Two Heads Two Spikes

Politics, backstabbing, (I suppose the two go hand in hand), murder, sex, heroes and villains all have a place in Book 1 of the The Pearl of Wisdom Saga. Rice has done a good job of creating a world where there is not really any obvious evil man in a black castle, or heroic virgin being pulled from her impending priesthood. Good and bad look very similar and, as in real life, often depend entirely on your perspective and your motivations.

These idea’s are explored really well through a large cast and an epic scope although early on I found it a little hard to keep track of so many characters being introduced with really only a very small amount of time given to any backstory or characterisation before we were onto the next guy. For this reason a breakdown of characters at the beginning would, I think, be really beneficial.

Our prologue begins with Ollar, an accomplished swordsman, who is forced to slaughter three guardsmen, who are watching a river. He is waiting to rescue a female baby in a basket, like Moses, someone who has been foretold. As he plucks the girl from the water we see that with him is a little boy who seems to have been also told of and possess some degree of prophesised magic or wonder. We only really meet these three again at the end of the book so I wont give too much away but by the end I was actually really into what they were doing despite only having two scenes.

We then cut Edburgh Etburn shagging his wife Caroline. We get a very quick history on the two of them before she tries to kill him Sharon Stone/Total Recall style.

Cut to the Colberts. Jon father to Krys, Ryno, Ruxin and a younger brother Riceros who is having something kept from him. We also meets Jon’s Wife Camille, daughter Mariah, Count Sproul a teacher to Riceros, Brehan a castaway…. and this is quite early on and continues until about 40 pages in.

I guess there is a reason GRRM’s books are 900 pages plus and that is you are going to have such an large scope it helps to be eased into it gently and with a good idea of who the writer wants us to follow. Even if you kill the one we are following early on, like Ned Stark, it gives us an entry point to the rest of the characters and how they relate to that one instance.

Leimur a warrior Princess, who kills her father the King after he tries to arrange her death and Riceros Colbert, a smart child who has never spoken for reasons unknown, were the two characters I was most drawn to. Leimur was very action orientated and seems to have risen from the ashes she was intended for. In Riceros there is an underlying importance being alluded to early on….we know there is more to him than meets the eye, we just don’t know why….yet. My favourite moments in the book were invariably one’s where one of these two characters were involved.

Rice writes his actions sequences well which is a big positive. Nothing like waiting for a fight and then having it suck and I can happily say he does a good fight justice. Fast paced and well written they tend to be quick brutal and uncompromising, often told from multiple points of view which helps fill them out. You never get to comfortable though as the Author shows he is not averse to killing off someone we like, another positive in my book, as it lends weight and reality to the action sequences and moments of suspense.

There were a couple of moments in the book that did not agree with me. There is a character called the Imp Wizard, who I hate to say it, seemed to be Tyrion Lannister with magical powers, ‘Weakness and shortcomings. Wear them like a badge of honor. Make them your strength, not your weakness. Shove them in someone’s face before they can tease you about it”. This was all very reminiscent of Jon Snows meeting with Tyrion where he implores him to embrace being a bastard the way he has embraced being a dwarf. Sadly anything that approaches similarity to Game of Thrones is going to get judged as such. The only other negative for me was that I am also not a huge fan of sex scenes and phrases like ‘moistened love box’ don’t sit well with me especially when they appear out of the blue. I am pretty immature so they get more of a laugh factor out of me than anything else.

So small complaints aside, I thought this was an enjoyable and pretty read especially once you have the characters bedded down in your head. The first book in the Pearl of Wisdom Saga is a little raw at times and could benefit from a bit more patience with the storytelling, I always think it is a compliment to say I wanted more from this or that as it shows an interest and that the Author has grabbed me in some way, but I think this is something we will see as Jason Paul Rice develops his writing and his personal style. There is a massive amount more to come from this series and, with some work and fine touches here and there, it could be the start of something very special.