IRON DAWN

I became a pretty much diehard Matthew Stover fan when, based on the strength of his amazing Star Wars tie-in novel, Traitor, I decided to give his original fiction a try. The result was falling in love with his Acts of Caine series. I also snapped up and read the rest of his SW work (if you read only one SW book in your life, make sure it's Stover's novelization of Revenge of the Sith.) And for a few years now, I've had a SFBC omnibus edition titled Heart of Bronze that contains the first two books Stover got published: Iron Dawn (1997) and Jericho Moon (1998).

I'm sure everyone has one of those books that you always intend to read, but every time you're about to get to it, you find yourself drawn to something else. This was that book for me. I dunno why; I've loved everything else he's written. So this past December, when I decided to join in on the Speculative Fiction Challenge 2011, I decided that I would finally read this as part of the challenge.

Iron Dawn is the first book, and introduces the three main protagonists: Barra, a red-headed Pictish princess-turned-mercenary; Leucas, a huge Athenian boxer, and veteran of the Siege of Troy; and Kheperu, a cunning Egyptian alchemist/sorceror. When Iron Dawn kicks off, the three have only recently banded together as a small mercenary company, and are still getting to know each other, and the interactions between the three are great fun to read.

The setting (as one might deduce from Leucas' description) is the Late Bronze Age, with the Trojan War only 10 years or so in the past, and the destruction of Jericho at the hands of the Israelites about twice that old. And most of the action is confined to the city of Tyre. It sounds like historical fiction, though it's definitely fantasy; Stover fills Tyre with numerous different peoples and languages and political powers, but there's also magic and gods and demons and all of those great fantasy staples.

The story is relatively-straightforward sword-and-sorcery stuff; Barra and her companions are looking for mercenary work, but they (naturally) get in over their heads, and wind up having to take down a despotic prince with plans to enslave all of Tyre. Those familiar with Stover's Caine books will know what to expect here, including strong characters, great action, and a plot with some twists and turns in it, as well as lots of profanity and graphic violence. It's obviously an earlier work, though, and reading it, it's hard not to think, "I can tell this is the guy who'll go on to write Heroes Die."

I had some problems with the pacing; especially in the first half or so, where it felt like every chapter consisted of Barra and company heading out into town to investigate, then reconvening back at their lodgings. It was hard to get a grasp on what the overall plot was, and I have to admit I had to force myself to pick the book back up more than one night. But once the plot finally kicked in, once the big threat finally began to emerge, it was much easier going. Stover knows how to write action, after all, and I especially liked how his heroes are not immune to miscalculation, nor to being surprised or overpowered. Barra alone with her axe, versus half a dozen professional mercenaries? In a typical fantasy story, of course Barra would whup 'em all, but Stover's fights are always more realistic, as are the results.

The other issue I had (and which probably affected my perception of the pacing) was Stover's tendency to overuse the flashback device. For example, one chapter would end with the heroes fleeing. The next would pick up the story a number of hours later, with Barra reflecting on what they're going to do now; and after a page or two of this, we get a flashback that picks up from the end of last chapter and catches us up to the beginning of this one. It's not an uncommon device in fiction, but Stover just seems to use it far too much.

So I had my issues with it, but overall I enjoyed it. Barra, Leucas, and Kheperu are some of Stover's best characters, and I found the setting to be fascinating and unique. Not his best novel by a long shot, but come on, it's Matthew F@#$ing Stover. A must-read for those who are already Stover fans, but also a solid sword-and-sorcery fantasy worth checking out just for the unique setting. [3.5 out of 5 stars]

JERICHO MOON

Jericho Moon is the second of Matthew Stover's books featuring the Pictish mercenary, Barra Coll Eigg Rhum, and makes up the second half of the Heart of Bronze omnibus.

Unlike the previous book, the plot here is rather—or maybe (since this is Stover) I should say, incredibly—straightforward: Barra and her compatriots—Leucas, the Greek warrior, and Kheperu, the Egyptian alchemist—take a job to rescue Agaz, Prince of Jebusi, from the clutches of the Israelites. It's not too much of a spoiler to say that they succeed (though it's not such a simple task) in getting Agaz home. The thing is, once they do, they discover that the nation of Israel now plans to conquer Jebusi, which they call "Jerusalem". So Barra has to decide whether to take her money and run, or to stand and fight against the Israelites and their god, Yahweh. (Guess which option she chooses.)

At times, this was an...uncomfortable book to read, on account of my own Christianity. I've read about fictionalized versions of "God" before, and generally taken little issue with any of it. (In particular, Piers Anthony's Incarnations series comes to mind: his take on God could be seen as blasphemous to some, while I found myself amused more than anything.) But Stover is going for historical versimillitude in these books; it's not necessarily historically accurate, but he intends it to feel that way, and indeed, it generally does. So it's frankly disconcerting to see Yahweh portrayed as a bloodthirsty god that thrives on death and destruction. I was nervous going into the book because I knew (to some small extent) the direction that the story would take; yet I read on anyway, because Stover likes to make you think, and I didn't want to shy away from that. And indeed, his depiction comes almost straight out of the Old Testament: we (and Barra) see firsthand the devastation that was once the city of Jericho, where at God's command the Israelites slaughtered every living creature there. It's not pretty, and I know many Christians who have difficulty reconciling the God of the Old Testament with that of the New Testament.

We get the Israelites' perspective on this, too, as much of the book is told from the viewpoint of Joshua, the leader of Israel. Via his inner monologue, we find that he sees his job as being that of protecting his people from the wrath of Yahweh. I don't necessarily agree with the thought, but it is an interesting one. As is the question that comes up: what if the Israelites didn't want to be God's Chosen People? If Stover's portrayal of the relationship between Israel and their God didn't quite agree with me, his depiction of the Israelites in general was well done. Joshua in particular is an extremely well-written character, and many of the "background" Israelites are seen to be men of strong faith and decency. There's a somewhat slimy priest, Eleazar, but even he's given moments of empathy.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the "fantastification" of all of this otherwise-Biblical subject matter is Stover's handling of angels. They are, in fact, demons, which threw me for a second until I remembered that "angel" simply means "messenger", and in most fantasy (as here) a "demon" is merely a powerful creature summoned from some outer realm. As such, Stover's angels are rendered akin to Lovecraftian monsters, and the first glimpse we get of one is perhaps the most vivid and awe-inspiring depicition of an angel in fiction that I've ever read.

Of course, this book is about Barra and company, right? Well, okay, but there's not too much to say about that. Of course she stays to fight for Jebusi. There are some political machinations going on there, and one of the local gods wants to adopt Barra as her champion. Barra fights. Leucas fights. Kheperu does his thing. These three characters are great; it feels like they've developed a deeper bond as a result of the previous book, and their interactions are always fun to read. Unfortunately though, they spend much of the book's latter portions separated. Prince Agaz is also a great character and gets some good moments, but really, the book is about Joshua and the Israelites as much as anything. Beyond that, it's just a fun sword-and-sorcery adventure, but all of the historical details certainly raise it up a notch. [3.5 out of 5 stars] ( )