The King of Thorns

Once I'd finally managed to get past my irrational dislike of anything with hype attached to it, I gave Mark Lawrence's THE PRINCE OF THORNS a read. You may remember from that review that I was completely and utterly blown away. It was just soooooo good. Then the sequel, THE KING OF THORNS showed up in my mail box.

I may, or may not have wept from the joy I felt. Then I may, or may not have babbled excitedly at my wife while thrusting the book in her face. She may or may not have wondered why she married me.

Anyways...

I fear the second book in any series. When the first book was absolutely stunning, and is on my list of favorite reads ever, I get downright petrified. I couldn't help it here, my expectations were so ridiculously high. Unfairly high. And then I read THE KING OF THORNS, and somehow Lawrence did the impossible.

He met my expectations.

Then he exceeded them with the ending.

There really isn't any way to easily describe THE KING OF THORNS. The opening chapters introduce an older Jorg. He is still the same violently, snarky individual I loved in the first book, but he also seems to be learning that all his actions have consequences. Let's be honest here, Jorg is not a good guy. Never has been, never will be. That's why he's awesome. He's just sick of being yanked around and being told how things are destined to play out. Screw that. Jorg makes his own fate.

The novel jumps back-and-forth between the events following the first book, and four years later where King Jorg's castle is under siege. Interspersed in all of this are the little tidbits introducing, and giving insight into, Jorg's companions. Additionally, we get pages from Katherine's journal. They key to this story, not unlike Scott Lynch's THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA, is in not telling the story sequentially. I read the entirety of THE KING OF THORNS knowing that some twist was coming, but the unpredictability of the story, and of Jorg himself, made that impossible. When the twist finally did come, I was left shaking my head in appreciation.

Much of my love for THE KING OF THORNS comes just from Lawrence's prose. The way he describes things, the way he transitions from segment to segment, his conversations...they are all so well executed. From that point, the tone of of the novel is just fantastic. We actually get two distinct Jorgs. One, more world-weary, four years in the future (which is actually the novel's "present"), then the more blood-thirsty version we are used to from the first novel. That contrast is really what makes this book work, and what makes it distinct from the first novel. As I always say when reading a series, I like to see progression with characters.

Now, there are are a few areas where THE KING OF THORNS, to me, isn't quite as good as THE PRINCE OF THORNS. Some of the things that happen (remember, no spoilers), just don't feel connected to the actual story. Many of Jorg's adventures feel more like a piece of short-fiction that was spliced into the novel. The effect is a somewhat more scattered feel to the narrative. It's not game-breaking, but there are times where the direction and momentum of the story get lost. I also feel that Katherine's role could have been a tad clearer in the end.

And that's all I got by way of nit-picks. Seriously.

THE KING OF THORNS builds upon the excellence started by its predecessor. Lawrence captures Jorg's voice perfectly, which makes reading the novel a pleasure. There is no sophomore slump here. There is no "middle-book syndrome". THE KING OF THORNS firmly cements, in this reviewer's opinion, Mark Lawrence as one of the top authors in the genre.

Recommended Age: 17+
Language: Yup.
Violence: Lots, though it doesn't seem as shock value as the first book. To me it shows that Lawrence is getting even better as a storyteller.
Sex: Talked about, but nothing graphic.

Seriously, buy this book. It's worth every penny. If you haven't read the first one and still read this review, 1) you confuse me, and 2) buy that book RIGHT NOW!!!

THE PRINCE OF THORNS
THE KING OF THORNS

Elitist Classics: This Immortal

Conrad Nomikos is not what he first appears. On the outside he seems to be in his thirties, walks with a limp, one side of his face is disfigured, and he has a government job working with Earth's antiquities. Dig a little deeper and you learn that he's been working that job at least twenty years, he knows the most powerful and influential people on a first-name basis, and he talks about historical events in a more intimate way than most.

THIS IMMORTAL, by Roger Zelazny, is told from Conrad's PoV, and he's as interesting and complicated a character as one would expect from a man who's lived as long as he has. Published in 1965 it tied with Herbert's DUNE for the Hugo in 1966, and reminds us that we've been fascinated with the concept of immortality in our genre for quite some time.

After a devastating nuclear war, Earth must deal with human and animal mutations, and the "invasion" of the blue-skinned Vegan aliens, who see the planet as a tourist attraction. Conrad will protect his home using methods others won't always understand. Zelazny's story is fast-paced and fascinating, his characters quick-witted and layered (with lots of nimble dialogue). We're never really clear about how old Conrad is or all that he has done, but it's the mystery that makes him interesting, particularly considering his Greek origins--is this a result of Earth's nuclear tragedies or is it immortality relating to the gods?

