State of Review

Publishing information: Paperback; 528 pages

Publisher: Eos; 01 July 2005

ISBN 10: 0060733497

ISBN 13: 9780060733490

Standalone

Copy: Out of Pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: " The ruling Asharites of Al-Rassan have come from the desert sands, but over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, their stern piety has eroded. The Asharite Empire has splintered into decadent city-states lead by warring petty kings. King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, aided always by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan – poet, diplomat; soldier – until a summer afternoon of savage brutality changes their relationship forever.
Meanwhile, in the north, the conquered Jaddites’ most celebrated – and feared – military leader, Rodrigo Belmonte, driven into exile, leads his mercenary company south.
In the dangerous lands of Al-Rassan, these two men from different worlds meet and serve – for a time – the same master. Sharing their interwoven fate – and increasingly torn by her feelings – is Jehane, the accomplished court physician, whose own skills play an increasing role as Al-Rassan is swept to the brink of holy war, and beyond.
Hauntingly evocative of Medieval Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassan is both a brilliant adventure and a deeply compelling story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when hardening beliefs begin to remake – or destroy – a world."

I have a few Guy Gavriel Kay titles in the pile and I was told by my fellow Speculative Book Reviewers that The Lions of Al-Rassan is the best place to start. Since this book has been staring at me for nearly a year, I thought that it was time I finally man up and see what Mr. Kay was all about.

The three main characters in The Lions of Al-Rassan represent the three religious factions: Asharites, Jaddites, and Kindath. These three groups represent Islam, Christians, and Jews. The three characters are all very charismatic and are considered to be the perfect specimen of their given factions. Ammar ibn Khairan is a well-known warrior and poet who represents the Asharites/Muslims, Rodrigo Belmonte (El Cid) is the champion for the Christians/Jaddites, and Jehane is the beautiful and intelligent Kindath/Jewish doctor that the two men fall in love with. I did enjoy each of the characters and it was refreshing to see the Asharites/Muslims shown in a favorable light even if it was a more romanticized version. Ammar was a character that you could respond to. Belmonte was also a great character, except he also had a huge flaw, in that he was married to one, if not the most beautiful woman in the realm and he found himself in a love triangle with Ammar and Jehane. This was a lot to swallow as his introduction showed him as honorable and loving no one else aside from his wife. For the story to work you had to buy into his love for another woman. The other woman, Jehane, was also a great character. She was very strong and did a great job of moving the story forward. Even the supporting cast had great parts to play as the story unfolded. Kay does an excellent job with characters, although there is a small need to stretch the imagination and buy into Belmonte's love for Jehane but as I said it is a small stretch even if it tarnishes his honorable image.

The world building is a little less than average as Kay has taken medieval Spain and renamed all of the cities and locations to his world. The map in the beginning of the novel should give you a clue as to what time of topography you are going to encounter in the book. For me I simply pictured Don Quixote. The Lions of Al-Rassan has very little magic within its pages. There is one child who has visions of the future which is more of a plot device than anything else. The book is more of Kay's take on the world at that time in history without actually calling it Spain.

The Lions of Al-Rassan is a tad slow as there is a lot of ground to cover before any action occurs. Much of the book has the characters traveling to a new city or discussing strategy. While I know that Kay is not a huge action writer it may have helped me get through this novel a bit faster if the pace had picked up. That is not to say that the book was bad, quite the opposite, but there are a lot of slow moments. However, even though it was much slower than other fantasy books I have read it was a fairly good read with some amazing characters and an interesting take on the Spanish medieval period (It reminded me a lot of Daniel Abraham's books). While I have not read anything else by Kay at this point in time I am willing to give him another try as the book was interesting and a nice change of pace from what I normally read. It should also be noted that The Lions of Al-Rassan was chosen as the 2010 World Scholar's Cup novel, as it coincides with their theme of "A World Divided."

Publishing Information: Hardback; 336 pages (373 pages in ARC)

Publisher: Voyager; 4 August 2011

ISBN 10: 0441020321

ISBN 13: 978-0007423293

Series: Book one of The Broken Empire

Copy Provided by publisher

Synopsis: "The thorns taught him a lesson in blood...

Before the thorns taught me their sharp lessons and bled weakness from me I had but one brother, and I loved him well. But those days are gone and what is left of them lies in my mother's tomb. Now I have many brothers, quick with knife and sword, and as evil as you please. We ride this broken empire and loot its corpse. They say these are violent times, the end of days when the dead roam and monsters haunt the night. All that's true enough, but there's something worse out there, in the dark. Much worse."

Once a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg's bleak past has set him beyond fear of any man, living or dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father's castle Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve himself a future with all hands turned against him."

Prince of Thorns first grabbed my attention when I saw the cover. A hooded warrior amid a battlefield strewn with the recent dead. While we have seen a lot of our mysteriously hooded figures, this one really drew me in. Then I read what the book was about and I had a really good feeling that I was going to enjoy whatever was contained within the pages of the novel.

