Glenda Larke

Review by Crisetta MacLeod

I am in awe of the sheer virtuosity with which Larke has created her world. Water, or rather the scarcity of water, is the basis of government, economy, social hierarchy and even religion. The Stormlord ability, which can pull water from the sea, and send it where needed, is a hereditary gift. There is a conspiracy to kill off those with degrees of this ability, to return to human warfare and the vagaries of climate.

The main protagonist, Shale, lives in an show more impoverished slum, but has latent water power, and this leads to his kidnapping, and attempts to murder him, as the last living Stormlord’s powers weaken and there is no-one to replace him. The love interest comes from Shale’s relationship with Terelle, who has the ability to alter the future by her paintings, but the powers-that-be need Shale to breed with someone with water talent. Warlike Reduners seek to overpower the other settlements, when growing water shortages lead to the threat of anarchy. One of their weapons is a dreadful insect called a zigger, which attacks by entering orifices and eating the victim from the inside.

What a tale! Can’t wait for the next instalment. This is a GREAT book. I was so sad when I finished it; luckily it's going to be a trilogy. AND, she's Australian. show less

Its been so long since I've read a straight fantasy that I've almost forgotten what its like. Don't get me wrong I love my urban fantasies, my romance fantasies...but I miss my straight ones. Glenda Larke is a favorite of mine from her 'Isles of Glory' books (of which I still haven't read book 3...), I'd even put her on par with my enjoyment of the Mistborn books or Tredana books honestly.

Stormlord starts out rather bleakly. Terelle has a dark future ahead of her as a handmaiden in Madame show more Opal's snuggery. As a handmaiden she's basically little better then a Geisha--she is company for men, sings, dances, plays musical instruments--but with the added duty of being a pleasing companion in bed as well. Mind you she's only 12 years old, her father sold her into this life and her older half-sister Vivie keeps telling her to suck it up and go with the flow.

From there we head to where Nealrith, son of Granlon (a cloudmaster, ie: very important guy), is visiting the water cisterns with Kaneth, his friend. Things are bad, the water levels being no where near where they should be. The solutions presented by Kaneth are both impossible and morally black, but the options are few. Is it better to be rid of a great many to save a few or should they all perish the same, slow, death?

There is a number of different intrigues going on--politically, personally and wide spread. Its not just that the water shortage problem is just now occurring, the problem is that its happening when there hasn't been enough Stormlords. In the last decades only a handful or so of potentials have been born and through disease, death and inability none of them are suitable for the position.

As one should expect from Larke's writing the narrative is lush with details. The layers of society are pretty simple to understand, but the world itself is more complex. From the religion (there is the Sunlord and the Raingiver--both practical given the world and concerns) to the social hierarchy (the more water sensitive you are, the better off you will be) Larke weaves an intricate net of survival.

I found myself liking Kaneth and Ryka despite some of my earlier misgivings. Kaneth is something of a playboy, until recently not prone to overthinking matters or worrying over the future. Current situations being what they are he's beginning to take a more active stance. Is it too late however? Ryka is a bookish woman with a slightly bitter attitude towards men (and Kaneth in general) and marriage. She is however someone you want beside you, she is intelligent, quick-witted and thinks on her feet. She's fiery as well, but that can sometimes be to her detriment.

I am, of course, impatient to read the next volume. With the North American release not until March 2010 (cry with me) and the subsequent volumes not being released until March and September 2010 in Australia, it feels like a loooong wait.

I will say this, I like the Australian cover much more then the US one. I think it fits better. The US/Orbit cover looks kind of like Gail Z. Martin's Necromancer cover and I don't think green is the best color to have. show less

Fabulous!

