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Ilbei Spadebreaker and the Harpy's Wild
Ergo the Skewer and his band of bandits plague the mining community of Three Tents. The locals, trying to scratch bare livings from a stingy mountainside, can’t endure much more. They’ve tried to fight back, but they are not warriors, and the Skewer is brutal and cruel. What was once a proud, if humble, way of life has now become one of desperation and fear. Many have fled. Only the stubborn remain.
Making matters worse, the harpies have returned. Some have been spotted in the skies. People are missing, and a woman is dead. It’s one problem too many. Realizing they cannot save Three Tents on their own, the proud miners send for help, appealing to the army garrisoned in Hast. The army sends Sergeant Ilbei Spadebreaker.
With wit, pickaxe and a bit of brute force, the pot-bellied old veteran begins his work. He soon unearths layers of subterfuge far deeper than anything that can be dug up in a mine. What begins as a hunt for a band of brigands becomes a journey into the cavernous underworld of counterfeiting, corruption and conspiracy.
Ilbei Spadebreaker and the Harpy’s Wild is a stand-alone prequel to the bestselling Galactic Mage series. Whether you are familiar with planet Prosperion or heading there for the first time, the down-home, medieval style of fan-favorite Ilbei Spadebreaker will warm your heart and tickle your funny bone.
Making matters worse, the harpies have returned. Some have been spotted in the skies. People are missing, and a woman is dead. It’s one problem too many. Realizing they cannot save Three Tents on their own, the proud miners send for help, appealing to the army garrisoned in Hast. The army sends Sergeant Ilbei Spadebreaker.
With wit, pickaxe and a bit of brute force, the pot-bellied old veteran begins his work. He soon unearths layers of subterfuge far deeper than anything that can be dug up in a mine. What begins as a hunt for a band of brigands becomes a journey into the cavernous underworld of counterfeiting, corruption and conspiracy.
Ilbei Spadebreaker and the Harpy’s Wild is a stand-alone prequel to the bestselling Galactic Mage series. Whether you are familiar with planet Prosperion or heading there for the first time, the down-home, medieval style of fan-favorite Ilbei Spadebreaker will warm your heart and tickle your funny bone.
444 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 25, 2014
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August 12, 2023
"Ilbei Spadebreaker and the Harpy's Wild" is a highly enjoyable read ... if you are into that kind of thing - an alternate world, magic, war, fantasy, mayhem, slavery, genocide and harpies. I definitely am and this is a fine example of the genre!
Sgt. Spadebreaker, coming up to his 13th decade and wondering whether retirement might be on the cards, is a hard-bitten leader of men, and also of one strange scroll mage, Jasper, who, despite being extremely yappy and a disaster waiting to happen, somehow manages to survive and, occasionally, prove helpful. It's somewhat reminiscent of Terry Pratchett's Rincewind.
Sent to sort out a group of bandits terrorising a mining area on the edge of the kingdom Sgt. Spadebreaker finds that a new officer, Major Cavendis, seems determined to undermine the mission. Unusually, despite his decades of service, Ilbei just can't get a read on him.
Superficially it bears a strong resemblance to an old Western film - bad men with evil intent are relentlessly pursued by a small force led by a leader who will not back down. The author, John Daulton, has put a lot of thinking into his world creation and it pays off.
It was published over nine years ago and I was gobsmacked to find that no-one has written a Goodreads review because it is a damned good read, standing head and shoulders over many of the paranormal/fantasy books I have read recently.
It's over-written and is longer than it should be, but I quite liked the pacing. If you like a fast read you won't find it here, but if you are interested in a believable world and interesting characters, with a plot that makes absolute sense ... read on!
Authors of this kind of book often like to include archaic words and John Daulton is no exception - I've got a large vocabulary and still had to head for a dictionary to find out what a 'whim' was (a windlass in this case).
I don't give 5 Stars (that's something reserved for books that have stayed with me over the decades) but this could qualify (not that I will live that long!)
It's a very solid 4.5 Star book.
Sgt. Spadebreaker, coming up to his 13th decade and wondering whether retirement might be on the cards, is a hard-bitten leader of men, and also of one strange scroll mage, Jasper, who, despite being extremely yappy and a disaster waiting to happen, somehow manages to survive and, occasionally, prove helpful. It's somewhat reminiscent of Terry Pratchett's Rincewind.
Sent to sort out a group of bandits terrorising a mining area on the edge of the kingdom Sgt. Spadebreaker finds that a new officer, Major Cavendis, seems determined to undermine the mission. Unusually, despite his decades of service, Ilbei just can't get a read on him.
Superficially it bears a strong resemblance to an old Western film - bad men with evil intent are relentlessly pursued by a small force led by a leader who will not back down. The author, John Daulton, has put a lot of thinking into his world creation and it pays off.
It was published over nine years ago and I was gobsmacked to find that no-one has written a Goodreads review because it is a damned good read, standing head and shoulders over many of the paranormal/fantasy books I have read recently.
It's over-written and is longer than it should be, but I quite liked the pacing. If you like a fast read you won't find it here, but if you are interested in a believable world and interesting characters, with a plot that makes absolute sense ... read on!
Authors of this kind of book often like to include archaic words and John Daulton is no exception - I've got a large vocabulary and still had to head for a dictionary to find out what a 'whim' was (a windlass in this case).
I don't give 5 Stars (that's something reserved for books that have stayed with me over the decades) but this could qualify (not that I will live that long!)
It's a very solid 4.5 Star book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review