This review originally appeared on Goodreads on October 17, 2021.

The Disfavored Hero

By Jessica Amanda Salmonson – Ace Books – January 1, 1981

Review by Robin Marx

While I found the idea of a female samurai sword & sorcery protagonist appealing, I was a bit let down by the book itself.

The book starts off strong. Tomoe finds herself under the sway of an evil not-Chinese sorcerer, who compels her to join a demon horde and slaughter thousands of her former master’s warriors. She manages to free herself from this magical influence, but the damage is done: her master is slain and her honor as a samurai besmirched. She goes off on a journey to restore her good name.

Unfortunately, the book that follows is largely directionless and disjointed. It’s more of a sequence of events than a cohesive narrative. Tomoe is afflicted by a curse early on in the story that gets resolved about halfway through the story, and the book concludes with a duel with the shogun’s champion, who she encounters early on (not that there’s much of a dramatic build towards this duel, or a sense of inevitability), but there’s not really a driving plot. Tomoe wanders and experiences strange events involving magic and monsters.

The decision to set the book in an alternate world is a strange one. I suppose setting the story in “Naipon” rather than Nippon offers some cover for inaccuracies and allows license to do a “good bits version” of historical Japan. But Tomoe is a historical (if mythologized) figure and real world locations and religions are used, rather than fictionalized substitutes. Real Japanese terms appear frequently throughout, if occasionally misspelled or misused. Characters sometimes have names that would be unpronounceable in Japanese (“Noyimo”), and the western first name-last name order is used. I wished Salmonson had committed to either sticking close to the real Japan or taking a much freer hand with the source material. Her “Naipon” seems like a frustrating half-measure.

Published in 1981, this book is notable for using a non-Western fantasy setting and for having a lesbian heroine, but the plot wasn’t especially engaging.

★★☆☆☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #Fantasy #SwordAndSorcery #Japan #TheDisfavoredHero #JessicaAmandaSalmonson #TomoeGozen

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on March 21, 2013.

Gardens of the Moon

By Steven Erikson – Tor Books – January 10, 2005

Review by Robin Marx

“Interesting” probably best summarizes this book. This was an incredibly dense, frustrating read, but it was interesting enough that I was compelled to stick with it. Although I still think there are some pretty major issues with this book, I'm glad I completed it.

This is not a very reader-friendly book. Erikson doesn't make much of an effort to clue the reader in on what's going on, and a lot of the story relies on reading between the lines. Every character has their own hidden agendas, and its even trickier when all their intrigues are taking place in a brick-sized “cast of thousands” style epic fantasy. At its worst, it's almost comical, with a number of scenes where unidentified characters meet with named (but completely new) characters, mumble some mysterious portents, and then leaves. After finishing each chapter I read the corresponding section on the TOR website's re-read series, that helped me grasp some of the more opaque bits. I'm usually a pretty fast reader, but I crawled through this book.

Fortunately, the second half of the book is much more engaging than the first. The action became a bit easier to follow, although I'd be lying if I said I didn't have trouble keeping track of all the characters introduced after the move to Darujhistan. As can be expected in the first volume in a lengthy series, this book mainly serves to get the ball rolling. However, enough happens that it still feels like this book has its own plot arc, with a beginning, middle, and end. In the second half, Erikson cuts back a bit on the bricklaying and finally starts to have some fun with things, presenting some pretty exciting scenes. This served as the dessert to the first half of the book's interminable vegetable buffet. The conclusion really opened things up, making me excited about where the series is headed. It was nice that there was some reward for muddling through, I wasn't sure any was forthcoming.

This book (and apparently the series as a whole, from what I've read) is reminiscent of Glen Cook's Black Company and Dread Empire series. The scale is epic, and focuses on both the primary movers and shakers as well as a more humble group of soldiers. Also like Cook's stories, the tone is a tad on the grim side, with lots of moral ambiguity and a lack of a clear delineation between good and evil. That suits me just fine, but some fantasy readers prefer lighter fare. Those readers aren't going to like this book.

