One of the releases I was super hyped for this year was the Lords of the Lance novel by Graham McNeill. I have never been able to get my hands on the older Bretonnian lore, and the fact that this one would come as an audiobook was the cherry on the top. I just finished listening to it and I have some thoughts….
Story and Themes:
Overall I thought the story and such were okay. There wasn’t anything amazing in here. Some people have been whinging about certain characters’ genders and other characteristics. These take two forms, the first being the Pegasus knights are all women and then the handi-capable characters engaging in combat. For the first, it kind of makes sense to have female Pegasus knights as women are lighter than men. I have some other issues with these characters which we will get to in time.
For the second group, these characters are largely thrust into battle out of desperation which is forgivable. This whole book is set in a fantastical world and a certain amount of poetic license is allowed. However, this book does feel much less grounded than other Warhammer Fantasy novels I have read, and you get a feeling you are reading something written post-2016. Thus, I can understand a certain amount of annoyance at the book, especially given its cheesiness, for example, the knighting scene feels very Kingdom-of-Heaven-ish.
The story is pretty simple in that it’s a travel story. The characters are propelled along their quest with little agency shown which is a shame. While the author can spring a few surprises on you most are painfully telegraphed, never really pay off, or largely irrelevant. Likewise, the troubles they face get repeatedly deus-ex-machina-ed which lowers the stakes rapidly. However, the world-building is excellent and you get a real feel for the Old World, especially the Borderlands and Khemri. You get to see a lot of unusual places in the Old World and the setting is ripe for ideas for narrative campaigns, RPGs or fan fiction.
Characters:
Sadly the characters are pretty boring in this. There is Ser Varro who is the only character who has a definable character flaw and arc. The female protagonist suffers from the unfortunate affliction of lacking any flaws, and always being the voice of reason, making her exceedingly dull. The plot doesn’t do her any favors though as, by midway through the book, the characters only make one or two actual decisions that aren’t forced on them so we never get a feel for her character. The other POV character is somewhat interesting but hangs around the Pegasus knights too much and shows how paper thin they are as characters.
My biggest issue was the inclusion of the manic pixie Pegasus dreamgirls whose only role seems to be a convenient way to escape trouble, hook up with one of the main characters, and get fridged. I don’t mind women knights in Bretonnian especially when they aren’t even female Grail Knights and we already have Repanse. I do dislike super horny characters who have little personality and seem to only exist as eye candy/ notable casualty. Furthermore, one of them is also an archer which is the most egregious breach of lore. If they had made them exiled knights, or maybe have regular Bretonnians give them some grief for being dishonorable for using ranged weapons it would have improved the story immensely and maybe even deepened their shallow characters. Regardless, there are a lot of issues with the characters.
We never get a villain POV so they are all rather dull. However, there is a Liche Priest who repeatedly engages in what could only be described as trolling. The fact that the characters fall for certain acts twice plays out farcically and makes him seem unintentionally hilarious.
***********The next Section contains spoilers***********
My biggest issue with the story though is that too many important things happen off camera. It is implied that the events of this book play a role in awakening Settra himself yet that is never shown. The obviously disposable characters and their bodyguard wander off into a tomb and then the bad guys come out. We don’t even get a bad guy POV on what went down so it feels very cheap.
Later on the characters are surrounded in the city of Khemri itself and all hope looks lost until the POV character gets knocked out and wakes up 5 days later. The action is then explained to him in a very boring manner. Coupled with the rampant divine interventions in this story it makes it a disappointing read as the most interesting parts of the story are never explained.
***********Spoilers End ***********
So all in all I give it a 4-5/10.
I think it’s a mediocre novel but one of the only Bret audiobooks. There is some good world building for the Borderlands and Khemri, but if you aren’t interested in this region, or Bretonnia then skip it. Even if you do care, the story and characters are utterly forgettable.
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