Dave Duncan (1933–2018)

The second book in the series, but they all seem to work as standalone. Similar setting, but different characters, with characters from the first book making cameos. It can be read on its own perfectly well but, if you have also read the first book, you might notice a certain discrepancy between the two endings. Apparently that will be explained in the third book.

I wanted a story about the King's Blades, and it took me by surprise when it quickly drifted away from that and became a story about the viking-like Baels. It took me a little bit, but I warmed up to the story. It has war, politics, dynastical strife, murder, revenge... It ended up being quite a good story, actually, although it did bother me at times how people made confessions to move the story forward.

I did not quite like the Baels with their brutal ways: even if some of them are likable individually, they still make a good living by pillaging, raping and enslaving. Of course, the supposedly more civilized Chicians, at least the rulers, are not much better.

This is a good. solid fantasy series.… (altro)

Quite solid heroic fantasy, without being outstanding. It's the first in the King's Blades series but all of the books work well as standalones with different characters.

It's a swashbuckling story, vaguely inspired by The three Musketeers and by the swords & sorcery genre. The book follows the life and career of Durendal, perhaps the greatest of the King's Blades. The Blades are a knightly order which recruits young boys, often troublesome ones or ones without family but who show athletic promise, and trains them into becoming some of the finest swordsman in the world. Then, through a magical ritual, the resulting young men are bonded to the king or to a person of his choosing. This person is referred to as a blade's "ward". Blades are connected to their ward psychically, and can't help being loyal beyond any other consideration, and giving their lives if necessary to protect their ward.

The story starts with a young waif being tested for reflexes and skill before being accepted into the Order. This would have been a good opportunity to get us readers to bond with the hero by following his training, starting with his period as "the Brat", the newest blade candidate, who is subjected to hazing until a new boy is recruited. However, this is a more long-term story, so we skip ahead to the end of his training, when he is already one of the most skilled blade candidates produced by the order.

We would expect young Durendal then to start a career of adventures. Instead, he is bonded to a despicable fop from the court, and it seems his talent and life will be wasted. Years pass, however, and we finally see that fate has other things in mind for sir Durendal.

Because of what I have explained, the start of the book can be a bit underwhelming, and it takes a while before we get the adventures and the magic we had been expecting. But we sure do get them, in a swashbuckling, swords & sorcery style.

Then we follow Durendal's later life and, as we wait to see what his ultimate fate will be, the circle of the story ends up closing in a very satisfactory manner.

On the negative side, the worldbuilding is a bit generic, inspired by Britain in the late Middle Ages. Also, the characterization is not as skillful as it could have been. I liked Durendal, but I did not feel as if I knew him as deeply as I might have.

On the other hand, although I was suspicious of the time skips in the beginning, I finally thought that the story was quite well-structured. Duncan does well in showing how the kingdom changes throughout the life of the main character, and the story arc closes in a way that gives cohesion to a seemingly episodic story.… (altro)

‘Mother Of Lies’ is the sequel to ‘Children Of Chaos’ and the final book in this two book series. Spoilers are inevitable if you haven’t read ‘Children Of Chaos’. so do that first.
The world of Dodec is a dodecahedron with twelve flat faces. Everyone has sworn allegiance to a single god or goddess according to their desires. Mayn is the goddess of wisdom and her followers are seers. Ucr is god of prosperity, followed by merchants. There are thirteen gods in all, helpfully listed in the preface along with major characters.

Fierce warriors from the Vigaelian face of Dodec invaded the Florengian face about sixteen years ago and conquered all before them. The doge of Celebre, the richest city in Florengia, was forced to hand over his children as hostages to Stralg Hragson, bloodlord of the Heroes of Weru. They were taken back to Vigaelia and their stories are told in book one. At the end of which they have been reunited and are making their way back home with Saltaja Hragsdor, Mother of Lies, in hot pursuit.

While they were gone, many on the Florengian face joined the Heroes of Weru and learned to fight. By dedicating themselves to Weru, god of storm and battle, they gain the power to ‘battleform’ into huge, deadly animals. Then they turned on the invaders and almost defeated them, but at great cost. Most cities are devastated. Celebre is still intact but the old doge is dying and there is much contention over who will succeed him. His legitimate children are on the way from Vigaelia, but no one in Florengia knows it yet. Dantio is a seer, Orlad a warrior and daughter Fabia a powerful sorceress who, like Saltaja Hragsdor herself, is secretly allied to the death goddess Xaran. The doge’s wife Olivia has a bastard son by Stralg Hragson, the result of rape, who thinks he should be heir. Marno Cavotti, the leader who has fought for years to liberate his homeland, might have his own ideas about that and he has an army.

As in ‘Children Of Chaos’, the story is told from multiple points of view, a different character every chapter. Each chapter starts with the character’s name in block capitals starting a sentence. ‘MARNO CAVOTTI heard the warbeasts’ fury as he dived from the parapet.’ This deft technique reminds you of the varied cast and helps you follow the story. There’s a lot to be said for clarity in commercial fiction writing. The yarn moves at a ripping pace and is sufficiently intriguing to keep you turning pages.

I enjoyed the book but not quite as much as the first one, perhaps because the children of Celebre started out quite helpless there and grew stronger through their trials. Here they are already formidable. Even so, it’s a fine tale with several twists and a neat resolution. Dave Duncan’s plotting reminds me somewhat of Kevin J. Anderson but he has more likeable characters and his prose style is smoother. He departed this vale of tears before I discovered him but left over thirty books in his wake so if you like this series, as I do, there are plenty of other books available.… (altro)