Book Review
A very short one.
I just finished Dave Duncan's "Jaguar Knights" from his "Chronicles of the King's Blades" series. This is the sixth book placed in Dave's fictional land of Chivial. A country where three orders guard the king and keep the peace. The books are focused on the king's elite guards; the Blades. Blades are young men of mildly questionable pasts that have accepted a life of training to serve the king as a Blade. At roughly the age of 18, the king (or whoever he wishes to have a blade) participates in a magical ceremony that binds the new Blade to the king (or whoever....). This ceremony is unique in that it requires the king (or...you get the point) to run the Blade's new sword through his heart. Presumably, if the prospective Blade is flawed, then he dies right there and the next young man steps up.
The successful new Blade then becomes hypersensitive to threats to his new ward. He doesn't sleep and in fact he cannot sleep. The ceremony leaves the new Blade with a sort of sixth sense that causes him to be aware of threats before they can materialize. Of course the Blades get their name from the fact that they are swordsmen without equal.
All of the various "King's Blades" books deal with various groups of Blades. The tales are told over many years so that you will hear mention of one Blade in one book and read more about him in another.
This particular book concerns the Blade known as the "King's Killer"; Sir Wolf. Wolf is a large man that has earned (in some measure) the King's enmity. Rather than release him from service, the king keeps him around and gives him the nasty job of killing Blades that serve members of the nobility that are caught committing crimes against the crown.
One of the other orders is the White Sisters. These are young women that the reader is left to assume are trained in a school similar to that of the Blades with the exception that the young women are sensitized to detect magic. Little is revealed about the White Sisters in any one of the six Blade books. Sadly, Mr. Duncan has opted to leave his fantasy world of Chivial and move on to other imaginary worlds so we will not have any more opportunities to learn about the White Sisters.
The remaining order is the Dark Chamber staffed by inquisitors. Young inquisitors-to-be are orphans that are taken in by yet a third school. Eventually, an inquisitor learns all sorts of spy tricks, some nasty fighting skills, and the ability to discern when someone is lying. We learn most of this in the first half of "The Jaguar Knights".
As the book unfolds the reader discovers a faraway land where magic is performed in a far different manner than is the custom in Chivial. You'll need to read the book to find out exactly how different.
The attraction to this series should be obvious; young men that are skilled with a sword fighting to protect their wards. Which is why this particular book is not the strongest in the series. After some political maneuvering, Sir Wolf finds himself discharged from the king's service and working for the Dark Chamber. This happens so quickly that you will begin to wonder what could possibly be in the remaining 2/3's of the book. The story line meanders around while providing some historical perspective on Wolf's past before beginning the pursuit of the mystical Jaguar Knights.
Eventually the plot moves overseas where things get a bit sticky. The resolution to the story requires no great finesse and in fact most of the book fails to take advantage of the Blade's, their abilities, or their unique bonds to their wards.
Should you bother with this book? The answer to that question depends entirely on whether or not you have read the other five books in the series. If so then you might as well read this one as well. At times the story wallows about like a pig in mud with nothing better to do. But eventually things get moving. If you are only going to read one book out of the series, then find something else.
by Dann
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