In short: a promising start.
My most recent read proved to the above — The Silverblood Promise, by James Logan — and my general opinion is that it was fine. I’d say my analysis of the book is perhaps a bit harsher than most, because a lot of my criticisms came down to a stylistic clash and sense of ‘I wouldn’t write it that way’, but the book certainly isn’t without flaw. In that same way, I will be front-loading my criticisms, but that’s only because I have more to say there than for my praise; but that the respective intensities are inverted. I feel far less strongly about my gripes than the ultimate conclusion that this book is enjoyable.
In the first place, I found there to be a good amount of repetition. Not only in terms of information the fine details — it’s amazing how many people in Saphrona smoke cigarillos — but more than one case where nearly the exact same passage was written within a few pages. In that same way, I did feel as though the same information was relayed a bit more often than strictly necessary as the story went on — there were some things I just didn’t feel like I needed to be told twice.
Moving on from that first nitpick which, admittedly, is a rather personal gripe because repetition is one of my pet peeves in writing, the book felt a bit flat and artificial to me from time to time. It stood out to me that the protagonist — Lukan – -was introduced face first with his tragic backstory hinted at, only for just about the next chapter to explain most every bit of what happened. Or, how there was a later chapter almost entirely devoted to him explaining said backstory to his sidekick and then another chapter of her reciprocating later. It’s not precisely bad, but stood out to me.
Finally, there’s a broad swath of setting gripes I have. For a fantasy story, there wasn’t all that much of magic or monsters. There was more profanity than I’d prefer — not a huge amount, but I tend to dislike any profanity so that’s an easy nerve to twinge. Lukan was kind of pathetic as a protagonist and not necessarily in an intentional way — for a supposedly talented duelist, I don’t think he wins a single fight. I think the third member of the main cast was introduced rather late in the story and thus her respective dynamics with Lukan and Flea felt rather rushed. The political angle of the plot felt somewhat askance with the manner in which the setting was established — it felt a bit more like modern views being applied to the setting from without rather than a natural development of them from within by how Lukan reacted to them.
But with all that being said, I will point out that these are mostly nitpicks. To the left: I did read the entire book in two days, so it’s certainly not boring. Beyond those gripes of mine, I think it’s a bit slower than I was expecting — less swashbuckling and more skullduggery, perhaps — but that was just something I needed to adjust to. This plot was fairly simple and I never especially found myself surprised by it, but it went along at a good pace and I never felt it drag. The cast is generally enjoyable and Lukan and Flea particularly have a rather good dynamic. While I did complain about feeling something of a dearth of magic to the setting, what was shown does promise interesting potential plots to explore in the future and I am particularly interested in the mystery presented by the Phareon — the resident advanced ancient civilization who were mysteriously destroyed a thousand years ago (or something). In that same way, the book did end with enough of a hook that I am interested to see where it goes next. It’s not immediately on my radar as a book I’ll be waiting for, but if I remember it when it comes out, I’ll definitely give it a look.
All told — and acknowledging that I am the blackest of pots in the glassiest of houses — the sense I got from the book was that it was very much a ‘first book’. This is James Logan’s debut novel and I think it shows. A lot of the flaws I felt I believe are things that simply came with this fact. And as such, I fully believe that his second book will be all the better for it. And I believe that his second book will be able to capitalize on the foundation that’s been laid in this one. If you’re looking for a fantasy book to read, The Silverblood Promise is worth a look. Nothing groundbreaking, but entertaining and — while I might be a bit skewed in my reading pace — a quick read.
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