THIS IMMORTAL may be harder to find in smaller libraries, but there's a current version in print, as well as used ones available online.

Recommended Age: 14+ more for comprehension than content
Language: Minor
Violence: Yes, although nothing gruesome or bloody
Sex: Vaguely referenced

Find this book here.

Thieftaker

THIEFTAKER, by D.B. Jackson, is one of those books that leaves me with confused impressions. This novel has a lot going for it--Urban Fantasy in  a historical setting, a fun protagonist, a mystery, magic...you get the drift. There is some great potential here. But there are some things that are juuuust off.

The best way for me to describe my feelings to to go at it like I would when I read people's manuscripts for the purpose of feedback.

Let's start at the beginning.

THIEFTAKER starts with an initial chase scene and action sequence. It is a good introduction to the setting, the magic, and the main character.  Ethan Kaille is our protagonist, and he has a subdued Harry Dresden vibe about him. He's older, world-worn, and he's a thieftaker and conjurer. I liked the character right away. This is perhaps one of the biggest draws of the novel for me--the mix of Urban Fantasy in a historical setting.  That setting? Colonial US, 1765.

After that initial action sequence, things really slowed down. We get told detail after detail about people and places, oftentimes in a scattered narrative that, while certainly getting the points across, also serves to slow the story down to a crawl.  This is one of those things I can forgive to a degree, because it really felt like the author was just trying to get it all out of the way early. If Jackson was a brand new author I could cut him even more slack. But he isn't a new author. Jackson is actually David B. Coe. He's been around. It's a bit disappointing that all these details of the backstory and setting weren't shown instead of told.

Once we get through all of the telling, we get into the meat of the story. Ethan is offered a job that is too good to be true that involves magic and murder. As readers, this isn't exactly a new idea, but it remains entertaining nonetheless. This is when we are introduced to the side characters. None of them are in any danger of stealing the spotlight from the main character, and could have been fleshed out with a bit more consistency. Ethan's love interest, Kannice, is particularly wishy-washy. One of the main antagonists, Sephira Pryce, never really seems to be anything more that a cardboard cut-out with several scenes of nothing but posturing (especially at the end where her villainy is totally undermined). The clergymen are the best side characters, and hold their own well.

The majority of the book follows Ethan as he investigates a few murders. For the most part this is well done. The pacing evens out, and is interspersed with some good action. Details in the middle of the novel are shown instead of listed off, which also helps things. Again, there was a lot of Harry Dresden stylings here, which I personally really liked.

A few things that bugged me. First, I don't like it when an author blatantly hides things from the reader, and almost rubs the reader's nose in it. Take this quote: "Something occurred to him in that moment, but he kept it to himself. He would have time to satisfy his curiosity later in the day...". If you don't want to share with the class, don't even bring it up. It's like saying "I know a secret, but can't tell you about it." Why even bring it up?

Second, and minor, but when Ethan uses magic, he always spouts off the spell in another language (no big deal), then always translates it into English. Every. Single. Time. I hate to keep making comparisons to Jim Butcher, but they apply. We don't need a translation every time Dresden casts a spell. Why? Because we get it with context. It got to the point in THIEFTAKER where it felt like an annotation, and not even part of the story. What's more is that part way through the novel, Ethan can cast spells in his head without saying the words. It feels introduced after the fact, and I knew right away that it would play part in the finale--which it did. To me, it hurt the urgency and drama that this wasn't limited. It also introduces some almost plot holes and some logic flaws in the end.

The ending should have been amazing. Instead it felt...OK. Not terrible, but not awesome either. The identity of the actual villain and his motivations was actually really interesting, and I wish some more focus had been on that. But then the villain does some dumb things (he monologues--I'm not joking), and makes some very unintelligent choices from someone supposedly so evilly intelligent. The final action-ish scene is also very vague, and required my rereading of several parts to get an idea of what was actually happening. Some added clarity would have elevated this scene dramatically.

