Synopsis:
An upper class young man on trial for murder in WWI England finds his destiny entwined with a girl on the road with a traveling troupe of actors in an alternate vaguely medieval world ruled by capricious and contentious gods.
Review:
I really enjoy Dave Duncan’s writing–he’s imaginative and not afraid of getting a little literary, and always comes up with great characters. Past Imperative (Round One of the Great Game) was a welcome departure from the usual epic fantasy in that half of the book is a murder mystery set in England.
Since it’s hard to sum up the first book in a series, I’ll let this review suffice for now. I’m about to dive into Present Tense so I’ll see if it keeps up the momentum.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 Shari // May 1, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Yey Dave! I can’t remember if I read this whole series or not. If I did, it was less memorable than his later work. You really should look into the Blades series as well.
2 Superfast Reader // May 1, 2009 at 9:33 pm
You got me hooked on Duncan! What’s the Blades series?
3 Shari // May 2, 2009 at 12:20 pm
http://www.daveduncan.com/books.html
Start with Paragon Lost. They are stand-alone books that overlap, so it’s best to still read in order of publishing. It’s the stories of graduates of a swordfighting school that the king or rich people can buy to be magically bound to them. Sky of Swords was frustrating though. Can’t tell you (spoil you) why. And, FYI, don’t touch West of January with ten foot pole.
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