Fans of the series praise the author's mason-like plot-building skills, where vague hints and throwaway lines get a big pay-off later on, often in subsequent volumes. That's fine, I respect cleverness and attention to detail, but there's something to be said for readability. Reviews for this book seem to be pretty polarized, with unsatisfied readers who couldn't get through it and others that struggled with this volume, but came to appreciate it a great deal more after reading the rest of the series. I'm hoping I'll be able to join the ranks of the second group of readers, since the ambitious scope of this series is appealing. I like the direction hinted at towards the end of the book, and I've purchased the second volume in the series. However, I think I'm going to read something less challenging for the next book or two.

★★★☆☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #Fantasy #EpicFantasy #StevenErikson #GardensOfTheMoon #MalazanBookOfTheFallen

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on November 4, 2015.

Lords of Dyscrasia

By S.E. Lindberg – IGNIS Publishing – July 7, 2011

Review by Robin Marx

While Lords of Dyscrasia benefits from an extremely original setting and intense, driving action, my enjoyment was hindered by some storytelling issues.

The premise is an interesting one. We're introduced to Endenken Lysis, who rules an unusual tribe afflicted with Dyscrasia, an imbalance of the humors that has resulted in a long history of birth defects and mutations within the society. An epic struggle results when Endenken refuses to play his preordained role in a mystic ritual, instead coming to the aid of a fleeing woman from the outside. Complications ensue and Endenken soon finds himself undead and infused with necromantic magic, caught in a struggle between two ancient divinities.

Rather than high or low fantasy, the book has a particularly mythic feel. There's not much introspection or even dialogue, the bulk of it focuses on the epic deeds of larger than life figures (most undead). The downside to this approach is that it felt like the characters were ciphers. Apart from the immediate aim (e.g., “strike down this enemy”), their overall goals or motives were frequently hard to ascertain.

The setting was very fresh and interesting (some of it reminded me of Tanith Lee, minus the eroticism but with the gruesome dialed to maximum), but likewise rendered in broad strokes. This is seen frequently in the sword & sorcery sub genre, where intriguing names and concepts are touched upon but usually not elaborated in detail. While this is a perfectly valid storytelling approach, the amount of setting-specific jargon in the text left me feeling confused for much of the book. While it was possible to “go with the flow” for most of the narrative, I think the reliance on insufficiently explained terms kept the central plot (including a betrayal by a supporting character) from having the intended impact. When you have two opposing characters spouting bewildering dialog at each other, it's difficult to appreciate the stakes underlying their conflict.

Surprisingly, the book concluded with a detailed glossary and dramatis personae. Tucked away in the back of the ebook, this appendix obviously did me no good while reading the story, but it did manage to clear away a lot of the confusion lingering after the narrative ended. While it would have been nice to know about this glossary before reading the book (the Table of Contents only—unhelpfully—marks this section as an “Index”), it would have been even better if this background had been better incorporated into the text itself as terms are introduced.

Finally, while the action scenes are plentiful and exciting (a blade that slices through bone while leaving flesh intact; how cool is that?), there's an almost comical over-reliance on exclamation points in the second half of the book. The prose was strong enough to stand on its own, the constant exclamation points felt like having somebody poking me at the movie theater, saying “This is the cool part!” every few moments. I can see that it's cool, no need to jab me.

While the storytelling issues hindered my enjoyment of the book, I respect its ambition, originality, and exciting action a great deal. Parts confused and frustrated me, but I was never bored. I think most of my issues can be chalked up to a first-time novelist finding his footing, and look forward to reading the second Dyscrasia novel.

★★★☆☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #Fantasy #DarkFantasy #SwordAndSorcery #LordsOfDyscrasia #SELindberg #DyscrasiaFiction

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on January 6, 2014.

