In Edwards’ fantasy novel, the first in a series, two friends on a rescue mission find themselves in the midst of a magic war. Ranvir, a dream magician–in-training–turned–itinerant rogue, and his friend Broga, an exile from a scattered nation, are searching for Broga’s half sister, Ovandu, whom they believe has been sold into slavery. With the help of a magical tracking beast, the travelers follow Ovandu’s trail to the remote desert city of Kanavar, perched on either side of a massive gorge: “The absurd size of it alone—up, down, across—dizzied me. It was like an upside-down mountain range, replete with vast fissures, unlikely outcroppings and strange, eroded rock forms. The bottom was lost in an all-consuming black.” They manage to bluff their way through the gates disguised as a famous wizard and his slave. There they find a city split between two rival factions; both employ powerful magicians to help them seize control of the whole. Ranvir and Broga want no part of a civil war. They want only to find Ovandu and escape before anyone realizes they aren’t who they say they are. They can’t avoid the messy conflict, however, especially when it becomes apparent that one side is attempting to bring to life and enslave the massive statue of the city’s legendary god. Even worse, when they finally find Broga’s half sister, they learn that the Ovandu before them is not the Ovandu they once knew. In addition to the novel, the book contains the short story “Helldriver Alley” by Edwards and James Palmer. The tale follows Ranvir and Broga on an earlier adventure in which they and their comrades investigate a mysterious plague and make a discovery that feels outside of time and space. Both novel and short story are sword-and-sorcery tales turned up to 10 with a dash of verbose Lovecraft-ian weirdness to give the story some extra darkness. Edwards isn’t afraid of alienating the reader with his worldbuilding. In fact, it seems to be the greatest source of his authorial joy, like here where Ranvir contrasts the desert with the rainforests of his homeland: “To my ears, the desert stillness was a hollow and stultifying roar. Nature in its fullness meant the lively whistle and flutter of Ixzahl. The high tsee-tsee of yellow skógard in flight. Noisy woodcreep chatter. Monarch sharps. Insect hum. Pocket-sized skipti flitting from branch to branch.” The fast-talking Ranvir is a fun protagonist, and his complicated relationship with the brooding, vengeance-fueled Broga provides a necessary emotional heart to the novel. The well-crafted prose does make the reader work, and the plot moves slowly under the weight of its own backstory. The result is something like if J.R.R. Tolkien had written a Conan the Cimmerian novel. It likely won’t appeal to the average fantasy fan, but there is surely an audience for whom this is the perfect combination of serious and sensational. For those lucky fans, more volumes will follow. A sword-and-sorcery novel as cerebral as it is pulpy.
