134,827
edits
Changes
Sharps by K J Parker (view source)
Revision as of 14:56, 18 September 2020
, 14:56, 18 September 2020no edit summary
{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=Sharps
|author=K J Parker
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=9781841499260
|pages=576
|publisher=Orbit
|date=July 2012
|summary=Yet again this author stretches familiar fantasy elements, but for once she is outdone by giving us too much early detail and not backing it up with her usual brilliant plotting.
|cover=1841499269
|aznuk=1841499269
|aznus=B0087GZ5AE
}}
Fencing - it's such an exotic, rarefied world with it's own language, that it's no surprise to remember the director of ''Alien'', ''Blade Runner'' and ''Prometheus'' started his career with a fencing film. And it's all over this fantasy, but not in the usual sword-and-sorcery way of old, as a delegation of swordsmen and -women visit Permia from Scheria - two fencing-loving countries that until recently have been at war. But why exactly are they going - separately, and as a group? Who is playing what kind of diplomatic game between the two countries, and is a wielded sword the only danger they'll face?
So this, as is usual with this author, is a world entire. But it's an awkwardly conveyed one at times. We know this expedition is not just a ''hearts and minds exercise'' as someone calls it, and while the intrigue is fitted into the story of the trek and is nicely drip-fed to us at times, the detail makes that trek too lengthy, and the big secret turns out to be there is no big secret. True, it flirts with a conspiracy here, provides red herrings there, and plays the reader along, but a lot of the truth is on page ?! and chances are you're just so bludgeoned with exotic detail you have little hope of absorbing, and/or too much intricate detail to remember.
Yet there is a converse to that, too. Parker's merits are in the unnoticable unnoticeable factors, the parts of her world we dismiss as colour, the intricacy of character that makes these disparate people people and not just fantasy stock. She has real characters on her pages, has clearly researched her swordsmanship and once again is more than capable of giving us a fantasy-but-not-as-we-know-it novel. To repeat, I was both stuck in a quicksand of obscure detail and yet able to see a bigger picture that was actually a series of smaller pictures conveyed in photoreal fashion. Invest the time and thought in the early pages and you will see an entertaining piece of work - one that plays its literary craft over its conspiratorial cleverness.
I must thank the kind Orbit people for my review copy. We also have a review of [[Pattern (Scavenger Trilogy) by K J Parker]].
A great fantasy we enjoyed here recently was [[Vengeance: The Tainted Realm: Book 1 by Ian Irvine]]. For me, the best Parker book is possibly still [[The Hammer by K J Parker|The Hammer]].
{{amazontext|amazon=1841499269}} {{waterstonestextamazonUStext|waterstonesamazon=8480824B0087GZ5AE}}
{{commenthead}}