Yikes. Lots of negative there. The book isn't that bad. To me it rides the line of "Mediocre" and "Like", while falling in the group of the latter. The setting and ideas are enough to carry it, and the main character is likable. The main thing that seems off to me is the consistency of the overall voice of the novel. I fully expect this to be resolved in the second book of the series now that Jackson has a grip on everything.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: Strong but infrequent
Violence: Never really all that bloody
Sex: Nope. A bit of innuendo, but that's all

Want to give it a try?  Here you go:

THIEFTAKER

Blood and Feathers

Thank you, oh thank you Literary Gods! I was terrified that BLOOD AND FEATHERS by Lou Morgan would turn out to be Twilight with angels standing in for vampires. Why read on with the threat of a sparkly-vampire guillotine hanging over my head? Well in case you hadn't noticed I have become a big fan of Solaris Books. So far this is a publisher that has done little to steer me wrong. Oh and there is a quote by EBR favorite, Sarah Pinborough that goes a little like this...

"Dark, enticing and so sharp the pages could cut you, Blood and Feathers is a must-read for any fan of the genre."

High praise indeed, and the more cynical I become with my reading, the more I have come to rely on author blurbs. So what is BLOOD AND FEATHERS about?

Alice is a pawn in a conflict that has been waging since the Lucifer broke faith with the heavenly host. Under the tutelage of a hard drinking, hard fighting Earthbound angel by the name of Mallory, Alice must gain control over her blossoming powers and choose a side before the balance is forever tipped in the wrong direction.

So Lou Morgan actually manages to pull a sort of Anti-Twilight. Instead of making vampires seem really lame, Morgan takes angels and makes them dangerous and more than a little frightening. I'll stop with the Twilight comparisons there though, the two books have nothing important in common. What you need to know is that BLOOD AND FEATHERS is not paranormal romance. This is urban fantasy, colored in plenty of shades of blood-spattered moral gray. Morgan's angels are vengeful, ferocious, and downright psychotic. It's not their job to save the souls of humans. They are soldiers in an unending war against the brothers who have betrayed them.

This is a portrayal of angels that appeals to me. And if you think about it, it makes a sick sort of sense. After all, if Lucifer fell from grace and took a third of the angels with him then that obviously means that angels are far from perfect (at least in this story). So even the "good" guys have their flaws, and after thousands of years of fighting a losing battle they have become desperate as well. This is where Alice comes in.

Alice is a plucky young woman and that's good because she will need all that spunk to survive what she's got coming. She has an attitude and a sarcastic mouth to match but once you learn more of her history you can start to see why. Alice has not had an easy life and a lot of the blame could be placed on the Angels and the Fallen. Alice endures hardship and horrors that would have most grown men crying in the fetal position, and she keeps on going.

Mallory the Earthbound angel is the other main character. A hard drinking, hard fighting angel. Who could have expected? So at first Mallory strikes me as a bit of a cliche, but after a while the drinking is explained and it makes every bit of sense. Mallory has a legitimate excuse to be bitter about his station in life, and still he copes.

The Fallen could use more characterization. As is, the real bad guys sometimes appear to be the angels. Motivation aside the angels can be every bit as callous and sociopathic as their enemies. This ambiguity is a big bonus but I would still like to see more villainy from the Fallen in future entries. Much of the time I found myself mentally siding with the Fallen and were it not for the mind-control of Lucifer that is probably where I would stand.

There are some really creepy and powerful moments, not to mention a huge cataclysmic battle that takes place in the very bowels of Hell. I'm not sure why Lucifer risks losing dominion over Hell just to turn Alice rather than simply having her killed. That was really the only major question I had regarding the plot. I understand why Alice was so important to the angels but I feel like the threat she poses to the Fallen outweighs any utility she may offer. Other than that BLOOD AND FEATHERS is a solid debut novel, and promises a beginning to what will surely be an interesting series.

Recommended Age: 15+
Language: Nothing too explicit but it is certainly there.
Violence: Plenty to be found, but it's not all that gory.
Sex: None - to my utter surprise.

Want it? Buy it here.

Caliban's War

Where are the great Science Fiction series? It seems like there are dozens of fantasy series out there. A new fantasy book doesn’t come out that isn’t part of a series. It’s actually getting the fantasy authors to finish their series that’s the problem now a days. But Science Fiction? Where are the series? You could make a case for a few. John Scalzi has written at least four books in his Old Man’s War universe (depending on how you count THE SAGAN DIARY, and QUESTIONS FOR A SOLDIER). Robert Charles Wilson just last year wrote the last book in his Spin “trilogy”. But neither of them was a series. A book would come out and it would be a self-contained story written in the same universe. Neither were set up from the beginning to be a small part of something larger.

Good thing we have The Expanse.

