Baker, Kage. The House of the Stag. Tor, 2008. Lord Ermenwyr 2.
If you like sword-and-sandal fantasy that effortlessly blends the narrative patterns of pagan and Christian myths, you can’t do better than Kage Baker’s The House of the Stag. It tells the story of Gard, an orphaned half-demon, who escapes from slavery to marry a saint. I know. Spoilers. But they won’t spoil the fun because Baker has a droll sense of humor that emerges from the romance and adventure when you least expect it. Four stars. ( )

Hmm a strange book in the end , it starts off serious with the mc becoming a captive to wizards under a mountain and overcoming them eventually when he becomes wiser and stronger then them which I enjoyed but then round at the time where the mc escapes from the mountain the book totally changes it's tone from serious to lightness in a blink which I found jarring it was still enjoyable but for me the author should have stuck with just one tone.

What I didn't like the mc committed rape out of nowhere this didn't fit his character from earlier in the book and then proposed marriage to her and got married and the victim fall in love with him and had children together

There was also a very strange scene where an evil wooden puppet villian made one of her slaves to have sex with her which was cringing to read

To be honest I'm confused with this book I still not know what to make off it all.

While there are number of enjoyable things about this book, in the end it suffers from external constraints. It was written to be the backstory of some of the characters in the first book of this series, and thus the ending was pre-ordained. This both decreases anticipation for a reader familiar with the first book and handicaps the author, who can't stray from that outcome. ( )

Kage Baker loved her heroes and she wrote a great story for Gard. It's a solid fantasy with slow and interesting world building, from the hidden valley of the Yendri to the ice mountain of the mages to wherever his journey takes him. He is mirrored by heroine that is designed to be good enough for him. The story is exciting and just quirky enough. The ending was a little meh, but I'm gonna miss this author, once I finish her works. ( )

I found this book less well done than the Anvil of the world, and it seems somehow unresolved. Perhaps that is just a question of how conditioned we have become to the trilogy format?
Nonetheless it's a pre-quel to the Anvil of the world, and is a competent but not astonishing achievement compared to the Company novels. ( )