Customer Reviews

The Bastard King (Scepter of Mercy)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

WARNING LABEL: Consumer should be advised that reading "The Bastard King" by Dan Chernenko could possibly result in Coma, Diarrhea, Asian Bird Flu, and possible permanent Mental Retardation of unborn children within a 500-yard radius when said book is read.

That's what should have been posted on the front of the book. Not the two misleading recommendation quotes from Booklist and Judith Tarr. Quotes of recommendation are pointless these days because of chronic abuse by the Publishing industry, probably always has been. Every time a Publishing company knows that have a stinker on their hands, they go with anonymous types to hype it in hopes of suckering people. Or maybe they can land a semi-known author, in this case Judith Tarr, for the meaningless quote. Ever wonder how this dynamic works? Is the publisher of this book, New American Library (division of Penguin), have a business connection with Tarr's Publishing House? Is there some scratch-my-back relationship between their editors or agents? Probably. Or maybe Judy has a full-blown Cocaine habit and New American Library promised to send her a free dime-bag of Blow. Anyhoo, as a consequence, for the malevolent misdeed of helping to enable this piece of tripe, I will make sure to spread the rumor, via net postings, that Judith Tarr plagiarizes by inserting excerpts of Mein Keimpf into her works. False? Sure. But she deserves the hit for helping to dupe readers. Judy, you got some powder on your nose...yeah, right there...yeah, ya got it.

But back to "The Bastard King"...

I am a veteran reader of Fantasy Literature for about 15 years now, by far my guiltiest pleasure among genres, and I am here to tell you that Dan Chernenko's writing style is about as evolved as a Britney Spears album. No...that's giving him too much credit...Christina Aguilera. There, better. Tolkien equals Mozart, Chernenko equals Aguilera.

Specifically, I have never read an author who resolves practically every conflict within 1 to 2 Chapters from it's introduction. He make's Feist's fast-paced style seem positively Proust-like. Worse, once you grasp his formula (which doesn't take long), you can actually predict THE HOW of how the conflict will get resolved. "...Okay, let's flip about 7 pages forward, and, ah yes, there we go, just like I thought." It's very safe really, if you like that sort of thing. After a while, though, you begin to root for Dan, hoping he will prove you wrong, throw ya a curveball. Nope. Tax Forms have more plot twists.

A great Fantasy author will give rich detail about surroundings and settings to accomplish convincing World-Building. You don't have to be Tolkien to pull it off, but you at least have to commit yourself to it. The best will weave the fabric of the descriptions so well it almost becomes prose. You never get that sense from Chernenko. It's almost as if he doesn't want to be bothered with the effort. Maybe it would be too frustrating for him. Even if he tried at some point, his pacing and easy conflict-resolution would probably defeat him. His style is, say, akin to cooking soup by blow-torch, instead of letting it simmer to a slow boil. Although, let me say that, yes, like others have described, the naval portion of the book accomplishes a semblance of realism. Gee, now all he has to do is get a grip on...*ahem*...land.

And there's the worst sin of all; the dialogue. The review from Publisher's Weekly stated it was "simple language". What an understatement. When characters interact with each other, the dialogue seems practically monosyllabic at times. The thought process of the characters doesn't give the impression of distinctness from each other, they all seem the same. The side-characters seem less like individual personalities then devices in which the main characters can react against in predictable fashion. And trust me, when it comes to Chernenko's attempt at court intrigue, as you thumb through the book the only thing you will find intriguing is the question of how this guy got a book deal. He must have pictures of his publisher naked with barnyard animals.

Was there any good things about "The Bastard King"? Yes. The cover art. But apparently that in itself was evil since it conned people into buying the book according to their testimonials. Sorry folks. The artist should get a X-Mas bonus from New American Library for pulling the con off, they owe him.

And there is one really great thing about "The Bastard King". It inspires! Yes, it has inspired me to get off my ass and start writing a Fantasy series of my own. After reading Chernenko, you realize if this guy can get a book deal, anyone can do it. Thanks Dan.