CALIBAN'S WAR (the book we’re reviewing just in case you didn’t know), is the second book in The Expanse, and the sequel to last year’s excellent LEVIATHAN WAKES. LEVIATHAN WAKES was great and was amazing. It is currently on the Hugo nominee ballot for Best Novel, and was such a success that Orbit (the publisher of the series) ordered three more books and a series of novelettes. That means we’re getting (as best as I can count) six books in the series.

Folks, that’s good freaking news, cause this series rocks!

I’m gonna talk about the book now, which will inevitably spoil the previous book. So if you haven’t read LEVIATHAN WAKES, STOP READING! You’ve been warned.

CALIBAN'S WAR picks up a year after LEVIATHAN WAKES left off. The protomolecule has crashed into Venus and strange structures are sprouting up out of the atmosphere. Tensions between Earth, Mars and the newly former Outer Planet Alliance are high. On Ganymede a strange creature tears through a unit of Martian and Earther soldiers possibly sparking a war. Instead of just two viewpoints as was the case in LEVIATHAN WAKES, here we have four. Jim Holden is back, leading his crew trying to figure out what is going on with this strange creature and generally making a nuisance of himself. He is joined this time by Bobbie (can’t recall her last name at the moment) who is the lone surviving soldier when the creature attack. Avasarala, a diplomat from earth trying to keep the sides from war and figure out what is really happening. And Prax a scientist on Ganymede who, in the wake of the creatures attack and the disaster that follows, is trying to find his daughter who may be the key to everything that is going on.

I’m gonna come right out and say this. I think Daniel Abraham is setting the standard for the industry right now. His fantasy book THE KING'S BLOOD (book two in his fantasy series, The Dagger and the Coin) was probably the best thing I’ve read this year. He also co-wrote this book with a friend of his Ty Frank (they write together under the pseudonym James S.A. Corey). So he is writing some of the best fantasy series and the best SF series out there. This guy is unstoppable.

My review of THE KING'S BLOOD could almost just be copied and pasted here with some of the names changed. What Abraham did so well in that book, he and Ty Frank do just as well here. The characters are well thought out and interesting. They feel like people making real decisions, and most of the time the enjoyment in the books comes from watching those decisions have effects on other characters. The interplay between the viewpoints is a joy. The world we got a glimpse of in LEVIATHAN WAKES just got a bigger and more interesting. It all works.

That being said, I’m not sure I liked it as much as its predecessor. The book is good, it set up some truly big and wonderful things, but it felt more like a set up book than a payoff. It was good and great and I love the series, but the stakes seemed a bit higher last time around and the action a bit more intense.

Those are small problems really. The book is still great, the series advancing wonderfully. And as for the ending? I won’t spoil it here, but when my dad finished reading the book (he finished a day or so before me) he called me right away wanting to talk about it. He’s certainly set us up for something special.

Age Recommendation: 14+ Depending on how you take to the language. There’s a fair bit of it in here.
Language: A lot. Three fourths of the time there’s nothing there, but one character likes to swear like a sailor and she does it well.
Violence: A bit but not much. A few scenes of monster action and a few other standoffs.
Sex: Referenced more than shown and not much.

What are you waiting for? BUY THIS SERIES!!!

LEVIATHAN WAKES
CALIBAN'S WAR

And don't forget the bonus piece of short fiction:
THE BUTCHER OF ANDERSON STATION

Interview with Jeff Salyards

Every once in a while a debut author jumps out from behind a corner and surprises us. Really, really surprises us. Jeff Salyards is one such author, having completely blown us away with his Sword & Sorcery novel SCOURGE OF THE BETRAYER. The fact that this man can directly compete with the likes of Joe Abercrombie and Richard K. Morgan is just astounding. After writing the review of SCOURGE OF THE BETRAYER it hit me that there were a lot of things I forgot to mention about how awesome this book is. Luckily Mr. Salyards took the time and effort to answer some questions. If our review wasn't enough to convince you to start throwing money, this interview certainly is.

As usual, our questions are in "bold".

***The Interview with Jeff Salyards***

In one sentence describe Scourge of the Betrayer to a potential reader.

Scourge of the Betrayer is a hard-boiled, character-driven fantasy that involves shady and profane soldiers, intrigue, a nasty cursed weapon, and a clueless scribe trying to make sense of it all.

Scourge of the Betrayer is very narrow in scope but hints at large things to come in the Bloodsounder’s Arc. What brought you to choose this approach?

