Campbell Award Nomination: Sebastien de Castell

Campbell Award nominee Sebastien de Castell's Greatcoat series was not on my radar prior to the Hugo announcements, so I was not quite sure what to expect from the first volume, Traitor's Blade. The reviews I'd read suggested a Dumas-inspired sword and swahbuckle adventure, humorous on the surface but serious underneath. And so it is.

The Dumas influence is fairly obvious. Three roguish swordsmen, members of a once proud but now debased band of King's-men, pragmatic and honourable at the same time. Corrupt and venial nobles and an imperiled royalty. Set in a time where the use of gunpowder is just beginning to intrude on the mysteries of the sword. There's even a Milady figure.

I also found it somewhat reminiscent of David and Leigh Eddings' Elenium, possibly because the narrator's voice - wry, somewhat worldweary but still completely devoted to an ideal - reminds me of Sparhawk, who is one of my favourite fictional knights.

Traitor's Blade introduces us to three former Greatcoats - representatives of the King and empowered to act as magistrates and upholders of justice throughout the land of Tristia. Their order disbanded, their King deposed and murdered by the powerful Dukes who wanted no authority above them, Falcio val Mond and his companions Bresti and Kest are still following the quest set on them by their king just before his death - to find his Charoites, his hidden jewels.

There's lots of action and adventure, and valorous deeds and courageous stands and corrupt dukes and scheming Duchesses and distressed damsels (who turn out to be quite competent and able to assist in their own defence) and evil underlings and wholly unexpected cavalry coming over the hill when things seem darkest. It's lots of fun - but there's also some unexpected depths as it explores the concepts of honour, valour, duty and sacrifice.

The fun continues in de Castell's second Greatcoats novel, Knight's Shadow. The remaining Greatcoats - bolstered by a new generation trained by the late King's mother, known only as the Tailor, have taken up the quest of placing the King's daughter Aline on the throne. But the Dukes do not with to give up the autonomy and power they've had since the deposition and murder of the king, and at least one of their number - the powerful sorceress Trin - wants to rule over Tristia herself. But other forces are stirring as well - rebellion brewing among the common folk, mysterious assassins murdering the ducal families down to the last child, and roving bands of knights who have taken it upon themselves to bring order - though little justice - to the fractured land of Tristia.

De Castell's intriguing vision does not flag in the second installment of the Greatcoats series, nor does the momentum falter. Action, humour, surprising twists and turns, political manouevres, betrayals and victories - all the things that made the first book so readable are here, but the stakes are higher, the forces arrayed against the Greatcoats darker and more dangerous, and the plots more complex and more deadly.

All in all, these novels make for a strong debut, and I look forward to reading more from de Castell.