Prince of Thorns does its best to tell two stories. One that progresses the story and the other tells us how our hero came to be. Jorg, our protagonist has not had an easy life. It starts out with all the pleasantries of one noble born, but quickly veers to a life of death and mayhem. Jorg's most formative years should have been spent under the expert tutelage of the king but instead he has gone seeking revenge and has learned from the worst of mankind. He is ruthless and will use anyone to further his personal goals. He is not a warrior, but a killer. He is not above sacrificing his own men if it means a quick means to his aspirations. I found myself really liking Jorg even when he was at his most terrifying. The way his mind works was both entertaining and impressive. I could imagine how his own men, who towered over him, would stay on their toes lest they became the next corpse. The fact that some of his men stood at seven feet tall and never turned their back on him, for fear he would take their head spoke volumes.

A few other characters were also very interesting. Rike and Makin. Rike was is described as a massive killing machine with little or no morals. I saw him as a juggernaut and it was interesting to see how he interacted with Jorg throughout the book. Makin was another character that I liked. He was the white knight that had screwed up and was doing his best to guide Jorg and make up for his past errors. To a certain degree they exemplified the two sides of Jorg's personality and they also complimented him very well. There is a large cast of characters that are apart of Jorg's group known as the Brotherhood and many of them stand out. Since it starts out as a large group many of them go unnamed and it was one of my minor complaints. Lawrence has a lot of death in the pages of Prince of Thorns and they take place on both sides of the battles. Many of the brotherhood die and it doesn't really impact the story simply because they are a name or empty suit and nothing else. We only learn their names when they fall in battle. Of course Lawrence does manage to kill off a many of the secondary characters as well. No one is truly safe in Prince of Thorns but many of the early deaths do not mean much as they were never introduced in the first place, which loses its dramatic impact.

The world building is interesting. We never understand just where in time the story takes place. Many famous books and authors are mentioned (IE: Shakespeare, Plato, etc.) and we are told the roads were built by the Romans long ago. We are also told of a great battle that wiped out the mighty nations that once were. While I do not want to spoil the big surprise that comes along the towards the end of the book we do learn more about when the book takes place, but we are still not told specifics, which I thought was a major plus. The majority of the novel has little to no magic. However, towards the second half of the novel it becomes more prevalent and it was a nice change of pace. While I was perfectly fine with there being very little magic in the beginning; however, when the magic does comes out, it is done very well and only adds to the story as it unfolds.

Prince of Thorns really flows. The chapters are rather short and there is not much time for the action to take a breather. There is plenty of hack and slash within its pages, but at the heart of it is Jorg's personal quest to reunite the empire to its former glory and he does not care how he does it or who he must crush under his heels to attain it.

Prince of Thorns is not what I consider a very gritty book, but it certainly is bloody. While there is a lot of death contained within its pages that is just the surface there is a lot going on behind the scenes which is what really drove the story. Jorg has a plan and it is great fun to see how it unfolds. The problem that I have with the novel is that its sequels are not available. The Prince of Thorns is a bloody good time and I plan to stay with it as the series continues. It is sure to be one, if not the, best fantasy debuts I read all year. Lawrence's Prince of Thorns reminds me of Joe Abercrombie, the character'smorals are ambiguous and never safe from their demise. Highly recommended.

Mark was interviewed by me earlier over at Speculative Book Review. Check it out.

Skywatcher by Jon Connington

Publishing information: Paperback (proof copy) 324 pages

Publisher: CreateSpace; 27 Sept 2010

ISBN 10: 145384435X

ISBN 13: 978-1453844359

Series: book 2 of 2

Copy: Provided by author version was a proof addition

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book "Armies gather on the horizon. A world on the edge of destruction A hero faces the ultimate choice.

Not long ago Speculative Book Review was approached by Jon Connington to review his first novel Field of Fire, the majority of us really enjoyed what we read and were dying to see the conclusion to his series. Luckily Connington approached us again to review his second and final book in the series, Skywatcher.

When I read Field of Fire there were a lot of unanswered questions such as what keeps the world afloat and how do the flying ships stay in the air. I was delighted to find out how both were possible but they were also a little bit of a let down and the reasons for both were a little too quickly explained without further information. While it may have slowed down the pacing of the book, I still would have liked to have learned more about how these things were possible. In truth, aside from learning these two facts there was little world building in the book. Considering the potential that Connington presented in the first book I had hoped that he would take advantage of the massive world, but unfortunately he did not.

As Skywatcher opens up I was a little disoriented and lost as you are swept up in events. Not a lot of what occurs in the opening scene makes a lot of sense in the beginning but as the book unfolds it becomes more apparent as to what has happened and why it occurred. The problem that I had with Skywatcher is the pacing. The book seems disjointed at times, as I read it it felt rushed, as if the author was hurrying to complete the novel without filling us in on some vitally important things. There were a few holes that I hope are made clear when the final version is released.

We also return to the life of Macsen, our hero and even he did not seem to be the good guy he appeared to be from the first novel. There was also a major love sub-plot that just never seemed to get off the ground and was a little confusing. It seemed very forced as there was no chemistry before the actual encounter where the two "fall in love." Again, I felt as if it was due to the fact that the story felt rushed. Had Skywatcher taken its time and let things develop more naturally, I think it not have been so muddled. It is not that the characters were so bad, just that it did not feel natural.

When compared to Field of Fire, Skywatcher is not as good. The pacing and characters did not flow as well as they did in the debut novel. The end was also a little disappointing. However, the end was fitting. Skywatcher is a decent novel and while I had a proof copy, the final version should prove to be a decent end to the series.