I Read What?!

It's occurred to me recently, that as I've been reviewing these books, there's been something of an uptick in my "I ship it" type comments. I'm a slasher at heart, and if you give me a complicated m/m or f/f relationship with amusing interaction and some flowery language, at some point I'm going to start suggesting they bang.

But slashy is not the same as queer, and it occurred to me that it might be nice to feature a book series where the subtext is intentional and actually amounts to something. (Though, truth be told, I don't think the relationship actually starts until the end of book 2. Oops.)

When I was a kid, it was pretty hard for me to find queer science-fiction and fantasy. Oh, it existed, of course, but it's not like there was some pretty sticker on the cover that said "hey, look. Non-straight people inside." If you knew which authors to look for, you could probably find it with ease, but I didn't know. And until I discovered the Internet as a teenager, I really didn't have a way to find them. The books and authors I found, I stumbled across by chance; Mercedes Lackey, Tanya Huff, and eventually Lynn Flewelling were all happy accidents for me.

So I'm a little nervous about reviewing this one, to be honest. I remember it very fondly. But I'm not sure how much of that is a reflection of the book itself, or if it's more that I found it at just the right time in my life.

I also never actually finished the series. I read up to the third book, which came out when I was about sixteen, (which had felt more like a fun followup to a more serious duology in much the same way as Barbara Hambly's Dog Wizard reads after the Silent Tower and Silicon Mage), and had no idea that she'd come back to it until fairly recently. So if I do stick with this series, there will come a point where I start reviewing blind.

That actually sounds like it could be fun.



The book already starts off well for me, as it includes a map. It also includes an author's note explaining the calendar. (It's a twelve month cycle, with twenty nine days and four seasonal 3 day festivals). The latter is less interesting to me. Unless there's something in the storyline that very seriously revolves around dates, then I tend to think we can pick it up in context.

That said, I never mind a bit of world building. And too much effort is better than too little.

The map is nice. It seems to be showing the south eastern corner of a continent. There are some notable places: Mycena in the north, an island named Skala, a peninsula south of Mycena and east of Skala named Plenimar, and somewhere called Aurenen down south.

My memory tells me the first three are pretty important. Aurenen will be more significant in later books, but right now serves more as an origin place for this universe's floofy elves.

There is a very short prologue which stars a fellow named Lord Mardus and another named Vargul Ashnazai. I'm already assuming that they're evil due to their names. (There's a little carrot above the u in Vargul, but I think we can already assume I will be very bad at remembering it, so I'm leaving it out so that you can adjust your expectations accordingly.)

This impression is aided by the way that "mouldering bone crumble[s] beneath their boots". They're in a swamp, and Vargul (whose name is a pain in the ass when your v key sticks. Though of course, that's not the book's problem) has just accomplished some cryptic purpose.

Specifically, he seems to have reclaimed a "fragment", and this seems to involve wooden disks somehow. Also apparently they've gathered up some villagers, and there's screaming in the background.

Well, these guys are definitely villains who are Up To Something.

--

Chapter One, however, introduces us to our first hero, a boy named Alec, who is not having a great day on account of the fact that he is apparently in the torture-dungeon of a place named Asengai. Things seem pretty bleak:

He was alone now. They’d hanged the miller yesterday and the one called Danker had died under torture. Alec had never met either of them before his capture but they had treated him kindly. Now he wept for them, too, and for the horror of their death.

As the tears subsided, he wondered again why he’d been spared, why Lord Asengai repeatedly told the torturers, “Don’t mark the boy too badly.”

...well, that last bit sounds ominous. That said, it's lucky for now. This means that while the poor kid's been beaten and water-boarded, they've avoided anything that might cause long term physical damage. Apparently he'd wandered onto the land by accident, hunting spotted cats. Sucks to be him.

Eventually, his solitude is broken when the guards bring in a new, surprisingly noisy prisoner:

The prisoner was a small, slightly built man but he fought like a cornered weasel. “Unhand me, you cretinous brutes!” he cried, his furious words marred somewhat by a noticeable lisp.

“I demand to see your master! How dare you arrest me! Can’t an honest bard pass unmolested through this country?”

Twisting an arm free, he swung a fist at the warder on his left. The larger man blocked the blow easily and pinned his arms sharply back again.

“Don’t fret yourself,” the guard snorted, giving the prisoner a sharp cuff on the ear. “You’ll meet our master soon enough and wish you hadn’t!”

...what is it with child me and bards. All the fucking bards. The guards seem to be pretty awful. They jeer about how their lord will have the bard singing long and loud before long. One then gestures to Alec and asks about having "a bit of sport." Oh, fun, rapists. I didn't remember that part. I hope we get to see them die horribly.

Anyway, fortunately...or maybe UNfortunately, the other guard vetoes the suggestion. Not out of conscience or compassion, but because they'd get in trouble if Alec were "ruined" for the slavers. Neither Alec nor I think that sounds good.

We get to see what the bard is wearing. (You can't put a bard in a story and not describe his outfit, damnit. That's just rude.)