Sword Sisters: A Red Reaper Novel

By Tara Cardinal & Alex Bledsoe – Rogue Blades Entertainment – December 11, 2013

Review by Robin Marx

I enjoyed this book, but it had some issues.

Penned with established author Alex Bledsoe, this novel apparently serves as a prequel to actor/screenwriter Tara Cardinal's indie film The Red Reaper. I haven't seen the movie, and as a result when I finished the book I felt a bit like I has missed out on something. It wasn't that the setting and characters were poorly explained, it was rather the opposite; the first third of the book details a very interesting premise and, unfortunately, the main plot only ever engages with a fraction of that rich background.

Sword Sisters tells the story of Aella, a human-demon hybrid Reaper. In the novel world's past, demons invaded from beyond, preying on humanity. Products of forced interbreeding with human women, the second generation of Reapers turned against their progenitors, fighting back the demons and freeing humanity. Since then, the supernaturally resilient and semi-immortal Reapers act as humanity's guardians, remaining largely apart from mankind in an effort to let them control their own destiny.

Aella in particular is—wait for it—the Chosen One of prophecy. The product of the union between the leader of the demons and a gifted Teller Witch, she is fated to become the Red Reaper, last of her kind and the most powerful of all, destined to combine the Reapers' physicality with Teller Witch magic. As a child, Aella is betrayed by her mother in exchange for magical power, handed over to the demons to endure years of abuse and torture in their realm.

Despite the over-reliance of prophecy in the fantasy genre, this is all very interesting stuff. However, the story that follows is much smaller in scale. We meet Aella as a snotty teenager, rebelling against her mentors at the Reaper monastery at which she lives. Annoyed by one instructor in particular, she cuts class and heads off into the woods, where she encounters a human village girl about to sacrificed to a cave-dwelling god. Ambivalent about humanity, Aella is still compelled to come to the girl's aid, an impulsive act that has unforeseen consequences.

The story that follows is fun and action-packed, with an interesting twist near the end, but I kept expecting it to ramp up into something bigger, and it never did. Is Aella truly fated to become the Red Reaper? Will the demons return for a final confrontation? We don't find out in this book. Maybe the movie tells that story? The cover says that this is “A” Red Reaper Novel, perhaps there are more to follow? I can't help feeling that this book wouldn't have been better served if less emphasis and page count had been placed on Aella's destiny in the beginning of the book. As it stands we're left with a fun, fairly localized sword & sorcery adventure burdened with epic fantasy framing that turns out to be mostly irrelevant to the tale we're presented with.

I also wonder if the book couldn't have been better pitched as a Young Adult novel. Despite the mature and confident-looking swordswoman on the awesome cover art, the book is really a Coming of Age story with a 16 year old protagonist. Younger readers may find Aella a more relatable character than Rogue Blades Entertainment's usual audience of crusty Conan fans.

The prose is mostly well-written and evocative, and the story progresses at a fast clip. Dialogue and characterization were a little clunky, however. For someone who spent an eternity being molested and tortured by demons, Aella seems remarkably stable, exhibiting no real mental health problems beyond typical teenage rebelliousness and mild trust issues. The novel is written in the first person, and Aella's tone is flip and thoroughly modern. While I don't insist fantasy characters limit themselves to Ren Faire speech, it takes me out of the story a bit when one character is told not to “freak out” when confronted with a monster and when supposedly formidable opponents are labeled “Ass-Face Number One and Number Two.” The most cringe-worthy is when Aella proclaims that she has “come to kick demon ass and chew gum tree leaves, and I'm all out of gum tree leaves.” A They Live/Rowdy Roddy Piper reference, really?

Editing was top-notch, with Rogue Blade Entertainment providing a higher quality ebook than many larger publishers. Again, the cover art is fantastic.

Some complaints aside, I would be interested in seeing more Red Reaper stories. Overlooking producer Uwe Boll's association, I'd be willing to give the movie a shot, and there is a lot of potential for future adventures starring Aella. I'd have no problem recommending this book to a teen Hunger Games fan, provided they can cope with the (“off-screen”) rape-filled Reaper background.

