Review: Solid Story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 23, 2011
Well this was pretty good.  It's not grand prose.  But it was an enjoyable read.The book tells the story of a man who awakens with total amnesia in the midst of the dismembered corpses of the defenders of a castle.  He begins to recognize that he seems to have some skill at arms as well as insights into the evil nature of man that probably mean that his in his life before his amnesia he was a pretty nasty character.  After leaving the site of the slaughter where he awoke, he encounters a noble lady and her hapless guard escort and is persuaded to assist them in their passage to the region's large city.  Of course, mysteriously, everyone they meet seems to want to kill the lady.  Their adventures together form the story.The story is told in a first person style that I enjoyed; primarily because of the main character's droll wit.  The main character's observations of human nature, while not profound insights worthy of recognition by the great philosophers, are still interesting and often amusing; thus helping to keep up my interest in the story.  The story moves at a brisk pace and concludes at an appropriate time with an appropriate ending (although seemingly leaving room for sequels).Now one thing to be aware of.  The author (in the main character's voice/thoughts) frequently describes, in gruesome detail, much of the violence that occurs throughout the story.  Not content to state that a sword killed someone, the main character will describe in his thoughts the amount of entrails that a gashed sword cut to the gut created, the color of the entrails, the quantity of blood spurting from the wound, the smell of the voided bowels, etc.  I think he goes into this detail to establish within the storyline that the main character is underneath his amnesia a ***really nasty guy***.  Or perhaps the author did it to gain the description of his work as being a dark fantasy.  I don't know.  Now it did not bother ME excessively; but those of more tender sensitivities might take warning.All in all a decent read.  If there is a sequel, I'll probably buy it.