I knew from the beginning that I wanted the series, especially the first installment, to be more intimate than epic in scope, where the setting and larger world would get fleshed out gradually and the focus would be squarely on the characters. So I opted to go not only with first person narration, which lends itself to the intimate, but a narrator who had no idea what he was getting himself into (Arki, the scribe who accompanies the foreign military company without knowing their true mission). I wanted to highlight the stark contrast between the young and generally unworldly archivist and the rough and tumble group he’s signed up with, and for Arki to serve as a proxy for the reader in a sense as he struggles to find his footing.

Admittedly, this is a bit risky, for a number of reasons. Not all fantasy readers like first person, and this focus ensured that the plot points were largely hinted at for the first part of the book as Arki slowly puzzles things out for himself, and I knew some readers might get impatient with this strategy. But I gambled that the characters and their interactions would be compelling enough to keep readers engaged.

Given the structure and narrator, I also wanted to avoid those deadly-dull and stilted info dumps. You know, where the narrator spends five pages describing something he would be terribly familiar with only because the reader is totally unfamiliar. You have a bit more latitude with third person, but even there, plenty of fantasy novels bog down in exposition. Some writers pull this off with aplomb, so deftly you barely see it happen—wonderful history and detail delivered seamlessly. Other times, well, there’s a reason “dump” is part of the descriptor. . .

Don’t get me wrong, I loves me some deep world building. Big fan. Lush, varied, intricate, rich. Good stuff. But given that I was committed to this particular narrative/narrator, I knew I was going to have to really check myself. Arki does comment on the setting, and hopefully provides enough detail on a scene by scene level to ground the reader, to flesh things out and provide a sense of place and reality. But this was the last big risk, because it means the world building elements were going to come a bit slowly, and that some of them are only hinted at in the first book.

I know this approach could potentially alienate some readers, but I figured it was worth the risk. What’s the worst that could happen-- the book tanks, the publisher drops the rest of the series, and my name is like gonorrhea and I never get published again?

Oh. Hmmm. Maybe I should have thought this through some more. . .

As an author what would you cite as your greatest influences?

I firmly believe that part of a writer’s job is to keep the antennae up at all times, to be receptive to good wordsmithing and storytelling elements wherever you find them. Fiction, memoirs (wait, that’s fiction again), plays, blogs, screenplays, poetry, cereal boxes (also fiction), car ads, whatever. In your genre, outside, and then way, way out there, you can learn lessons about building tension, or smart dialogue, or conveying something economically (or elaborately and with ornate detail, for that matter), or just discover a different creative approach to something, a method or tack you hadn’t considered before.

But even if I narrow the field to fiction writers, or go real crazy and try to limit it to fantasy writers who have impacted me, the list is still ridonkulously long. Roger Zelazny, Edgar Rice Burroughs, K.J. Bishop, George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Richard K. Morgan, K.J. Parker, Joe Abercrombie, Tad Williams, Scott Lynch, Daniel Abraham and dozens more have all taught me something about the craft of writing.

Lloi the Grass Dog is a rare gem as far as female protagonists in Sword & Sorcery goes. What was your approach to writing her?

I’m glad you asked about her, because she’s one of my favorite characters. In your review, you mentioned that strong female characters that are complex can be hard to come by in fantasy. And that sucks (not your observation, but the fact that it tends to be true). So I really tried to come up with an interesting female that wasn’t a sex object, a victim, or a pissed off Amazonian.

Lloi has ridden a pretty rough road—ostracized from her family on account of some spoilerish skills I won’t go into here, one hand horribly mutilated (again for plot points I won’t spoil), sold off to a silk house (that there’s fancy talk for a whorehouse, son). Plus, factor in that she hails from a nomadic tribe and is a woman riding in an all-male military company, so she has dual-Othership going on, and she could legitimately have a lot to be ticked off, withdrawn, anxious, depressed, or hateful about. I didn’t make things easy on her at all.

Which is precisely why I went in another direction with how she responds. I wanted to show that she doesn’t succumb to all the awful crap thrown her way, and in fact manages to be almost Zen about the whole thing. She isn’t bitter or vengeful (which surprises Arki, when he learns about some of her past), though she has no problem standing up for herself. She’s as demure and delicate as boot leather, even going toe-to-toe with Mulldoos, who’s a pretty hardcore badass.

She’s unpolished, profane, and has no social grace, which is sort of disquieting to Arki, but given that she is also an outsider, they form an unlikely bond. And that was important —I wanted to give him someone to connect with that didn’t threaten, bully, or confuse him, as the Syldoon are wont to do.

