The Silverblood Promise

The Silverblood Promise was exactly what I needed at the moment, something light, fun, with the promise of deadly politics and lots of adventure. To be honest, I was looking for something along more traditional lines, including the tropes, and this delivered. It was entertaining and although Lukan annoyed me at times as he could be somewhat immature, there was enough adventure, murder, secrecy, political intrigue, and mysteries to keep me interested and intrigued.

Lukan Gardova is the main character and he could be a bit annoying a times, but in a good way. Having got himself into a spot of trouble, he had been on the run for several years until he discovered his father had been murdered. Angry because he was estranged from his father show more and had not been able to mend his relationship, he took it upon himself to discover why an academic would be the target of murderers. Lukan was a fun character to follow, but he was immature, given to drink whenever things got tough, and that happened a lot in this book. I believe the author's intention is to make you feel frustrated with Lukan as he is a bit spoiled despite his adventures, and needs to learn to listen and shut his mouth when necessary. And while he does show a lot of character development, there is still a lot of room to grow in the next book, something that I really liked as he didn't suddenly become this superhero. In fact, an eleven-year-old had to rescue him, twice, from certain death because he was foolish. Despite all of this, his heart is in the right place and his intentions are good even if he blunders and makes loads of mistakes. I thoroughly enjoyed the humour and sarcasm throughout though, as it lessened the tension of what is essentially a darker novel as its roots.

The plot actually moved rather quickly from one scene to another with a few twists and turns. While it has a more traditional feeling, something I loved, it was also unique and fun, focusing more on the mystery of Lukan father's death, but subtly weaving in the political intrigue that I love. The city of Saphrona where most of the action takes place is a gritty city at its root, with the wealthy trying to consolidate their power and their wealth leaving the poor to struggle, creating a clear division of power. And the city is known for worshiping money and status. As Lukan searches for his father's murderers, he finds himself caught in a deadly web of intrigue in this city that will have major consequences for him and for the citizens. I loved how the author subtly wove all of this together, and how easily it was for Lukan to get caught up in all the intrigue. Throughout all this grimness though, the author managed to really balance moments of relief with the darker moments, something I really appreciated. Don't get me wrong, I really love grimdark fantasy, but I wanted something that wasn't quite so dark and dreary and this fit the bill perfectly.

Verdict
The Silverblood Promise was a fun, solid fantasy that I just devoured. The investigation was engaging, the dialogue was entertaining, the character development was solid, and the story line, while it will continue inthe second book, had a satisfying conclusion. While there were some parts that were a bit predictable, I didn't actually mind because the story was so likable and engaging, and the author's ability to draw you into the story with his writing skill was well done. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, and I can't wait until book two is released next year. show less

THIS is how fantasy should be written. You have a nicely flawed main character, a whip-smart urchin who grows on everyone, an intriguing world with a backstory of a civilization that fell ages ago that created amazing artifacts, treachery, characters briefly mentioned, then slid in ever so smoothly when it's their turn to join the action. The ending sets readers up for more of the same.

I liked this enough to want to read the second book, but it wasn't perfect. I'm hoping the author finds his own voice in the next one. It's promoted to fans of Scott Lynch (meh, not really similar, but I LOVE Locke and Jean) and Joe Abercrombie. I'm currently in the middle of The First Law Series and it did feel like Abercrombie... unfortunately the parts that bother me. First of all, learn some new curses. It was so repetitive. I do like Flea and Lukan together and I'm looking forward to more scenes of their banter.

A debut fantasy writer who really has something here. What I like here is the pace, story and characters in this soon to be massive series (This book is over six hundred pages) Lukan, the main character, gets a secretive message from his estranged father after his father dies that sends him on n a quest to unravel the mystery behind this vague note. The novel moves fast and there is lots of action but there are two irritating things the author uses. When the characters swear they use hells rather than hell and the phrase "ladies blood" or some else ladies way too much.

Promising debut but writing is not quite there yet. Epic, if somewhat derivative scope, interesting characters but clunky prose (especially the dialogue).

The Silverblood Promise is...fine. The book seems to check all the boxes of a modern fantasy story without bringing anything particular unique or interesting to the table. The prose is serviceable and keeps you reading, but there wasn't anything particularly memorable about. Lukan, the protagonist, is a standardish fantasy swordsguy with limited backstory beyond a single tragic duel. There's a mystery, but it didn't do much to grip Lukan's father is murdered and leaves an enigmatic note (if characters have time to write long names down, why not ever"so and so killed me?").

World-building was also...fine. The story mostly takes place in the city state of Saphrona, but some of the cultures mentioned seem to borrow from real-world show more counterparts, like a fantasy Russia. Note to fantasy authors-it'd a fantasy world, not ours-go nuts!

The story is a page turner however, and I did like the little pickpocket. Basically, if you want a modern fantasy adventure, Silverblood Promise delivers. If you want something new and different, you may be a bit disappointed.

A review copy was provided by the publisher. show less

3 stars for the fact that I made it through to about 65%, then skim-read to the end! This book was mainly a fast-paced and plot driven story with very little character development and world building. I say very little because there was some - however short it may have fell...

1. Character development was mostly in the form of the characters telling their entire life stories to other characters. There was very little room for any development because of the "events" that the characters were thrown into over and over. The side characters had some personality but very little impact or role in the plot, since the main ones just did whatever they wanted even though they were given direction! (The author may have wanted to show the show more rebelliousness and recklessness of the main characters, however, I don't think this was the best way to go about showing that!)

2. The plot was filled with action, but it seems like the side adventures pretty much took over and sidelined the actual mystery promised at the beginning. The digressed plot was predictable, and again, the villain and sidekicks told you everything they were going to do! A lot of telling and very little showing in the book!

3. The world building fell short on many aspects. Seems like this story could've taken place anywhere and anytime, and the fantasy setting was just one of the choices, rather the ideal choice for the story. There are many layers to the world, but it is not a lived-in world! It's a progression of fleeting scenes where characters come in and go out. There was so much potential because of the many layers (strata of the classes, people, nationalities), but again the overwhelming action of the plot didn't allow any room for development.

4. The language of the story was unremarkable only because it did not belong to the world of this story. It belonged to today's world! Besides some terminology, it was pretty much 21st century speak. I've seen many comments about the interaction between Lukan and Flea being the highlight of the story. But again, the lack of uniqueness of the language and all other things mentioned above, took away from how special those conversation could've been and how much they could've contributed to their relationship. Within the potential of the world building and deep character dives, those conversations could've been little pockets of refreshing oasis. Instead they took over the actual character and world building!

Seems like mostly Cons, I know. But the book gave many promises it did not deliver on, even though it was set in silverblood! show less