But in all seriousness, folks, you want to really know why this is a bad book? Because after forcing myself to get 4/5's of the way through it, I put it down one night, and really wasn't interested in finishing it. When you don't care about knowing the ending, that's a bad book.

My advice, go with Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin, and a newer talent like Sean Russell. They can bring originality to what is supposed to be a formulaic genre. Learn what talented Fantasy authors are all about.

A disappointing book!

Like several other reviewers, I too, was intrigued by the nifty cover and the glowing reports from some well respected fantasy authors. Now, I find I've less respect some of these authors than I did before, and I've become determined not to be influenced again, when buying a book, by another "pretty face".

The story initially seemed to have such great prospects; revolving around two central figures who, while simultaneously on the same side, are constantly suspicious of each others intentions. Unfortunately, this theme became tiresome when it began reappearing in chapter after chapter, with nothing ever changing and with nothing ever resolved.

There were times when I thought the story was finally gelling into something substantial, only to find it falling flat... again.

Another concern was the writing of the battle scenes; the good guys always seemed at an initial disadvantage, but were repeatably able to win with surprising ease and lack of substantial casualties.

This book, at times (albeit rarely), showed promise but the difference between promising and producing has resulted in a novel that is lacking in overall quality. 1 1/2 stars (grudgingly rounded up to 2).

I am a fan of Harry Turtledove, and have read most of his works written under his own name. Then I discovered that Chernenko was a pen name of his, so I hurried to a copy of this book. Eagerly anticipating going through the 3 books of this series, while I wait for him to write more in his Civil War epics. Boy, was I disappointed! Perhaps it is good that this came out under Chernenko. It reads as a shoddy work, far below what Turtledove has produced elsewhere.

One flaw is how the Commodore Grus becomes a co-king with the book's young hero. Prior to this, we see much handwringing because there are strict rules about who can become king. Yet after some minor victories, Grus assumes the throne with little ado. Just doesn't jibe.

The wars/conflicts are weakly done. This has been noted for Turtledove's other works. He is not as strong at the tactical or strategic descriptions as Stirling, Weber, Ringo or Pournelle. Even so, what battles are covered in the book are tepid. No sense of a protracted engagement.

Turtledove has prodigious output. But he may be spreading himself too thin by occasionally sacrificing quality for quantity.

By the way, another reviewer asked why Judith Tarr furnished a favourable quote on the book's cover. It's perhaps because she and Turtledove wrote "Household Gods". A fantasy which is far better done than this sorry instance.

Before I read all the reviews here on Amazon, I would have given this book three stars. The world has the potential to be interesting, the plot intriguing, and sometimes I even like the characters (only sometimes, and mostly at the beginning). For an author's first book, it's ok, and the potential that the rest of the series will improve seems quite high.

But! I have now discovered that this is not a debut, but a pseudonymous work by Harry Turtledove, who has been writing for at least 20 years. You would think he would know who to write a book that isn't flat as a pancake by now. I have never read any of his books before (not being overly fond of the alternative universe genre) and I certainly never will now.

I want my money back! "A brilliant new talent" Judith Tarr says on the back cover. Well "brilliant" may be a subjective category, but twenty years is an awfully long time to be considered "new" in the fantasy genre. Talk about false advertising!

The first one-third of this book is enjoyable, I won't deny that. I first started to dislike this book when I noticed that the author repeats himself. I don't mean in a very minor sort of way, either; the author repeats how everyone _feels_ about every possible thing over and over again, chapter after chapter. Each portion of the book carries on as if you hadn't read the previous chapter. You'd expect a similar style in sequel to reference material in the first book but in this story it grew incredibly obnoxious. It makes you want to scream, "I get the point!"

Aside from that being my biggest complaint, the book was readable. I actually completed it (which says enough) so I can say with confidence that I'm sure others will like it. The author definitely put a lot of work into the characters and world and story, but I did find myself not caring about a lot of it because it had no purpose even later on (other than to be repeated). This book should have been much shorter but all in all I can't say it is a waste of effort.

