The Boys Are Back In Town
"Clay Cooper and his band were once the best of the best, the most feared and respected crew of adventurers this side of the Heartwyld.
Their glory days long past, the mercs have grown apart and grown old, fat, drunk or a combination of the three. Then an ex-bandmate turns up at Clay's door with a plea for help - the kind of mission that only the very brave or the very stupid would sign up for.
It's time to get the band back together.
I've been getting a bit jaded with fantasy of late. Too many 6-volume epics where you wait years to see how the story ends. Too much grimdark where being a good guy gets you brutally shat on then brutally murdered. Too many books that are 80% court politics and the only thing fantastic is the map at the front. Too many books about "empowered" young women who are more interested in their love triangle than the fate of the world. Way too many books with a cast of thousands that need a whiteboard to keep track of where everybody is.
I'm not saying any of the above are bad but after a while you just want a good adventure with a buncha guys off on a quest that gets wrapped up in one book.
Kings Of the Wyld does this really, really well.
In a world where mercenaries are not only humanity's best defence against the monsters but bona-fide rockstars. a group of aging veterans get back together to rescue one man's daughter from a city currently besieged by thousands of the nastiest creatures in creation. Of course they might not even survive that far because they have to cross a forest full of monsters, cannibals, killer trees and flesh-eating disease; then get over a mountain range inhabited by giants and things that eat giants.
That's assuming Clay Cooper and friends even reach the forest in the first place, what with all the bounty hunters trying to kill them...
I don't think I've been this impressed with a debut fantasy in years. Nicholas Eames has the knack of making his characters flawed but easy to root for. He's also managed to create a world filled with wandering adventurers and a hundred and one different species of monster that doesn't immediately make you think you're reading somebodies D&D campaign.
There's plenty of action (usually inventive), plenty of humour that's never forced and some character moments that sometimes hit pretty hard. Also sky-ships. Skyships are always cool.
My only gripe is that the next book isn't out until August.
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