Ian Graham (2) (1971–)

When Ballas is nearly beaten to death, kind strangers give him life-saving medical attention. He repays their charity by robbing them. But there’s more to the stolen artifact than just priceless gemstones. It holds ancient secrets the ruling religious leaders will stop at nothing to keep hidden. Ballas quickly becomes the most hated and feared man in the empire. He is hunted with a brutal relentlessness that equals only that of Ballas himself. His only chance for survival is escape to a show more mythical land on the far side of an impassable mountain range, the only place beyond the power of the Church of the Four Pilgrims.

Ballas' main interest is getting drunk or hiring a prostitute. He’s big, bad, and a kind of ugly that only looks more natural beat-up. Besides the ability to consume mass amounts of alcohol, his only talent is for violence and a spiteful survivability. He’s not a psychopath or unjustly cruel, but he has no qualms about killing whenever he deems it necessary. You have to dig so deep to find any redeeming qualities in Ballas that what you do find is questionable. show less

His name is Ballas. He's a Drunkard. A Thief. A Wastrel. A Cutthroat. He's Brutal. He's Scum. Yet in the end, he will set out on a quest so dark and strange that it will take him to the literal edge of the known world to unravel a mystery left behind by an elder race.
And this unloved, brutal cutthroat will be the only man to stand in the way of an evil awakening.

The story hits the reader in the face with the pure antithesis of the normal Fantasy Hero Character. In Fact, NONE of the show more characters follow the usually accepted script. There's no noble sentiment. No Lofty ideals. No idyllic pastoral pavane. Just an ugly reality and an undeniable necessity. This is No Kid's Novel. This is Rock Hard Adult Fantasy.
The ending will surprise and move you. show less

This is Ian Graham's debut novel - and I am in two minds about it.
One of the things that sets this novel apart from most in the realm of fantasy is that the protagonist is an anti-hero. A violent, ill-tempered vagrant thief, he doesn't steal from the wicked and corrupt, or to subvert an oppressive societal order - he steals because it's the easiest way to keep him in drink. Deaths are violent, bloody, and frequent - and often gratuitous. and it's definitely interesting to have a main
There show more really isn't all that much in the way of character development. Many characters are just around for far too little time for them to develop, and the consistent focus on a single character prevents any other perspective from coming to light -especially as that character acts very consistently throughout the entire story. There's not a large amount of information about the society in which the story is set either, and it's a bit maddening that for much of the story it's entirely unclear why the antagonists are spending so much effort trying to kill the protagonist - why he would be worth that much effort is only revealed after it becomes a moot point. Many of the explanations come after the climax, which just isn't my preference for story structure. The last-minute throwaway line about Ballas' history is a hook left dangling.
Having said that, I kept reading right to the end. If there's a second volume, I may well read it - to see if the story goes anywhere, and if Ballas has any redeeming characteristics. show less

Monument by Ian Graham is Mr. Graham's first novel. It is set in a traditional style fantasy realm. Being that this is the first book by Mr. Graham there are no other books to read before this novel. I first have to say, that the cover of this novel is beautiful. In fact, it is one of the best fantasy covers I have seen in a long time. It is what first led me to this book.

The plot of this book appears to be rather straight forward at the beginning. A rogue who is being helped by the church show more steals something important and sets events into motion. On the surface this is a mildly interesting plot line, however, half-ay through the novel, the author seems to all but abandon that plot line with little to explanation of what happened. Then, as a reader, I felt bombarded with sub-plots that seemed like nothing but filler. Things such as a `mysterious' world on the other side of a mountain range, to mysteries surrounding various people who the main character comes into contact with. Aside from the stolen item piece of the plot, the rest of the book felt contrived and just blah to me. I had a hard time investing any real energy into this book. In fact, there were portions of the book I had to struggle not to skip over just because my interest was not captured.

The characters in this novel have some very good potential, especially Ballas. However, from the start of the book to the end, there is no real character development. In 373 pages, a reader has an expectation that the characters will develop in some way. Yet, in this novel it is simply lacking. Ballas is the exact same character at the start as he is at the end. The other characters never transcend the feeling f background. They are just there and they talk when they are useful, and drift away when they are not needed. The supporting characters had little to no connection with the story. To me, it felt as though Mr. Graham said "Oh, I need a new character here." And quickly created one, just to fill a gap.

My one major criticism about this novel is how the main character, Ballas, just repeats things. For instance, the book opens with Ballas getting beaten quite severely and then healed by the church. This theme of beatings and healings repeats at least three more times. I get it, readers get it, Ballas gets beaten, healed and then repeats. I think a variety of plot pieces here would have been very beneficial.

As I mentioned above, the characters are flat and rather uninteresting. It was hard for me to develop any type of connection with them. They just were. They felt as though they were being dragged along by the plot and not influencing the plot at all.

Lastly, the ending of the book didn't mesh with the previous 350 pages. It simply made little sense as far as characters actions and dialog. It felt disjointed and confusing and not anything resembling the rest of the novel.

I will say that Mr. Graham does have some talent as a writer. That talent does make brief appearances throughout the book, but not long enough to make it anything meaningful. His prose, at times, is tight and succinct, however, other times it seems to wander and lose focus. The over all concept of the story is good, yet the execution of the story leaves something to be desired.

I have read many fantasy novels, and I am of the conclusion that this novel is not one I would readily recommend except to those readers who are extremely well read in the fantasy genre and have exhausted all other novels. This book simply comes up short of its promise. show less