★★★☆☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #Fantasy #SwordAndSorcery #TaraCardinal #AlexBledsoe #SwordSisters

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on January 25, 2018.

Helen's Daimones

By S.E. Lindberg – IGNIS Publishing – September 23, 2017

Review by Robin Marx

Promoted as a gateway to Lindberg's Dyscrasia setting, this novella is a prequel to the second novel in the series, Spawn of Dyscrasia. While this is certainly the most approachable installment, and I would go so far as to say it's an essential part of the series, it shares some of the previous books' issues.

The highlights of this volume are the same as in the other installments: the vivid description and sheer imagination on display. Though far from the first post-apocalyptic fantasy setting, the world portrayed here is a unique one, unlikely to be confused with any other. The blasted wasteland and its bizarre, mutated inhabitants are described with a loving eye to detail. The mythic atmosphere of the original Lords of Dyscrasia has also given way to a richly gothic one.

The originality of the setting remains a double-edged sword, however. Because the world and characters presented differ so much from more conventional settings, the reader is left without many recognizable touchstones. The world is mostly dead, and populated with mutants, traumatized orphans, and a handful of godlike beings, mostly living in a largely-subterranean tomb city. Sharon is the closest thing the series has seen to a regular human viewpoint character, but this story mainly focused on the less conventional visionary wild child Helen, with large stretches devoted to the (always fascinating, yet inscrutable) Lord Lysis and Doctor Grave.

Without any normal people to relate to, the reader is left slightly alienated from the setting and its inhabitants. “What do these people eat?” is a question I had for most of the book, and one that was answered in the final pages of the novella. They eat tree nuts filled with mutant insect larvae. While I've got to admit that's pretty metal as far as setting details go, it's not an experience I share, and therefore yet another thing that separates me from the people I'm reading about.

That being said, Helen's Daimones provides some much-appreciated background to Spawn of Dyscrasia, and I wish it had been available before I read that book. It definitely provides a gentle introduction and enhancement to Spawn of Dyscrasia, but because so much depends on the events of Lords of Dyscrasia it's difficult to recommend this book as a “gateway” to the series as a whole. This novella refers to those events repeatedly, acting as a welcome refresher course for people who HAVE read Lords of Dyscrasia, but if you're completely new to the series I wouldn't recommend starting here. If you don't already have a vague idea of what a “larvalwyrmen” is, this novella isn't going to educate you.

That being said, the storytelling is the clearest of any of the series installments to date. If you enjoyed Lords of Dyscrasia and appreciate Lindberg's fiercely original and sometimes opaque brand of vivid weirdness, definitely pick this up, ideally before reading Spawn of Dyscrasia.

★★★★☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #Fantasy #DarkFantasy #SwordAndSorcery #HelensDaimons #SELindberg #DyscrasiaFiction

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on October 21, 2021.

The Corpse-Rat King

By Lee Battersby – Angry Robot – August 28, 2012

Review by Robin Marx

Marius dos Hellespont is a con man and a “corpse-rat,” a scoundrel who makes a living looting the dead bodies on a battlefield. A twist of fate leads him to be mistaken for a fallen king by the restless dead, who drag him to their subterranean realm to rule over them. When he reveals himself as both 1.) still living, and 2.) not a king, they return him to the surface charged with finding a replacement king. Or else.

While probably most aptly categorized in the “grimdark” subgenre of fantasy, this is a very humorous picaresque romp, with the cynicism of Jack Vance if not the verbosity. Clever cons and reversals of fortune abound. Some reviewers found this book lacking in substance, but I found the fast pace and breeziness a welcome change of pace.

This story works just fine as a stand-alone novel, but when I noticed a sequel was available I picked it up right away.

★★★★☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #Grimdark #Fantasy #LeeBattersby #TheCorpseRatKing #MariusDosHellespont

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on February 23, 2019.

