This book review was part of a podcast discussion.
Listen to the episode here.
Princess of Blood is the second book in Tom Lloyd’s God Fragments series. It brings us back to a world of mercenaries and mage guns, where city-states struggle against the militaristic religious orders that monopolize the creation of magical ammunition through enslavement in the name of faith. I wonder if it has something to say about modern society?
Where the first book followed protagonist Lynx as he joined his fate to that of a mercenary band, this looks closer into why he’s stuck around and provides more insight into the loose-knit secret society that’s so important to his self-image. The book contains rivalries, mystery, danger, romance, and many satisfying conclusions. Like the first, this book also gives Lynx plenty of opportunity to face his entirely rational fear of dark underground spaces, this time in a Cube-like labyrinth of puzzles complete with torments or death for wrong answers. Happily, the book shows the characters’ reactions to this torment without imposing that same frightful tension on the reader.
The book’s greatest weakness, like its predecessor’s, is the author’s insistence on opening “now” and then mixing in chapters from “three weeks ago” until the flashbacks finally catch up with the present and we actually know what’s happening. The desire to start a book in the middle of the action is reasonable and worth listening to, but in this case (as in many) it harms the pace for the first third of the book. Princess of Blood staggers, and stumbles, but it never falls, and like the first it is a fine piece of worldbuilding, character exploration, and storytelling.
Seattle, WA
Sometimes, Peter Schaefer conceals a puzzle in his bio. Little do lovers of the cryptic know that Peter is an encryption system given life, a cipher grown so complex it attained consciousness, along with a love of games, books, and improv. Everyone who believes they meet Peter only meet its proxy, a husk employed only for its wit. Has anyone seen beyond www.paschaefer.com or www.shoelesspetegames.com in spite of his esoteric calculi? Sadly no. Not a single person, and not any group of people.
