I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the CHILDREN OF SOLO by Andrew D.H. Moore Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
About The Book:
Author: Andrew D.H. Moore
Pub. Date: April 18, 2025
Publisher: World System Books, LLC
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 722
Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/CHILDREN-OF-SOLO
Buy direct from Andrew! https://books.by/adhmoore
The God of Creation is missing, but pirate captain Adi Crestone has more immediate
problems. Caught between her criminal past and her maternal instincts, she struggles to protect
her son from the Blood Queen. Buffeted by inner demons and external foes, she must decide
what she is willing to sacrifice for freedom and family, all while navigating treacherous alliances
that force her to confront her own past.
Theo Vanguard is an Imperial naval officer entangled in familial duty and political
machinations. Trapped between his personal desires and his noble father’s expectations, he is
captured by pirates and descends into the seedy underbelly of the city of Solvigant. Where he reveals a world of survival and sacrifice.
Dreams of adventure beyond the mundane inspire young Ion Rucinare to run away from
home, only to find himself thrust into a perilous quest that could alter the fate of the World
System. His yearning for acceptance and belonging is complicated as he grapples with newfound magical abilities and the harsh realities of life on the dying moon Xys.
Caught between the Empire, ruthless gang leaders, and enigmatic gods all vying for
power, Adi, Theo, and Ion’s paths converge in a high-stakes search for a powerful artifact,
Apyreon, which grants the wielder the very power of the gods themselves. Will each find their place in a universe teetering on the brink of chaos?
Top 5 favorite books.
1. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky – This is hands down my favorite book. I love many of the Russian authors, Tolstoy, Chekov, Bulgakov, and Nabokov. There’s an intense cerebral darkness and an insistence on wrestling with big philosophical ideas underneath the plot. I had the opportunity to visit Moscow in 2015 and see Dostoevsky’s apartment where he wrote this book. Visits like that create so much inspiration. As a historian and archaeologist by training, artifacts like Dostoevsky’s desk seem to vibrate with literary potential. Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky is another book near and dear to my heart. I didn’t want to put two books by the same author on the list, so I’m sneaking it in here. It’s much shorter and more approachable if you’re looking to start somewhere with Russian authors.
2. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino – Nontraditional narrative structures fascinate me. Children of Solo is traditional in that it follows Western concepts of how plot is structured along the Fictean curve, but I hope to one day have the courage and the skill to produce something like this book. The conceit of the book is that Marco Polo is delaying his execution at the hands of Genghis Khan by regaling him of stories within the great Khan’s empire. The empire is so vast that not even the great Khan himself knows everything contained within it. Each page is a whimsical poetic description of a fabulous city. It’s great fodder for world-building, and it is beautifully written.
3. Redwall by Brian Jacques – I read this book when I was in middle school and loved it. I reread it again this year and it holds up. In some ways it reminds me of a literary version of Shrek. It’s not particularly humorous, but there is plenty of material to enjoy whether you’re a child, young adult, or an adult. I have always been captivated by anthropomorphic animals (See #5 below for proof) and this book combined that passion with a love of medieval epic fantasy. Redwall is partially to blame for the existence of the Faelani in the Steam and Stars World System. Brian Jacques went on to write many more, but the story at Redwall Abbey steals my heart. If they ever make a Redwall theme park, I will be there. If one already exists, please let me know.
4. Dune by Frank Herbert – There is so much I love about these books. Frank Herbert masterfully crafted them so that every reread reveals more layers of complexity. Maybe it’s the archaeologist in me, but whenever I read the Dune series I am transported back to my excavations in Turkey and Jordan. The books remain accessible despite their depth. The reader never feels lost or wonders what’s going on. The layers of political intrigue, family relationships, the ethics of power structures, and the inequalities of economic systems are deftly woven together in a way that allows you to enjoy the science fiction action adventure of the plot while also pausing to consider larger issues. That is what good literature can do. It can entertain, educate, and challenge us all at the same time. It stirs both our creative and logical brain. It is something I will always be aspiring to do with my fiction, and something that Herbert mastered.
5. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman – I think subconsciously this book contains some of the inspiration for the powerful astrolabe Apyreon in Children of Solo as well as building on Redwall’s inspiration for the Faelani. My book, and indeed the whole forthcoming series, deals with themes of religion, as do most of the books in this list. The church was a huge part of my childhood education and my social life, and I continue to be fascinated by topics around faith and doubt. While Children is not a book with explicit Christian themes, it wrestles with some of the same ethical conundrums that most religions deal with like death, morality, and forgiveness.
About Andrew D.H. Moore:
Andrew Moore lives in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado. He is an avid writer of stories and rider of bikes. Andrew’s love of fantasy blossomed early when he fell in love with such books as Redwall by Brian Jacques and the Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. He graduated with honors from Indiana University with undergraduate degrees in Philosophy and Classical Literature. He completed a post-baccalaureate at the University of Pennsylvania before obtaining his Master’s in Classical Archaeology from CU Boulder. He worked as an archaeologist and scholar in Germany, Greece, Turkey, and Jordan. In Colorado, Andrew taught philosophy, history, and literature at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, before leaving formal academia to pursue a passion in brewing beer. His brewery brainchild, The Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project, closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, but not before winning many awards both domestic and international.
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Giveaway Details:
1 winner will receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card, courtesy of Rockstar Book Tours, International.
1 winner will receive a finished copy of CHILDREN OF SOLO, US Only.
Ends May 13th, midnight EST.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e2389ba21917/?
Participating Bloggers & Influencers: