Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the Escapist Book Co. virtual book tour for Michael Michel’s Epic/Dark Fantasy/Grimdark novel The Price of Power! Today, I am excited to help kickoff the tour by sharing an interview with a few of the main characters from the book!
You can find our Q&A below, along with all of the info about the book, the author, and links to purchase a copy of The Price of Power for yourself! Also, be sure to take a look at the schedule here or at the top of the post and follow along to see the stops from our other awesome hosts!
Book Information:
The Price of Power by Michael Michel
Series: The Price of Power
Genre: Epic/Dark Fantasy, Grimdark
Intended Age Group: Adult
Pages: 384 (print), 730 (eBook)
Published: February 6, 2023
Publisher: Morningstar Books (Self Published)
Blurb
Prince Barodane could not hold back the darkness. Not even in himself. He laid an innocent city in its grave and then died a hero.
In his absence, war whispers across the land.
Power-hungry Highborn dispatch spies and assassins to the shadows as they maneuver for the throne, while an even greater threat rises in the South. Monsters and cultists flock to the banners of a mad prophet determined to control reality…and then shatter it.
Destiny stalks three to the brink of oblivion.
A dead prince that isn’t actually dead. Barodane buried his shameful past in a stupor of drugs, drink, and crime, and now, he’d rather watch the world fall apart than wear a crown again.
An orphan with hero’s blood who is forced to make a harrowing choice: betray her country or sacrifice her first love.
And a powerful seer who has no choice at all–her grandson must die.
If any of them fails to pay the price…
The cost will be the world’s complete annihilation.
See Also:
Never Again • It’s Hammer Time • Da Bears
Book Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Price-Power-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0BNXYDVZT/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63945821-the-price-of-power
Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/d219fd34-2c66-4bbd-a3b9-fc4e41244079
Character Q&A
Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
BARODANE IRONLIGHT: You mean my name and title? Sure, but it depends on who you ask. People in this town know me as Kord, dealer of godsthorn. I’m a warm and welcoming person…if you’re a tankard of brew. To everyone and everything else, I’m dagger-cold and just as deadly, so fuck off.
Now, to those who knew me before I died, they’d call me the Mad Prince. Barodane Ironlight. Grandson to the greatest man who ever lived, and his shadow hasn’t given me a spot of sun my whole life. I laughed back then. A lot. Apparently, I got it all out at. ‘Let it go at the grave,’ my people say. I think I did just that.
What music do you listen to?
BARODANE IRONLIGHT: These days, mostly shitty. No musician with a scrap of talent comes through here. There’s more rhythm in a lame gelding’s gallop than any one who takes the stage at the Dregs Inn. Alas, bang a couple of pots together long enough and the drunks will clap.
What are 3 items you can’t live without?
BARODANE IRONLIGHT: I’ve found I can live without most things, excluding shame. It’s the ‘living with’ part that’s difficult. Dignity, that’s the hardest one.
If you were stranded on a deserted island, what is one thing you’d like to have with you?
BARODANE IRONLIGHT: In truth, that about sums up all my major needs and solves most of my problems. I suppose a dagger in case I get bored. Quicker way to end it than banging my skull bloody against a tree trunk.
What is your biggest pet peeve?
BARODANE IRONLIGHT: Harpists. Terrible instrument. Terrible people.
What do you do in your free time?
GARLENNA RENWOOD: I practice the mantras of the Faithful to keep my mind sharp, and I train to keep my body sharp. A prosort must always be ready for what comes next in order to preserve the good of the world. On occasion, I spend an afternoon at the orphanage of the Sempyrium, mentoring the young in the ways of the world.
What makes you want to get out of bed in the morning?
GARLENNA RENWOOD: All of us are born with a single mission from the gods, should we choose to adher to it: leave the world better than you left it. Every word and action must align with this singular goal. I let nothing touch that drive–duty comes before everything, even my own personal satisfaction.
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?
GARLENNA RENWOOD: My father, Gyr. He hasn’t been there for me, but his wisdom is still valuable when I can divest it from the hypocrisy of his actions. Before my ordination as a prosort, he said, “All happens as it’s meant to–even when it hurts–trust that it is for the better.”
What do you carry in your bag?
GARLENNA RENWOOD: A field sewing kit. A small pan. Polishing rags and oil. A change of small clothes. A letter from my father.
What’s your favorite animal?
GARLENNA RENWOOD: Horses. They’re loyal and powerful, dangerous and elegant. Their utility is well complimented by an innate empathy.
What do you think about [other MC(s)]?
GARLENNA RENWOOD: Barodane is blinded by his grief. But I beleive in him and that will never change, because the moment it does, I’ve lost my faith. That, I will not allow.
Do you have favorite saying?
