Where I Dig the Middle Book

The Lord of Castle Black by Steven Brust
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the middle book in the trilogy that ends this 3-book (or 5-book, depending how you look at it) series. As a result, it starts at the beginning of the middle and ends at the end of the middle, but that's cool--it works. I'm enjoying this series from start to finish, and although it doesn't give me the closure i'm eager to get to, it moves the story along well, and does so with a lot of humor and entertaining action.

I'm Team D'Artagnan from way back, and that makes me, inevitably, Team Khaavren, too. So the cataclysm at the end of the book before this trilogy, leading to Khaavren's subsequent retirement--hiding, really--and giving up on life was hard to take. We see signs in the previous book of him coming around, and in this novel he follows after his son Piro, who left home on a quest some time before. He's meant to be active and energetic, so it's good to see that change in him.

Zerika returns with the Orb in this book, a key to re-establishing the empire of old, but setting herself up as Empress is still a hard path, with thousands of troops and various enemies between herself and her partisans and their goal, the capital city of Adrilankha. An additional conflict is the love between Piro and Ibronka, one unacceptable to either set of parents. Since this series is patterned on The Three Musketeers and the succeeding volumes, one can guess how that love affair will prosper (or not), but the author isn't being slavish to the original, so I guess we'll still see.

The quaint language and ironic tone of the series still cracks me up, even after 1500 pages or so, and I'm delighted that Brust has kept it going throughout. Passages like this:

"My dear friend, you seem agitated."
"Do I?"
"So it seems."
"Well, I confess I am disturbed."
"Tell me what troubles you, then, and perhaps together we will be able to ease your mind."
"Very well, I shall do as you suggest. This is it, then."
"I am listening."

So mannered and belabored. I actually LOL while I'm reading this, which I rarely do with any other books. Well played, sir.

I will shortly be on to the last book in the trilogy. Looking forward to it. Meanwhile, fans of fantasy, especially those who admire Dumas, should hurry up and find these, if they haven't already. Super fun.

Recommended.

View all my reviews

Where the Kids Are Alright

The Paths of the Dead by Steven Brust
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where The Phoenix Guard and Five Hundred Years After are like The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After, respectively, with Khaavren, Aerich, Tazendra, and Pel resembling D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis (again, respectively, unless I've screwed up), The Paths of the Dead (book one of The Viscount of Adrilankha) corresponds to the first book in The Vicomte Bragelonne. Like that novel, it deals with the aging original heroes and a new generation of heroes coming up behind them. The connections are increasingly tenuous, with the plot having little in common with those novels, but the echoes of Dumas's romances are everywhere.

The most obvious connection, and the most fun to me, is the over-the-top language. It's sort of a joke, but one I never tire of. The rhetorical excess doesn't work for everyone (I see by sampling some other reviews) but it makes me laugh. (I guess I'm simple that way?) Much of the dialogue goes like this:

"Ah, does Your Lordship wish me to explain?"
"Yes, that is it exactly. I wish you to explain."
"I will then."
"I am listening."

A lot of the verbosity (and direct addresses to the reader) is blamed on the fictitious historian telling the story, and it's a device that I approve of.

I found the plot less direct than in the previous novels, and it made the earlier parts of the story less compelling, but I'm willing to go along with the author because I'm still having so much fun. The empire was shattered hundreds of years earlier, in the second book, and forces are gathering to put it back together in this and the following novels, which is cool, though I'm not tracking the various POV characters very well. I hope it comes together more in the middle book of the trilogy. This all feels like setting the stage, so I suspect it picks up and stories come together. Fingers crossed.

I would read this for the language alone, so it's all good. Looking forward to the next book.

View all my reviews

Brilliant Sequel

Five Hundred Years After by Steven Brust
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really love this series, this being the second book of several.

There is so much to enjoy. It is a wonderful fantasy novel, but also something of a parody (or homage) that mixes genuine affection for the source material with humor, poking fun at the original. The language is amazing, the authorial intrusions hilarious, the characters great fun, and the story engrossing; it all seems to work well together.

If you're a fan of the Three Musketeers, so much pays off in this fantasy variant. It's so fun to see how the character of Aramis, Athos, Porthos, and D'Artagnan are expressed in this fantasy setting. But I doubt you have to know the sequels or even the original novel to entirely enjoy Steven Brust's take on them.

Khaavren is the main character, the stand-in for D'Artagnan. He is larger than life, energetic, honorable, and loyal. Serving as the head of the king's guard, he's at the center of the story, but all his friends from 500 years before (though it was only 20 years in the original D'Artagnan romance) have rejoined him for this adventure, including some of their lackeys, and all of them have fun scenes. As always, the action is quick, the dialogue witty, and the plot just twisty enough to not be simple.

I laughed out loud many times, but it's not just funny; despite the humor, this is a real fantasy (if such a thing exists!) with real stakes. And it's it's a genuine pleasure.

Recommended.

View all my reviews

Fantasy Three Musketeers. Come on! What Could Be Better?

The Phoenix Guards by Steven Brust
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't know how it happens that I haven't read anything by Steven Brust yet. I've seen his books hundreds of times. Having passed by his books once or twice, I made a habit of it, I guess.

Big mistake.

It was only when I finished the D'Artagnan romances that I discovered that this group of books is modeled on them but set in his usual fantasy world. That sold it for me. The plot has echoes, for sure, but the most perfect correlation is between his main characters and the original Three Musketeers plus D'Artagnan. With loving satire, he recreates them and their milieu--reimagined, to be sure, but still unmistakable--and, especially, the fearless, nonchalant violence you find in the original.

I loved the cadence of their dialogue, which resembled (and exaggerated, perhaps) the original, but was perfect for their devil-may-care attitude throughout. Here's a sample, with Aerich talking to Khaavren:

"So, you wish to hear my plan?"
"Kieron's Boots! I've been asking for nothing else for an hour!"
"Very well, here it is: instead of taking this road, turn rather to the north."
"How, the north?"
"Exactly."
"That's your advice?"
"In its entirety."
"Yet, I fail to see how that will solve the problem."
"Then I will explain."
"I am most anxious for you to do so."

I laughed out loud many times, but even though it's clever and amusing it's never absurd. There's a perfect internal consistency throughout.

I'll admit, the plot is somewhat ragged. IMO. But the story rolls along with so much to enjoy (like a Dumas novel) that I didn't miss it. Just let the four guards and do their thing.

Recommended 29 years after the fact. Sorry it took me so long. :)

View all my reviews