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Mountain of Daggers (Tales of the Black Raven) (Volume 1) Volume 1 (Tales of the Black Raven) Seth Skorkowsky | ||||
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Fast-paced Adventure and Intrigue Ahren, a skilled and clever professional thief, is the Black Raven. His adventures are presented as connected short stories, tales of risk and mayhem and deadly quests. Ahren' s life is changed dramatically when he is recruited by a crime guild brotherhood called the Tyenee. There are elements of magic here and there......an evil man who casts Stygian Fire from his hands, a carnival performer who shifts into a dangerous cat. But for the most part, these stories could be set in and around Eastern Europe, in the "real" world. They are exciting and full of suspense. Ahren is a very likeable antihero who manages to avoid capture and death while traipsing over the rooftops and slithering t h rough dark alleyways, even sputtering his way out of a dark sewer system. These are remarkably fun to read. Action predominates, and things move quickly. It took me a couple of stories to really get into the spirit of the Black Raven' s shenanigans, but at some point I felt like the sultan b e ing wooed by Scheherezade, and couldn't stop reading. I am really looking forward to the next collection with great anticipation. The four rating is for grammatical errors......nothing major, not that many, but jarring in a book of such quality. Awesome traditional charming fantasy. Better than Damoren I picked up this book on the strength of the Valducan series and Im so glad I did. Mountain of Daggers feels like it could have come straight from old school fantasy, with roguish charming thief, aligned to chaotic good, helping his guild manage the diection of nations through subterfuge, thievery, and other not strictly legal methods. Mountain of Daggers is a collection of short stories episodes that come together to tell the origin story of Black Raven. We see a young man transition from unlucky whelp to supremely competent master of the shadows. I cant wait to see more of Black Raven I am delighted that 'Mountain of Daggers' has finally seen publication and ... I am delighted that 'Mountain of Daggers' has finally seen publication and I promise dozens of thrilled readers will be as well. This is a collection of rousing, swashbuckling adventures filled with fun times and fast action. Black Raven is a character to cheer for - I look forward to many more tales of his antics and heroics. Dark Fantasy capers and heists by an enigmatic badass protagonist A big fan of the Valducan books by Seth Skorkowsky, I was interested in other books by him and the release of a new fantasy series intrigued me. Mountain of Daggers is the first collection of short stories by him about the Black Raven. Who is the Black Raven? The Black Raven is the nom de plume of Ahren, a thief and assassin who haunts a Medieval Fantasy world. The book follows Ahren's journey from being a ex-sailor with a history of burglary work to becoming the most feared and respected rogue in the world. I can't help but wonder if I'm going to see more of his adventures in the upcoming Blackguards anthology being released by Ragnarok Publications. The stories are deliberately modeled on the old Lieber-Howard mold where the protagonist doesn't have any real overarching narrative but a series of loosely connected stories which, if you read them in order, give you a rough sense of where his personality as well as ambitions are going. Ahren, himself, is a difficult character to get a handle on. He's not one of the larger-than-life personalities you usually find in these sorts of books. He's stoic, reserved, doesn't talk much, and keeps his thoughts as well as history to himself. Rather than Conan or the Gray Mouser, I'd say he's closer to Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name. He's a character who events happen to and he causes but doesn't really make an astounding effort to engage with his others. The exception is, surprising me as a reader, he ends up visiting his hometown out of the blue and we get a sense of what forces shaped him. Even then, he keeps a lot to himself. Ahren's character is an interesting one since he's the sort of fellow you could easily mistake for being a cipher than one the author is deliberately trying to leave mysterious. I confess, aside from the fact he's heterosexual with a particular fondness for girls who can pick pockets, I'm still not sure about what motivates him. Is he doing this for the money, the thrills, or because he likes it? I'd kind of saddened we never really get to see what Ahren spends the fortunes he makes on, really. Women? Mansions? Gold-plated swords he can show off to his buddies? With Conan, you knew every copper of his went to pay for his alcohol and wenching habits. Ahren seems to horde his fortune like a Swiss banker. The point of the book isn't Ahren, though, but his adventures and they are a delightful collection of Sword and Sorcery-esque romps in a more modernized environment. There's evil cults, wizards, decadent nobles, crazed witches, and petty criminal gangs who think they can make the Black Raven into a common legbreaker. My favorite story is about Ahren being hired to steal a magical oar cap which can control the souls of the dead as well as the waters of a Venice-like city. Another favorite story seems to be a shout-out to the movie version of Conan and his, ahem, encounter with a witch. The stories are full of atmosphere, world-building, and amoral surroundings. The setting came off like a combination of Hyboria, Lankhmar, Renaissance Italy, and Gotham City--which is a good mix. In conclusion, if you're interested in some daring heist fiction in a fantasy world then this book is a collection of several tales dealing with said subjects. They're, essentially, one long series of delightful chase scenes and action-pieces. I would have liked to get more from the protagonist emotionally but the character archetype is bound to appeal to some readers. This is a good book and one I read in a day, which is usually a good sign for a decent-sized 205 page novel. 8.5 10 Get ready to root for the bad guy.... With Skorkowsky's 'Mountain of Daggers' we are treated to a collection of roguish stories that aren't afraid to cut and bloody their hands on the razor's edge between classic Sword and Sorcery and Outlaw Grimdark. 'Mountain of Daggers' introduces us to the Black Raven. Some outlaws are blood-thirsty killers. Some are thuggish fighters. The Black Raven... is a thief -- lover of the chase and an old fashioned adrenaline junkie. Once you get to know the Black Raven, you realize he does these things, first and foremost, because he CAN. In a cutthroat world of ruthless criminals, killers, and outlaw power-brokers "Mountain of Daggers" follows the Black Raven through the opening acts of a journey that becomes as much for his soul and sanity as it is wealth, infamy, or the thrill of the hunt. Not without a capacity for ruthlessness, the Black Raven's sinister streak claws at the surface as his adventures in this game of outlaws turns bloody and personal. Veiled just behind a playful smirk is a man on the edge of becoming just as cold and brutal as any scoundrel he shares Skorkowsky's vivid criminal underworld with. If Ian Fleming had possessed a penchant for Sword and Sorcery rather than Walthers and Martinis, the Black Raven could have been his love-child. Skorkowsky's fantasy world is crisply and meticulously realized in culture, concept, and style. Boasting exceptional atmospherics throughout, the environment of the fantastic locations - cities, ruins, tombs, estates, brothels, wine-soaked taverns, and the grim rotten underbelly of civilization - come alive in a narrative truly immerse of the five-senses. Punctuated by gritty outlaw-versus-outlaw capers and the most vividly narrated tales of a fantasy rogue's trade-craft I've ever read, 'Mountain of Daggers' keeps the spotlight burning bright on the concept of the master-thief and turns up the heat from beginning to end. If you are a lover of swashbuckling rogues and merciless outlaws - pick up a of Seth Skorkowsky's 'Mountain of Daggers' today... and get ready to root for the bad guy. | ||||
