raptor he should be. This became very important to me. I’m going to blame the importance of this decision on the Animorph novels, which I was obsessed with as a child, and in which the bird of prey morph of each of the main characters revealed key features of their personalities. I’ve narrowed him down to a gyrfalcon or a Eurasian sparrowhawk. Both target smaller birds. Both are used by humans to hunt.
(I also briefly considered a kestrel but, unfortunately, I have seen an American kestrel before. They are the silliest looking little murder birds. I couldn’t do that to Indigo.)
Honorary mentions: Number One/Kora is, of course, associated with owls; Brigid, with peregrine falcons.
Solaris is delighted to announce the acquisition of The Deathless Council by Taran Hunt, the third and final book in The Kystrom Chronicles.
I’m so excited to share that there will be a third book in the Kystrom Chronicles: THE DEATHLESS COUNCIL!
Linguist and thief Sean Wren must venture deep into enemy territory to unravel the mysteries of the immortal Ministers, still at war with the remnants of humanity in a distant star system, and find a way to save a friend who has become family.
