The Hierophant’s Daughter by M.F. Sullivan

What da cover says:  By 4042 CE, the Hierophant and his Church have risen to political dominance with his cannibalistic army of genetically modified humans: martyrs. In an era when mankind’s intergenerational cold wars against their long-lived predators seem close to running hot, the Holy Family is poised on the verge of complete planetary control. It will take a miracle to save humanity from extinction.

It will also take a miracle to resurrect the wife of 331-year-old General Dominia di Mephitoli, who defects during martyr year 1997 AL in search of Lazarus, the one man rumored to bring life to the dead. With the Hierophant’s Project Black Sun looming over her head, she has little choice but to believe this Lazarus is really all her new friends say he is–assuming he exists at all–and that these companions of hers are really able to help her. From the foulmouthed Japanese prostitute with a few secrets of her own to the outright sapient dog who seems to judge every move, they don’t inspire a lot of confidence, but the General has to take the help she can get.

After all, Dominia is no ordinary martyr. She is THE HIEROPHANT’S DAUGHTER, and her Father won’t let her switch sides without a fight. Not when she still has so much to learn.

What I says:  Blimey, what an amazing book.  There are certain series that give you a feeling of awe when you start them, the sheer scale and possibilities get your brain going into overdrive…or if you were are dog called Basil then your tail would be wagging.  For me this happened when I picked up the first book of Frank Herbert’s Dune, Stephen King’s Dark Tower and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. This has now happened again with The Hierophant’s Daughter and it doesn’t disappoint.

There are many great characters and so many plot twists that the book doesn’t leave you much time to catch your breath, it also has many flashbacks but even then so much happens you don’t get a chance to cool down. Dominia and Miki play off each other really well, and how brave Miki is around Dominia makes the character more loveable.

At the back of the book is a timeline of events leading up to the rise of the Martyrs to the book’s current date, I recommend you read this before you start as it gives you an idea of how much time has passed (over 2000 years) the book then does a strange thing, it feels like no time has past and events could be happening in present day.  A crazy person in charge who thinks he is God, even technology hasn’t moved on that much, due to many wars having happened.

The author has also included her own unique writing style used in the last book (The Lightning Stenography Device) where she takes the story in a surreal direction, the way the book ends like this works well and like all those great TV shows it ends on quite the cliff hanger, leaving you eagerly awaiting the next book.

This series is going to be epic and I hope many many will read it….at least before it gets picked up by Netflix that is.

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