Tough Traveling: Mentor

The Thursday feature "Tough Traveling" is the brainchild of Nathan of Review Barn, who has come up with the excellent idea of making a new list each week based on the most common tropes in fantasy, as seen in The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynn Jones. Nathan has invited anyone who is interested to come play along, so be sure to check out the first link for more information. Compulsive list-maker that I am, I'm very excited to take part!

This week's tour topic is: Mentor

A tour official who will be at your service until halfway through the tour, when you will unexpectedly lose him.

Ah, I love it when we get "easier" theme weeks. That's when we get to play around with more unconventional lists and I'm always looking forward to what others might put on theirs. Mentors of all shapes and sizes populate the fantasy and sci-fi genres so I'm gonna have some fun.


Midnight Riot/Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Probably one of my favorite mentor figures in an urban fantasy series is Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who's not only one talented detective but a hell of a wizard as well. Head of the Folly and the last officially sanctioned English Wizard, Nightingale takes on the protagonist Peter Grant as his apprentice and subjects him to repetitive magical exercises. Nightingale's a bit of an anachronism, being much older than he looks, and his total fail with modern technology is merely a part of his charm. (Review)

The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu
Tao is an atypical mentor, being an ancient alien life-form called a Quasing whose race crash-landed on the planet millions of years before the first humans even walked the earth. Incompatible with the atmosphere, Quasings must take a host in order to survive. Now split into two warring factions, the Quasings are at war. That's how our protagonist, the self-doubting, weak-willed, TV-dinner-munching Roen Tan wakes up one day with an alien's voice in his head. Tao must whip out-of-shape Roen for the coming battle, turning him from a loser to a super spy killing machine. (Review)

The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
In book two of the Memoirs of Lady Trent series, Natalie is the young woman who shares Isabella's love and fascination with dragons and natural history. Refusing to be married off by her family, Natalie joins the expedition to Eriga against her father's wishes. Isabella makes arrangements to stow Natalie away on the ship, hiding her away until they are safely away from port. On their journey, Natalie becomes Isabella's apprentice of sorts, becoming her companion while also learning research methods. (Review)

The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley
Emperor Sanlitun has three children, the oldest being Kaden the heir who has spent the last eight years of his life sequestered in a remote monastery in the mountains, learning the mysteries of the monks who live there. One day, Kaden gets a new mentor in the form of Master Tan, whose teaching methods generally boil down to committing child abuse and torture on his poor royal apprentice, including depriving him of sustenance and beating him bloody almost on a daily basis and pretty much just making Kaden's life a living hell. (Review)

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
The Monstrumologist series is probably the most un-YA young adult series I've ever read - as in, if adapted completely faithfully, a movie based on this novel would get no lower than a resounding R-rating in terms of all the violence, blood and gore. The books are written in the form of a diary by protagonist Will Henry, who recalls his life as a twelve year old orphan taken in by Dr. Pellinore Warthope, a man with a most unusual, gruesome specialty. Will Henry becomes the doctor's indispensable assistant and apprentice in his study and research of monsters. (Review)

Book Review: The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley

The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne

Publisher: Tor

Date of Publication: January 14, 2014

Author Information: Website | Twitter

 Mogsy's Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars - "Minor hitches notwithstanding, plenty of action and character development in this great debut made me a new fan of the author; looking forward to more of this epic series"

Looks like epic fantasy in 2014 is off to a running start with The Emperor's Blades, a novel by Brian Staveley featuring an intricate plot about a murdered sovereign and his trio of offspring who survive him. As debuts go, it was a great book despite a few hitches in the story that tripped me up. Still, I don't doubt for a second that Staveley will be winning himself a lot of fans with this one, and you can count me in amongst those who are looking forward to his future work.

From the very beginning, the author has my undivided attention with introductions to Emperor Sanlitun's two sons and daughter. First things first: take those images you have of pampered princesses and princelings living in luxury in a cushy decadent palace and throw them out the window, for the lives of Sanlitun's children are about as far removed from that as you can imagine.

Kaden the heir has spent the last eight years sequestered in a remote monastery in the moutains, learning the mysteries of the monks who live there. It's also where he gets beaten bloody on an almost daily basis, for not grasping his lessons quickly enough. Meanwhile, younger son Valyn trains with the Kettral (an elite group of the empire's warriors -- think of them as the emperor's special forces) but leads a life no less brutal for all the dangerous tests he is made to go through before earning his place on a Wing. Finally, back at the capital Sanlitun's only daughter Adare fights treachery, conspiracy and political unrest in order to maintain stability in the heart of the empire in the wake of her father's murder.

