Impossible Odds: A Chronicle of the King's Blades (Duncan, Dave) [Hardcover]

I think I've read everything Duncan has ever printed, starting with the Reluctant Swordsman, and followed by the Great Game, and the two Man of His Word/Magic Casement series, and then the Kings Blades and Kings Daggers books. Overall Duncan is one of my favorite fantasy authors, the others being David Gemmel, Steven Brust, and older Raymond E Fiest.

What I like about Duncan is that he is a very clever person with an excellent grasp on the English language and human nature. His books contain interesting and well conceived plot lines, populated by complex multi-faceted characters, and are written with a verbal panache that really inspires. Dave Duncan is innovative, and adept at envisioning very distinct concepts, particularly how magic systems might function within a setting, not just in their mechanics but in the effect a given concept would have on human society. He doesn't write elves and dwarves Tolkeinesque fantasy; his worlds are populated almost uniformly with humans (though in the Man of His Word series he did a characteristically clever twist on some of the more common various fantasy races), and the fantastical elements of the setting are background elements which enable the story rather than overpowering the story.

The Kings Blades series harkens more to an early Renaissance era, where heavy armor and broadswords have given way mostly to doublets and rapiers, and skill and speed with a blade matters more than sheer cleaving power. This enables the story to focus on an Order of basically duelists that is basically like a half-way house for errant boys, juvenile delinquents, younger sons, and roustabouts. The rules are simple: to gain entrance a boy most pass certain tests of dexterity and wit; if admitted they must swear to give their life in service of the King, either to guard him or a person designated by him at the appropriate time. In return they are fed and clothed for 5 years and given a respectable education, in conjunction with being trained in the Orders unique and world renowned sword style. The catch: their oath is not just a spoken vow; its part of a magical ceremony whereby the King or other designated ward drives a sword into the Blade's heart, binding their lives to their ward with unswerving loyalty and granting certain low-key mystical abilities such as enhanced night vision, the ability to go without sleep, resistance to toxins, resistance to pain, and so forth. In short, a bound Blade is the ultimate body guard. One more quirk: each Blade must be bound in the same sequence they were admitted, no exceptions. This rule leads to some of the interesting dynamics in the books, particularly this one, whereby the potential boys next-up in the queue to become bound are not necessarily the best suited to a particular mission.

Each of the Blade stories center around this central dynamic.

Impossible odds is intriguing, and introduces a new fold to the Blade tales, in that its most interesting and dynamic character is neither a Blade, either bound or released from service, nor a ward in the character of Jack Bellman. Jack is an intriguing fantasy character in as much as he has a brain. Many authors it seems are hesitant to have their characters display too much intelligence, as it can break the 4th wall or seem contrived or condescending to the reader. Jack Bellman manages to be clever without coming off as being a crutch to move the story along via exposition. The conclusions Bellman comes to are backed up with reasonable clues scattered around the storyscape for the most part, and he is a sympathetic character to a modern audience so he's easy to appreciate.

I was actually rather pleased with the story right up to the end, and would generally recommend it. However, the ending was just too pat for my tastes, a bit too much of a "Happy Ending; TM", to the point that a couple of characters in the story are even cognizant of it; one of them makes a comment to the extent of "I think this smells like a happy ending", or something along those lines.

The previous Chronicles of the Kings Blades, Paragon Lost, was a much better book in my opinion, a real masterpiece. Compared to that book, this one was somewhat lacking. It kind of read like a King's Dagger book (the young adult series about Sir Stalwart, set in the same setting during the time of King Ambrose), with some sex added in for the non-young adult format.

Still, it's a diverting read and I recommend it to any fan of the series thus far.

There's a lot of fantasy fiction in the world, and a lot of it is pretty poorly written. This is why I love Duncan's work -- he writes well. He loves words, and he uses them to paint fabulous images and create memorable moments. This is a wonderful series, and I want to see more and more and more of it. So Dave, get back to that computer console, you hear me?

The novel "Impossible Odds" joins "Paragon Lost" as one of the Chronicles of the King's Blades. They are not part of the tightly knit tale that spans the first trilogy, but they describe other interesting stories in the same world. "Impossible Odds" has a somewhat fractured storyline; I was actually angry when the first recap began because I was so engrossed in the present day plot. But the King's Blades have just as much hard work to do in this story as any of the others, and the well-written tale contains not only action, intrigue and magic, but also rich character development.