Alec froze, regarding the man warily. The pale wash of moonlight was bright enough for him to see that the man was dressed in the gaudy clothing common to his kind: a tunic with long, dagged tippets, the striped sash and hose. Tall, muddy traveling boots completed the garish outfit. Alec couldn’t make out his face, however; the fellow’s dark hair hung to his shoulders in foppish ringlets, partially obscuring his features.

The bard starts to talk, but they're interrupted when a third prisoner, this one a "squat, bull-necked laborer in homespun garments and stained leggings" is thrown in. The dude is understandably terrified, and pretty horrified by Alec's condition.

Alec learns from this dude that he's only been imprisoned for four days. The dude's name is Morden, and like Alec, he was arrested for spying. The bard, who identifies himself as Rolan Silverleaf, is in the same boat. He's quite Offended, he says, and his patrons shall hear of this.

At some point Morden's dragged off for torture, and comes back all bloody. Some food is brought, maggoty, and Rolan tries to urge Alec to eat. There's something different about the guy though:

Rolan examined his bit of biscuit with obvious distaste.

"It's maggoty, but you should eat," he said, tossing his portion across to Alec.

Alec ignored it and his own. Food meant dawn was close and the start of another grim day.

"Go on," Rolan urged gently. "You'll need your strength later." Alec turned his face away, but he persisted. "At least take a bit of water. Can you walk?"

Alec shrugged listlessly. "What difference does it make?"

"Perhaps a great deal before long," the other man replied with an odd half smile. There was something new in his voice, a calculating note that was decidedly out of place with his dandified appearance. The dim light of the lamp touched the side of his face, showing a longish nose and one sharp eye.

...I don't we necessarily needed this last bit. Rolan's change in demeanor was already pretty obvious in the dialogue. Though it is good to know that Alec picked up on it. Alec drinks.

The next bit makes it even more obvious of course, as Rolan dislocates the joints of his thumbs to get his hands out of the shackles. He has a hidden weapon or tool that he uses to get his feet out. He grabs Morden's ignored water cup and his own, and brings them to Alec, urging him to drink and getting his name.

Alec had better come with him, he says. Morden on the other hand...

Rolan cut him off with an impatient gesture, then reached forward to thrust his hand into the neck of the man's grimy jerkin. He yanked out a thin silver chain and dangled it in Morden's face.

"You're not very convincing, you know. Louts though they are, Asengai's men are far too thorough to miss a bauble like this."

Rolan also tells Morden and us that tortured men are usually very thirsty. But Morden, on the other hand, smells like ale. He wonders about the blood that Morden's smeared with.

"Your mother's moon flow!" Morden snarled, his simple expression vanishing as he pulled a small dagger from his legging and lunged at Rolan.

The bard dodged the attack and drove his clenched fist against Morden's throat, crushing his larynx.

A swift jab of his elbow to Morden's temple felled the man like an ox; he collapsed in the straw at Rolan's feet, blood flowing from his mouth and ear.

Well now.

It's worth noting that Rolan isn't lisping anymore. As someone with a natural lisp, I'm annoyed by that on general principle. But the coolness factor of punching a dude in the larynx does make up for it. I'm a simple bot.

Alec is pretty understandably shocked that the spoony bard just killed a dude in front of him, but not too much that he won't take a way out when offered. Rolan unlocks the chains and then goes to search Morden's body. He finds something: a tattoo in the left armpit that reveals that he is a Juggler, with a capital J. An entertainer?

"No," Rolan snorted. "A keek, a ferret. The Jugglers carry out any sort of dirty mischief for the right price. They swarm around petty lords like Asengai the way blow flies gather on a midden." Tugging the dead man's jerkin off, he thrust it into Alec's hands. "Here, put this on. And hurry! I'll say this just once; fall behind and you're on your own!"

So off they go, sneaky sneaky. Rolan seems to know his way around and gets them to the lower stable yard. But they've got a bit of a problem: except for the stolen jerkin, Alec has no clothes. So Rolan tells him to hide and vanishes again. Unfortunately, Alec does end up spotted. Fortunately, he's spotted by a dude so incompetent that a half-naked, unarmed teenager can actually manage to get his hands on an ax and fight back.

Not well, granted. But still.

Rolan ends up making a pretty great entrance:

His adversary recovered quickly and was pressing in for the kill when they were both surprised by a clattering uproar nearby. The stable door slammed back and Rolan burst out mounted bareback on an enormous black horse. A pack of ostlers, stable boys, and guards spilled out after him, raising the alarm.

"The gate, damn it! Open the gate!" Rolan shouted, leading his pursuers in a fool's chase around the courtyard.

Alec actually manages to down his guard and get the gate open. Rolan yanks him up onto the horse's back in a maneuver that sounds both impossible in real life but quite cinematic, and they're off! Woo!

Eventually they come to a stop outside Asengai's domain, and Rolan gives Alec a cloak. It's pretty cold right now, so the cloak is pretty welcome. Actually, he ends up taking back the cloak in order to keep the horse quiet when they hide from pursuers. But the temporary lapse in gallantry is made up for by the fact that it works.

The chapter ends with Rolan and Alec heading to wear Rolan has apparently stashed some supplies. Which raises some interesting questions about what exactly he's doing here at all. Next time, perhaps, we'll find out.

I am sad that we didn't get to see the wannabe-rapist guards die. Oh well.