/lit/ - Literature

>>19481640
Stranger of Tempest, The God Fragments #1 - Tom Lloyd (2016)
If the book's cover makes you think "Is that a Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm?" that's because it's almost certainly meant to evoke that feeling. As for the name, the mercenary company that the book revolves around is based on a deck of cards. The protagonist is the face card, stranger, of the tempest suit.

The publisher describes Tom Lloyd's works as being commercial fantasy, and that's what this book is, so set your expectations accordingly. There's minimal depth and development of any sort along with a lot of nonsense. While there are ideas present that could be explored, they aren't. Although there's a wide cast of characters most of them don't matter in the slightest. Those that do matter are almost all a singular exaggerated trait. Expect various D&D, videogame, and fantasy tropes.

There's also a considerable amount of sexual innuendo and suggestive content. Characters have sex, but it isn't really described. The opening line is representative of the book as a whole: For a damsel in distress, she was rather more spattered with someone else's blood than Lynx had expected. And naked. Very naked.

The primary gimmick is the mage-guns. These guns reminded me of most of Final Fantasy Tactics because they're very similar to them and may have been one of the earliest examples, though there are many others now. The bullets so far are elemental and casts spells of ice, fire, lightning, earth, and light. Others are mentioned though not yet shown. There are also magic grenades and catapults. Mages exist but are enslaved by the religions to create magical ammo.

The first half is 3.5 star fun, the second half 3 star not-so-fun, and the ending whiplashed me with its pacing. Even so, I'll more likely than not read more from this series later on, as it's already finished and not that long. This is the kind of silliness I can go along with every now and again. It seems doubtful that I'll read other series by this author, but that's to be decided after I finish this series.
Rating: 3/5

just checking in to let everyone know that I read this and it was enjoyable.