Simon Brown (1) (1956–)

There is a place where all the young princes are noble and brave, all the old soldiers brood but are willing to be called back for one last campaign, and all the aristocrats are sneaky and villainous. There is a place where the forests are haunted, the caravans are impossibly huge, and the innkeepers are gruff but kindly. It's called fantasyland, and Simon Brown lives there, or he might as well do.

"Inheritance" is a fantasy novel of the old school, where you can tell who's a villain because show more they sneer on stage, and old men who have drunk their lives away in a bar can earn redemption by fighting to protect a slain friend's long lost son. Some may call it cliched. I call it a refreshing trip down memory lane. This is a story that makes you feel young again, that makes you think that maybe a hapless band of misfits really can defeat a much larger group of evil minions.

Prince Lynan, youngest son of Queen Usharna, roams the streets hoping to find information about his long dead father. General Chisal was a great leader in years long past, but was despised by the elitist upper classes for being a commoner. Now sinister forces are moving to dispose of Lynan, but will one of Chisal's former soldiers show up just in time to stop the assassins? (Take one guess.) Thwarted in their first attempt, the bad guys dream up an even farther-reaching conspiracy, and soon Lynan and his companions are fleeing for their lives, with hordes of vicious mercenaries on their tail.

What makes this book work is Brown's careful writing. He understands what the story needs, and also what the story doesn't need. Every paragraph in "Inheritance" carries important information. There are no space-fillers, no long descriptions, and instead we get tons of action and intrigue. There's more plot in this book than in many twice its size. Brown also develops his characters, major and minor, with the utmost care. Everyone has believable motivations for what they do, including the villains. The fight scenes come across clearly and with pulse-pounding excitement. Perhaps most important is the intelligence of the book's structure. The good guys actually win by being good - brave, intelligent, loyal, and resourceful - rather than by pulling magic tricks out of a hat. In fact, "Inheritance" has virtually no magic.

For sure Simon Brown will never win a Hugo or get raves from the New York Review of Books, but he delivers everything you could rightfully expect from him; he writes a well-thought-out story with tons of excitement and no unnecessary violence, sex, or profanity. For this I hold him up as an example of what fantasy can be, and I hope he decides to offer us a great deal more in the years to come. show less

In Sovereign, Simon Brown closes out his Keys of Power trilogy, and I have to say it is one of the most intense, absorbing fantasy series I have ever read, evolving from an entertaining but seemingly pedestrian fantasy adventure about an exiled prince into a shockingly dark tale that left me wondering up through the very last page just how things could possibly turn out in the end. In Inheritance, we first met young Prince Lynan, a youth looked down upon by his royal siblings and largely show more ignored by his mother the queen because he was the son of a commoner (albeit the greatest general Grenda Lear had ever produced). Framed for regicide, he fled the kingdom in the company of Kumul, his mentor and ex-captain of the palace guard; Ager, a crookbacked soldier who fought alongside Lynan's father in the Slaver War; and a young female magicker named Jenrosa Alucar - and the Key of Unity, one of the four Keys of Power that were distributed among Queen Usharna's four children at the time of her death.

Lynan was young and naïve, but he gradually grew into the true son of his father, a military leader determined to return to Grenda Lear and reclaim what had been stolen from him. Back home, his half-sister Areava, having succeeded to the throne after the murder of her older brother, committed herself to destroying the half-brother she believed guilty of the crime - never realizing that a most treacherous conspiracy involving a neighboring kingdom raged underneath her very nose. In the distant Oceans of Grass, Lynan united the nomadic Chetts and began a civil war that would eventually involve every province across the land of Theare. For the first half of the series, I worked under the assumption that every thing would work out in the end - Lynan was innocent of the crime that sent him into exile, after all. Then, in the latter half of Fire and Sword, Brown hit me with the literary equivalent of a one-two punch that left me reeling in absolute shock at the tragedy and horror unleashed upon all sides of this epic conflict.

Naturally, I could not wait to see how the storyline would evolve in this third and final novel of the trilogy. Even with my blinders now off, I really had no idea how this epic saga would end. Sovereign is filled with both the thrills and visceral horrors of battle. Bloodied by his first encounter with the army of Grenda Lear, Lynan and his Chett allies not only regroup, they expand their war plans diplomatically as well as militarily. Lynan himself is greatly changed, devolving into something both more than and less than human as the life-saving blood of a vicious wood vampire haunts and transforms him into a frightening spectre that fills his enemies - and eventually even his friends - with dread. The once-noble young hero becomes a bloodthirsty killer who displays no mercy to those who stand in his way. His closest friends and allies are powerless to contain him in his madness - not so long as he is prey to the torments of Silona the vampire.

