One part caper, one part sword and sorcery adventure, one part murder mystery, The Silverblood Promise is the debut novel from James Logan and the first of The Last Legacy trilogy. The novel is centered on Lukan Gardova, a ne’er do well young man, estranged from his father, kicked out of his school who passes time and gains money as a gambler. When he learns of his father’s murder, Logan begins an journey that takes him on a rather unexpected adventure.
Lukan Gardova is a cardsharp, academy dropout, and—thanks to a duel that ended badly—the disgraced heir to an ancient noble house. His days consist of cheap wine, rigged card games, and wondering how he might win back the life he threw away.
When Lukan discovers that his estranged father has been murdered in strange circumstances, he finds fresh purpose. Deprived of his chance to make amends for his mistakes, he vows to unravel the mystery behind his father’s death.
His search for answers leads him to Saphrona, fabled city of merchant princes, where anything can be bought if one has the coin. Lukan only seeks the truth, but instead he finds danger and secrets in every shadow.
For in Saphrona, everything has a price—and the price of truth is the deadliest of all.
Learning of his father’s death flips a switch in Lukan, he becomes driven. Because he regrets their relationship floundering, Lukan feels a deep sense that he must avenge his father and that begins with discovering who murdered dear old dad. This search leads him to Saphrona, a city shrouded in legend. Upon his arrival, he is pickpocketed, but rather than punish the young girl named Flea, Lukan decides to use her services to get him a meeting with a person who “Knows Things” of the city. From there, Lukan finds himself entangled with a wrongly convicted murderer, a plot to takeover the city of Saphrona, ancient gods, legendary magic, people who are essentially living legends who strike awe into the hearts of the city, and one of the strangest, most unique kings in any fantasy novel I’ve read over the last few decades.
Logan tells the novel in the third person omniscient, primarily from Lukan’s point of view. Towards the end we see events unfold through the eyes and experience of other characters, which was a little bit jarring, but was the best way to tell the story. With Lukan as the protagonist, a lot of the experience of the novel rests on his shoulders, whether or not he is a character the reader can tolerate, empathize with, like, or even simply not hate. While he is a bit of a jerk – a gambling drunk who interrupts people, he isn’t a bad person. He was dealt a rather unfortunate blow that has affected him profoundly. As Lukan’s story unfolds, his good qualities shine through even more strongly. He has a strong sense of justice and not just for himself. He tries to help people when he can. In short, he is a complex character, a very human character.
Although Lukan is the protagonist, perhaps the character who will stand out for many people is the young street urchin, Flea. While she isn’t even a teenager, she will correct people who assumer to be just a kid. Flea has seen some things, she more mature than her age would lead one to believe. It would be very easy for a character of this age to come across as annoyingly plucky (almost like Scrappy Doo), but James Logan put the right amount of care and attention into who Flea is that she’s nearly as much of a star as is Lukan. This all makes the relationship between Lukan and Flea a truly enjoyable element of the story that feels fresh in Logan’s hands, even if it may resonate with something like the relationship between Joel and Elle from The Last of Us even if the ages of the characters is quite different.
The plot takes quote a few twists and turns. There a couple of points where it seems the story is going to go in one convenient direction, Logan shakes his finger and says “Oh no, no,” I’m taking you this way. That kind of misdirection is welcome and used in the appropriate doses throughout. Too many misdirects would be annoying, but Logan employed the technique judiciously.
What helped to propel the novel in a pleasing way, in addition to the tight plotting, was the dialogue. Enough snark to be humorous and not grating, but the quippiness and familiarity of the dialogue was quite nice.
While the publisher made a comparison to Joe Abercrombie, I’m not sure I fully agree with that. There’s not much about Logan’s novel that says Grimdark to me. Then again, there’s that little bit of genre savvy and snarkiness in the characters in both Scott Lynch and Nicholas Eames’s work that is present here. I’d even say James Logan’s debut has more of the vibe of Tad Williams/Robin Hobb/Raymond Feist classic fantasy of the 1980s/1990s. At least whilst reading the book, the story evocted the same kind of enjoyment for me. Also, Logan said in an interview there was some influence from The Raiders of the Lost Ark and this novel has some of that adventure feel to it.
The Silverblood Promise is an assured, extremely enjoyable debut, a highly addictive read. It does not read like a debut novel, but I’d bet Logan’s time at Orbit Books could be one reason for that. On the other hand, a lot of what makes this book work, at least for me, is Logan’s voice and that’s something for which only the writer themselves can get credit. It is a promising start to a fantasy trilogy and a book that feels like it is just the tip of the iceberg of what we’ll see from James Logan. I mentioned earlier in this review that a couple of the point of view chapters shift away from Lukan towards the end of the novel, I hope to see more from those character’s POVs in the second novel. I am very excited for the second installment, I feel very invested in Lukan’s journey and the characters who are surrounding him.
Bravo!
Kudos to cover artist Jeff Brown for creating such a striking, beautiful image that captures the novel quite well.
Highly Recommended
© 2024 Rob H. Bedford
Minor disclaimer: I’ve known (as much as people online can really know each other especially when one lives in the US and the other in the UK) with James for a few years know. We’ve both been involved in the online Fantasy and Science Fiction community for well over a decade (or two, in my case). In his role as editor for Orbit he’s sent me a book or two for review. Additionally, James was member of the SFFWorld forums in the past and we’ve both written genre reviews online for some of the same outlets. Our “friendship” does not color my opinion of his work. While I would like to see him succeed, especially as one of our own here from SFFWorld, this novel far exceeded my fairly high expectations.
Tor Books | Trade Paperback
May 2024 | 508 Pages
https://jamesloganauthor.com/ | Twitter: @SpecHorizons
Excerpt: https://www.torforgeblog.com/2024/02/07/excerpt-reveal-the-silverblood-promise-by-james-logan/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
Sounds like a fun read. If he can be compared to Raymond Feist, that would be a good thing in my book. Feist’s Riftwar Saga was (I think) the second fantasy series I ever read as a kid, and further locked in my love for the genre.
If it helps, Clifton, I would also agree that the Feist-vibes are strong with this one!