A couple of days ago I finished the epic fantasy novel Battle Mage by Peter Flannery. I really enjoyed it!
What’s it all about?
The world is falling to the burning shadow of the Possessed and only the power of a battle mage can save it. But the ancient bond with dragonkind is failing. Of those that answer a summoning too many are black. Black dragons are the enemy of humankind. Black dragons are mad.
Falco Dante is a weakling in a world of warriors, but worse than this, he is the son of a madman. Driven by grief, Falco makes a decision that will drive him to the brink of despair. As he tries to come to terms with his actions Falco follows his friends to the Academy of War, an elite training school dedicated to martial excellence. But while his friends make progress he struggles to overcome his doubts and insecurity.
While the Queen tries to unite the Kingdoms against the Possessed, Falco struggles to overcome his fears. Will he unlock the power trapped inside of him or will he succumb to madness and murder like his father?
So, typical fantasy fare, really. A young man must overcome his something or other and unlock his great power to whatever in order to defeat the evil thingy.
But if you like this sort of old fashioned fantasy story, as I do, then you will enjoy this novel.
The characters are rather stock; the damaged hero, the feisty young noblewoman who happens to be a brilliant archer, the son of the blacksmith who wants to become a knight, the beautiful queen, her faithful and brilliant lord and protector of the realm and so on.
And yet Flannery’s writing is so good that they overcome that. And it is immensely gratifying to read a fantasy story where some people are bad and cowardly and others are good and decent.
And the heroes are likeable. Imagine that!
I seem to have read a lot of fantasy in the last ten years (or more) where everyone is a morally grey character (George RR Martin has helped to popularise this trend that he is a huge part of) and it is a breath of fresh air to read about people who are thoroughly decent. Real people can be like that, you know? But at the same time we need not be overly concerned with reality in our stories. They’re stories! I want to read about good overcoming evil, please. That is one of the functions of stories and this one provides that.
The writing is straightforward, without any overwriting or long forays into description and I very much like that style. It helps also when a story is as long as this one – 650 pages it says but I bet that’s one of those oversized paperbacks with big pages and small print. This book is looooong.
And it is a standalone novel.You do not need to commit to a series to get a resolution and that is another huge plus, for me.
I think one of the reasons this book works so brilliantly, actually, it is the main reason, is Flannery’s skill at drawing you in right from the first page. He is a master of teasing out information and creating multiple layers of tension. There is so much peril, whether mortal or social or romantic, for the characters (characters that we like) that we must keep reading to see what happens, and to make sure that they are okay.
It really is masterful.
There is tons of action. Verging on too much action, if anything, especially the final battle which takes up acres of space. But I love fantasy battles and Flannery knows what he’s talking about.
There were a few things I didn’t like.The character’s names were often so cheesy that it distracted. The local baddie lord is called something like Bellicose Snideson and there are a fair few clangers like that. The blacksmith is called Malaki de Vane and the noblewoman’s surname is Goodwin. Clearly, these should be reversed! The world’s naming conventions didn’t seem to follow a proper pattern that identified social class. And in fact, the people in the story hardly display class prejudice at all and that feels too modern.
Some of the main characters are underwritten and just kind of boring and I didn’t really enjoy their good natured joshing. It didn’t amuse me at all.
Also, the dialogue feels far, far too modern for my taste. When characters in a medievally fantasy say the word “okay” it makes my skin crawl a bit. But that’s my cross to bear and I’ll bear it.
The reviews for this book on Amazon and Goodreads are overwhelmingly positive. People really enjoy this book, as a whole.
And I enjoyed it too.
Get it on Amazon in ebook, paperback and audiobook: