Impyrium Blog Tour: Featuring exclusive content from Henry H. Neff + Giveaway
Welcome to Day #2 of the Impyrium Blog Tour!
To celebrate the release of Imyprium by Henry H. Neff (10/4/16), blogs across the web are featuring exclusive content from Henry and 10 chances to win a SIGNED copy of Impyrium, as well as a Grand Prize Giveaway!
Hob Smythe: Servant, Spy, Revolutionary by Henry H. Neff
Allow me to introduce Hob Smythe, a thirteen-year old from the outer provinces and one of Impyrium's two protagonists. Although Hob’s a commoner, he’s hardly your average boy. Average boys haven’t hunted cheshirewulfs, battled scrap raiders, or mined the mountains that border the haunted Grislands. You won’t find anyone—not even the empress’s guardsmen—that can fire a rifle faster or straighter than this stocky, windburned boy from Dusk. If you’re ever in a fight, you want Hob Smythe on your side.
But Hob isn’t just tough, he’s borderline brilliant. So smart, in fact, that he passed the notorious Province Exams. Mind you, this isn’t the local spelling bee. This is a three-day test given to commoner kids that know perfectly well it’s their only chance to make something of their lives. And Hob didn’t just pass, he placed first. He even has a plaque and a picture with the magistrate to prove it. If there was any justice in the world, Hob would be attending an elite school and training to become a magistrate himself someday.
But this is Impyrium, and life isn’t always fair.
Hob had to stay in bleak, frozen little Dusk to help support his mother and sister. Life isn’t easy for a bastard born to a soldier and a Hauja shaman’s daughter. He lives in a society where magic and one’s family name count for all. Hob had the misfortune to be born muir — a non-magical human — in a world ruled by magically-gifted mehrùn. Unless your name is Faeregine, or you belong to another noble house, it’s your destiny to toil, to serve, and to keep your mouth shut while your superiors rule the world. The gentry aren’t interested in your ideas of fairness or human rights. Most don’t even regard you as the same species. And, to be fair, most muir don’t question the arrangement. After all, this is the way things have always been, going back to the Cataclysm itself. Before the Faeregines brought order and civilization, muir were little better than mindless savages.
At least that’s what’s what Hob’s always been told. So just imagine his shock when a stranger arrives in Dusk and takes him down into a restricted dig site. Deep beneath the earth, Hob beholds the remains an ancient city, a city whose origins predate the Cataclysm. And there’s nothing primitive about these gargantuan structures. They’re made of steel and glass, stone and cement. What was this place?
According to the stranger, the city does have a name. Once upon a time, it was called “Vancouver” and it was built by “lowly” muir who ruled the pre-Cataclysm world and invented all kinds of marvelous things: aircraft and thinking machines—even rockets that flew them to the moon! Muir aren’t savages; they’re victims of a grand conspiracy perpetrated by mehrùn who exploited the Cataclysm to their advantage. People like Hob haven’t just been cheated of opportunity—they’ve been cheated of their very history. Cheated by the Faeregines…
What is Hob to do? Remain in Dusk and forget what he’s seen? Or fight to topple the established order? The stranger belongs to a secret organization called the Fellowship, and they could use someone like Hob. Revolutionaries need more than soldiers and weapons; they need information. With proper training, Hob might make an excellent spy. He’s young, handsome, and exceedingly capable—just the type of lad a Great House might bring aboard as a servant. Perhaps even the Faeregines.
The Fellowship is deeply curious about the royal family. Not the Divine Empress, but one of her granddaughters. The one everyone seems to overlook. There’s something very strange about Hazel Faeregine, possibly even dangerous. And Hob might be the boy to uncover her secret. If the stranger’s hunch is correct, Impyrium’s very fate depends upon it.
Want to learn more about Hob, the Faeregines, and Impyrium? Click here and dive into a tale where Old Magic meets new dangers.
Impyrium by Henry H. Neff
Series: Impyrium
On Sale Date: October 4, 2016
Juvenile Fiction \ Fantasy & Magic
HarperCollins, 592 pages
About Impyrium:
In the first book of Henry H. Neff’s new high-stakes middle grade fantasy series, two unlikely allies confront a conspiracy that will shake the world of Impyrium to its core. For over three thousand years, the Faeregine dynasty has ruled Impyrium. But the family’s magic has been fading, and with it their power over the empire. Whether it’s treachery from a rival house, the demon Lirlanders, or rebel forces, many believe the Faeregines are ripe to fall. Hazel, the youngest member of the royal family, is happy to leave ruling to her sisters so that she can study her magic. But the empress has other plans for her granddaughter, dark and dangerous plans to exploit Hazel’s talents and rekindle the Faeregine mystique. Hob, a commoner from the remote provinces, has been sent to the city to serve the Faeregines—and to spy on them. One wants to protect the dynasty. The other wants to destroy it. But when Hazel and Hob form an improbable friendship, their bond may save the realm as they know it…or end it for good.
Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
Stop by Life Naturally tomorrow for day #3 of the tour!
Blog Tour Schedule:
October 24th — Crossroad Reviews
October 25th — Book Swoon
October 26th — Life Naturally
October 27th — The Fandom
October 28th — GeoLibrarian
October 31st — WordSpelunking
November 1st — Bookhounds
November 2nd — The OWL
November 3rd – Mundie Kids
November 4th — Ravenous Reader
About the Author:
Henry H. Neff grew up outside Chicago before going off to Cornell University, where he majored in history. Before becoming a writer, he was a management consultant and also taught history at a San Francisco high school. Impyrium is his second series. The first, The Tapestry, is a five-volume epic that follows the life and adventures of Max McDaniels. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and two sons. You can also find him at www.henryhneff.com.
GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY
One (1) winner will receive an Impyrium Prize Pack featuring a collector's box packed with a signed copy of Impyrium, bookmark, poster, Hob temporary tattoo, and a signed sketch by Henry H. Neff. Enter via the rafflecopter below. US Only. Ends 11/6 at midnight ET.
And, thanks to the generosity of HarperCollins, I have a signed copy of Impyrium to offer!!
SIGNED COPY OF IMPYRIUM GIVEAWAY!!
One (1) winner will receive a signed copy of Impyrium by Henry H. Neff. Enter via the rafflecopter below. US/Canada Only. Ends 11/6 at midnight ET.
