Glammenport by Kevin Lane

9/10

Timion the Black has exhausted his options. Reckless, despicable, Timion’s own band of mercenary men turn against him, leaving him for dead in a back alleyway. Fate deposits the usurped buccaneer into the hands of altruistic nuns. There he finds his way to health and into their debt. Revenge, dark magic, and clever technology collide, catapulting Timion beyond the rim of the known world - beyond the mythic Boiling Seas. There he finds a forgotten, corrupt race sharpening their swords for conquest – their dark, evil eyes set upon his home port of call: Glammenport.

The moment you start reading Glammenport you are hit with a large wave of seawater right in the face; you can almost hear seagulls cawing and the creak of wood – this tale begins with a distinct nautical feel. Kevin Lane introduces us to the major characters chapter by chapter and they are all very different and this allows for great contrast. Glammenport is high fantasy; there is a prophecy, a quest and a chosen one but luckily it is far from formulaic. When the party sets out from Glammenport the plot could easily have fallen into the travel/fight, travel/fight structure of many novels of the genre but an airship comes along and changes everything…

The story is written in the third person, letting us see the story from the perspective of those involved and I feel that a story of this type is best told in this narrative. Glammenport and the surrounding are extremely well described – The Boiling Seas are fantastic – and you get a real sense and feel for the world. I think this is an excellent story that is full of excitement, adventure and populated with believable and empathetic characters.

If I were asked to pinpoint my favourite moment in the book the I would show them this excerpt; a beautifully written paragraph concerning Timion the Black and spoken by the elf Nok who is possibly my favourite character: “You judge the tree by its leaves, Holy One. Leaves are ever changing, even on the oldest, wisest oak. Green in the warm weathers, fire in the cold. Full branches in the summer, bare branches in the winter. Bare branches do not mean the heart of the tree has perished. In the spring, so starts the cycle anew. My liege is in the deepest of winters. His limbs are bare. All you see are his broken branches, his rough bark split from the cold. When spring returns to my liege, he shall grow again, anew. And he shall be the stronger for weathering his cold, cruel winter.”

Glammenport impressed me immediately - the standard of the writing was high and the descriptions were vivid, the characterisation strong. Comparisons are difficult and only Raymond E Feist’s Magician really comes to mind and this only because of both books featuring two very different worlds. Kevin Lane has not re-invented the genre here but he has taken it and produced a highly polished, skilful and above all enjoyable book that will allow readers to escape into a richly textured fantasy world. He is an author with a future and if he can continue to write with such verve and skill I, for one, will happily read his work. This is a very good book and I hope that there is an even better work to come, as this author possesses all the raw materials to write a fantasy classic.