Posted by So, I’ve read this author before and really enjoyed his book Daros that was a semifinalist a couple years back in the scifi version of this contest. I believe it was last year his book Kenai was not only a finalist, but won SPSFC. I was excited to get started on this one because he tends to have humor in his books and I am very much so a comedy reader.
We start out with a knight, Lady Isovar, and her very exhausted companion/squire, Chevson. To describe Lady Isovar in a sentence — she sees the world in black and white. To her, things are either good or bad and there are rules to life which you have to follow. Lady Isovar has a bunch of oaths that she adheres to as rules for her own life and she never deviates. She actually has all of her oaths numbered because it helps her keep track of what she’s supposed to do and not supposed to do in any situation. However, she’s such a rigid and literal thinker that she’s unable to adapt to situations and think through them critically. Her squire Chevson is the more flexible thinker of the two and often tries to talk her through certain situations since her absolute adherence to her oaths make things difficult or impossible to make it through the day. I love a good foil, and this relationship reminded me a little bit of Kif and Zapp Brannigan from Futurama, a leader who’s only leading because the second in command/helper is making sure they don’t fuck everything up. That said, there’s a very important difference between these two relationships in that Chevson actually admires Lady Isovar while Kif is dying to break ties with Zapp.
So, these two find themselves in a predicament. Lady Isovar is a mighty warrior and truly can do some damage, but Chevson not so much. They’ve pissed off powerful people by being too good at a betting game, and now they’re supposed to fight until sundown against a variety of opponents in a gladiator-like setting with an audience cheering for their deaths. In theory, Lady Isovar may have a chance against all of these creatures and warriors — she might even be able to last until sunset and earn their freedom, but it’s as it happens, the day she’s supposed to fight to the death is a Fourth Day. You don’t kill people on Fourth Day. It’s an oath. It can’t be broken. Not even if they’re trying to kill you. So, now Lady Isovar has to defend herself and Chevson against all these enemies by only subduing them and not killing them, which is obviously much more difficult. Chevson can’t talk her out of it this time. The fact that she’s not trying to kill anyone or anything brings about a more wholesome funny experience which jives with the overall tone of the book. These two fall into one fiasco after another and we basically follow them along their journey of not dying today.
I definitely appreciate that we got to see things from Chevson’s perspective, too. If I was only experiencing things from Lady Isovar’s perspective I may have been a little overwhelmed. She has a very strong flavor, a very loud kind of voice if you will, and so it’s nice to take a break with completely different and more subdued kind of character that is Chevson.
I do like how certain aspects of the world building were given just a little bit of extra thought that added depth to the world. As an example, there’s a giant snake that is trying to kill them and there’s thought put into how it’s possible at all to keep a serpent of this size alive and of use for gladiator fighting. Meaning, what were they feeding it? How were they controlling it so it didn’t go after the audience and only the gladiators? I’m always someone who wonders how these mega-sized creatures can exist in fantasy worlds and I love when there’s at least a little thought put into it which brings in touch of realism.
The magic in this world is done through geomancy, and Chevson is either a failed geomancer or maybe one who just hasn’t completed his training. My memory isn’t what it used to be and I’m having trouble remembering why it is that he’s not a full fledged magic user. However, Chevson has street smarts, a little bit of magical knowledge, and with those skills he counterbalances Lady Isovar in all the right ways to make them succeed.
The pacing is pretty fast, there are a ton of battles against one thing or another, and that along with the witty writing I flew through the book. The writing is polished and deliberate, which is to say there’s no meandering around, or scenes which aren’t relevant to the plot, world, or characters. If the humor is going to work for you or not is highly subjective. I’m not sure what to compare it to to give you guys an idea of what to expect. There’s a lot of puns, there’s a lot situational and slapstick humor, and there’s a touch of references here and there. There’s also a lot of ‘misunderstanding’ kind of humor, where Lady Isovar takes things far too literally.
There’s definitely a high level of outrageousness going on which might be too much for some, but given the reviews I’ve seen on Goodreads, and my own feelings, might hit the right notes for many. The longer the book went on, the more the characters grew on me, and the reveal of why Lady Isovar behaves the way she does explains why Chevson is so devoted to her. His devotion doesn’t always make sense in the beginning, but there’s a reason for her eccentric behavior. There’s a depth to the characters and their background that comes in later which counterbalance the ridiculousness that is prevalent throughout the book. I feel strongly enough about this book to go ahead and slam down a semifinalist status!
CONGRATS!