The Silverblood Promise

You should be careful what you wish for, but also careful what you promise. Are you going to be able to live up to the hype? Arcadia Books are pretty pumped with James Logan’s The Silverblood Promise stating that it is the best fantasy debut of the year. Let me be the judge of that and having read the full 600+ pages, I must agree that they may just be right.  

Lukan Gardova can usually be found in a gambling den or sleeping off a hangover. He has been running away from his past, but he can never get away. When he hears the news of his estranged father’s murder, Lukan swears a silverblood promise to find the killer. This moment of nobility will change the course of Lukan’s life taking him to a strange city and an adventure that will see him mingle with the high and low in society, as well as beings from beyond the realm of humans. 

I love fantasy as a genre, but some of the books can be a slog. If you are going to write a book that is over 600 pages, you must make it readable. Silverblood is not only readable, but a page turner. For a debut Logan writes in a confident style, I can feel the years of developing and crafting in the way the solid structure of the story and great characters are so strong. The author has thought about the character arcs and the story from start to finish. I feel confident that the whole series will be mapped out well. 

What makes this novel readable is the entertaining characters and light style. The politics and violence in the book mean that it will be classed as Low Fantasy and it most certainly is. There is some magic, but it is limited to a few, Lukan must rely on his wits. Despite the darkness of actions, the book is light. It rattles along at a pleasurable pace and Lukan never loses his sense of humour, no matter how dreadful things get. 

Much fantasy is told from multiple perspectives, several storylines spread across the kingdom, only coming together at the end of the book (sometimes only at the end of a trilogy of books). Logan forgoes this in favour of following Lukan throughout. This keeps the plot simple to follow and when the character is as fun as this, you do not want to be sent off to read about someone you do not like as much. 

Lukan is the comedy in the book, but he is also the straight guy. He meets a young thief only too happy to put him in his place. Much of the underworld and overworld do not have much respect for Lukan, so he is passed from pillar to post on his quest to find his father’s killer. Logan has done an impressive job of writing interesting locations for Lukan to find himself; impenetrable jails, underground lairs etc. 

I have to say that I loved reading Silverblood and it could easily be the debut fantasy book of the year. It was the perfect tone for my tastes; low fantasy, but not too dark. It was full of classic feeling fantasy elements, but Logan keeps the story moving, funny and with action. It is more D&D than Tolkien, but I will take that any day of the week. It is a wonderfully readable slice of fantasy that fans of the genre will devour but would also be a great introduction to the genre for someone wishing to dip their toe into the world of multipart 600+ fantasy epics.