Sharps

Sharps by K.J. Parker was an entirely pleasant surprise. Parker's an author whom I haven't heard much about and had seen in actual bookstores only very occasionally, but who came up regularly in my Amazon recommendations. I finally gave in and ordered a trilogy and a stand-alone (Sharps), all fencing-themed, but when they arrived, they sat on my shelf for months. Partly that's because the blurbs and the covers gave the general impression that this was fantasy in the "grimdark" tradition (I think of Joe Abercrombie here; many put George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice & Fire solidly in this camp as well), and while high-stakes, unsentimental, violence-filled adventure stories can be enjoyable they can also be, well, pretty grim.

What's so refreshing about Sharps is that it feels fresh, modern, and Bismarckian in its sense of realpolitik without dwelling on the sordid details of the grim and ghastly. That's not to say that nothing grisly happens, but rather that the focus is on figuring out the strategies, the politics, character motivations and histories and the probable consequences of their interactions – in short, the story. There's a certain cynicism, especially as applied to the tropes of traditional epic fantasy that's characteristic of grimdark; Parker is able to use this edge without making her* characters unsympathetic. Parker's characters are sometimes puzzles to solve, but we care about them as people, too (although we may not invest the same unguarded emotions as we might in, say, St. Vier or Alec in Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint, a classic among fencing fantasies; Kushner and Parker take very different approaches to their subjects, but both are impressive).

There's a touch of twentieth century "Great Game" politics and more than a touch of Roman Empire about Sharps, with its two oft-warring kingdoms, Scheria and Permia, set in the middle of two global powers, the Western and Eastern Empires. There's a preponderance in fantasy settings of societies that have been peacefully going about the status quo for years, up until the sudden threats that prompt book-worthy events, and Parker avoids this trap by depicting nations that have been changing and evolving in recent years as well as the distant past (and, in her ending, even gives a hint of continued natural turbulence in the future). While nobles and Church play significant roles, the Bank with its loans and futures speculations is an even more important player, and it's satisfying to see large-scale financial concerns significantly motivating the novel's intrigues.

Although the scope of the story is small – a reluctantly-recruited troup of Scherian fencers embark on a "goodwill tour" of neighboring Permia – the stakes are epic-worthy, as war and peace hang in the balance. The combination results in an excellent, stand-alone novel that's fully as thought out and satisfying as a longer series of books (more satisfying, in fact, than many a trilogy).

While there are section breaks as we shift from following one character to another, Parker tells her story in one thick rush of text; at first I longed for chapter divisions, but by about a third of the way through I was fully caught up in the current. Even early on, some juxtapositions of points-of-view were startlingly bold, as we skip from playboy minor nobleman Giraut's perspective after killing a Senator in a misunderstanding to late-middle-aged Phrantzes' awkward invitation to his business partner for a dinner prepared by Phrantzes' prospective bride, a former prostitute, to the partner's verdict ("a sound medium-to-long-term investment, offering worthwhile returns with an acceptably low risk factor"). Adding to the cast is Iseutz, small-sword specialist and the lone female main character, whose point of view anchors the novel's opening and close. There's consistently colorful Suidas Deutzel, war veteran and rapier champion. There's Addo, Adolescentulus Carnufex, the fourth son of a famously ruthless general, who fades to near invisibility in company but makes an effort to prove himself over the course of the tour. And there's political officer Tzimisces, who collects Cerian porcelain.

To say much more would be a disservice to those who haven't read Sharps yet. I highly recommend it. Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to looking into Parker's other work (although, I think I'll let Sharps resonate a bit before I jump into her fencing trilogy; perhaps I'll try out the engineer or scavenger trilogies, or another stand-alone).

*Parker is a pseudonymn, so I’m making guess on the pronouns here.