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A review by bookish_benny
The Silverblood Promise by James Logan
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
It's been a while since I read an ARC because of the pressure they can emit with their looming release dates and the rush to read it quickly to ensure your review is one of the first out. Fortunately I didn't suffer from this as I got tied down with work halfway through so this took me longer than planned to read, but I have now finished this debut book from Orbit's Senior Commissioning Editor, James Long (writing as James Logan).
The story begins with a young man called Lukan Gardova. Not on speaking terms with his father, and with his mother dead, he roams the land doing whatever he wants but doesn't have any of the money or grandeur you might expect from a noble family since an earlier incident cost the family dearly.
Early in the story he is tracked down by his father's retainer who advises that his father has been murdered but left a note for Lukan. This note sends Lukan on a mission across the sea in the hope of solving his father's murder.
I decided to read this book for a couple of reasons. The fantastic cover art by Jeff Brown really caught my eye. It gives off a caped crusader vibe with two characters on the roof of a building overlooking a city. The other reason was that it sounded like a fun fantasy story written by someone who has a lot of experience knowing what works in this genre.
From the get go this book is constantly moving, constantly pushing you to be intrigued about what might come next, while delivering fun, relatable characters who all have an air of mystery to them. The pacing in this story is perfect and there wasn't a time when I was reading it where there was something happening that wasn't fun.
The characters are half of the story and they are well written. Unique in their own right and great when interacting with one another. There are heartfelt conversations, heated discussions and some genuinely smile-inducing banter between them. I felt that Lukan especially came alive off the pages with Flea a close second, although I think Flea really grew within this story and is my favourite.
I really liked the worldbuilding and think that James has done a good job of setting up a world that will only get more interesting as this series progresses. It has a hard magic system with the gleamers and some soft magic with the faceless but I expect this will get more fleshed out in the coming stories.
This plot driven story is a good one. It's fun, simple enough to follow but also allows itself to be mysterious, keeping you guessing what will happen until the final chapters. I liked that it was kind of a murder mystery fantasy story but it was neither grimdark which I think some may be expecting. It skirts that middle ground that should resonate with all fantasy fans much like The Hobbit if only a little darker in places.
There are a couple of nods I noticed to Joe Abercrombie's First Law that put a smile on my face and put me in that famous meme/gif of Leonardo DiCaprio. One of the characters has nine fingers and one of the chapters is called The Blade Itself. There are probably more but those are two that I spotted.
I think the political intrigue could have been built on further and the number of characters reduced then this could have been a tighter story. As it stands there are a handful of characters that grace the pages, and provide forward movement of the story but in the end we know very little about and so this either leaves us with unknown elements left for a later time (which is a possibility but doubtful given how this story ends) or pieces of the world that will never be explored. I hope it's the former.
This is a fun story that will delight fantasy readers. It delivers some fun magic, devious villains and a murder mystery set against the backdrop of a large city full of hidden secrets you get to slowly uncover with Lukan, both as first time visitors. I hope the following stories really build on what James has began to build here because there is a really big opportunity for this to be an excellent epic fantasy trilogy.
The story begins with a young man called Lukan Gardova. Not on speaking terms with his father, and with his mother dead, he roams the land doing whatever he wants but doesn't have any of the money or grandeur you might expect from a noble family since an earlier incident cost the family dearly.
Early in the story he is tracked down by his father's retainer who advises that his father has been murdered but left a note for Lukan. This note sends Lukan on a mission across the sea in the hope of solving his father's murder.
I decided to read this book for a couple of reasons. The fantastic cover art by Jeff Brown really caught my eye. It gives off a caped crusader vibe with two characters on the roof of a building overlooking a city. The other reason was that it sounded like a fun fantasy story written by someone who has a lot of experience knowing what works in this genre.
From the get go this book is constantly moving, constantly pushing you to be intrigued about what might come next, while delivering fun, relatable characters who all have an air of mystery to them. The pacing in this story is perfect and there wasn't a time when I was reading it where there was something happening that wasn't fun.
The characters are half of the story and they are well written. Unique in their own right and great when interacting with one another. There are heartfelt conversations, heated discussions and some genuinely smile-inducing banter between them. I felt that Lukan especially came alive off the pages with Flea a close second, although I think Flea really grew within this story and is my favourite.
I really liked the worldbuilding and think that James has done a good job of setting up a world that will only get more interesting as this series progresses. It has a hard magic system with the gleamers and some soft magic with the faceless but I expect this will get more fleshed out in the coming stories.
This plot driven story is a good one. It's fun, simple enough to follow but also allows itself to be mysterious, keeping you guessing what will happen until the final chapters. I liked that it was kind of a murder mystery fantasy story but it was neither grimdark which I think some may be expecting. It skirts that middle ground that should resonate with all fantasy fans much like The Hobbit if only a little darker in places.
There are a couple of nods I noticed to Joe Abercrombie's First Law that put a smile on my face and put me in that famous meme/gif of Leonardo DiCaprio. One of the characters has nine fingers and one of the chapters is called The Blade Itself. There are probably more but those are two that I spotted.
I think the political intrigue could have been built on further and the number of characters reduced then this could have been a tighter story. As it stands there are a handful of characters that grace the pages, and provide forward movement of the story but in the end we know very little about and so this either leaves us with unknown elements left for a later time (which is a possibility but doubtful given how this story ends) or pieces of the world that will never be explored. I hope it's the former.
This is a fun story that will delight fantasy readers. It delivers some fun magic, devious villains and a murder mystery set against the backdrop of a large city full of hidden secrets you get to slowly uncover with Lukan, both as first time visitors. I hope the following stories really build on what James has began to build here because there is a really big opportunity for this to be an excellent epic fantasy trilogy.