Posted by This fucking book.
At first, I was not a fan. I wasn’t particularly enjoying this the first time I read it. So much so, when it came time to write a review last year, I had completely shunted it from my brainspace and couldn’t remember anything well enough to write a decent review. I had to re-read it, and I was so irritated.
Then I fucking loved it? Literally the second time I read it, I pounded through it in a sitting and completely and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was left very confused.
Why the fuck did that happen? Probably a bunch of reasons, but the biggest one is the same reason I struggled with Sword of Kaigen (at first) – it’s a highly realistic, lower fantasy that’s super focused on character building, which creates this super slow pace for the beginning of the book. Each year, I try to read the finalists blind, without reading the other judge’s reviews until after I’ve finished. The idea is that I’m trying to keep myself unbiased, but sometimes I feel like that backfires because if I had known what the book was about before starting it, maybe I wouldn’t have been as impatient the first time. It’s absolutely a story worth reading.
So, wtf is it about? Political chaos.
There have been reports of odd sightings, deaths, and disturbances out in the desert, and the emperor is blaming “jinns” or “devils” but no one is really sure what’s going on. So, the emperor sends our group of POVs out into the desert to find a live jinn, to capture it, and then bring it back for the emperor to inspect. This is not an easy task, lots of shit happens along the way, a lot of folks die, and when they finally do capture the devil, it’s not at all what they expected it to be. There’s a multi-layered plot going on, however, because all along this mission, a few of the characters are forming plans for a coup to overthrow the emperor who sent them on this mission.
There are a bunch of points of view, but I’d argue that “the jackal” is the main character of the book. That’s actually a slur for his people, but it’s so common throughout the book that the second book in this series is called The Haunt for Jackals. Anyway, his actual name is Azetla, and he’s been serving in the army for over a decade as a sort of debt to the country. A long time ago, his people were responsible for the slaughter of the current ruling class, and the current ruling class is not letting them forget it. The book opens with a ceremony where a bunch of “jackals” are having their throats slit, whether they’re innocent or not, it’s a ritualistic slaughter to remind the jackals where they stand in life. Despite being forced to join the army, he’s not supposed to be respected by his cohorts. His people are prohibited from wearing a sword, they’re not supposed to hold any significant rank, and they are supposed to be submissive. That’s not really what’s happened with Azetla. He’s been fortunate enough to be assigned to a captain who sees his worth. Instead of treating him like a slave, he’s given Azetla authority over some of the troops, he respects his opinion, and uses him as a second-hand man in a lot of important decisions. This does not always go over well with the other members of the army, and his authority is held by a string, and if something happens to the captain, or if someone higher up overrules the captain, things could go very, very badly for Azetla. It’s a very delicate, easily broken stance in life.
One of the other POV characters is the half-brother of the emperor, James, and he’s trying to overthrow the emperor through the means of the emperor’s own army. He didn’t come up with that plan, though… one of the emperor’s own did after getting snubbed and passed over for a place in royal society. Wesley’s family was always on the cusp of being a serious contender in the court, but they always manage to stay just outside the inner circle. His grasp on power and influence is slipping, and it seems like it’s less and less likely that his family will ever attain serious rank and so he begins whispering in James’s ear about rebellion. Wesley continues to try and manipulate James throughout the book… I don’t believe you’re supposed to like Wesley. But perhaps you’re supposed to be at least understanding of James, even though I consider him grey at best. James is a book-loving, tea-drinking, meek sort of person who wouldn’t have dreamed of doing this on his own. Due to his personality, he’s just kind of being thrown around and used. Wesley is a manipulative, racist, vindictive asshole who I was desperately hoping would die throughout the book.
I’m not going into every POV because that would make this review novel-length. That said, there is absolutely no mistaking which POV you’re reading since each and every one of them has a clear and distinct voice. What I love most is that each character has clear motivations and behaves in a consistent way rather than having them “break character” and do something unexpected just to force the plot forward. Having each character’s motivations clearly defined makes the story feel natural, which leads to a very compelling story.
This story is fucking fascinating, and anyone wanting a riveting character-heavy story should pick this up!
So, where does this land in our lineup? This will come in 7th, right after The Grey Bastards. Ranking these is so exceptionally difficult… I’ll say it again that each of these is worth reading regardless of where it lands in the champion’s final rankings.