Christian Cameron

Another excellent entry, Sword of Justice is everything historical fiction should be: well-researched, believable, and grounded, while not letting concrete dates and events get in the way of a good story.

Sword of Justice is a bit less gritty than the previous novels - there are fewer battles, less brutal violence and more politics and scheming as William Gold becomes more established as a knight and comes into the Count of Savoy's orbit. It makes for a slower-paced novel, but that's not show more necessarily a bad thing. Gold gets to spend some time with his family, and having Gold be more directly involved in the political intrigue was a nice change of pace.

It can feel at times like Gold is a bit of a Mary Sue, and he is. He always wins, and if he loses he doesn't that badly, and sometimes it can stretch the limits of believability. But remember the frame story: this is Gold telling his own story, and is meant to be taken with a little salt.

Good stuff. show less

A free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Having escaped the destruction of the Thera/Delos analogue (which was the seat of the previous pantheon deposed by the current bunch), our heroes split into 2 bands. One band heads to the Egypt analogue meeting up with the Tiamat analogue (released by the eruption) on the way, and then end up raiding the seat of the current pantheon. They liberate an insectoid hive enslaved by the pantheon to produce resin - which is used to create show more ambrosia to power themselves.

The second band travels to the North to find more sky metal - which is poisonous to the gods. Here we find an Aztec culture and possibly a Norse culture (maybe a sub-Arctic shamistic culture?)

I'm actually enjoying this a lot, although I think adding the New World cultures into the mix may be a bit too much of a stretch. The fight scenes are believable (not surprising as Cameron is a re-enactor), and despite the cinematic plot, it does not read like a script (as many novels do seem to now). Hesiod is coming through more strongly - I'm ashamed to say I didn't quite pick up on that for a while; at least 3 of the characters may be proto-Olympians.

Recommended, and I'm eagerly waiting for book 3. show less

I enjoyed this stand-alone novel immensely, and I'm thrilled there's a sequel due in November featuring another period of the life of William Gold. This is a historical fiction novel, with the backdrop of the early part of the Hundred Years War, so 14th-century Europe. The tale is compelling and entertaining, narrated in first-person by the protagonist in a recollection of his younger years and of how he came to be a knight.
Prompted by Jehan Froissart (the main French historian of the show more period), whom he met along with Geoffrey Chaucher in Calais, he agrees to tell his tale and true to his word, William reminisces about feats-of-arms, war, the battle of Poitiers and Italy in his "own time and manner", as he forewarns. Indeed all the facts shared, while closely intertwined with real history, are sifted by the perspective and comments of the teller, who's aware all the time of his audience and who effortlessly keeps the interest piqued, letting personal events, facts, fiction, battle-action and historical background flow while recounting the story with a little cynicism, witty remarks, emotional cognizance and a lot of subtle humor which give the narrative a real turn-page quality.

As the story unfolds, you can feel William is really a son of a difficult, grim age yet also an embodiment of its contradictions: he endeavors to elevate himself, socially and morally. He strives to carve a path to success while he feels torn between trying to achieve -and believe- noble ideals, wanting to be a better man and the fact that he is easily swept away by the current of violent events; by habit, necessity and choice he often falls in the traps of complacency and takes the easy way out, embracing the horrors of reality and the greedy corruption of men; yet, through his own qualities, friendship, love, experience, lots of luck and faith, he accepts "to do what we must...but that need not be the sum of who we are", and takes heart. So the reader immerses in the life of this very brave and human knight, like a pendulum swinging between good and evil, whose extremes are clearly portrayed with the figures of Geoffrey de Charny and Bertucat "Bourc" Camus.

Speaking of his mistakes, William allows a little self-indulgence to slip but through and through he's able to laugh at his own shortcomings and have the reader emphasize with a life in a century so different.
You also get details, from the protagonist point of observation, of the politics, religion and economy of the time, which -as today- heavily drive the lives and behavior of all men, commoners and gentles alike, which help a lot to place the events, to try to understand that society, its way of thinking, and not to be hasty in judgment, at least for the novel and its characters.

The author seems to have a solid background in medieval history and is careful to relate facts with as much accuracy as possible. Moreover the engaging descriptions of armors, fighting techniques, military fashion and warfare are smartly spread in the novel, so you rarely feel a dimming in the flow of the tale, even during the waiting scenes.
Another plus is, of course, that the main characters and most of the minor ones are real historical figures and it had been a delight to google them.

What I also loved in this specific novel is that the author lets the fictitious events feel true -like what could have really happened in the "normal" life of the real William Gold or another men-at-arms cut from the same cloth-, and sure enough I really never felt a need for epic quests, sudden upheavals, nemesis drama or other arranged plot twists which I usually cherish in historical novels to keep me thinking "what's next"? I'm just glad I'm only a month away from the answer.

If you like reading about the late Middle-Ages, feats-of-arms, jousting, warfare, social inequities, chivalry and "preux" knights, routiers and what life was like in France, Italy and England in those turbulent years, don't miss this outstanding novel. show less

We all tend to know a little bit about the history of these times, and the author has picked a time and place where his characters can stand tall and act like men defending their homeland from the clutches of the "monster" of Macedonia. This is a well written and well described world with no obvious concessions to "modernising" attitudes of beliefs - for example slavery is accepted as a fact of life as is the sheer chaos, savagery and dirt describe a very personal form of warfare.

The main show more character, Kineas, is an exiled Greek from Alexander the Great's victorious Macedonian & Greek ally army who takes the job of training the Tyrant of Olbia's cavalry in 333 BC.

The journey to his new job is an adventure in itself, then he enters the political and military maze of the city of Olbia, and on top of this he soon faces an even bigger threat that seems insurmountable. He is joined by a Spartan, a Scyth, a Getae, and Greeks, and the inter-cultural interactions are fascinating. Kineas is portrayed as a military man, through and through, and though heroic still human, with fears and foibles. The Scythes, who are usually portrayed as unbelievably barbaric and cruel are given a refreshing slant as brave, humorous, hospitable and trustworthy warriors. The love affair between a Greek and a Scyth warrior woman is original and believable.

The characters are well rounded and interesting - and made of real flesh and blood. Each one becomes someone that you actually care about during the combat. Whilst some inevitably die, it's a real struggle to lose them.

Luckily, the friend who loaned me this sent the whole set – so I don’t have to wait to see what happens next! show less