"We were giants, once..."
Many years ago, Clay Cooper was part of Saga, perhaps the greatest band of mercenaries ever to walk the realm of Grandual. With the wizard Moog, the knife-wielding
rogue Matrick, the deadly warrior Ganelon, and their leader and frontman "Golden" Gabriel (not to mention their booker and an endless stream of ill-fated bards),
they carved a swath through the monster-filled Heartwyld forests and a legend that persists to this day. But time marches on, and even legends dim and age. In the
years since Saga dissolved, Clay has settled down in a quiet hamlet, building a peaceful life with the woman he loves, content to let his fame fade.
Then Gabriel turns up on his doorstep, and his plans for peaceful retirement end.
It turns out that Gabriel's daughter Rose has been bitten by the mercenary bug - which is how she wound up across the mountains in Castia, a fortress currently
besieged by a monstrous horde the likes of which the world has never seen. Most people believe the inhabitants as good as dead already, but Gabriel refuses to give
up hope. He plans to get the band back together for one last glorious ride - or one last glorious death.
Clay wants to tell him no. He wants to tell him their fighting days are over, that they're all old men now. But Clay has a daughter of his own, and if it were his
girl, he'd face down every demon in hell and every god in the heavens to save her - so how could he refuse when his one-time best friend needs his help to do the
same?
Review
To be honest, I almost didn't buy this book. I'm not a huge fan of gore or grimdark, and it looked like this would have both in spades. But I was intrigued by
the cover blurb for the sequel, and I never read a series out of order if I can at all help it... and there this title was, in paperback, daring me to give it a try.
And so I did - and was immediately pulled in for a wyld (er, wild) ride.
With violence, humor, and shades of both sword and sorcery and rock and roll (the mercenary "band" culture has many trappings of the entertainment world), Clay's
tale starts quickly and never lets go. Worldbuilding and character integrity are never sacrificed for the sake of a cheap laugh, and yet laughs there are, and plenty
of them - often a grim, gallows humor, but still laughs. It's not just a road trip or eccentric buddy comedy in a fantastic realm, though; there are some truly
touching moments and sacrifices along the way, and the bonds of friendship are tested to their limits. The story leans a bit testosterone heavy (understandable,
given the genres it's not-so-subtly poking fun at), but in the end I was thoroughly and unexpectedly entertained, enough to grant it the full fifth star of a Great
rating.
Like many people in Grandual, Tam has looked up to the mercenary bands that protect the people from roving monsters (though these days bands are less likely to be
found tramping around the Heartwyld forests seeking danger, instead putting on shows slaying monsters in arenas). She has family ties to the bands, including
tangential ones to the beyond-legendary band Saga, saviors of the land and slayer of the cruel, nigh-immortal druin lord Lastleaf... but her father, heartbroken after
the death of her mother, forbids her to so much as learn to carry a tune, let alone take up a harp and join a band as their bard. Tam is determined to prove herself
and get away, but even in her wildest dreams, or the wildest tales of her formerly adventurous, now perpetually drunk and broke uncle Bran, she never imagined she'd
end up with the band Fable, led by none other than Bloody Rose herself.
Daughter of Saga's former frontman, Rose has spent her whole life in the shadow of a man she's come to resent. Even when she held off a siege and helped liberate
innumerable captives while waiting for rescue, all anyone saw her as was "Golden" Gabe's daughter - a daughter who needed rescuing by her daddy, not the young woman
who beat impossible odds on her own. Everything about her, from her dyed red hair to her band Fable, is all about making a name for herself... down to the
increasingly reckless contracts she takes on. Even now, when a horde of monsters led by a vengeful giant has every mercenary who ever picked up a weapon heading off
to face the threat, she leads Fable the other way, intent on a contract that will, without a doubt, prove that she's more than just the daughter of the most famous
frontman alive.
As their greenest member and their new bard, Tam's job is simply to observe and record (and embellish in verse as needed) the band's progress... but the more time
she spends with them, the harder it is for Tam to stay on the sidelines, even as she comes to realize just what is at stake, for Rose and Fable and the whole of
Grandual.
Review
The first book in this series was one of the most enjoyable tales I've read in years, but I'd heard some mixed reviews on this sequel. As far as I'm concerned, it
more than lives up to the exceptionally high bar set by the first installment, serving as both a sequel and its own story that expands the lore, the world, and the
characters into new places.
Tam is no reluctant heroine who must be drug out the door; she's been champing at the bit since childhood, training as a bard in secret to follow in her late mother's
footsteps despite her father's edicts - but he has his reasons, and actually lets go when he realizes there is no stopping her "wyld" heart from following the path
that destroyed his wife, himself, and too many others to count. At first, Tam dismisses his warnings as his grief talking, enamored with "Bloody" Rose (a longtime
infatuation) and the life of the bands. Like any groupie who finds themselves on the inside, though, she soon realizes that everything she thought she knew about the
people and the bands, even after growing up on her uncle Bran's stories, is so much smoke and mirrors: the reality is far less glamorous, far more complex, and in
many respects far more dangerous (at least for a band like Fable that still ventures beyond arenas and the staged bloodsports they offer the masses - particularly
when they're driven by a leader as single-minded as Rose). Other assumptions - about Fable and Saga, about her land's history, even about what constitutes a monster
- fall by the wayside, too, sometimes slaughtered in a single blow and sometimes dying slow and agonizing deaths over the endless miles. Neither Tam nor her
companions (nor many of the other characters, friend or enemy or incidental) are simple characters, broken in some way by the past and seeking redemption or escape
(or both), all teetering on the edge of tragedy and sometimes slipping over. By the end, everyone and everything has changed and grown. (For the better? Maybe yes
and maybe no...)
As in the first volume, there's plenty of humor in the continued exploration of adventuring "bands" with all the tropes of rock stars alongside wild adventure,
unexpected wonder and even beauty, and moments that tear your heart out and skewer it on a sword, then trample it underfoot and light it on fire for good measure. It
grabbed me from the first page, and kept me up well past midnight to finish the final stretch. As in the first volume, much is resolved here, but more than enough
remains to justify at least one more future installment, not to mention innumerable potential spinoffs and companion works; nearly everyone they meet and every place
they go hints at a world packed to the stratosphere with stories to be told. At this rate, and assuming the quality keeps up, I'm happy to keep reading as long as
Eames wants to keep writing.
