Dive-in Review: Absolution

Hello welcome back. Today I am taking part in a blog tour for a new book called Absolution. My contribution is a review post. Absolution is the sequel to Amok that I featured here last year.

About Absolution

Release date: 24 November 2022

Published by: Teaspoon Publishing

Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63103167-absolution 

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If cursed is the hand that kills, then it wouldn’t matter if that same hand stole, would it? 

Tulen feels doubly cursed, forced to serve the bratty princess of Impian as punishment for her crimes. When said princess embarks on a pilgrimage, Tulen grabs her only chance to offer a sacrifice at the holy city of Suci—and maybe, finally, feel clean again.

Sultan Mikal has set his face towards Suci—and certain death. Nothing about his Penance is clear, except the fact that if he fails, Terang will fall along with him. 

When Tulen’s pilgrimage intersects with Sultan Mikal’s quest to fulfil the Covenant of Salt, Tulen faces a difficult dilemma: What is her absolution worth in the face of the sultanate’s very existence?

Dive-in Review: Absolution

Absolution the book concludes Absolution the series, a trilogy of stories set in a fictional and fantastical version of southeast Asia. The stories and setting feel like they could be historical in some long forgotten part of our world.

Absolution follows Tulen, a young woman who has a special gift, which she uses in all the wrong ways. I really felt for Tulen. She is so relatable in her guilt. Tulen is sure she has committed an unforgivable crime, but the problem is, she’s the only one who believes she’s guilty. She dwells on it constantly always regretting her actions, never willing to forgive herself.

Since Absolution is a direct sequel to Amok, Mikal is back though not the POV character. He is on a mission to restore the covenant that was broken by his father. He is journeying in secret and it’s really fun knowing who he is while Tulen has no clue. I really like the way these two interact with each other. They are extremely shippable.

This book is the most spiritual of the three books in the Absolution series. Amok was mostly about having faith through adversity. The Tale of the Hostage Prince was about the importance of staying firm in your beliefs even when it might cost you everything. But Absolution takes it to the next level. It’s got so many themes, such as listening for the voice of God, forgiveness—even of oneself, and the most important lesson of all—leave the goat behind. (You’ll get it when you read it.)

the author gave me an ARC of this book for the purposes of review. My review here is my own honest opinion of the provided work

Absolution releases tomorrow.

Absolution pre-order links:

Amazon*: https://amzn.to/3TRFeCi

Other retailers: https://books2read.com/AbsolutionNovel 

Ebook pre-order price: USD $2.99 /

Absolution is the third book in Anna Tan’s Absolution series but even if you missed the first two books I feel like this one stands well on its own. But the first two books really are worth checking out. And right now you can get all three for $2.99 each.

Find Amok here*: https://amzn.to/3Fw7pCD

Find Tale of the Hostage Prince here*: https://amzn.to/3sGQRAj

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anna Tan grew up in Malaysia, the country that is not Singapore. She is interested in Malay/Nusantara and Chinese legends and folklore in exploring the intersection of language, culture, and faith. 

Anna has an MA in Creative Writing: The Novel under a Chevening scholarship and is the President of the Malaysian Writers Society. She can be found tweeting as @natzers and forgetting to update annatsp.com.

Where to find Anna online:

Website: https://annatsp.com

Instagram: http://instagram.com/annatsp

Facebook: http://facebook.com/annatansp

Twitter: http://twitter.com/natzers

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*This website uses affiliate links through the Amazon Associates program. Every time you buy a book using one of these links the blogger gets pennies from Amazon at no cost to you. Those pennies will add up into nickels and eventually dimes.

Absolution Cover Reveal!

I know I am super sporadic with posting on here so I have good news. I took some time off from my day job so get ready for a slew of reveals, releases and reviews. Because all these things are scheduled for the around the same time. The vacation is for family reason so a lot of these posts are all scheduled in advance.

The first post in this blogging blitz is a cover reveal for Anna Tan’s newest novel, Absolution. I know Anna from my wonderful writing group the Ironsharpeners. I had the honor of being able to read Absolution as she was writing it.

Absolution

If cursed is the hand that kills, then it wouldn’t matter if that same hand stole, would it? 