Valen the Outcast Vol. 2: Death Eternal

By Michael Alan Nelson (Writer) & Matteo Scalera (Artist) – BOOM! Studios – December 11, 2012

Review by Robin Marx

I wasn’t expecting this series to end so quickly, but the end result was satisfying. The story had a fast pace throughout and plenty of action.

★★★★☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #ComicReview #Fantasy #DarkFantasy #Grimdark #SwordAndSorcery #ValenTheOutcast

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on February 23, 2019.

Valen the Outcast Vol. 1: Abomination

By Michael Alan Nelson (Writer) & Matteo Scalera (Artist) – BOOM! Studios – December 1, 2011

Review by Robin Marx

While marketed as sword & sorcery, so far this comic feels a bit closer to the grimdark sub-genre a la Joe Abercrombie (with a bit of early Berserk) rather than Robert E. Howard’s Conan.

Category quibbling aside, this series is off to a good start. The premise is simple but effective: an undead king named Valen shakes off a necromancer’s control and seeks revenge. He’s joined in this task by two slightly unreliable companions: a witch/swordswoman named Zjanna and drunkard rogue Cordovan.

The story moves at a brisk pace with no wasted verbiage or lengthy info dumps, and the world building is of the “show, don’t tell” variety. I look forward to reading future volumes and would recommend it to fans of dark fantasy.

★★★★☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #ComicReview #Fantasy #DarkFantasy #Grimdark #SwordAndSorcery #ValenTheOutcast

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on January 20, 2022.

John the Balladeer

By Manly Wade Wellman – Baen Books – July, 1988

Review by Robin Marx

John roams the mountains of Appalachia carrying little more than his silver-stringed guitar and a rucksack with some provisions. Motivated by curiosity, he seeks out folklore and new songs to add to his repertoire. Along the way he encounters simple folk in need, sinister magicians, and supernatural horrors. John lives by his wits, the magic-defeating silver of his guitar strings, and his knowledge of folklore and biblical lore.

There’s a wandering outsider hero, black magic, and otherworldly menaces. These stories aren’t precisely sword & sorcery, but if you like that sort of thing, you’ll like THIS sort of thing.

★★★★☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #Horror #Fantasy #FolkHorror #SwordAndSorcery #ManlyWadeWellman #JohnTheBalladeer #SilverJohn

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on April 20, 2014.

Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery

By Kurtis J. Wiebe (Writer) & Roc Upchurch (Artist) – Image Comics – March 26, 2014

Review by Robin Marx

I picked this up after reading a Tor.com review, and I'm glad I did, as this is probably the most entertaining fantasy comic I've read in quite some time.

Rat Queens chronicles the misadventures of four mercenary women. Their party matches a fairly standard D&D party composition: dwarf fighter, elf mage, human cleric, and “smidgen” (hobbit/halfling) thief, but each character has a twist. The dwarf fighter rebelled against her clan by shaving off her beard, for example, and the cleric is likewise an outcast, an atheist having turned her back on the squid-worshiping cult that trained her. Their setting is likewise familiar to role playing gamers, basically a carousing spot and base of operations for adventurers, where the mayor hands out quests and the captain of the guard is constantly having to mediate disputes between (frequently drunk) mercenaries and the local townsfolk.

Volume 1 serves mostly to introduce the characters and set up a conspiracy that looks to drive the plot for at least the next story arc or so, so it might feel a little slight to some, but I found it to be a fun, fast read. Sensitive readers might be put off by the gore and profanity, but in most cases both are used to humorous effect. In addition to the humor, I also liked how diverse the cast of characters was. People of various colors and shapes and orientations show up without it coming off as ostentatious pandering to the folks concerned by the common lack of representation of social minorities in the media.

I prefer reading comics in collected format rather than as single issues, but this is one series that tempts me to switch. I look forward to the Rat Queens' future adventures.

★★★★☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #ComicReview #Fantasy #ImageComics #RatQueens