Many years ago, Sir Aelfric and his nine companions saved the world, seizing the Dark Lord’s cursed weapons, along with his dread city of Necrad. That was the easy part.
Now, when Aelfric – keeper of the cursed sword Spellbreaker – learns of a new and terrifying threat, he seeks the nine heroes once again. But they are wandering adventurers no longer. Yesterday’s eager heroes are today’s weary leaders – and some have turned to the darkness, becoming monsters themselves.
If there’s one thing Aelfric knows, it’s slaying monsters. Even if they used to be his friends.
If I was in a certain frame of mind, I could be cynical about Gareth’s new Fantasy novel. It could be said that it is ‘typical’ Fantasy, (whatever that means). After all, there’s dwarves, elves, swordsmen (and a talking sword, thank you Mike Moorcock), mercenaries, gods, thieves and wizards, not to mention taverns, ships, libraries… in fact, most of the characters and places you would expect out of a Dungeons and Dragons box set. (I have learned since reading this novel that Gareth’s previous employment was in D&D games design – which makes sense.)
It is therefore not a book you’d score points for on originality. BUT, and it’s a big BUT…. for someone’s first Fantasy read or someone who just likes Fantasy, it ticks all the boxes. You may go into it knowing what to expect…. but it is well done.
In a book like this it’s all about the characters, and I find that whether you like them or not determines how much you enjoy the novel. The story is focused on Alf – that’s Aelfric, one of the Nine Heroes that destroyed Lord Bone and his city of Necrad nine years ago. These days Alf has the burden of carrying the evil speaking sword, Spellbreaker, a totem forged by the Witch Elves who clearly owes a lot to Elric’s Stormbringer and others like it. Once allied to the Dark Lord, Spellbreaker is now made to do Alf’s bidding – although this is often by no means a happy pact.
When Alf is summoned by Jan, who used to be one of the group and is now the Illuminated One, Priestess of the Intercessors, Alf is requested to get who is left of the band back together in order to face a new peril, a darkness rising. With Spellbreaker, he then goes off to find Berys the Thief, Blaise the Wizard, Gundan the Dwarf, Princess Laerlyn of the Wood Elves, Lath the Changeling, and Thurn of the Wilder Folk in order to defeat this unknown threat. This involves returning back to the cursed city of Necrad, Lord Bone’s old capital, and dealing with things that have gone awry after the triumph of The Nine there.
You can just see the board being set up, can’t you?
The plot is pretty much set up in the first thirty or so pages. Much of the book is Alf getting the group together again – and many have changed, not all are willing – and then dealing with the danger by the end. There’s a sub-plot involving Olva, Alf’s estranged sister and his young cousin Derwyn, who leaves Olva determined to find adventure, which leads to Olva meeting the faeries currently estranged from the alliance keeping the cursed city of Necrad alive.
Originality aside, I found myself in the first fifty pages quickly immersed in the characters and the setting. We have magic through the Blaise the wizard, battle action through Alf the barbarian and Grumpy – sorry, Gundan the dwarf, mysticism through Jan and earth-power through Laerlyn and the elves. The themes of loyalty and fellowship, honour, duty, betrayal and treachery are all here too. It pretty much stick to the traditional templates that the premise would suggest. Think D&D meets Lord of the Rings with a touch of Games Workshop’s Warhammer added and you’ve pretty much got the idea here.
The Sword Defiant is unpretentious and un-self-conscious, a book that revels in the trappings of Fantasy and, most importantly, celebrates them.
Having set these up, the book then begins to unpick the tropes. It doesn’t always stick to the traditional template that the initial premise would suggest. Alf is old and wishing for retirement. The Nine, far from being united and ruling in peace and in harmony, are in fact squabbling and at loggerheads with each other. Now that they have the peace, they find holding it is perhaps harder. The city of Necrad is rather like Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris in that it is cursed, and filled with arcane and unholy relics of the past war. There are still deep divisions between the creatures there, with the servants of Lord Bone having to pay severe repatriations, and areas of the city still very dangerous.
My main issue was that the pacing seemed off, and that at 576 pages it was a little too long. After a brisk start, it slowed down in the middle quite a bit before picking up the rather quick battle at the end. I was a little disappointed that the ending was a cliff-hanger just to serve the setting up of the next book, although there was a certain degree of closure.
Sometimes you just need a book that gives you what you expected. To decry the book as unoriginal rather misses the point. This is a book that you can sit down with and be entertained, with no pretentions, no attempt to redefine the genre, no musing on literary style or allegory, no attempt to be at least as dark and as gory as the next grimdark tome. It’s just entertaining and that can sometimes be enough. As it is here.
The Sword Defiant takes the usual tropes of Fantasy and turns them into a well-done read that is highly entertaining, in the first part of a series that will give many fans exactly what they want and expect. It may be your next best Fantasy read.
THE SWORD DEFIANT by Gareth Hanrahan
Book One of The Land of the Firstborn
Published by Orbit, May 2023
576 pages
ISBN: 978 035 6516 530
Review by Mark Yon
