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The Anvil of the World, Kage Baker
A former assassin named Smith, a master chef named Smith, and several other people named much more improbable things attempt to run a business in a fantasy world troubled by Dark Lords, demons, and caustic drain cleaning products.
Epic fantasy is one of the most humorless genres of fiction in existence; nonetheless, when I say that this is the most sarcastic work of epic fantasy I've ever read, you need to understand that it is really sarcastic. Extremely. I love it. The earthy irreverence the book has for the most familiar of its fantasy elements reminds me a lot of PC Hodgell. But Baker's a cleaner, more polished, and much more cynical writer, and thus much less affectionate towards her characters and enamored of her id.
(I first read this five years ago; I was rereading it because I just read the prequel.)
The House of the Stag, Kage Baker
Prequel to The Anvil of the World. A very angry young man undergoes various trials, and inadvertently becomes the Dark Lord. A moderately angry young woman is born to be a Saint, and undergoes various trials as a result. They get married. They do this somewhat less sarcastically than the last book did everything, but it's all still pretty sarcastic.
This one didn't work as well for me; the tone wanders all over the place, and what ought to be the most important scene in the book was skipped entirely. Both of these things were definitely intentional choices, and I have no earthly idea why they were made - they don't accomplish anything. I think Baker outsmarted herself here.
Lord of Scoundrels, by Loretta Chase
Sebastian Ballister, the Marquess of Dain, a notorious rake, blackmails bluestocking Jessica Trent into marrying him! You know, I don't know how to make this book sound good.
It totally is, though.
Jessica comes to Paris to remove her stupid younger brother from Sebastian's "clutches," goes on to embarrass Sebastian by outwitting him in a business matter and buying a piece of pornography he'd attempted to upset her with, and worriedly confides in her ahistorically sexually liberated grandmother that she might have "fallen in lust" with him. He throws temper tantrums and orgies in an attempt to irritate her, so she shoots him. But she feels a little bad about it later, when she realizes he's basically a spoiled little boy in an adult's body.
So it's a dirtier version of Georgette Heyer's Devil's Cub, basically. I would not object too strenuously should every regency romance novel choose to follow this pattern from today forward.
A former assassin named Smith, a master chef named Smith, and several other people named much more improbable things attempt to run a business in a fantasy world troubled by Dark Lords, demons, and caustic drain cleaning products.
Epic fantasy is one of the most humorless genres of fiction in existence; nonetheless, when I say that this is the most sarcastic work of epic fantasy I've ever read, you need to understand that it is really sarcastic. Extremely. I love it. The earthy irreverence the book has for the most familiar of its fantasy elements reminds me a lot of PC Hodgell. But Baker's a cleaner, more polished, and much more cynical writer, and thus much less affectionate towards her characters and enamored of her id.
(I first read this five years ago; I was rereading it because I just read the prequel.)
The House of the Stag, Kage Baker
Prequel to The Anvil of the World. A very angry young man undergoes various trials, and inadvertently becomes the Dark Lord. A moderately angry young woman is born to be a Saint, and undergoes various trials as a result. They get married. They do this somewhat less sarcastically than the last book did everything, but it's all still pretty sarcastic.
This one didn't work as well for me; the tone wanders all over the place, and what ought to be the most important scene in the book was skipped entirely. Both of these things were definitely intentional choices, and I have no earthly idea why they were made - they don't accomplish anything. I think Baker outsmarted herself here.
Lord of Scoundrels, by Loretta Chase
Sebastian Ballister, the Marquess of Dain, a notorious rake, blackmails bluestocking Jessica Trent into marrying him! You know, I don't know how to make this book sound good.
It totally is, though.
Jessica comes to Paris to remove her stupid younger brother from Sebastian's "clutches," goes on to embarrass Sebastian by outwitting him in a business matter and buying a piece of pornography he'd attempted to upset her with, and worriedly confides in her ahistorically sexually liberated grandmother that she might have "fallen in lust" with him. He throws temper tantrums and orgies in an attempt to irritate her, so she shoots him. But she feels a little bad about it later, when she realizes he's basically a spoiled little boy in an adult's body.
So it's a dirtier version of Georgette Heyer's Devil's Cub, basically. I would not object too strenuously should every regency romance novel choose to follow this pattern from today forward.