Tulen feels doubly cursed, forced to serve the bratty princess of Impian as punishment for her crimes. When said princess embarks on a pilgrimage, Tulen grabs her only chance to offer a sacrifice at the holy city of Suci—and maybe, finally, feel clean again.

Sultan Mikal has set his face towards Suci—and certain death. Nothing about his Penance is clear, except the fact that if he fails, Terang will fall along with him. 

When Tulen’s pilgrimage intersects with Sultan Mikal’s quest to fulfil the Covenant of Salt, Tulen faces a difficult dilemma: What is her absolution worth in the face of the sultanate’s very existence?

🙢

Release date: 24 November 2022

Published by: Teaspoon Publishing

No. of pages: 414

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63103167-absolution 

🙢

Ebook pre-order links:

Amazon*: https://amzn.to/3TRFeCi

Other retailers: https://books2read.com/AbsolutionNovel 

Ebook pre-order price: USD $2.99 / RM12.00 [Full price: USD $4.99 / RM20]

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Absolution is the third book in her Absolution series but even if you missed the first two books I feel like this one stands well on its own. But the first two books really are worth checking out.

Find Amok here*: https://amzn.to/3Fw7pCD

Find Tale of the Hostage Prince here*: https://amzn.to/3sGQRAj

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anna Tan grew up in Malaysia, the country that is not Singapore. She is interested in Malay/Nusantara and Chinese legends and folklore in exploring the intersection of language, culture, and faith. 

Anna has an MA in Creative Writing: The Novel under a Chevening scholarship and is the President of the Malaysian Writers Society. She can be found tweeting as @natzers and forgetting to update annatsp.com.

Where to find Anna online:

Website: https://annatsp.com

Instagram: http://instagram.com/annatsp

Facebook: http://facebook.com/annatansp

Twitter: http://twitter.com/natzers

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Cover Artist

Jiwosophy is the body of work of aspiring Malaysian-based artist/illustrator, Shahril Majid, also known by his artist handle, Jiwo. His art is a potpourri of peculiar characters, whimsical colour combinations, organic abstract shapes and eccentric philosophies.https://linktr.ee/jiwosophy | https://lynkfire.com/jiwosophy

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*This website uses affiliate links through the Amazon Associates program. Every time you buy a book using one of these links the blogger gets pennies from Amazon at no cost to you. Those pennies will add up into nickels and eventually dimes.

Amok a Dive-In Review

This is a bit early, a few weeks back I help with a cover reveal for a book titled Amok. I said in the reveal that the release date was June 24th, but that date was moved up to June 1st. So I decided to move my review up accordingly Good news tough, the pre-order pricing stays in effect until the 24th. So grab it now before the price goes up.

Surprise lockdown launch!

In light of Malaysia’s not-so-surprising Total Lockdown, Teaspoon Publishing has pushed up the release date of Amok for a surprise lockdown launch! 

Yes, Amok ebooks drop on 1 June* as Malaysians hunker down at home—and you get to benefit! We’ll still honour our launch prices, so our ebook preorder prices of USD2.99 will remain until the 23rd of June and will rise to USD4.99 on 24 June. 

We’re currently in the process of approving paperback editions via Amazon’s POD and IngramSpark, so you’ll be able to get that once the book goes live at totally random times during the month! (You can tell we’re just winging it right now, can’t you?)

And while we’re at it, send a screenshot of your Amok purchase receipt (whether ebook or paperback) to admin@teaspoonpublishing.com.my by 24 June to claim a free ebook copy of The Painted Hall Collection! 

Happy reading!

Ebook Order Links:

Amazon: http://getbook.at/Amok

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=BAIvEAAAQBAJ 

Other retailers: https://books2read.com/amok 

Teaspoon Publishing: https://teaspoonpublishing.com.my/shop/amok-ebook 

Ebook sale price (until 23 June): USD2.99  

Full price (24 June): USD4.99 

Amok

What is faith, except hope in desperation?