She’s important for other plot-related reasons as well, especially to Captain Braylar Killcoin, but I really tried to develop a character that was intriguing and brought a lot of unexpected heart and grit to the table all on her own, not dependent directly on her relationships with the males in the story.

Captain Braylar Killcoin’s main weapon is a flail titled Bloodsounder. Firstly, thumbs up on weapon choice. Secondly why do you suppose flails and maces don’t get more love in fantasy novels? What are the merits of such weapons over the standard blade?

Well, first, I’d like to take a crack at explaining the choice. My dad was my only real hero growing up, but Indiana Jones was a close second. Smart, calculating, no qualms about fight dirty. But one reason for the draw was his signature weapon, the whip. Good for swinging over crevices, hanging from the undercarriage of German trucks, and oh, yeah, flaying some skin off someone. I just thought that was a great choice, not just on account of utility or cool factor, but simply because it was very unusual. It stood out.

Flash forward more years than I want to count, and when I was working up Braylar’s character, I knew he was going to possess a cursed weapon of some kind called Bloodsounder, and when I was considering what kind of weapon, Indiana Jones unexpectedly jumped to mind. Instantly, I knew Bloodsounder would end up being anything besides a sword, because that’s so ubiquitous or iconic as to be kind of a cliché (or at least a super uninspired choice). I needed something a little out of the box.

Swords get a lot of love across a lot of cultures for a lot of reasons: symbolic (the cruciform/cross dealio with religious significance to the Western European knight), status bling (Vikings, Lombards, Gauls, etc. had a history of naming weapons, but particularly swords, as they cost more to build and were passed down for generations), mystical (Excalibur, vorpal swords, Tyrfing, Durendal, Stormbringer, the Sword of Truth, shoot, one even showed up in Harry Potter for crying out loud!). They were also the first weapon that had no other purpose besides ending life—an axe could cut wood, a spear or bow could be used on hunt, a dagger to carve off a chunk of the thing that was hunted, etc. Swords are designed to look badass and to cut up the enemy. That’s it.

So I started thinking about and discarding other weapon choices: polearm like a halberd (cool, but difficult to conceal, and Braylar is a sneaky bastard); axe (second in popularity in most fantasy milieus, so not a real adventurous choice); bow (uh, Legolas, nuff said); crossbow (Bloodsounder really needed to be up close and personal anyway, so that eliminated blowguns, javelins, Lawn Darts, etc.); messers/falchions (still too swordy); etc.

I was getting frustrated, but then good old Indiana provided the second push. Not a whip, but something whip-like. My first thought was a Hussite flail, but passed over for the same polearm reason, but then I thought, what about the single-handed variety. . . Rare? Check. Can strike from some sneaky angles, especially against someone not used to facing one? Check. Deceptively fast and still packs a centrifugal force wallop? Check. Almost as dangerous to the user as the opponent? Double check! That was a perfect choice for a cursed weapon that exacts a serious toll on the user.

Choose one character from popular science fiction or fantasy that Braylar Killcoin would beat in one-on-one combat, and one character that would beat him.

I’ve seen this sort of thing play out several times on message boards and it’s tremendously entertaining (especially the inevitable arguments that erupt), but I never had to do it with my own character before. Captain Killcoin is a consummate badass, but not in the sense that he dispatches ten foes in a row each with a single well-placed blow. He gets injured in Scourge, and would have fared worse if he hadn’t been wearing armor. And I tried to establish in the book that armored combat sometimes ends with a body on the floor in short order, but it can also be a slug match, where endurance, experience, and the willingness to do whatever it takes to make it out alive often decide the contest. Skill, speed, and strength count for a lot, but so does savvy and grit and flat out meanness. And in this respect, Braylar is one of the best: smart, fast, trained, ruthless, and will kick dust in your face if things start to go south.

Fantasy is just brimming with awesome fighters. . . Fafhrd, Logan Ninefingers, Jaime Lannister (before getting chopped down to size), Druss, Conan, Sandor Clegane (or his big bad brother) and on and on. And then there are those with pronounced advantages (breeding, magic, hundreds or thousands of years to get dang good, etc.) that approach the superhuman: Skilgannon, Elric (provided he didn’t drop Stormbringer), Kelhus, Anomander, half the dudes in Malazan, really, etc.

