Well, finally! After a depressingly long spell of WSRH's, we have a winner! The Emperor's Edge (TEE) by Lindsay Buroker is a PB.com supplicant well worth your time ( yes, we do know how you should best spend your time - we are so very clever!).
The novel is what we would classify as fantasy. Ms Buroker adds the tag 'steampunk' and though we will technically grant her that, it is a minimal facet to the opus. Delete a few steam trucks and trolleys, present without much relevance, and you have a standard format fantasy - magic, swords, good vs evil, and tense interpersonal character development. The novel is a very well executed and the author is to be commended. Here is her blurb:
Imperial law enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon is good at her job: she can deter thieves and pacify thugs, if not with a blade, then by toppling an eight-foot pile of coffee canisters onto their heads. But when ravaged bodies show up on the waterfront, an arson covers up human sacrifices, and a powerful business coalition plots to kill the emperor, she feels a tad overwhelmed.
Worse, Sicarius, the empire’s most notorious assassin is in town. He’s tied in with the chaos somehow, but Amaranthe would be a fool to cross his path. Unfortunately, her superiors order her to hunt him down. Either they have an unprecedented belief in her skills… or someone wants her dead.
NARRATION & EDITING/TECHNICALS: These two usually separate categories are combined as Ms. Buroker has enlisted the help of Dark Fire Productions and their Starla Huchton to produce this podcast. Subsequently, they can be considered as one element. In short, the production is nothing short of perfect. We have long been a fan of Ms. Huchton's smooth, silky (yes, a bit sultry too we must lasciviously append) voice. She is at her top-notch best in TEE. Well paced, well emoted, and outstanding character differentiation. Dark Fire's technical chops are a joy to behold. Great sound quality, excellent music integration, and totally seamless editing. This combined group garners a full 40.
ORIGINALITY OF STORY: Fresh and well conceived, which are good things. In creating works of mainstream fantasy, author's are hard-pressed to be original - to invent novel takes and develop new angles. We are SOOO totally over cute-little hobbits and nasty-old trolls, bitchy sorceresses and - we cannot even bring ourselves to type the word - you know, the "V" creatures who lap-up voluminous quantities of hemoglobin-rich bodily fluids. Yes, them - shudder. Anyway, where were we (in fact where ARE we?)? Oh yes, originality. Ms. Buroker presents us with a new world, free from stock-elements and cliches. It is set in winter, women run business, she mixes greed with power-lust - always a winning ticket - and does not resurrect any tired-stock elements to advance the plot. That all said, it is still a fairly straight-forward world she creates and the players are equally notwithstanding being well developed are nonetheless fairly rote. We will dispense an 14 for this element.
QUALITY OF WRITING: As we always harp-upon, this category is really where the money is at (we know, sloppy metaphor, but we are not responsible for the quality of the idioms American English embraces). We are rating podcasts on this blog, not novels, so weighting is balanced, but this is where the magic happens or where it goes to perish. As a work of fiction, TEE is written well. Protagonists are likable, antagonists are somewhat complex, and ancillary cast members are credible. The prose is well above average and the flow is most pleasant. Off-elements are, unfortunately present also. The lead character, Amaranthe, is painted with depth and consistency. She is, however, too damnably clever. She wiggles her way out of any number of impossible scenarios with increasing predictability. It grows burdensome. Examples are illustrative. Amaranthe wishes to reconcile with a gang-boss old friend. She and her companion are thrown into a steel pit with ravenous metal machinations designed to ribbonize them. There can be no escape! But, of course there is. But to make the scene work, the evil-doers of course go off to resume their busy days so as to not be present to witness the completion of the dismemberment of the guests. If only they had stayed to make certain all the slicing and dicing were completed. Wait, it's like Batman. Remember, the Joker or Penguin would line-him up for a dastardly fate, then step-out for a smoke and Batman would escape just in the nick of time? Or Goldfinger leaving before James Bond was laserly parted down the middle, groin up? Why oh why don't the forces of evil ever learn? All of us horror-fans have learned NEVER to back into a dark room alone. Why can't villains stay till the axe falls - literally? Well, we guess if your job-options are dark overlord you must have some issues, right? But we digress - nauseatingly in fact. So, in terms of a written work of fiction, we will assign Ms. Buroker 14 points - well above average but well below Bradbury (but who isn't?).
WOW FACTOR: The most subjective of the 20 points possible, we hope to be fair, and not miss-rate based on apple/orange issues. That said, this podcast is wow-worthy. State-of-the-art production, fresh story, and delicious characters combine to make this as treasured addition to the ranks of podcasts. While somewhat short of causing us to brake the car and pull over to hear the next few lines, TEE pulls-in a solid 17 wowies.
EXTRA CREDIT: We will disburse 3 points for wow, based on Starla and Dark Fire's outstanding contribution. A beautiful thing is, in the end, a beautiful thing.
TOTAL: 88! A very solid debut for TEE and Ms. Broker. So, Lindsay, stop reading this touchy-feely review and get crackin' to supply volume II.....
Lindsay Broker's website: http://www.lindsayburoker.com/fantasy-novels/the-emperors-edge-a-high-fantasy-novel-in-an-era-of-steam/
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