This past week we gave the spotlight to Flames of Rebellion, Aaron S. Jones’ Epic Fantasy novel, the first book in The Broken Gods series! Our Roadies brought a wide selection of content to this show with reviews and other posts. Now it’s time to bring the show to an end and it’s my pleasure to present you with the encore, including some extra content. Come and learn a bit more about the world of Flames of Rebellion through Aaron’s playlist!
Shall we?


Born in the area of Birmingham that helped inspire Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Aaron S. Jones grew up with a love of fantasy. Inspired by his father’s interest in Lord of the Rings, Jones caught the fantasy bug and read anything he could get his hands on. Moving to the Middle-East and beginning a teaching career, Jones experienced a different world away from the green of the UK and has been able to mix in his experiences around the world with the time he spends in other worlds to write his debut fantasy novel – FLAMES OF REBELLION. For fans of JOE ABERCROMBIE, SAMANTHA SHANNON, and JOHN GWYNNE, FLAMES OF REBELLION is the first part of THE BROKEN GODS trilogy.


A dying world. A broken mage. An oppressed people. The sparks of a rebellion. The world of Takaara is about to change but are the people ready for it?
A young, nomadic mage, Arden Leifhand, journeys across the harsh Borderlands searching for his place is the world. Taken in by a tribe of warriors, Arden discovers there may be more to him than the bullied outcast he had always thought he was.
Meanwhile, south of the Borderlands, Katerina Kane is thrust back into her old life of solving crime in Archania as she searches for the murderer of her lover. Archania has changed since she last worked a case and The Empire of Light is tightening its grip on the land. Through it all, rebellion stirs with the downtrodden citizens as the land teeters on the edge of war…

Click on the blog name to read their full review or other content!

MAY 19TH – THE KICKOFF
Whispers & Wonder – interview + IG spotlight

MAY 20TH
Beneath A Thousand Skies – review
“I devoured the Flames of Rebellion in a single afternoon because it had me hooked right from the beginning and I needed to find out what was going to happen next. The ending left me hungry for more, and luckily enough the second book in this series – Paths of Chaos was released just a few days ago, so I will be able to jump back into this world straight away. A fantastic read, with a world and characters that I was immediately invested in, and a story that swept me away and I would highly recommend this book.”

MAY 21ST
I Can Has Books? – review + IG spotlight
“We have betrayal, backstabbing, lies and deception. Heartbreak and humor. I had tears fill my eyes more than once. Political intrigue, I love a good political fantasy. Mysterious characters, journeys, rebellion against cult like religions. So if these things call to you then this book is for you.
My jaw at the end of this book dropped so hard, that end. WOW! That ending will leave you in need of the second book. Not want, but need.
I REALLY need the second book, like yesterday.”

MAY 22ND
@theenchantedshelf – IG spotlight

MAY 23RD
Westveil Publishing – review
“I highly recommend this book to all fantasy readers and to anyone interested in checking out the genre who isn’t afraid of multiple POVs. I do think this is a good one for starters because it reads like historical fiction with a dash of fantasy. There is magic, there are magi, and magic is tied to the world’s religion, but most of the plot is driven by entirely mundane evils.”

MAY 24TH
Al-Alhambra – review
“Overall, I felt this novel was a really fantastic find. I am so impressed with this, I want to read book 2 already. I had a smile on my face when the story ended and doing that, you know something? The moment you write a novel and you have a reader that’s smiling at the end, you know you’ve done your work. You, sir, have done a tremendous job. I felt for each and every character, I loved every moment of this, and this could so easily be a video game-like Pillars of Eternity, a Netflix TV show and so much more. I love it! I really enjoyed this, and thank you so much!”

Enter Shikari – Dear Future Historians
This song was a great inspiration when writing. The song is stripped back, just a piano and vocals to begin with and then it slowly builds to a soaring finish with crashing guitars and drums that give me goosebumps every time I hear it. The lyrics ‘Put your weight on my shoulder,’ suits the tone of novel. A wave of melancholy perpetuates the music and lyrics but there is hope at the end as characters realise they are not alone.

Architects – A Wasted Hymn
The acoustic version of this heavy rock song was on repeat for one particular section of the novel when I was writing. Hope is a theme that I wanted to portray throughout the trilogy. Even in the face of darkness and difficulties that seem too great, a slither of hope can change things. It is a song that I feel could be the theme for the character of Aleister in Flames of Rebellion.

Devil Sold His Soul – End of Days
This band are just incredible and deserve to be so much bigger than they are. Atmospheric, melodic metal is how I would put their sound. This song takes the listener on a journey. Drifting between heavy and light moments, it builds to a stunning crescendo that feels so cathartic. I remember listening to it live and just being carried away on a wave of emotion. Every album they have made has played a part in my writing of the trilogy and to honour the band, I even named my empire, the Empire of Light, in honour of one of their albums. Their latest album, Loss, is on heavy rotation as I finish off the third book.

Hans Zimmer – Interstellar Main Theme
Film soundtracks play a big part in helping me shape the mood of a scene. Hans Zimmer is a genius and his work on interstellar is incredible. The Main Theme is just a beautiful, atmospheric work of art that always helped me to get into the right frame of mind when I was about to write an emotional scene in Flames of Rebellion. If a character you loved died in the book, chances are that they fell with this theme playing in the background!

John Williams – Duel of the Fates
The Phantom Menace isn’t exactly the best film in the Star Wars universe, but it gave us this absolute beauty. A symphonic piece featuring a Welsh poem sang in Sanskrit sounds like an odd choice but as soon as those vocals hit, I’m on the edge of my seat and fully engaged in the majesty of John Williams. The song was written for the battle between the effortlessly cool Darth Maul and the Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi and when I’m writing a fight scene, I put it on for some inspiration in the home that its beauty somehow seeps into my own writing. Epic and powerful, I’d recommend it to any writer to inspire a good sword fight! Put it on when the flames start to burn in Archania…



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