Nova fantazija u 2014. godini - deo drugi

Meni najznačajniji fantazijski naslov u 2014. godini svakako je

The Fell Sword (The Traitor Son Cycle) by Miles Cameron

Loyalty costs money

Betrayal, on the other hand, is free.

When the Emperor is taken hostage, the Red Knight and his men find their services in high demand -- and themselves surrounded by enemies. The country is in revolt, the capital city is besieged and any victory will be hard won. But the Red Knight has a plan.

The question is, can he negotiate the political, magical, real and romantic battlefields at the same time -- especially when he intends to be victorious on them all? 

 

 Amazonov šturi prikaz nikako ne oslikava koliko je ovaj roman dobar. Što se mene tiče, prvi naslov u serijalu - The Red Knight - najbolji je roman epske fantastike koji sam prošle godine pročitao. Velika je verovatnoća da će The Fell Sword ući u prvih pet ovogodišnjih fantazijskih romana. Upravo ga čitam, pa ću se za  koji dan detaljnije pozabaviti utiscima. Moram priznati da su nešto slabiji negoli prilikom čitanja "Crvenog viteza", ali je lako moguće da je to stoga što Kameron priprema teren za narednu knjigu. Zapravo, moglo bi se reći da je njegov prvi roman namerno ustrojen kao samostalna knjiga, verovatno iz piščevog straha da se čitaoci neće upecati - iako je već u početku naznačeno da je reč o prvom naslovu u serijalu. Slično kao sa Džordanovim "Točkom vremena", prvi roman je krajnje samostalan i može se čitati sam za sebe, ali zato se već u drugom vidi da je pripovedač osmislio daleko opsežniju priču u daleko širem svetu.

U martu nas očekuje

The Boy with the Porcelain Blade by Den Patrick

An ornate yet dark fantasy, with echoes of Mervyn Peake, Robin Hobb and Jon Courtenay Grimwood. An original and beautifully imagined world, populated by unforgettable characters. Lucien de Fontein has grown up different. One of the mysterious and misshapen Orfano who appear around the Kingdom of Landfall, he is a talented fighter yet constantly lonely, tormented by his deformity, and well aware that he is a mere pawn in a political game. Ruled by an insane King and the venomous Majordomo, it is a world where corruption and decay are deeply rooted - but to a degree Lucien never dreams possible when he first discovers the plight of the 'insane' women kept in the haunting Sanatoria. Told in a continuous narrative interspersed with flashbacks we see Lucien grow up under the care of his tutors. We watch him forced through rigorous Testings, and fall in love, set against his yearning to discover where he comes from, and how his fate is tied to that of every one of the deformed Orfano in the Kingdom, and of the eerie Sanatoria itself.

O ovom piscu ne znam baš ništa, ali pažnju mi je privukao svet netipično nesrednjovekovni. U načelu mi ne prija kada fantazija izleće u milje renesanse ili nekog još poznijeg doba. Retki su pisci koji to izvedu uverljivo, a naročito su retki anglosaksonski pisci. Amerikanci još i nekako uspevaju da napišu dobru fantaziju smeštenu u vreme koje otprilike odgovara njihom Ratu za nezavisnost, ali to bi bilo to. Iskren da budem, ovde me jedino privlači - naslov. Koncept oružja od krhkog materijala nije novost u fantastici (papirni nož, stakleni mač...), ali uvek je zanimljivo videti kako će ga neki novi pisac iskoristiti.

Za kraj ovog dela,

Prince of Fools (The Red Queen’s War #1) by Mark Lawrence

Hailed as “epic fantasy on a George R. R. Martin scale, but on speed” (Fixed on Fantasy), the Broken Empire trilogy introduced a bold new world of dark fantasy with the story of Jorg Ancrath’s devastating rise to power. Now, Mark Lawrence returns to the Broken Empire with the tale of a less ambitious prince…

The Red Queen is old but the kings of the Broken Empire dread her like no other. For all her reign, she has fought the long war, contested in secret, against the powers that stand behind nations, for higher stakes than land or gold. Her greatest weapon is The Silent Sister—unseen by most and unspoken of by all.

The Red Queen’s grandson, Prince Jalan Kendeth—drinker, gambler, seducer of women—is one who can see The Silent Sister. Tenth in line for the throne and content with his role as a minor royal, he pretends that the hideous crone is not there. But war is coming. Witnesses claim an undead army is on the march, and the Red Queen has called on her family to defend the realm. Jal thinks it’s all a rumor—nothing that will affect him—but he is wrong.

After escaping a death trap set by the Silent Sister, Jal finds his fate magically intertwined with a fierce Norse warrior. As the two undertake a journey across the Empire to undo the spell, encountering grave dangers, willing women, and an upstart prince named Jorg Ancrath along the way, Jalan gradually catches a glimmer of the truth: he and the Norseman are but pieces in a game, part of a series of moves in the long war—and the Red Queen controls the board. 

Lorens se sa pravom proslavio svojom prethodnom trilogijom i mada su prva dva romana imala izvesnih manjkavosti, završnica je bila odlična. Lorensu je pošlo za rukom da nadaberkrombiše Aberkrombija, a da opet bude svež i čak duhovit, tako da je sasvim izvesno da Lord Grimdark ima ozbiljnog konkurenta. Naravno, GRRM je i dalje neprikosnoveni Imperator Rex ovog sve većeg fantazijskog kraljevstva, ali mu za petama dahće čopor mladoturaka (mladooraka?) . Sve mi se čini da Lorens lagano izbija na čelo tog čopora.