City of the Seventh Moon

Series: Ankuan Trilogy, #1

Author: Antano Sparreboom

Genre: Fantasy

Book Description:

When he is chosen as champion of the noble Urwilar family, Verhan knows well that his main job is to fight other champions to settle political disputes. What he doesn’t count on are the machinations of the beautiful Lady Morani, and his pride is mercilessly turned against him. As he fights to survive the dangers of the capital, the influential Three Cities Council plans to assassinate the emperor’s chief advisor and take control of the entire imperial court.

Review:

I thought the world-building in City of the Seventh Moon was very well-done. A somewhat different world with common animals that are new to us, and cultures that are original and somewhat evocative of varying earth cultures (such as Persia and the East) without being overly derivative of any (that I know), is presented in a way that feels as familiar and commonplace as the quasi-medieval setting that one sees hashed out again and again in classic fantasy. One encounters the various moons, learns of the planet’s ring, encounters a culture with unique customs and motifs, and sees people mounted on elrochs, but it’s all introduced in such a way as to make it seem normal, not exotic or strange or unique.

The book is somewhat cozy at times, alternating with fast-paced action and fight scenes that were well-detailed without being gory. I normally find fight scenes quite boring, so I can’t say a whole lot more about them than that. Other than that, matching with the setting and cultures, many kinds of weapons are described and used. Some people don’t like seeing almost nothing but swords everywhere; I don’t mind swords at all, but if you’d like something with hardly any swords, this book features very, very few swords, though there are a few knives (some of them retractable). Instead, a handful of different weapons come to the fore. As far as fight scenes go, and as far as my opinion about them is worth anything, these were well-done.

The stakes are not epic, starting with a man who just wants to start his life over anew, and ending up enmired in politics and treason – and while this struggle will affect, to varying degrees, lives all across the Empire, it’s nothing like the entire-world-is-at-stake stakes in a lot of classic fantasy. I didn’t find the character building to be very deep. Instead, I found myself rather frustrated by Verhan’s mysterious past and even more mysterious guilt that takes a long time to be revealed, and that made it hard to relate to his emotions and decisions and understand them. I found the book didn’t focus on emotions a whole lot. Instead, it feels kind of like a plot-driven character novel, if that makes any sense, since I kind of think those two are at odds with each other.

While rich with action, the plot revolves around a political intrigue, but I found the politics rather shallow. There’s a fair amount of uncertainty and mystery, as the characters uncover clues as to who’s who and what their motives are and what’s going on. But, while I’m not terribly drawn to political intrigue in my reading, when I do have it, I like it to be deeper and more complex. Instead, this one felt pretty simple with the good guys and the bad guys and a rather simple rendering even of that, without diving into the complexities and layers of nefarious motivation I’d have preferred to see. Though there was a fair bit of mystery at times around who the culprits were, and who the good guys and bad guys are, once it was figured out, it was usually pretty simple. The Empire is good; the people who want to overthrow it are bad. And Verhan and his friends are heroes for fighting them.

So if you find that to be a refreshing break from the ‘The Empire is bad; the people who want to overthrow it are all good’ trope then, I suppose, go for it?

I should mention that, while I did not find the character building to be very deep, they are not one-dimensional. The good ones have some flaws (though I might debate in some cases whether the flaws are flaws). And the bad ones … they’re not overly sympathetic, but they have pasts, too.

To sum up, if you’d like something with a bit of the classic epic fantasy feel, but with a well-presented and fresh non-European setting, stakes that are perhaps slightly tilted towards the cozy side of the spectrum, more of a focus on mystery and intrigue than usual, and a fast-pace replete with fun fight scenes featuring somewhat-less-seen weapons – such as staves – this is probably a book for you.