Gentlemen Of The Road in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Nov 28, 2014 Robin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Impishly nicknamed "Jews with Swords" by its author, "Gentlemen of the Road" is a historical adventure tale about a pair of rogues--a giant African soldier named Amram and a German physician/fencer named Zelikman--and their journey through the (largely unfamiliar to me and apparently scantly chronicled) city-states of Khazaria.

Pleasingly reminiscent of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Amram and Zelikman are introduced in a very amusing fashion that immediately familiarizes the reader w Impishly nicknamed "Jews with Swords" by its author, "Gentlemen of the Road" is a historical adventure tale about a pair of rogues--a giant African soldier named Amram and a German physician/fencer named Zelikman--and their journey through the (largely unfamiliar to me and apparently scantly chronicled) city-states of Khazaria.

Pleasingly reminiscent of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Amram and Zelikman are introduced in a very amusing fashion that immediately familiarizes the reader with the most salient aspects of their personalities. They overcome their baser instincts to grudgingly become involved in what looks like a simple escort mission, only to find their task rapidly balloon in importance, until they end up having an inadvertent and significant political impact on the region.

While this book is dedicated to Michael Moorcock, to me it felt more like a swashbuckling yarn in the tradition of Robert E. Howard or Harold Lamb. The narrative travels along at a brisk pace with no wasted verbiage, and characters are mostly rendered in broad, archetypal strokes. The episodic format (the novel was originally serialized in the New York Times Magazine) and monochrome illustrations by the excellent Gary Gianni (who also handled the Del Rey Conan and Solomon Kane books, etc.) also contributed greatly to the pulp adventure appeal.

My only complaint with the book is that there isn't more of it. I would love to read more of the "Gentlemen's" adventures, but with his "literary" pedigree Chabon is probably loath to be perceived as repeating himself. Indeed, parts of the included Afterword seem a bit like a defense of him writing the story in the first place, saying effectively "Yeah, I mostly write New Yorker-style slice-of-life stories, but adventure tales are also really great!" Personally, I'd rather see him continue to experiment with genre rather than write any more "Jewish writer has marital struggles" stories, but it remains to be seen when he'll release his next "fun" novel. ...more

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Mar 10, 2019 Christopher rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A lot of the mediocre to negative reviews of this book definitely seem to come from aggressive normies more accustomed to the 'literary' scene of suburban ennui and middle aged college professors who have affairs with their students while having an existential crisis.

But the fact is this is a nice work of historical fiction, relatively well researched for fiction ( I am a Central Asianist after all so I was thankful for that), and also a knowing call back to Fahrd and the Gray Mouser and other ...more

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Apr 28, 2012 Darren rated it liked it · review of another edition

I'm a huge Michael Chabon fan, but to be honest, it wouldn't have mattered who wrote it. I purchased it for Gary Gianni's illustrations. Having it written by an author I was such a fan of was just a bonus...

I can only give it three stars though; the publisher shrank the illustrations! Unforgivable. What's worse is the disappointment I can't avoid from it. Chabon has been threatening to write a genre novel forever, and though I am a fan of his work, his essays on this score have always rung a li I'm a huge Michael Chabon fan, but to be honest, it wouldn't have mattered who wrote it. I purchased it for Gary Gianni's illustrations. Having it written by an author I was such a fan of was just a bonus...

I can only give it three stars though; the publisher shrank the illustrations! Unforgivable. What's worse is the disappointment I can't avoid from it. Chabon has been threatening to write a genre novel forever, and though I am a fan of his work, his essays on this score have always rung a little hollow to me. Or even condescending. Genre fiction doesn't need a Pulitzer prize winner to defend it to the literary elite, not even a Pulitzer prize winner I am a fan of. Genre fiction is awesome all on its lonesome, and will continue to be awesome. People who don't get that never will.

All that said, when I picked it up the first time, I couldn't help but feel: "So he wasn't just flapping his digits. He's actually going to go and write a flat out genre novel." This won't be like The Yiddish Policemen's Union, where it winds up being yet another story of the Jewish Quest for Identity instead of the gumshoe novel promised.

Here's an illustrated swashbuckling novel (a doubly rare thing, these days) and illustrated by a man I have been a fan of since his Gary Gianni's Monstermen and Other Scary Stories days. And it's not a bad story. It really isn't. Why would it be? Chabon can write. That's never been in question. Unfortunately, it's the Jewish Quest for Identity all over again, and far more than it is the "swashbuckling adventure" the cover promised. The Khazars are interesting, but there comes a point in the novel where story becomes secondary to exposition about Khazaria, and then a point where exposition in the service of story becomes secondary to exposition in the service of education. And it's a short book. His shortest I can think of, perhaps as little as half the size of Wonder Boys.

Robert E. Howard's Conan shows us its author's views on the nature of Man and the corrupting influence of civilization on the soul in short stories about stealing, brawling and whoring. And he shows us through action more than exposition. I guess I just wish that Chabon had trusted more in his own ability to do the same. ...more

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