The SFF debut of 2011???

Tor Books are pushing this one as the next big thing. Whether or not Peter Orullian's The Unremembered, first volume in The Vault of Heaven series, lives up to the hype and becomes the 2011 SFF debut of the year remains to be seen. But it's no secret that the novel has garnered a lot of rave reviews among Orullian's peers. For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe.

Here's the blurb:

The gods, makers of worlds, seek to create balance—between matter and energy; and between mortals who strive toward the transcendent, and the natural perils they must tame or overcome. But one of the gods fashions a world filled with hellish creatures far too powerful to allow balance; he is condemned to live for eternity with his most hateful creations in that world’s distant Bourne, restrained by a magical veil kept vital by the power of song.

Millennia pass, awareness of the hidden danger fades to legend, and both song and veil weaken. And the most remote cities are laid waste by fell, nightmarish troops escaped from the Bourne. Some people dismiss the attacks as mere rumor. Instead of standing against the real threat, they persecute those with the knowledge, magic and power to fight these abominations, denying the inevitability of war and annihilation. And the evil from the Bourne swells….

The troubles of the world seem far from the Hollows where Tahn Junell struggles to remember his lost childhood and to understand words he feels compelled to utter each time he draws his bow. Trouble arrives when two strangers—an enigmatic man wearing the sigil of the feared Order of Sheason and a beautiful woman of the legendary Far—come, to take Tahn, his sister and his two best friends on a dangerous, secret journey.

Tahn knows neither why nor where they will go. He knows only that terrible forces have been unleashed upon mankind and he has been called to stand up and face that which most daunts him—his own forgotten secrets and the darkness that would destroy him and his world.

If you want a taste of The Unremembered, Peter Orullian has posted the prologue on his official website. Follow this link to read the extract.

Here are two book trailers produced to promote The Unremembered:





There will be 4 more webisodes set in the world of The Vault of Heaven, so stay tuned for more!

I haven't read it yet, though I plan to do so. It will be interesting to see how well-received Orullian's debut will be. Will it create waves the way Naomi Novik, Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie and Patrick Rothfuss' debuts did in years past, or will it fail to live up to expectations? Time will tell. . .