It would be awesome to see a fight between Gregor Clegane and Braylar. Gregor isn’t necessarily the greatest swordsman, but he is monstrously huge and strong, absolutely remorseless, and a pretty terrifying force of nature (not quite on the same level as The Feared, but for a mortal, about as intimidating an opponent as they come). Braylar is smaller and weaker, but faster, more mobile, and calculating. The Red Viper’s undoing when he fought the Mountain was presuming the poison had done its business and prematurely thinking the fight was over. Thanks to Bloodsounder, Braylar knows when the fight is over. And while his weapon is cursed and exacts a brutal toll on its wielder, that’s after the battle, and without spoiling anything I’ll say that it does also occasionally provides a very brief advantage in combat. So Braylar might get knocked around suffer some serious wounds against Gregor, but thanks to his natural viciousness, speed, and weapon, he would dance out of reach long enough to whittle the monster down.

By the same token, if Braylar came up against someone with ridiculous prowess like Icarium or Kelhus, he might land a blow or two or draw the thing out with a bit of help from his fickle flail, but in the end he’d fare no better than Cnaiur—he’d get his ass kicked.

Say you are purchasing a recently released book for a dearly beloved friend and avid reader of SF and Fantasy. What would it be?

So many to pick from. . . Daniel Abraham’s The King’s Blood would be a fine choice, presuming my beloved friend has already read The Dragon’s Path, otherwise it would have to be a two-fer too). Richard K. Morgan’s Kovacs series might not qualify as “recent,” but those are some of my favorite science fiction books I’ve recently come across.

If I’m thinking debuts, stand-alones, or the start to a new series (and let’s be honest, with all the princess crap I have to buy for my three daughters, purchasing one book is easier to bear than two-plus, unless we’re talking a wedding gift for a bibliophile), Paul Tobin’s Prepare to Die! is tons of fun, and deeper than expected, given that it’s about superheroes and supervillains. The Killing Moon by N.J. Jemisin is getting crazy raves, but I haven’t picked that one up yet, so maybe I’d just get that for myself.

Wait, do-over! Would it be totally narcissistic and make me look like a self-promoting asshat to say Scourge of the Betrayer? You bet it would! SCOURGE OF THE FRICKIN’ BETRAYER!!

The world in which Scourge of the Betrayer is set is of the pseudo-Middle Ages European sort but there are some pretty distinct differences. Can readers expect more of this as the series continues?

Absolutely. As you noted in your recent review, I intentionally kept the mystical or magical elements on the periphery in the first book of the series. I wanted to really establish a fantasy world with as much realism as possible—nasty inns, barmaids who aren’t supermodels, watery ale, fights that turn on a dime and not always in the protagonists’ favor, unexpected deaths with no closure or pretty protracted deathbed speeches. Not necessarily ugly, brutish, and short, but not far off the mark either, and decidedly mundane on the surface. The intent was, when the characters (and therefore the readers) encounter the supernatural elements for the first time, they would definitely appear strange, dangerous, maybe even awe-inspiring. But not common, and hopefully they would “pop” more given that I was going for an almost historical fiction vibe in the rest of the book.

Now, I’m sort of stealing a page from Martin (it’s not like he couldn’t spare one, and I say that with fanboy love!), and those elements will slowly become more prominent and important as the series progresses. But I never want to lose that feeling of, “Holy crap—magic is rare! And kind of spooky!”

If Scourge of the Betrayer were an ice cream flavor what flavor would it be?

Blood orange.

What can you tell us of the sequel to Scourge of the Betrayer?

Well, doubling back to your earlier question about scope, it will definitely expand in the sequel. The reader will get a lot more info about the Syldoon themselves, Bloodsounder, The Memoridons, the Deserter Gods, the Godveil, etc. Now, I’m not going to claim it does a complete 180, as the narrative is still filtered through Arki, but for those hoping to see some deeper world building, they should be pretty satisfied.

Also, as far as setting goes, the story won’t be as claustrophobic (that was intentional in Scourge, as I wanted the reader to feel aligned with Arki in some sense), as the characters move on to some different locales.

Also also, the pace picks up now that (some) of the Syldoon agenda is on the table, and Arki is (more) privy to what they are actually doing.

Say Scourge of the Betrayer gets picked up by a major film studio to be turned into a Hollywood blockbuster. What three songs would you insist be included on the movie soundtrack and why?

I always liked Michael Mann’s soundtrack choices—Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, you name it. He always seems to pick the right soundtrack to perfectly sync with the material, bolstering it without overpowering it. So if he signed on to direct the Hollywood Blockbuster, I would just get the hell out of the way and let the man work. But assuming it’s not him, and in this glorious fantasy I have creative input on the soundtrack, I would have enlisted Basil Poledouris to produce something special (seriously, Conan the Barbarian AND Flesh & Blood, are you freaking kidding me?!), but he’s no longer with us. Since this isn’t A Knight’s Tale , so no Queen, Beastie Boys, Lady Gaga, or any other modern music, I’d probably have to go with something instrumental, dark, and moody, so I’d probably just phone Jerry Goldsmith (The 13th Warrior) or Harry Gregson-Williams (The Kingdom of Heaven) to see what they had going on. Since we’re in fantasy land.

