Dale Lucas

This is a book that is average. Average writing, average plot, average fantasy world with homage to Mr. Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork, but missing the spark that makes it its own world.

As for the characters, they are typical. Rem is fully accepted from newcomer to full member of the watch within three days. There is a message (Slavery is Bad) but the author doesn't do enough with it, especially since he fell on the trope of south = black people = slavery, and than dropped it for a kidnapping ring that takes pretty young people. The biggest issue is that the author falls on very standard tropes, even the different races (eg Elves, Dwarves, etc) are exactly what is expected.

But- it has potential. I won't be reading the next book in the series unless I come across it, and I am wanting something in this genre, but if the author can get out of generic and turn his city into something his own, it will be a fantastic series - fun, but with an undercurrent of darkness.

And, while the story is generic, it does fill a spot of easy afternoon read that doesn't require thinking, but is just unpredictable enough to hold attention.… (mer)

Our favorite mismatched buddy cops are back in the latest Fifth Ward novel: Good Company by Dale Lucas, and this may be the best one yet!

Rem and Torval are headed back from their latest shift patrolling the streets of Yenara when a thief on a rooftop literally falls into their laps. After capturing the thief and taking him in they discover that he is a notorious outlaw wanted in another country. The human Rem, and his dwarvish partner Torval, are watch wardens normally charged with patrolling the teeming and unruly streets of Yenara. Now they are tasked with escorting the thief back home through a menacing forest. The forest holds many dangers not the least of which is the thief's companions who are hoping to rescue him. The foreign soldiers traveling with Rem and Torval are also of dubious integrity. The only ones that Rem and Torval can truly rely on are each other and they will need to do so if they are going to make it back to Yenara in one piece.

Good Company takes Rem and Torval out of the city for the first time, allowing us to explore a little bit more of their world. The Fifth Ward books are filled with intrigue along with action and adventure. In Good Company Lucas spends more time with viewpoint characters other than Rem and Torval which deepens the intrigue and helps keep you guessing as to which are the good guys and which are the bad guys. The relationship between Rem and Torval has matured and deepened through the course of these first three books. They rely on and trust each other and this heightens the tension when they face danger, both separately and together. The forest setting not only takes them out of their comfort zone, but their encounters in the woods make them reexamine some long-held prejudices about some of the creatures they only know from the city, including orcs, trolls and goblins.

The action scenes, particularly those in the forest, are some of the most intense and exciting in the series. In Good Company, Lucas juggles more plot threads and viewpoint characters than in the previous books and the added complexity results in the best story yet. This world is rich and vibrant and it's clear that it has a lot of stories left to tell both inside and outside of Yenara. Dale Lucas has another winner on his hands in a series that gets better with every book. Highly recommended

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.… (mer)

First Watch is not something I would generally pick up, however my fourteen year old son is an a fan of Fantasy fiction, and an ardent Dungeons and Dragons player, so I bought this for him. Like me, my son is a ‘reader’, he is part of a book club at school, and for school sport does ‘Reading by the River’ - where the only physical activity involves the 15 minute walk to, and from, the riverbank. He also likes to discuss what he reads, so I thought I’d give this a go.

First Watch is the start of Dale Lucas’s series, The Fifth Ward. It’s essentially a murder mystery set in a medieval fantasy world populated by “drug dealing orcs, mind-controlling elves, uncooperative mages, and humans being typical humans”, amongst others.
Our heroes are Torval, “a dwarf who's handy with a maul and known for hitting first and asking questions later”, and Remeck, a runaway nobleman from the North.

When Torvals’s Watch Warden partner, Freygaf is murdered, he and Rem team up to trawl the underbelly of Yenara, a largely iniquitous port city, to find his killer. The pairs’ investigation leads them through the city’s Wards, exposing all manner of vice and corruption, including a vile human trafficking ring.

Our heroes are Torval, “a dwarf who's handy with a maul and known for hitting first and asking questions later”, and Remeck, a runaway nobleman from the North.
Torval is the cynical, grumpy elder, and Rem the wide eyed ingenu, resulting in moments of humour in the vein of ‘mismatched cop buddy’ stories everywhere. I liked both characters, though neither were particularly surprising, nor unique.

While the main plot involves Torval and Rem’s search for Freygaf’s killer, they are often sidetracked by their work as Watch Wardens, the complicated politics of the city, and the occasional bar brawl and street fights. I thought Lucas did a decent job of bringing all the threads together to create a cohesive story.

I found the pace a little uneven in First Watch though, partly I suspect because of Lucas’s need to establish the world and its rules. At times the exposition got in the way of the story’s rhythm, and I found myself skimming on occasion.

Unsurprisingly, my son enjoyed this more than I did. He especially liked it’s D&D flavour. I thought it was okay.… (mer)