All Putera Mikal wants is to gain the Amok Strength, the supernatural power granted by Kudus to the Mahan royal family. No matter how religiously Mikal keeps his vows, Kudus still denies him the Strength—whilst his father, Sultan Simson, flaunts the Strength despite his blatant defiance of the Temple and the priests’ visions of coming doom.

Then the prophecies come true.

Taken captive, Mikal must find a way to liberate his people and restore his throne in Maha—and the key to this is the Amok Strength. But what does it take to gain Kudus’ favour?

Dive-In Review of Amok

Amok by Anna Tan is a fantasy reimagining of the story of Sampson from the Bible. But this isn’t a straight retelling, Sampson is more of a frame work to tell the story of Mikal the son of the Sampson stand-in.

The story has a wonderful message about what it means to have faith. Mikal has none of his fathers amazing strength, leading him to question time and again what Kudos (God) wants from him. Why is his faith not enough? A question that I’m sure many people of faith struggle with. (I know I do.)

I really loved Mikal’s character. He has great motivation and his story, is compelling. He goes from being a prince to a slave, and I just couldn’t help feeling for him. He goes on such an inner journey throughout this story that Mikal really does feel like a different character by the end.

The secondary character of Yoshua was just as compelling. He goes from being Mikal’s servant to his new master. He is not the POV character so his arc feels more static, but even second hand you can still see how the plot shapes who he becomes.

Seeing their relationship flipped on its head gives the story a nice sense of symmetry.

The world building is a stand out feature of this book. Set in an Asian inspired fantasy world, the kingdoms of Maha and Bayangan are really fleshed out and I feel like I could crack open a history book and learn about them.

The part of this book that stands out the most is that it has no romance at all. It was super refreshing to read a story without a will they won’t they subplot. The character’s in this story literally had much bigger problems.

If you’re looking for something different from the typical medieval European fantasy then I highly recommend checking out Amok.

*Many thanks to the author who let me read an advanced copy of this book. This review is my own honest evaluation of the material.*

About the Author:

Anna Tan grew up in Malaysia, the country that is not Singapore. She is interested in Malay/Nusantara and Chinese legends and folklore in exploring the intersection of language, culture, and faith.
Anna has an MA in Creative Writing: The Novel under a Chevening scholarship and is the President of the Malaysian Writers Society. She can be found tweeting as @natzers and forgetting to update annatsp.com.

Amok Cover Reveal

Thanks to self publishing and the rise of the online marketplace, you can buy books written by authors from all over the world. Today’s book is written by an author who lives in Malaysia. I had the pleasure of beta reading this book and it was amazing. I’ll have a full review closer to the release date for you. But until then, rest assured that this cover is every bit as amazing as the story.

What is faith, except hope in desperation?

All Putera Mikal wants is to gain the Amok Strength, the supernatural power granted by Kudus to the Mahan royal family. No matter how religiously Mikal keeps his vows, Kudus still denies him the Strength—whilst his father, Sultan Simson, flaunts the Strength despite his blatant defiance of the Temple and the priests’ visions of coming doom.

Then the prophecies come true.

Taken captive, Mikal must find a way to liberate his people and restore his throne in Maha—and the key to this is the Amok Strength. But what does it take to gain Kudus’ favour?

Amok releases on June 24th, but until then you can preorder it at the following links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Amok-Absolution-Book-Anna-Tan-ebook/dp/B08YXQKPN7/

(Universal link: http://getbook.at/Amok)

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=BAIvEAAAQBAJ 

Other retailers: https://books2read.com/amok 

The E-book is on sale with a special preorder price: USD2.99 / RM12.00 [Full price: USD4.99 / RM20]

(RM is the currency in Malaysia)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anna Tan grew up in Malaysia, the country that is not Singapore. She is interested in Malay/Nusantara and Chinese legends and folklore in exploring the intersection of language, culture, and faith. 

Anna has an MA in Creative Writing: The Novel under a Chevening scholarship and is the President of the Malaysian Writers Society. She can be found tweeting as @natzers and forgetting to update annatsp.com.

Where to find Anna online:

Website: https://annatsp.com

Instagram: http://instagram.com/annatsp

Twitter: http://twitter.com/natzers

Facebook: http://facebook.com/annatansp

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