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THE MISENCHANTED
SWORD is the first of Lawrence Watt-Evans’ Ethshar novels. The
world is soaked in magic – one of those mid-‘80s creations
of heavily D&D-influenced fantasy. The attitude can,
perhaps, best be summed up by a quote from the book itself:
“They wanted to believe in heroes, not ordinary, everyday
magic.” (Think about it.)
The concept of
the plot is a fairly clever twist on familiar themes: The main
character, trapped in the middle of a generational religious war
between the followers of the gods and the northern
demon-worshippers, is gifted with a magic sword. Unfortunately,
as the character rapidly learns, the sword’s enchantments
include some rather annoying side-effects – among them the
fact that the main character can’t get rid of it. (One might
even say it was cursed.)
The back cover
blurb on my copy of the book gives the impression that this will
all result in something of a farce – like Asprin or Anthony in
their prime. In reality, there’s nothing particularly funny
about the book at all, and it’s rather clear that Watt-Evans
never meant it to be. The story would better be described as
something of a melancholic character drama.
The prose (or,
perhaps more appropriately, the storytelling) can be awkward at
times: There seems to be no trust that the reader will hold on
to certain concepts (like the emerging nature of the sword’s
enchantment), and thus the same information will be repeated
incessantly.
In fact, there
is a general lack of authorial confidence: Even the smallest
details are given awkward justifications (as if the author were
constantly fearful that someone were going to shout
“gotcha!”). Every fact is repeated, and the main character
goes round in circle after circle as he considers every
possibility two or three times before finally taking action.
The setting also
poses some problems. Ethshar is formed on the foundation of some
rather intriguing and unique ideas, but the details seem to vary
randomly between cleverly suggestive and puzzlingly vague.
Ultimately, the
biggest problem is that the story seems to simply meander
without much of a point. On
the one hand, the most interesting sequences are simply glossed
over – probably because the book is meant to be a character
drama, not an adventure book. On the other hand, the main
character never seems to achieve that vivid depth which would
make his story interesting in-and-of itself. And, on the
gripping hand, the flaws in the storytelling cause the entire
book to wander with wild abandon.
All in all, I
found this to be a solidly mediocre book – neither exceptional
nor horrendously flawed. It would be a better book if it had
been ruthlessly trimmed of its repetitive elements, with the
freed-up space being used to move several incidents banished to
exposition into the active narrative. As it is, this isn’t a
book I’ll caution you against – but it’s not a book I’d
recommend, either.
I’m glad that this wasn’t my first Watt-Evans,
because otherwise I might draw very different conclusions about
his quality as an author. As it is, I’ll almost certainly
check out the second Ethshar book at some point to see how the
intriguing and cleverly suggestive elements of the setting
develop in the hands of a more mature author. My next
Watt-Evans, however, will probably be CROSSTIME TRAFFIC.
GRADE:
C |
