Book Review: Pilgrims with Blades A01: Pressed Into Service by Douglas Van Dyke Jr.
The city-state of Kashmer, in the realm of Dhea Loral, has a problem. One of its nobles has been captured by orcs, and the ransom asked is ludicrous. It’s actually cheaper to mobilize the military; while the army attacks from one side with the elite fighting force of the Regindal family at the fore, every independent “privateer” in the city is drafted into a distraction force to be landed by the navy on the other side of the orc-infested hills. Our protagonists are five of those privateers.
Technically, not all of them are privateers as such. In their haste, the city also drafted any person with unusual talents who just happened to be passing through at the time, on pain of imprisonment. And they will be paid for their efforts, if they survive. Those without previous affiliations are sorted by lot, and then there is a certain amount of trading for balance or acquaintance. The resulting “small-clan” consists of five. Vallese is a dark-skinned archer stolen from her homeland as a child, a place so far that not even trained bards know where it lies. Sir Cruso, a lordless knight looking for a new way to serve. Allisee, an elven sorceress whose arcane ancestry may be a little too close to the surface. Urgosk, the half-orc berserker whose warband are all dead and with no qualms about attacking other orcs. And Mornik, dwarf fire priest looking for an answer to his clan’s problems. Each with secrets, and each on a pilgrimage.
They are now battle companions, and may well end as friends. If they survive!
This is the first in a new series of short novels set in the author’s homebrew fantasy setting of Dhea Loral. This is very much in the tradition of tabletop fantasy roleplaying games, and you can almost see the character sheets. It has largely familiar races and “character classes.”
After the prologue is a dream sequence that gives us some insight into the protagonists’ issues, the first chapter is actually about the Regindal family. This gives us a chance to see how an experienced, well-equipped team that has trained together for years operates, before flashing back a few days to the story proper and our ragtag bunch of misfits.
The next bits are clunky as the newly formed team of adventurers has to introduce themselves to each other and explain their powers and abilities for planning purposes. (While leaving out some details involving their backgrounds. Secrets!) The narrative flow much improves once the team hits the beach and goes into combat ala D-Day.
The game mechanics are thinly veiled, but the “play style” does well to keep the party a balanced team who each have strengths and weaknesses and can cover for each other. It’s a relief from other RPG-based stories where it’s the hero and their support party, or worse the “cheat ability” character and their cheer squad. There’s enough personality to cause a certain amount of intra-party conflict, without the characters letting it get in the way of accomplishing their mission.
There’s a bit of politics in the background, like Kashmer’s dubious draft system and clear favoritism towards nobles, but it’s unclear if that will be coming to the fore in future volumes. Based on the sequel hook, it looks like each subsequent volume will focus on the backstory of one of the protagonists, starting with Allisee.
There are more complete portraits of each of the main characters, an explanation of the calendar, and a list of the main gods of the setting at the end.
Content note: Lots and lots of fantasy violence. It’s kill or be killed. Fantastic racism; most other humanoids don’t like orcs or half-orcs. Vallese’s backstory is hinted at being particularly traumatic and may have involved non-consensual sex.
Overall: An okay fantasy story. Future volumes should be less afflicted with the clunkiness needed to introduce the characters’ gimmicks. Recommended to fans of Dungeons and Dragons and similar games.
