The Red Knight

The Red Knight is an often brilliant, often frustrating fantasy debut. The titular character is leader of a mercenary band with a contract to protect an isolated fortress-nunnery. The Captain and his merry band of sell-swords find that they've bitten off more than they can chew when a tide of monsters from the Wild washes over their stronghold, leaving them to face a perilous siege.

So the brilliant part first. Cameron is a giant historical re-enactment nerd, and he's done everything in this novel short of killing a man with a sword. The personal knowledge of medieval clothing, arms, and sleeping rough shine through in the little details. Where other fantasy writers are working from the literature, he's working from the stuff, and this show more book has the bronze glow of authenticity about it. Getting the little details right mean that the big stuff, armored knights fighting monsters, absolutely works. You get how utterly dangerous a trained and armored man on a warhorse is.

But there's also a lot of aggravating stuff. The point of view jumps around between characters because that's what Epic Fantasy does, and like constant jump cuts in a movie, this interrupts the flow of the story. There's a lot of minor skirmishes and side stories that don't pay off nearly enough to justify the investment in pages or emotional energy. I kept thinking that Poul Anderson would have written an absolutely crackerjack version of the same basic story that came in at half the word count and hit all the themes better. And while it's a little unfair to compare a first novel to the skill of a master craftsman like Anderson, it's more a matter of the form, the idea that epic fantasy should be 600+ pages a book, rather than the proper length of enough story to cover everything that needs covering while being short enough to be interesting.

The setting and characterization is erratic. I enjoyed the Captain and his mercenaries, and the slave turned Wildling warrior Peter, but the voices of many of the other secondary characters were false or redundant or both. The story is set in an England-expy, with a France-expy and Holy Roman Empire-expy nearby, though the religion is literally Christianity and not Christianity-shaped polytheism. Part of this worked, because even if it's not my religion there's enough culture Christianity around that its notions of holiness had power, where invoking St. Cuthbert would be LARP nonsense, but the mix of real and fictional elements was a little jarring. But finally, if there is a real conflict in this book, it's between the works of Man and the Powers of the Wild, and neither side is drawn particularly clearly. The world of knights lacks the layers of personal relationships, histories, and betrayals that made say, A Song of Ice and Fire so good when it was good. The forces of the Wild are hostile and dangerous, but not as malevolent as a true Dark Lord would be.

I did enjoy this book, and anything to do with swordfights was amazing, but I'm looking at the next four with aprehnsion rather than joy, and that's not true of a five-star book. This review is more hostile than the book really deserves, but that's because this book is almost great, and that's more frustrating than just being mediocre. show less

9/10
Seriously, the first half of this book was a bit of a slog... too many POV characters scattered in too many locations, and no list of characters and NO MAP!
But then things started to come together—literally, many of the characters ended up in the same locations and the number of locations narrowed. The action picked up, and the characters fleshed out (some). I will say the book is meticulously researched and informed by the author’s considerable experience in historically accurate re-enactments.
Many questions answered and many more raised... perfect for the first book in a series.

Thoroughly enjoyed and I'll be reading the rest of the series.

The Red Knight, known more casually as Captain of a mercenary troop (much more substantial than you imagine, not just knights, but their men at arms, archers, and camp followers), has some secret connection to the royal court, but none of the company care. They just want to be paid, which means a commission. The company has been hired out to defend an Abby towards the borders of the kingdom. The Wild is encroaching after decades of peace. Non-human creatures of various intelligence and sometimes speech normally live beyond the Wall, but have occasionally been sighted inside 'civilisation'. Now it seems something has stirred them up. the Captain quickly realises this isn't show more just hunting a few boglins, but potentially a full scale invasion.

The Abby is well fortified, but there is only so long a small force can hold out, even if everyone is a hero. Help might be coming, including from unexpected sources, but meanwhile there are farmers and traders to protect. The nuns are not without resources of their own, and the Captain quickly realises he may have to accept some intrusions into his secrets if he's to preserve as many as he can from a force that doesn't think like he does.

There's a neat set-up for the 2nd book introduced much earlier into the plot than you might expect. Again very much in the style I prefer, authors who are thinking ahead of a series as a whole.

The setting was just my kind of thing - a duality of magic, but not as obviously divided into good and evil as some of the practitioners believe. It's unclear how significant religion actually is in the division. The court settings and historical fantasy tropes are well described - occasionally a little too much, the author is an avowed re-enactment hobbyist - but generally as things the characters would mentally note, rather than pure exposition. I also loved that everybody who is supposed to be intelligent actually acts that way. Feelings are real, but the 'bad guys' are acting for real reasons too. show less

The Red Knight is an excellent Medieval fantasy. Nobody does authentic Medieval better than Miles/Christian Cameron. Prior to this I've read the Tom Swan serialized series by him, and while this novel has a fantasy element that Tom Swan lacked, it retains the authenticity and painstaking descriptions of armor, weapons, and battles.

It seems like every book I've read lately features a siege front and center. The Red Knight is no different, with a siege taking about 80% of the screen time. Like David Gemmell, Cameron does it well. The writing here is less mythic than Gemmell's, the characters more human and the world more grounded. It's really well done, though sometimes the descriptions of the armor can be a bit much.