Written by Harry Turtledove under a pseudonym, no doubt because of the poor quality, this novel is a re-tread of countless other high fantasy stories. I've read and enjoyed many re-treads -- some of them written by Turtledove, in fact -- but even if a writer takes a familiar storyline or tired plot device, he or she can make a new story pop by adding strong characterization or interesting nuances. Unfortunately, this book has neither and, sadly, ranks at the bottom of Turtledove's bibliography, along with his fantasy Civil War series ("Sentry Peak," etc.).

I bought this book while out of town and didn't have access to the amazon reviews and boy did I pay the price.

It seems to be a random collection of poorly described events that don't lead anywhere.

I kept hoping the author was using a simplistic style to make a point somewhere but if he did it was too subtle for me.

If the book had been written half as well as some of those glowing reviews it just might have been worth reading.

As it is ... a complete waste of time. I can't count the number of times I had to put the book down because I was so mad about how awful it was. If I hadn't been on travel with no other options I wouldn't have made it past the 5th chapter.

I picked this up with the hope that, as a three book series, it would have a rich story. After reading it, I saw that the outline of the story was much better than the final product. The premise of the story has great possibilities with a rich world to enhance the characters. The implementation however is dry and forced. The primary characters have been given the wisdom of age and the intelligence of a youthful scholar, yet somehow each has the depth of an old pizza. I was very disappointed, given the possibility that this story had, to the way it was finally developed in this book. After reading you will feel empty of the desire to read the next in series. I am not certain if it was an issue with the editor, because you can see flashes of great writing within this book and wonder what could have been.

The back cover assures us this book is from "a brilliant new talent". It isn't. "Dan Chernenko" is a pseudonym. When I first learned the truth, I thought that Roc Fantasy had been disingenuous in marketing this work. On second thought, though, they haven't. Not at all. The title tells the truth. This book comes from someone who's well-known, namely Harry Turtledove. However, he wants to avoid any association with it. Truly this is a bastard book.

That said, it really shouldn't have come as a surprise that Turtledove is responsible for this book. It is mediocre and borders on outright awful. The flaws are almost too numerous to name. For starters, it is set in the Kingdom of Avornis, yet Avornis seems to have only about five people total. We get that many characters, but no sense that there's a real world in which they move around it. There is absolutely nothing distinctive about this fantasy world as compared to scores of others. There's no society, no culture, to economy, no art, no nothing. One gets the impression that beyond the handful of rooms and warships where the story takes place, everything else in simply blank, the author being too lazy to fill in convincing details.

The characters? Equally bad. They exist. They each have one or two traits that get demonstrated over and over. King Mergus is loud-mouthed and lives large. Bucco is scheming and nasty. Lepturus is loyal to a fault. Nowhere is there the slightest subtlety or depth in the character development.

The plot? Again, it exists. Events happen: battles, storms, marriages, murders. I did not care about them, and I doubt you will either. It's an endless progression of stuff without any driving force behind it. It also frequently fails to make sense and is contradictory. Every nation has sorcerers and witches who can turn the tide of battle by sending fire and lightning from the sky and other suchlike tricks. Since we're told that this happens on some occasions, it begs the question of why the warring factions don't use magic all the time. No answer is ever given.

The prose? Wooden:

"Lanius wondered how true that was. Even more than most in Avornis, his had been a marriage made for reasons having nothing to do with any initial attraction between the two parties most intimately involved. But he'd don his best to please Grus' daughter once they were joined. Thinking about it, he supposed she'd done the same for him." (page 260)

It's pretty much all like that. Clunky sentences, dull words used excessively and inappropriately, and the list goes on. I could continue, but the more I think about this book, the more tempted I am to take my rating down to one star. Perhaps I'd better stop here.

Having picked this up when perusing the Cherryh section for the final book in her Fortress series, I find that I'm less than impressed. The writing is awkward the dialogue is clumsy and while I found some of the characters to be witty they more than disappointed me by the 5th chapter. Roc publishing must have thrown out it's standards for publishing when they decided to publish this series. The cover art is what got me and will probably motivate many fantasy fans to invest the 7.50...however I'm thinking of returning these books for a refund. I suggest Roc fire their current fantasy editors and pay more attention to publishing polished writers. I'll never judge a book by it's cover again.