Oh, I enjoyed this! All the necessary aspects are present to coalesce into a sparkling work with a brilliant plot. Vividly descriptive, my interest was held from beginning to end.
Kings, evil prelates, a princess who in battling to order her own life never counts the cost to others, witchery and old magic, guile and truth, miracles and more.
Oh! and an investigator of the order of the Va-Faith maligned and nullified, left to die naked and chained to a tree in the coldest hours of the show more night. Saker Rampion is an Ardronese witan, a spy for the Pontifect of Va-Faith, sent to the Kingdom of Lowmeer, not once but twice. The first time is to find out if the merchants of Lowmeer have found the Spicerie (the source of spices), the second as a spiritual tutor for Prince Ryce and the Princess, the Lady Matilda of Lowmeer. An unlikely hero!
Sorrel Redwing has the gift of glamoury. Through heart breaking circumstances she ends up as a hand maiden for Lady Matilda. Sorrel's feet are firmly set on a path that will intersect with Saker's becoming involved in the mysteries he faces.
Then there's the dreaded horn sickness and the killing of twins as carriers and what to do when the Queen is carrying twins?
And the dagger?
Well that's even more mysterious! On his first mission in Lowmeer, one that the Pontifect reminds him is to have no brawling or sword fights, indeed nothing to draw attention to his presence. An instruction Saker fails to keep when, in pursuit of a lead, he is involved in fight in a spice warehouse with a Lascar, a sailor from the islands of the Summer Seas. The fight interrupts the clandestine meeting Saker is observing. There's an unexpected discovery and a chancy escape. Not before Saker notices some gold coloured sparkling filaments that had been hidden in a length of Bambu. As Saker escapes the Lascar throws the dagger at him. It is embedded in his leg. The dagger is 'oddly sinuous.' When Saker first saw it his mouth went dry. 'Sailors say that there is sorcery in a blade like that.'
The dagger it seems has its own agenda which includes, after injuring Saker, forsaking its Lascar owner and cleaving to Saker. It's a dagger that won't stay thrown away or left behind no matter how hard Saker tries. Sorcery indeed!
Sorcery that involves what was hidden in the bambu. Sorcery that could enthral a King, bring done a kingdom, open the way for greater evil, and lead to untold havoc for not only the Summer Seas people but all who come under its sway.

A NetGalley ARC show less

I read The Dagger’s Path immediately after finishing the first book of this series, The Lascar’s Dagger. I enjoyed the first book, but this one really made me want to read other books by Glenda Larke.

I love fantasy books with non-traditional settings (Throne of the Crescent Moon, Elizabeth Bear’s Eternal Sky trilogy), and this book includes a lot of that. The first book is set in a fairly standard European-inspired fantasy setting (albeit with a secondary character that’s most show more definitely not European), but in this book, the secondary character becomes one of the main protagonists, and we visit his home and see it through both foreign and native eyes. The Chendarwasi islands and the Spicerie are inspired by Indonesia and Malaysia, and there are quite a few literal references to their language and culture (I read in an interview that the author’s husband is Malay and his culture inspired this book).

I also liked the characters quite a bit. The three main protagonists are Saker, the rakish priest/spy who usually has the best of intentions but ends up in pickles regularly, Ardhi, the titular “lascar” who is atoning for the terrible consequences brought upon his people by his naivete, and Sorrel, the woman that accidentally murdered her abusive husband and is finding that she is an incredibly tough and resourceful person. The secondary characters also feel like people I’ve gotten to know pretty well, despite the shorter page time – Mathilda, the princess that will do anything to gain power in a world that refuses to recognise that women can be trusted to hold it, Ryce, the prince that struggles with feeling weak for doing the right thing, Gerelda, the unflappable lawyer and her charge Peregrine, who has a burden beyond his years, Fritillary Reeding, the tough religious head who is determined to keep darkness from claiming her lands, Lord Juster the flamboyant privateer who is pragmatic until someone threatens his beloved ship.

I was worried about some elements of the plot in The Lascar’s Dagger – the generic evil seemed a bit too derivative, and some characters that we were supposed to like made some questionable decisions. After this book, though, I’m no longer worried – Larke uses the “generic evil” tropes rather cleverly, and the characters in question either realized that their decisions were suspect or fully committed to the dubious path. The book moved pretty quickly, and most of the outstanding questions from the first book were answered (something I always appreciate in a middle book of a trilogy), but of course, they raised a whole bunch of new ones.

The Dagger’s Path isn’t flawless – some of the characters flip-flop between attitudes too often (Sorrel’s emotions regarding Ardhi and Ardhi’s conviction regarding his ultimate fate, for example), everyone likes Saker way too much and too quickly, but it’s compelling and fun. I’d really like the third book now, please. show less