Wagers of Fate

I was kindly provided a review copy of this book free of charge. Thanks!

I'm glad I got to read this book. It is very unique in many ways. Most prominently, it is written like a history book:

The order of battle was as follows: in Soliris there were two thousand men from the northern light cavalry, two thousand archers and five thousand pikemen, whereas in Highcliff, there were five thousand men from the heavy cavalry of the brigade of White Tigers led by Amos, Casper’s faithful second-in-command and five hundred rampart guards.

Lucas planned the ambush meticulously. His men were positioned exactly as he wished and they took Amos’ cavalry by surprise, whilst they were camped by the stream, resting before pushing on to Soliris. The Northern cavalry was decimated and only a handful escaped.

A lot of data about troops, equipment, fortifications, geography, past history, etc. But no drama at all. A terrible battle is described in one sentence.

This textbook style also carries over to the description of characters:

Regane the fencer was a red-headed, charismatic woman – beautiful, but fierce on the battlefield. Bertrand the Axe was a giant who was originally a woodcutter – he was not very intelligent, but he could single-handedly defeat a hundred men on a battlefield. Lucas was an intrepid archer and gifted tactician.

And even character development:

From the scared and innocent child that he once was, Hector had transformed into a truly charismatic leader, a leader of men and a future emperor that was both cherished and respected by his troops.

This book does not bow to "Show, Don't Tell". And why should it? Surely the goal is not for all authors to chase the single ideal until we have the perfect book at last. It was refreshing to read a story condensed in the way of a Wikipedia plot summary.

The question then is, how is the plot?

Both the plot and the setting are built of well-known tropes. The Orcs, Elves, and Dwarves are not introduced at all. The reader obviously knows them from childhood, so why waste words. There are 5,000 hyena-riding vampire mercenaries too, also not introduced. You know all about hyena riders, don't you?

I would not have minded the tropes if they were subverted at some point. I was always expecting the story to take an unexpected turn and explode into something crazy and fun. It would have worked so well with the dry, detached presentation. But the tropes were played straight all the way through. No twist.

That said, who knows what the second book brings! Somehow the unique writing style avoids giving a sure footing to the reader. It specifically avoids building a solid foundation, which gives a feeling of unpredictability.