One of the most compelling aspects of this story is the nebulous quality of good and evil on both sides of the conflict. One finds it hard to pull against Queen Areava and the noble prince Olio back in Grenda Lear, for they, like Lynan, are really just victims of the treachery that set the horrors of war in motion. Then there is Primate Powl, who attained his position by murdering the former primate. Despite the man's great sin, he becomes a tragic figure in these pages as he suffers the guilt of knowing he is not the religious leader he should be and searches earnestly for knowledge of his God. In the end, there are only a handful of truly guilty men, and the story finally comes full circle. As Lynan's army nears Kendra, the very capital of Grenda Lear, I honestly had no clue as to how Brown would resolve a story filled with so much pain and sorrow on all sides. Keys of Power is not just another fantasy series - far from it, with its incredibly complex characters, shocking plot twists, and powerfully emotional final showdown.

I only wish this series could have been expanded to some degree. Far too many fantasy series are stretched beyond their means over the course of multiple volumes, but the Keys of Power series only brushes the surface of several fascinating subplots, especially one concerning the true history of the land of Theare, and leaves the reader wanting more. I for one hope Simon Brown returns to Grenda Lear at some point, as I would love to see how a land so decimated by such a tragic and bloody war makes the difficult transition to the future. show less

Before she died Queen Usharna gave each of her children a Key of Power in the hope that they will work together to keep the kingdom of Grenda Lear prospering. She could not know that upon her death, conspirators would kill her successor King Berayma and make sure Prince Lynan would be wanted for the deed. The new Queen Areava declares her half-brother, who she dislikes because he has commoner blood, a traitor. Lynan escapes before he can be killed and the two masterminds behind the show more conspiracy hold very important posts in the Queen's government.

Not content to stay with the same scope as "Inheritance", Simon Brown continuously raises the stakes in "Fire and Sword". The armies get larger, the magic more mind-blowing, the battles bigger and bloodier, and Brown doesn't pull any punches. But most importantly, the characters are growing apace with the events in the story. Everyone in the cast, major or minor role, develops and changes as they go along.

Lynan flees to the Chetts in the Sea of Grass and forms an alliance with Queen Korigan of the White Wolf Clan. Everyone knows for Lynan to return to Grenda Lear, he must come as a conqueror with an army at his back. He unites all the clans of the Chetts under his banner and he turns them into a fighting force second to none, but before he marches on Grenda Lear, he must defeat two mercenary armies. One wants him dead while the other wants to use him as a figurehead to conqueror his homeland.

Anyone who writes a trilogy faces certain problems. The big conclusion to the series must wait until the final book, but the second volume must hold our interest so we can get there. The Keys of Power series may, at a surface level, look like a standard formula fantasy, but "Fire and Sword" proves to be full of surprises. Would you have guessed, for instance, that Jenrosa's relationship with Lynan would fall apart as she falls for Kumul instead? Or that a political power play would separate the royal couple in Kendra?

Scouring the fantasy section of the bookstore can be a tedious chore, given how much crap there is. But here is a story where the action is hot and the fighting is fierce, the humor is funny and the romance is romantic. It's what we've all been looking for, and now that it's here we shouldn't turn away. show less

Before she died Queen Usharna gave each of her children a Key of Power in the hope that they will work together to keep the kingdom of Grenda Lear prospering. She could not know that upon her death, conspirators would kill her successor King Berayma and make sure Prince Lynan would be wanted for the deed. The new Queen Areava declares her half-brother, who she dislikes because he has commoner blood, a traitor. Lynan escapes before he can be killed and the two masterminds behind the show more conspiracy hold very important posts in the Queen's government.

Not content to stay with the same scope as "Inheritance", Simon Brown continuously raises the stakes in "Fire and Sword". The armies get larger, the magic more mind-blowing, the battles bigger and bloodier, and Brown doesn't pull any punches. But most importantly, the characters are growing apace with the events in the story. Everyone in the cast, major or minor role, develops and changes as they go along.

Lynan flees to the Chetts in the Sea of Grass and forms an alliance with Queen Korigan of the White Wolf Clan. Everyone knows for Lynan to return to Grenda Lear, he must come as a conqueror with an army at his back. He unites all the clans of the Chetts under his banner and he turns them into a fighting force second to none, but before he marches on Grenda Lear, he must defeat two mercenary armies. One wants him dead while the other wants to use him as a figurehead to conqueror his homeland.

Anyone who writes a trilogy faces certain problems. The big conclusion to the series must wait until the final book, but the second volume must hold our interest so we can get there. The Keys of Power series may, at a surface level, look like a standard formula fantasy, but "Fire and Sword" proves to be full of surprises. Would you have guessed, for instance, that Jenrosa's relationship with Lynan would fall apart as she falls for Kumul instead? Or that a political power play would separate the royal couple in Kendra?

Scouring the fantasy section of the bookstore can be a tedious chore, given how much crap there is. But here is a story where the action is hot and the fighting is fierce, the humor is funny and the romance is romantic. It's what we've all been looking for, and now that it's here we shouldn't turn away. show less