Paul S. Kemp

Prelim Review: This has been a banner year for me as far as old-school fantasy adventurer novels go. I get to add THE HAMMER AND THE BLADE to the list and I'm certainly glad for it.

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In the simplest terms this book is about two friends (two somewhat shady, definitely reckless and utterly unrepentant in their derring-do's adventurer friends) who's one last heist before they retire to a semi-respectable life brings about unforeseen consequences to trouble their lives.

Nix is a master thief with a whole satchel of useful 'gee-gaws' and quite a bit of cleverness. He's always trying to look ahead, but tends to miss the smaller things in the process.

Egil is a warrior Priest for the The Momentary God...and possibly the only worshiper. Not overly abundant with clever schemes like Nix, he's amazingly resilient and a tank in fights.

I'm never actually sure just how serious either one is being--they tend to go back and forth so quickly it takes a couple seconds to catch up and realize 'oh dear lord he was serious!'. Their friendship and support is a welcome balance to the novel, it grounds the book and keeps it from becoming too cynical or dark. And this book gets dark, make no mistake the villain(s) of this piece do horrific things in the name of greed and power.

Kemp's writing is quick, well paced and exciting...at least as far as when Egil and Nix are on the page. The sections devoted to Rakon and his machinations made me more than faintly queasy; when the full scope of the horror the Norristru men visited upon their own is made clear, I felt even worse. How anyone could do such a thing...well. Its disturbing.

I am of two minds in how Egil and Nix dealt with Rakon in the end. Its really no more than he deserved, but it drove home the fact we're not dealing with two guys who are saints. They're just as affected by their emotions and notions of right vs wrong as anyone else. Though it was heartening that they would face the consequences together if any came their way.

… (meer)

I'm not much of a fantasy novel type simply because of the overdone tropes but I wound up loving this story!

Looking back it's a pretty basic concept: Two rogue adventurers get in to trouble and things are't what they seem. Add in a couple damsels in distress and there you go. BUT once I actually sat down and got in to the story I was hooked by the depth of the characters. Witty writing, humor and realistic personalities shined through along with the twisting storytelling. the pacing was excellent with plenty of action so while the usual fantasy hallmarks were present they wove in very well.

I'm very likely to read the next book in the series which is very unlike my usual reading habits but that just attests to how unusually good I found this tory.… (meer)

I'm not much of a fantasy novel type simply because of the overdone tropes but I wound up loving this story!

Looking back it's a pretty basic concept: Two rogue adventurers get in to trouble and things are't what they seem. Add in a couple damsels in distress and there you go. BUT once I actually sat down and got in to the story I was hooked by the depth of the characters. Witty writing, humor and realistic personalities shined through along with the twisting storytelling. the pacing was excellent with plenty of action so while the usual fantasy hallmarks were present they wove in very well.

I'm very likely to read the next book in the series which is very unlike my usual reading habits but that just attests to how unusually good I found this tory.… (meer)

A disappointment that continues a long tradition of Star Wars villains being under-represented in their own books. The writing is fine, but unlike the recent Tarkin or the excellent Darth Plagueis, the titular characters just have nothing interesting to do or say for most of the story. So much time is spent developing their antagonists that we learn nothing about the Sith besides the fact that Vader is prone to mopey Anakin moments and Palpatine enjoys mind-games with his staff.

In fact, the most interesting part of the whole novel is learning that an Imperial Moff had a same-sex marriage. That's really it. You get a glimpse at how the organization of the Rebellion started in Rhyloth, but that would make "Twi'lek Insurgency" a more fitting title than Lords of the Sith.… (meer)