Ok, so I picked up this book on the behest of the author, Jeff Salyards, a relatively new member of the Armour Archive. I'd recently read a new novel by Russ Mitchell, another AA forumite, that was pretty decent, better than I thought it'd be, even though it was outside of my usual fare. In any case, I decided to give this one a go as I was looking for a new book to put on the Kindle. Here's a blurb from Jeff:
"My name is Jeff Salyards. I'm the debut author of Scourge of the Betrayer, a hard-boiled fantasy that was published by Night Shade Books today, May 1, 2012. It's the first book in a series called Bloodsounder's Arc, in the tradition of Glen Cook, Joe Abercrombie, and David Gemmell. So, no elves, dark lords, heavy prophecies, or unicorns to speak of, but a lot of political intrigue, battles, and confusion on the part of the poor scribe trying to stay alive long enough to record the tale.
It's in stock now on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Scourge-Betrayer- ... 1597804061"
I must say I was pleasantly surprised, this book is well written, the characters were believable, if a bit simplistic, but then I prefer knowing or learning about my characters as I go and the author's pretty sparse with those sorts of details, but it doesn't detract from the story.
From the outset it reads like many other medievally inspired adventure novels with a few stock characters and a couple novel ones; the dialog is usually terse, and colorful but in keeping with the type of people you encounter. None of it seems forced- it flows natural like. It is refreshing really, to read dialog that isn't overly courteous or flowery, especially not in a tavern among rough and ready soldiers, townfolk and travellers who may be polite, but not necessarily virtuous or even friendly...and there's no willowy beauty inspiring men to foolishness. The action, when it happens, is visceral- there are no setpiece battles, every scrap has an edge of desperation to it, as if the fighters know there is no guaranteed outcome, except death if they aren't good enough at what they do. Put me to mind of the movie Centurion, starring Michael Fassbender. If you've seen it, you'll get what I mean. The lives of the people you read about aren't easy going or laid back...it is a rough existence, where death is commonplace, be it by disease, old age or the sword- the author has a way with words, descriptions that elicit the appropriate imagery and serve to augment the story without leaving you guessing what exactly it is you're supposed to see. Some authors just don't get it, this guy does.
Another surprise, it is a page turner...I hit the end before I even saw it coming; the Kindle doesn't do page numbers, it does placements and % completion but even with that it was over before I knew it. So, I'm re-reading it, to absorb those minute details I usually blow past in my eagerness to keep going. That I'm re-reading it is a testament to how good this book is...I never re-read anything that I didn't enjoy the first time around, I mean really enjoy.
I'm not all that familiar with the authors he's named as his writing being in the style of but I will be! I enjoyed this book, check it out if you get the time...unless you favor romance novels, which this decidedly is not.
William
