Book Review: “The Silverblood Promise” by James Logan
An Epic Epic of Epic Epicness
Growing up, my reading diet consisted mainly of Stephen King and fantasy novels. I read pretty much everything Weis and Hickman put out and tried my hand at reading longer fantasy novels — such as those in The Wheel of Time series — only to find that this world of trilogies and 1,000-page novels was ultimately bloated and unsatisfying to me. I don’t want to sound mean, but the second book in The Wheel of Time series runs some 800 pages if I recall correctly — and half of that length features characters trying to get to Point B from Point A, only to discover 600 pages into the book that there was an easier way of doing so. (So why didn’t a particular character pipe up earlier about this fact? You could have easily sheered 500 pages from the book without missing a lick.) Needless to say, I don’t often read epic fantasy anymore — and, to wit, I have the first four books of the Game of Thrones series on my Kindle but haven’t touched them yet — but I was curious when The Silverblood Promise came strolling by on NetGalley for me to check out. This debut from British novelist James Logan is the first book in The Last Legacy series, and I’d be damned if I didn’t say that the following books in this cycle are going to have a hard time matching this one for sheer bravado. It’s a book with ever-raising stakes and excitement, and it has reignited my love for what made fantasy fiction so great in my eyes in the first place.
The story centers around a young man, Lukan Gardova, who lives with a skeleton in his closet from a duel gone wrong some years before and, thus, travels idly on the run from his past. When he hears that his father has died and gets a scrap of bloodied paper listing a far-off city and a person’s name on it, he sets out for that city to look up said person — thinking that they will have some clue or connection to his father’s demise. Instead, Lukan is drawn into a conspiracy that involves more layers than a peeled onion — backed by a merchant prince who seeks to start a war with a neighbouring state. Can Lukan find proof to condemn the merchant prince and get the information his father wanted him to have so desperately, or will he meet his demise? Or will the 11-year-old girl thief that he befriends named Flea save him from the constant threat of death in the process? And what about the mythical Faceless sorcerers? What do they have to do with this plot? Well, all will be revealed in due time.
Several things make The Silverblood Promise a commendable work of lengthy sword and sorcery fiction. First, it has strong female characters who can match wits and physicality with Lukan as he sashays from one peril to the next. Second, the novel is set in a likeness of a Middle Eastern land, giving it resonance to the real world at large. And third, it features sassy and likable characters. That’s not to mention the dialogue: it crackles with mordant humour. Do I have any complaints about the book? Well, yes. Lukan gets painted into a corner one too many times, relying on coincidence to save him or propel the plot forward. Additionally, I found that the book — even at some 500 pages — doesn’t offer much breathing room. It tirelessly moves from one crisis to the next without much of a break in the action for things such as, you know, character development. I had to put the book down for a bit as I found it too action-oriented: I needed a bit of a breather from its relentless pace. Also, it seems that some of the characters, as enjoyable as they are, are one-note and act as foils to Lukan. However, this is all a matter of quibbling. Ultimately, The Silverblood Promise is precisely what it promises to be: a work of entertaining and mind-numbing swashbuckling fiction with magic and mayhem in equal measure.
That statement brings me back to my original comments about not reading much epic fantasy since my teenage years some 30 years ago. (My tastes morphed more into slipstream fiction and weird magic realism than anything else.) With books such as The Silverblood Promise, the genre has matured somewhat from simple knockoffs of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The question is, will adults have the time to go down the rabbit hole of multiple books that clock in at more than 500 pages? In an ideal world, the answer to that question would be yes. However, we all have responsibilities and chores around the home — and, my God, what if you’re rearing kids? Still, The Silverblood Promise shows that new life can be breathed into the fiction of your youth. This is a stellar, adrenaline-pumping tale of action and adventure and the kind of escapism everyone needs occasionally. The book should appeal to both men and women and, despite a few cuss words, older teenagers. The novel is so good that it demands you to take the time to read it. If you do, it will reward you with its rollercoaster-like action that doesn’t relent. Put things another way, let’s say that I can’t wait for Book No. 2 of this series to come out. There was enough here going for it to make me want to see what happens next. My younger self would probably be pleased with that assessment.
James Logan’s The Silverblood Promise was published by Tor Books on May 7, 2024.
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Get in touch: zacharyhoule@rogers.com