The scope of the story turned out to be not as vast or immense as I'd expected, maintaining a tight focus on the perspectives of these three characters for much of the novel. That's not a bad thing at all, especially if character development is as important to you as it is for me; narrowing down the interest and activity to Kaden, Velyn and Adare allowed me to get acquainted with them more closely.

If the three plot lines have a common thread, it's that nothing ever seems to go right for the siblings. Kaden can't seem get anything right in his mentor's eyes, Valyn comes off almost as incompetent in his failures during training while simultaneously trying to root out a plot against him, and Adare is mostly helpless and unable to take action. For much of the novel it's almost painful to read about how each of them are outmaneuvered, outsmarted, outgunned. But you know what they say about experiences that are upsetting, humiliating, or distressing: it builds character! That's literally the case in this book. And really, there's plenty enough action and excitement in Kaden, Valyn and Adare's lives to keep things interesting, certainly enough to keep the novel's pace up and maintain its level of epicness even when following just a handful of characters.

To be honest though, something never quite sat right with me when it came to their situations. It's one thing to send your royal children away to pick up new skills, see the world, or learn of what real life is like outside the palace, but it's quite another to expose your only (and therefore presumably precious) heirs to such terrible risk and brutality. In the book, we are told that Kaden and Valyn were victims of a kidnapping or assassination attempt when they were very young, but the perpetrators were caught and executed summarily for their troubles. However, Sanlitun is apparently happy enough to let monks and the Kettral do any more would-be assassins' jobs for them, by sending his sons to places where the punishments equate to child abuse and torture in Kaden's case, while Valyn is made to go through the type of training exercises where a single mistep could snuff his life out at any second.

I'm also a bit mystified by all the people around Kaden and Valyn who have the guts to treat the emperor's sons so poorly, knowing full well that these young men are only a heartbeat or two away from the Unhewn Throne and being the supreme ruler of your land able to order your head lopped off from your shoulders on a mere whim. Maybe it's just me, but crown princes aren't exactly people I'd want to offend, let alone bully, because payback would be a real bitch in this case. Adare also has her own troubles with garnering respect in the capital, and here I'm also a little frustrated that her character was not given as much attention. Her chapters make a few brief appearances between long stretches, but for the most part she is underrepresented in this story. It's a shame since I get the feeling she possesses just as much strength and intelligence as either of her two brothers, and that needs to come to the forefront.

The truth is, Kaden and Valyn take center stage here, and the story heats up even more when the two finally reunite for a showdown against their enemies. As endings go, the novel finishes off in style, wrapping up the major threads while leaving plenty more to tease the next installment. You can be sure I'll be picking it up and continuing this epic series, with high hopes for more action, a deeper look into the world's magic and history, as well as a larger role for Adare. Several parts of The Emperor's Blades may exhibit the type of rawness not uncommon in debut novels, but it's certainly still a hit in my eyes.

3.5 of 5 stars

 A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Waiting on Wednesday 10/30/13

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can't wait to get our hands on!

Mogsy's Pick

 The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley: January 14, 2013 (Tor)

On my must-read list for 2014!

 "When the emperor of Annur is murdered, his children must fight to uncover the conspiracy—and the ancient enemy—that effected his death.

Kaden, the heir apparent, was for eight years sequestered in a remote mountain monastery, where he learned the inscrutable discipline of monks devoted to the Blank God. Their rituals hold the key to an ancient power which Kaden must master before it’s too late. When an imperial delegation arrives to usher him back to the capital for his coronation, he has learned just enough to realize that they are not what they seem—and enough, perhaps, to successfully fight back.

Meanwhile, in the capital, his sister Adare, master politician and Minister of Finance, struggles against the religious conspiracy that seems to be responsible for the emperor’s murder. Amid murky politics, she’s determined to have justice—but she may be condemning the wrong man.

Their brother Valyn is struggling to stay alive. He knew his training to join the Kettral— deadly warriors who fly massive birds into battle—would be arduous. But after a number of strange apparent accidents, and the last desperate warning of a dying guard, he’s convinced his father’s murderers are trying to kill him, and then his brother. He must escape north to warn Kaden—if he can first survive the brutal final test of the Kettral."