Review: Lord of a Shattered Land

What if Aragorn had Failed?

The fabled city of Volanus has fallen, pillaged by the Dervan Empire. Those of its people who were spared the sword have been scattered throughout Derva as slaves. Now, Volanus’s greatest general walks hidden through the Dervan Empire, searching for his lost people, that he might rescue them, one by one, so that Volanus may once more live again.

His name is Hanuvar.

And he will save them all.

Thank you to Baen Books for the advance reader copy.

The Story

Lord of the Shattered Lands, by Howard Andrew Jones, collects fourteen stories into the first volume of the Hanuvid, the tale of how Hanuvar lost his country, only to challenge conquerors, things-that-should-not-be, and even gods, to get his people back. These adventurers are varied in setting, challenge, and foe, forcing Hanuvar to carry out the feats of strength, wit, and endurance expected in sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy. It is these actions that reveal Hanuvar’s character, rather than showy promises or flowery speech.

The Characters

Although not a barbarian as RPG enthusiasts would recognize, Hanuvar is an outsider to the Roman-influenced lands of the Dervan Empire, seeing clearly the advantages and the weaknesses of Dervan culture. He is a middle-aged man, the old man in a young man's game, cunning, but with the strength to still stand in the line against younger men. He wears the accumulated regrets and doubts of experience without drowning beneath the cynicism and futility that claim many of his elder contemporaries in heroic fantasy. And Hanuvar possesses a moral core, a strength of purpose, that's wielded with flexibility that never devolves into hypocrisy. The vantage point of age allows for complexity without compromise.

The World

The keen of mind and ear may already have detected the first resonances between Hanuvar and the famed Hannibal Barca, Volanus and Carthage, Derva and Rome.

The 2010s saw a trend towards the Romanization of fantasy, with John Ringo, David Drake, Jim Butcher, Marc Alan Edelheit, and even scholar Adrian Goldsworthy contributing. Hanuvar's not-quite-Carthaginian viewpoint allows the investigation of these Roman settings without the baggage that accompanies Rome when it serves as the protagonist faction. And, as an idealized version of Carthage, Volanus can also avoid the sins for which we know Carthage for. Hanuvar’s new eyes on a familiar setting are not blinded by Roman jingoism or the hatred from a defeated rival. He can see the honor and nobility in Dervans as well as the decadence and treachery in both his people and his conquerors. 

Politics

Although the first few stories deal with the now-tired trend of female warriors, Howard Andrew Jones avoids the pit traps on ether side of the argument. These characters are allowed to shine, but do not have the aura of invulnerability found in much of popular culture. More importantly, they are also ushered offstage at the end of each story, so that they don’t detract from Hanuvar’s quest.

Much of the human conflict in Lord of a Shattered Land is centered not around political questions of good and evil, but desire vs. desire. Again, that complexity comes without compromise, as humans are not the only forces affecting Hanuvar's rescues. Outsiders from other realms are littered through the pages of the Hanuvid, and these things that should not be are always portrayed as seductive, corrupting, and murderous. The greatest depravities and the most poignant sacrifices appear in these clashes between Nature and Other. Sometimes Hanuvar conquers these foes like Solomon Kane, and other times he needs rescuing himself, like Northwest Smith. And Jones is able to portray the body horror that often accompanies these Others without reveling in excess.

Content Warning

Blood, violence, and horror, but not taken to the gory excesses common to sword and sorcery or heroic fantasy.

Who is it for?

Fans of sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy will enjoy this love letter to both genres, as will those who want more of or more meat to their television costumed fantasy dramas.

Why buy it?

Come read a love letter to sword and sorcery, featuring an uncompromising man thrust into the complex moral morass of Roman society so that he can save his people. Even if it means one person in one city at a time.