GARLENNA RENWOOD: Yes, a very simple one too. “We are born to serve a purpose.” It’s the first sentence of the Prosort’s Creed and it has fundamentally shaped my life. As long as I stay aware and focused on that purpose, it makes everything else in life a lot easier. I don’t have to worry, I don’t have to fret, and I spend little time in indecision. I know my purpose.
What is your favorite holiday?
GARLENNA RENWOOD: There’s a holiday that only the most devout Followers practice. It has fallen out of favor in recent years–too radical they say. There are two phases to the holiday. The first we call Pillars. You find a representation of each god: water, fire, earth, wind and absence or death. We sit in a ring of these idols and fast from sunrise to sunset, reflecting on creation. That night is the second phase, Bounty. We feast and drink and revel in the excess the Sempyrean gods provide.
If you could go anywhere in [the book’s world], where would you go and why?
GARLENNA RENWOOD: It would have to be Oren. An entire nation run by women with men as slaves? It seems impossible. While I hear it’s far from a utopia, it’s something I need to see to believe.
What do you do to relax?
GARLENNA RENWOOD: Train. Pray. Train. In that order.
What is your favorite food?
GARLENNA RENWOOD: At the Ironlight funeral, Belara Frost hired a chef from Valat. He served duck legs that had been marinated in vinegar, shallots, parsley, thyme, and peppercorn for three days, and then slow cooked in an underground oven. He served them with a slice of orange and cranberry infused bread. I’m not normally one to eat sweets but I didn’t leave a crumb behind. That was the best meal I’ve ever had.
What is your favorite season?
ISHOA IRONLIGHT: Not the spring. It makes my nose itch fiercely. I’ve always been partial to early Autumn though. There are still warm days, but cold ones as well, especially in Anjuhkar, so it’s the best of both worlds. Whenever we have the Trials, they happen in early Autumn as well which is very exciting.
How would you define happiness?
ISHOA IRONLIGHT: Hmmm. That’s tough. A part of me wants to say I’m still too young to understand what it truly is, but that seems wrong. What I know for sure is there’s nothing better than running my hand over Rakeema’s fur, or laughing with my uncle, Wolst, or the way winter blossoms smell. So maybe that’s it. Maybe happiness is when the thing you’re touching, seeing, or hearing is the best thing in that moment. That’s what I think it is, at least.
What are you passionate about?
ISHOA IRONLIGHT: Being a good master for my ice tiger. I want her to be the best war cat the world’s ever seen. Being strong for my family too; proving to them I can carry the Ironlight legacy forward. Getting better at fighting. I also love flowers–we only have so many in Anjuhkar, but seeing them makes me feel warm inside.
How do you feel about your government?
ISHOA IRONLIGHT: In a way, I am the government. I think it works, but with a Shadow Crown right now, it’s certainly being tested. There are things I would–sorry–things I will change when I take power.
If you could change one thing about [the book’s world], what would it be?
ISHOA IRONLIGHT: Let the past die. I know it’s important to understand our history so we know who our potential enemies and allies are, but at some point, it has to stop. First and foremost, I’d end the scarring rituals. If one part of society is weak, so it makes the whole.
What’s your biggest secret?
ISHOA IRONLIGHT: I don’t think I’m strong enough to rule.
What do you hate?
ISHOA IRONLIGHT: That women grow hair like men. My great-grandmother has tiny white hairs all over her upper lip and chin, and she says I’ll get them someday as well. I just wish that weren’t so.
What’s your biggest fear?
ISHOA IRONLIGHT: Being alone. Then again, I already am in a way, given that I’m the last Ironlight and all. I want to feel like I belong, but it’s hard to do that when you have as much duty and responsibility as I do. No one sees me for who I am, just what I might be to them. It’s sad.
What do you think your best quality is?
ISHOA IRONLIGHT: I’m a fierce conversationalist. Sometimes, uncle Wolst says I can turn candle flames on with my tone. I only talk that way when he jokes at the wrong time though, so he brings it on himself.
How would you describe the world you live in?
ISHOA IRONLIGHT: Like a glass vase poised on the edge of a table. Everything is vulnerable right now and could break at any second. Just a nudge this way, or that way…any wrong movement could bring it all crashing down and nothing any one does will repair it again.
It’s a dark, tough, gritty place where the strong hold power. And yet it’s also so very fragile. Today, it holds beauty.
But tomorrow it may be dangerous.
About the Author
Michael Michel lives in Bend, Oregon with the love of his life and their two children. When he isn’t obsessively writing, editing, or doing publishing work, he can be found exercising, coaching leaders in the corporate world, and dancing his butt off at amazing festivals like Burning Man. His favorite shows are Dark, The Wire, Arcane, and Norsemen. He loves nature and deep conversations. Few things bring him more joy than a couple of hours playing table tennis.
Website: https://michaelmichelauthor.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelmichelauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Michael__Michel
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