This is a great start show more to a series, and the captain is a really compelling character. I'm a sucker for mercenary bands, and really enjoy the time periods Cameron likes to cover (even in fantasy). Good stuff. show less

This is going to be a difficult book to review, because there were times I loved it, times I hated it, times I was absolutely engaged in the story and times when I was bored senseless. An ambitious début, The Red Knight uses the well-used tropes of medieval epic fantasy to tell the story of a company of mercenaries who end up fighting in a war against daemons.

My initial reaction to the book was on one of admiration - the writing style was unique and the premise was interesting. A hundred pages later, I felt I wasn't getting anywhere; there were too many characters, too much to keep track of, and I couldn't imagine how on earth any of it could be connected. The Red Knight, in all his pompous glory, was starting to annoy me greatly. So I show more put the book down, but for some reason, couldn't get the characters or the world out of my head. The mercenaries and nuns, and their struggles against the supernatural power of the Wild, had gotten under my skin. So I read another hundred pages, and then a hundred more, and suddenly I couldn't put the book down!

Not fast-paced by any stretch of imagination, the plot of The Red Knight meanders in a languid fashion, and will frustrate most readers to the point where they feel like they should stop reading it. Rather like an avalanche, it begins with a few loose pebbles, in different areas of the mountain, that roll and bounce, and cause other stones to roll and bounce, until suddenly, the movement of the mountain is unstoppable. Those with the patience to see it through will undoubtedly be impressed.

One of the more outstanding aspects of this novel is the wide range of female characters in the cast, many of whom are given a point of view, and how some display strength and independence while others aren't self-sufficient at all and use their cunning to get by. My favourites are the Abbess, a deep and nuanced character who believes she is atoning for sins committed in her youth, and Amicia, who always knows what she wants even if it means making sacrifices. I think they're all awesome though, and I love the female mercenary, Sauce, especially.

Another thing I liked is the incredible detail the author pours into describing the armour and fortifications and battles in the story. Every battle scene is beautifully told, and I could imagine what was going on clearly. I also liked that the book didn't gloss over how difficult it is to get ready for a battle, and to disarm afterward - a lot of the time authors make it seem like armour magically gets on and off a knight's body, but Cameron takes special care in describing the intricacies involved.

Aside from the initial sluggishness of the plot, I also disliked the Red Knight's hubris, which caused him a lot of trouble, especially in his dealings with the Abbess and Amicia. He's abrasive, rude and blasphemous, and it took me a long, long time to see any redeeming qualities in him. The revelation about his youth, his upbringing and his experiences with his brothers certainly put a lot of it into perspective, and I have to admit I quite like him now!

My final, albeit minor, complaint is that my copy has quite a few errors. Heel is used instead of heal, words are missing letters, sometimes words are missing altogether. It just needs one more round of editing, in my opinion - I'd say there are 4 errors to every hundred pages, which probably doesn't seem like a lot, but we're talking about a 650 page tome! They stood out to me, and although I didn't catalogue them all, I know that I grew tired of the errors before I was even halfway through.

I ended up liking The Red Knight way more than I'd thought, but I remember what a struggle the first third of it was! I'd recommend it to readers looking for something new but familiar, who have a lot of time to dedicate to it. I'm looking forward to the next book, The Fell Sword, and getting to uncover more of The Red Knight's secrets (what did he say to the King!?). This is a very cool début, and I'm glad to have read it!

You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic. show less

This is a nice blending of high fantasy and blood-and-guts fighting and it is no surprise to see that Cameron lists the likes of Tolkien and other similar authors among his influences.

The bare bones of Arthurian legend form the foundation for a truly fun & fantastic work. The characters are well-drawn, admirable, and entertaining. The pacing climbs throughout, with well-placed pauses for character and back-story development. The style is succinct without simplicity, and the use of language is well-rounded. Importantly to the author, the action within reflects the art of war in western armour and arms as well as any in the genre.

Set around a mercenary company led by the Red Knight including such memorable and memorably named characters show more such as Bad Tom, Sauce, and Wilful Murder that specialises in monster hunting the novels plot revolves around the band’s newest contract the protection of an Abbey from the forces of the Wild. A task that draws in a myriad of characters from kings and queens, to mages and witches, and ordinary folks.

Fans of both high fantasy and Joe Abercrombie-style action should both get something out of The Red Knight. As usual, the test for me is whether or not I want to keep reading. And the answer for that is a definite yes. show less

Wow! …move over Erikson…there’s a new singer in Fantasy land!!

Violence and magic lurk just beneath the veneer of this medieval type world. The Wild is closing, strange creatures are abroad and protective garrisons are undermanned.
By the fourth page the Red Knight and his mercenaries pass through a farm littered by its dead, including a nun. The steading is a supporter of the fortress nunnery Lissen Carak.
The Red knight surveys the carnage and asks the question.
'How did the Wild make it here?
...Past the wall was the wild, many leagues beyond the mountains.'
'Some fool must have asked them in,' was the reply.

Thus the reader falls into the mayhem and magic from the beginning, displayed through the violent carnage, as witnessed by the show more half consumed body and 'a single clear footprint...the size of a warhorse's hoof or bigger, with three toes.'
The story has barely begun...and much more is to come.
Magus, knights, kings, queens, practitioners of the arcane arts, traitors, creatures of the Wild, ordinary men, and extraordinary powers are caught within the pincers of opposing forces. This is a tour de force, a complex saga, where the story bursts from its pages into life and legend fantastic.

Witch bane...the Wild and War! Let the story continue!

A Netgalley ARC show less