
wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.
Series: The Cities
Author: Richard Baker
Rating: 3 of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 324
Format: Kindle
Synopsis:
Jack Ravenwild is a dandy, a thief, a magician and an utterly pompous kind of guy. So it isn’t a surprise when he gets 3 different commissions from 3 different beautiful women. But since they all tie together in the end, it makes for a very light and fun adventure.
My Thoughts:
This was so deliberately over the top that I was rolling my eyes the entire time. Thankfully, Baker had enough skill and deftness of touch that I was also laughing while rolling my eyes.
Jack was an irrepressible character and had a flair for the fanciful. While most Forgotten Realms’ books go for the faux-epic feel, or the dark and gritty, this was unabashed mockery of that. Either that or Baker is such a bad writer that he’s a genius.
I wouldn’t be able to take a steady diet of this, but every once in a while something silly is needed to counteract all the ridiculous authors who are miserable and take it out on us the readers.
After the bad experience I had with The Citadels series, I am encouraged that this started out so lightly.