Any final words for potential readers?

Are you inviting me to shamelessly deliver a sales pitch like a snake oil salesman here? Prostituting myself just to get a few more sales? Because I can do that! Scourge of the Betrayer has really well-developed and nuanced characters, great (and super entertaining!) dialogue, and quite a bit of intrigue. If you’re looking for something dark and hard hitting, that has just enough funny gallows humor and sarcastic barbs to balance out the profanity, blood, and guts, this is it!

Also, if you pick up the book, I’ll be incredibly grateful. Not as in, I’ll come mow your lawn or do your taxes or anything (which is good, I suck at doing mine), but still, more thankful and appreciate than I can say.

Chrysanthe

Christine is a princess of the magical world of Chrysanthe, but at the age of four was kidnapped and taken where she couldn't be found. With no real memory of her former life, she's dismayed at the appearance of Quentin, a knight of Chrysanthe come to take her home. Should she trust this man with a familiar voice? Because her "guardian" will not let her go easily...
The prose in CHRYSANTHE has a lyrical quality with some lovely imagery, and Yves Meynard clearly wanted to write the best he knows how. Every word, sentence, and image is carefully crafted.  He creates setting elements with imagination, taking old cliches and breathing new life into them. Meynard is very precise in the forward movement of plot and storytelling, placing foreshadowing with subtlety.

Unfortunately, he could have chosen a more interesting story to tell.

Christine is a likable enough character, with Quentin as her knight in shining armor. As the story progresses we meet her father, the court sorceress Melogian, various soldiers, sailors, dukes, servants, and the typical villains...and experience most of their PoVs. After seeing her and Quentin almost exclusively for the first quarter of the book, their story fades to allow others into the foreground. As a result of the frequent PoV switches and distant narration of all their back stories, character progression grinds to a halt and never recovers.

A lot of detail, more than was necessary, is spent on the escape of Christine and Quentin from her prison in the "made world" (this over-sharing becomes a theme throughout the book). At first the escape has some interesting action and scenery, but the plot moves forward slowly, becoming predictable and cliche. The interactions between characters is awkward with pages and pages of almost maid-and-butler dialogue. The middle half I don't think I can easily label other than a meandering flow of character movement and the set-up for: the last quarter of the book, which is a tedious and distanced war until the last, exciting 50 pages.

I was confused. Isn't Christine the main character? Then why is she almost absent for the last half of the book? Why does she spend all her time holed up in her palace bedroom reading and taking baths? Why isn't she more involved in the crescendoing plot? Why do we visit these other people in so much boring detail?

All the character PoV switches makes the plot lop-sided. Instead of forwarding the story, character back story is more important to establishing the details necessary to work out a tidily executed climax. In the book it's explained to us that a wizard's magic is created with arcane words, movements, and magical items, all in a complex ritual where every little detail must coalesce for the magic to work. That's how the climax felt to me: Meyard spends so much time and pointless detail just to make the climax work (sure it's cool, but that's beside the point). Wizards are no match for a good editor.

CHRYSANTHE feels like it should be a YA book, the way Meynard writes it from teenage Christine's PoV. Except for the sexual content. Christine has been living with her "uncle" since she was taken from her father for suspected abuse, and is forced to endure memory recovery therapy at the hands of a quack where she "remembers" sexual abuse by her father and others. Clear to the end of CHRYSANTHE it still felt like if Meynard had taken out the sex and the profanity it could easily have been marketed to a YA audience (and not necessarily in spite of the themes of abuse). And he really should have because this kind of story would feel new and fresh to young readers, whereas more widely read SF readers will see it for the re-hash that it is.

Meynard introduces us to some interesting ideas of magic and law and heroes, what's real and what's not, and how magic works. But ultimately CHRYSANTHE is overwrought and cumbersome, and doesn't have a lot to separate it from other fantasy worlds out there.

Recommended Age: 17+
Language: A handful or two
Violence: War-related blood and gore but the narration style gives it distance
Sex: Frequent references to rape, some of which have detail; consensual encounters with brief detail If you want to give this novel a try, here's your link: CHRYSANTHE