The Bookwyrm's Review of Born of Swords by Steven L. Shrewsbury

Author: Steven L. Shrewsbury

Length: 324 Pages

Release Date: June 22, 2015

Publisher: Seventh Star Press

Genre: Swords and Sorcery

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Amazon Link

Being a big fan of old pulp fantasy, I have wished for a while that someone would take up that style of uncomplicated action packed storytelling again. I discovered Steven Shrewsbury on his book King of the Bastards, co-authored with Brian Keene, which was a callback to Robert E. Howard era pulps like Conan and Kull. When I saw the premise about Born of Swords, I knew I had to review this one.

PLOT SUMMARY

Gorias La Gaul, 700 year old mercenary, finds himself in a small city hired to kill a man who has been cursed to turn into a monster. He was hired by the man's twin, who also turns into a monster, and who hired him to kill them both so they would stop wreaking havoc and death. While accomplishing this job, Gorias literally stumbles across Jessica, a scribe from the city of Nineveh, who has traveled a long distance to interview Gorias, and record his stories for posterity at the Nineveh School. Gorias is less than thrilled with the idea, telling her that she might not like what she learns, but she insists, so he allows her to tag along as he goes about with the trip he takes annually.

Jessica gets a chance to see the course of Gorias's life as recorded in the dragon eye gems she uses, and what she finds is nothing like she expected. She gets to see how Gorias's parents came to have him, and the details quite shock her, but it does set the tone for his life of violence, adventure and tragedy. We see the various adventures of his life, from his birth into a barbarian horde, to various adventures and battles against bandits, cults, wizards and warlords. Jessica sees him lead armies, and see those same armies betrayed and Gorias wreak terrible vengeance. She even sees him fight a dragon, something she never believed possible.

Meanwhile, as they travel, Gorias is collecting certain items on their travels, for which he won't tell Jessica the purpose. Why would he need a witches hand? Or a bag of bones? What could these items be worth killing for, and even possibly dying for? These questions lead to the end of the book, where the truth of what Gorias is doing is revealed, and Jessica's romantic illusions of the Gorias, who's name literally means King of the Bastards, are shattered by his need for revenge. She finds out that sometimes it doesn't pay to meet your heroes. 

CHARACTERS AND WORLD BUILDING

Since this book is basically a slightly modernized version of pulp sword and sorcery like Robert E Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs would write, the characters are definitely the center point of the story. Larger than life and twice and loud, Gorias is everything you would expect from the son of the chief of a barbarian horde. Strong, determined, and holding a grudge like nobody's business, Gorias is more than happy to remove an annoying warlord's head at the shoulders if that's what it takes to get a job done, or just stop their yapping. He is just an amazingly fun character, and is one of my top five characters in fantasy. The secondary characters are well thought out, with Jessica being the obvious example. She is much more than the weak book worm you would expect, being able to handle herself in dangerous situations, all while collecting the information she was sent for. There are a wide assortment of villains, from evil warlords to conniving princesses, to dangerous bandit chiefs. They are a just the kind of villains you'd expect in a pulp story, and they really add color to the story.

The world building is so much fun, and you could imagine seeing Gorias on the bar stool next to Conan and Kull. The world bears the hallmarks of a Hyborean era setting, with evil wizards and warlords vying for power, as well as crazy cults and monsters as well. There's a wide variety of terrain and settings, from desert kingdoms to jungle villages, and of course, temples to various gods. We see that Gorias's god is Wodan, and this Wodan is definitely in the mold of Crom, a merciless warrior's god. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

There are just so many good touch's to evoke that old school pulp feel in this book. From the pacing to the characters, you just find yourself turning pages, getting more engrossed in the story with every page. This book should appeal to any fan of old school pulp fantasy, but also has plenty to appeal to fans of more modern fantasies. It's just a classic story that I can't get enough of.