Book Review: Magelight, by Kacey Ezell

Kacey Ezell is (comparatively) one of Baen’s more recent authors. She’s a veteran helicopter pilot. She’s written some short stories for Ringo’s Black Tide Rising universe, co-authored the Romanov Rising novels with Kratman, and Gunpowder and Embers with Ringo, and a few other books I haven’t gotten to yet.

Epic fantasy wouldn’t have been my first guess for her next novel.

The Story

Three men who grew up together having finally united after years apart. Romik is a former gladiator and mercenary, about to muster out. Daen is a forrester, driven out of the brotherhood because he never fit in. Vils is a thief who has become a freelancer. They have decided to join forces and become a private entity. Little do they know that their first client is about to fall into their laps.

After finally graduating as a mage, Aelys has run away from her academy. Events have conspired against her dream of being a battlemage, and cost her a best friend and her boyfriend.

When Aelys is attacked by bandits, the three men come to her rescue. It’s clear Aelys is going to need help getting home, and hires them for protection. A warrior, a Ranger, a thief and a mage. So far, so formula.

But when the bandits come in force, it is clear that they are all dead…

Until Aelys levels the tavern they’re in, the bandits, and the surrounding area. And at the same time, has locked all three men into a geas, tying them to her. What follows is a breakneck gauntlet, just trying to get her home and surviving all the threats along the way.

Let’s get a few things out of the way. Yes, our team consists of a warrior, a Ranger, a thief and a mage, and I figured that this is either going to turn into a D&D session or Conan the Destroyer. That didn’t happen. Pretty much accept that this book will confound most of your expectations. At points, I thought this was going to turn into some sort of harem novel … and no, it doesn’t do that, either.

It’s an epic fantasy novel that is surprisingly character-driven, but is paced almost like a thriller. At no point did the plot dawdle, or slow significantly. It opens strong and just keeps going. It’s told from a rotating third person POV from all four of our main characters, each of whom have their own distinctive narrative styles and perspectives. It’s impressive on multiple levels.

The combat is tight and well-written, and more gripping than the opening of Son of the Forgotten Sword. It’s seriously impressive how much character there is in this book, considering how little time it stops for breath. If this were in a modern setting, I would describe it as lots of running and gunning—only with edged weapons, arrows and fireballs.

The Characters

Aelys is a mage who has spent her entire life being beaten down and belitted by … life, really. Starting with an emotionally abusive mother, living in the shadow of a famous battlemage aunt, Aelys has the self-confidence of a door mat. Events conspire to run her over even further, and the reader can see the train coming. Much to my surprise, Aelys’ neurosis never becomes too annoying… in part because her companions have a negative BS tolerance threshold, and cut it off.

Romik the warrior has worked his way up from an enslaved gladiator to a professional mercenary. He hates being tied down to anything that resembles a new slave master. Even being tied down to Aelys is triggering every instinct to fight back, no matter what he thinks of her. He feels like he should be played by Sean Bean, maybe wearing a dark green coat…

Daen the forrester is cynical and bitter, driven out of a corrupt group of public servants who only serve themselves. His reaction to Aelys is … interesting. He hates cities, crowds, and prefers the company of animals to people.

Vils is a professional thief; cool, clinical, and skeptical. While he is the most analytic of the three, he appears to be the least affected by the geas. He suspects Aelys from start to finish. The only question is what he wants to do with it. He is direct and to the point, and helps keep the plot moving.

One of the most interesting parts of Magelight is that all four have a solid character arc. They all have their own distinct reactions to the geas, to Aelys, and the world in general. Even when all four are in perfect agreement, it’s never for the same reason, and all have their own approaches to a situation.

All of the character descriptions are nice and efficient, without any data dumps. All of the backgrounds are solid and well established in a short amount of time. Even our primary villains get a lot of character, once we meet them.

The World

Magelight’s magic system is well-developed with a consistent internal logic.

The overall world feels like bits of Roman culture, especially around the language, the slaves and the gladiators, and what little of military life we see in early chapters. (There are no centurions, so Ezell stopped well short of copy and paste. This I see as a major positive.) We have no “stranger in a strange land” explanations for a point of view character; everything is integrated effortlessly into the novel. (The one exception is one bit of stilted dialogue on page 15 that feels forced, but it’s from a character we never see ever again. It passes quickly because we have a plot to get to.)

There are elements of the local religion, which is enough to move the plot forward, but not bog down the novel.

Politics

It’s a fantasy setting. No politics.

Content Warning

This book barely reaches a R-rating. There’s just enough language and “sexual situations” (no actual sex) to move it just beyond PG-13.

Who is it for?

Twenty years ago, there was a novel called Vertical Run by Joseph Garber. It was a breakneck thriller that I read in a single night, with as much character as it was action. Magelight has pulled off something similar.

If you ready Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth, think of this as just as much character and magical intricacies, with much less sex, and no speeches. Or look at it as Larry Correia’s Son of the Black Sword, only it moves faster, with more character and better action.

It really is a solid fantasy novel. If you like the genre, you’ll probably enjoy it.

Why buy it?

This is one of the best fantasy novels I’ve read in years. I’m seriously considering it as neck and neck with Daniel Humphreys’ Toil and Trouble for best fantasy in the Dragon Awards.