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Hadrian
Blackwater is a soldier weary of fighting, on his way home
following the death of his father. He has to meet with his
father's old friend, Professor Arcadius, but not before he
has had a few adventures involving a city urchin in need of
a job, a hooded man, and a barge where strange things happen.
Once in the Professor's rooms, he is surprised to be given
a seemingly impossible task to perform, and one where he will
be paired with somebody he has already decided that he hates
-- the sinister and deadly assassin, Royce Melborn.
As the song goes, "It ain't what you do, it's the way
that you do it." On the surface this sounds like bog
standard fantasy fare and in many ways it is. Not a great
deal happens in this book. Really. It wouldn't take me long
to describe the plot, and this book could have been written
at any time in the last thirty years. But two things set it
apart and make it special. Firstly, nobody much writes this
type of heroic epic fantasy any more and secondly -- and more
importantly -- Mr Sullivan has a great talent for writing.
It didn't take me long to read this novel as I couldn't put
it down! Having a hero instead of the more usual anti-hero
helped a lot; Hadrian is a character you care about. At first
I wasn't too keen on the main story being held up to read
about prostitute Gwen and her brothel building project. It
slowed down the main story; but soon I got sucked into this
as well and could see where it was all going. Unfortunately,
Gwen is the only woman in the book with more than a walk-on
part. Mr Sullivan can certainly create interesting male characters,
but his world is mostly a man's world. This is a pity, but
for anybody who enjoys a good traditional fantasy complete
with sword fights, adventures and exotic locations, this will
more than fit the bill. I also like the way this is a prequel
to the already published Riyria Revelations and can be read
before, or after the other books.
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