★★★☆☆ Malice, by John Gwynne
** spoiler alert ** Entirely predictable high fantasy
Malice
John Gwynne
** spoiler alert **
Entirely predictable high fantasy
If you read a lot of fantasy, you know that there are certain things that always happen, and always happen the same way. For instance, let’s suppose one of heroes rescues a pregnant monster. Later he encounters that monster and her family in battle, and adopts one of her cubs. After it has become a formidable monster itself and savaged a bully who was attacking Our Hero, Pet Monster is judged by Our Hero’s Queen. She judges in favor of Our Hero and Pet Monster, with this proviso
‘Good. But,’ she said, stern and cold again, ‘if there is one incident where a subject of mine is harmed by this creature, it will be destroyed. Immediately, with no chance of reprieve. Those are my terms.’
What do you think is going to happen? Will Pet Monster attack one of the Queen’s subjects, under extreme provocation?
Well, yeah. Duh.
Of course, there is a long story between. The judgment quoted above occurs at 35%. The incident in which Pet Monster harms someone is at 69%. What that means to the reader is that for a third of the book (69 - 35 = 34%) you have the future prospect of this very bad thing hanging over you, waiting for resolution.
That’s what the whole bloody book is like. It is a tapestry of familiar fantasy tropes, stitched together. Granted, the stitching is done with skill. John Gwynne can make a battle vivid. But Malice never surprises. I knew of every betrayal that was going to happen. I knew who all the secret good guys and bad guys were. You will, too. By the time I got to the end, I was exhausted with waiting for the inevitable, entirely predictable plot twists.
I will not read any more of The Faithful and the Fallen.
Now, I lied in my first sentence. I said, “there are certain things that always happen.” That’s not true. Occasionally the rules get broken. J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, and Jasper Fforde, for example, break the rules. (Tolkien doesn’t break the rules often, but that’s because he made them.) That’s the kind of fantasy I want to read. Please, please, be at least a tiny bit surprising!