The Thousand Names by Django Wexler (Book One of The Shadow Campaigns)

War is raging between the Vordanai Empire and the Khandar; a rebelling colony led by a religious group known as the Redeemers.  Into this fray (after a prologue, natch) we follow two characters; soldiers, who are embroiled in the military campaign.  The first in Django Wexler’s The Shadow Campaigns, The Thousand Names is a military fantasy novel cut from a different swath of cloth.  It involves guns and magic, falling into what has now come to be known as Flintlock Fantasy. The story is told primarily from the point of view of two soldiers: Marcus d’Ivoire and Winter Ihrenglass and their experiences in different parts of the military campaign, whose command is taken over by Colonel Janus bet Vhalnich, an enigmatic figure to say the very least.

D’Ivoire is a very straight-laced soldier, a by-the-book man of the military who is not sure what to make of his new superior Janus. Unlike Marcus’s previous superior, Janus takes D’Ivoire into his confidence, he shows Marcus respect and asks Marcus to speak to him frankly when they are in private.  Not something Marcus ever experienced. As the novel progressed, Janus became more of a prominent figure who drove the action of the novel with his mission and seeing him through Marcus’s eyes helped to bolster what a great and interesting character Janus is. While Janus adheres to his orders, much of what he plans and tells his subordinates is not what they’d expect. He has his own agenda which runs parallel to that of the military campaign. He doesn’t reveal the full extent of his plans to his subordinates, which is frustrating, but in the long-run allows for his soldiers to trust him. What makes him a great character from the reader’s standpoint is exactly what makes him a challenging character for the other characters in the book, which is most unfortunate for Marcus because as Janus’s right hand man, he has to hear from all the other soldiers how crazy they think Janus is.

While we see the upper elements of the military command from Marcus’s narrative, we see a slightly different level from Winter’s point of view, easily the most conflicted character in the book. While Marcus feels pressure from the men he commands and stress from the new relationship with Janus, Winter is struggling with her identity since to all in the military she is a man and on the run from a life in a women’s prison from which she escaped prior to the events of the novel.  Winter does not let this hidden identity consume her, she still earns some respect from the other soldiers (and ire from others).

While the war depicted in the novel has the vast backdrop of an international conflict, something even larger bubbling under the surface may overtake the war itself. This comes through in some of the prologue and the bumper chapters between larger “parts” of the book told from the point of view Jaffa, one of the “enemies” of the piece, those pulling the strings of the Khandar rebellion. I liked this peek into things from the other side of the conflict, I felt it added dramatic tension to the bulk of the novel told from the “heroes’” point of view.

It is no secret that Django Wexler and Brian McClellan happened to publish Military Fantasy / Flintlock Fantasy novels at the same time and it would be difficult not to draw some minimum comparisons between the two writers and books. Sure, they both feature military conflict, gunpowder and hints of magic, but aside from the high quality of both novels, there are more differences than similarities, I think. The main cast of characters is a bit smaller in Wexler’s novel, making it a bit more intimate. Magic is more integral to the military and world of McClellan’s world.

I enjoyed the book a great deal, but it did take a bit for the plot to really hit its stride.  Once the first quarter of the novel passed, I was glued to the pages and was very invested in the plight of all the characters, with a very strong fascination for the enigmatic Janus. I thought Winter’s character struggles throughout the novel made for a interesting look at gender, war, and identity. Winter hides amongst the men of the military unit as a man, it is something she fears being revealed.  That said, as much as her hidden gender sets her apart as a character, she isn’t entirely proactive in the novel.  Granted, before we are introduced to her, we are told of the bold actions she took to get to into the military, but perhaps the stress she is experiencing keeping her gender revealed consumes much of her thoughts.

A magical / supernatural backdrop is mostly hinted at through the majority of the novel until the denouement. Much comes to a head when the titular MacGuffin, The Thousand Names comes more intricately woven into the plot.  At this point, the novel took a bit of a pleasant and surprising turn.  It felt to me as if Django was channeling a bit Lucas and Spielberg because the story veered a bit into pulpy Raiders of the Lost Ark territory.  Not to say that there’s an exact match for match plot element and character between Raiders and The Thousand Names, but a similar evocative feeling of discovering something ancient and powerful with a war as a large backdrop.  Raiders of the Lost Ark happens to be one of my all-time favorite films so this should be a considered a good thing.

In the end, I was very impressed with The Thousand Names and immediately dove into the sequel The Shadow Throne.

Recommended

© 2014 Rob H. Bedford

Roc, July 2013
Hardcover, 500 Pages / ISBN: 978-0-451- 465-108
http://djangowexler.com/
Excerpt: http://djangowexler.com/shadow-campaigns/thousand-names/the-thousand-names-excerpt/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher, Roc

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