Excerpt Tour and Giveaway: Within (The City of the Magicians #2) by Peter Gribble

Welcome to my stop on the excerpt tour for Within by Peter Gribble. This tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an exclusive excerpt from the book. There's also the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win a $15 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card. Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour for more content. Enjoy!

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Title: Within

Series: The City of the Magicians #2

Author: Peter Gribble

Publisher: Tellwell Talent

Publication Date: January 31st 2022

Print Length: 626 pages

Genre: Fantasy

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Purdu, the barbarian invader, has arrived! How can the pacifist, nonviolent City of the Magicians contain him when one faction appeals to his heart, the other to his ambitions?

Sas and Lalya are envoys of opposing camps, but Purdu throws them together to isolate them from their enclaves and assert his own authority. Yet two others decide to oppose him their way. Hyur, foremost metallurgist, secretly forges a magical weapon to tempt and subvert him. Gleswea, an astronomer, flees south to view skies she has never seen, but is swept into a culture that judges women of ability as necromancing witches deserving death.

Shoan, City strategist, reconstructing his wrecked plans, is unaware these four have slipped his calculations. Sas, Lalya, Hyur and Gleswea are unknowingly inching the City toward an unseen, perilous fate. Will anyone catch it in time?

Within, the second book in The City of the Magicians series, exposes how even as the City's old dream of a rebirth in Magic seems to be happening, traditional institutions are failing. With Purdu spearheading the revival, some Citizens fear the purposes their Magic may soon be turned to.

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EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT:

Utter social burglary, having this many uninvited gaining access to the private suites, thought Lady Eiasa, leading the Deliberators and the handsome, bizarrely dressed “visitor from away” up the stairs to her grandnephew Sas’s rooms. Despite the burglary, she was already composing the detailed entry for the Eiasa Family history-saga to record the honor and importance of it.

On the second-floor landing, the Deliberators’ eager air gave Purdu pause. They wanted to see . . . what? His reaction to meeting Sas at last? Ingall had said Sas was gravely ill—the Aristos mess—and may not last much longer. Unknowns spurred the customary stance. The fight was on, his guard was up. I’ll be no sacrifice for your blood sport! Purdu hung back as Lady Eiasa made to open the twin doors to Sas’s suite. “We see him alone,” he announced. “All you remain outside until we have our say with him.”

Their disappointment vindicated his decision.

Miffed, Lady Eiasa opened the doors for him and said, “His sleeping chamber is the first door to your right.”

He stepped in and waited until he heard the doors click shut behind him. An ample, comfortable, yet unpretentious central room fit his expectations. There were so many . . . they could only be books, different in construction from those at the Golden Palace.

I’m about to behold my Sas! Yet, after Aristos, are we even friends? Elder Ingall said we were . . .

Uneasy, Purdu stalled at the door. Sword and scabbard hung from his weapons belt—his Magician had declared a dislike of violence. Best take it off, he thought, and held the belt and scabbard tight to silence them as he laid both on the floor. Removing his helmet felt obligatory too, and he placed it beside the belt.

After an agitated raking of fingers through his hair, he tugged and fussed at his kit, his teeth on edge over the remaining armor. Nothing countered rising guilt. One last halting hesitation and he rapped twice on the door and entered.

He swung the door wide to see an emaciated Sas sleeping on a low, wide bed.

Devastating.

That this skeletal specter at the entrance flap of Death’s Dark Tent was the noble, beloved Sas.

A bloody head wound would have been easier to accept than . . . this. Not even the withering reduced its victims to this state.

His heart lodged in his throat; tears stung eyes.

I’ve done this to him!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Peter Gribble has written for NUVO and other magazines in British Columbia. For over ten years he wrote a monthly gardening column for a local Vancouver paper. The City of the Magicians is his first published series.

Website * Goodreads

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GIVEAWAY:

Peter Gribble will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. Good luck!

(All the Ups and Downs is not responsible for this giveaway, its entries, or the prize. Goddess Fish Promotions and the author assume all responsibility over this giveaway.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway