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The Valisars, at War and in Peace

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One of the reviews on the cover of Fiona McIntosh's book stated that she was set to inherit the mantle of David Gemmell. I hold the late Mr. Gemmell in such great regard that I was skeptical of this claim. When it came to action fantasy, there was no one like him, and as much as I like McIntosh's work, she is not David Gemmell. Gemmell was a class unto his own.

Fiona McIntosh is good in her own right, without comparison to anyone, whether Gemmell or Jordan, Robin Hobb or P. V. Brett. After having finished the third book in her "Valisar" trilogy last night, I was very glad that I stuck through the first two books. The last hundred pages of "King's Wrath" were worth the entire trilogy. Our story began in "Royal Exile" with the attack by the barbarian Loethar on Penraven. The Valisar King, Brennus, sends his son into exile, and Leo escapes with an oath of vengeance. By the third book, ten years have passed, and all the Valisars (we learned that there were two others, plus Loethar who was revealed to be of the Valisar family as well) are rushing towards a confrontation to decide who will rule the empire, whether Loether, the exiled Leo, his brother Piven or the newly-revealed Valisar Princess Evie. 

In a way, this followed the style of "The Quickening" trilogy that I read several years ago, in which the first book was rather slow, but the pace of the story picked up as it went along, with events rushing to a conclusion in the final volume. This is not to say that they were rushed, for they were not, but the final events of the story happened very quickly. The characters were very interesting, with a lot of complexity and shades of gray rather than pure good and pure evil. No one was particularly "pure" in the books; each one had their flaws, their inner darkness, and this only made the story more worth reading. A number of the characters serve as an example of how the single-minded pursuit of power can pervert and distort the morality of even the most well-meaning of people.

After this trilogy, I look forward to McIntosh's next work.


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