Blade in the Angel's Shadow

The Blade in the Angel's Shadow is an Elizabethan sword & sorcery novel, an alternative history that is based around the birth of the British Empire.

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This is really nice. We love our sword and sorcery books,adventure books, swordplay, action, and grim combat, and this book has all ofthe above. Also, when we think about sword and sorcery, it has all the keycomponents of a classic sword and sorcery novel.
 What is it aboutsword and sorcery that makes sword and sorcery what it is? You've got morally ambiguousprotagonists, and I think it's fair to say that Lament and Pieter, by their ownadmission, have engaged in fairly horrific activities in their pursuit of waracross the continent because, of course, this is set during Elizabethan times,during the 80 Years War or events during the 80 Years War. It's that complicatedEuropean history of conflict around turf wars between warring States, but whatwe have in this book, which is lovely, is it's overlaid with not only thecomplications and religious upheaval of the Calvinists versus the Protestantsversus the Catholics. But it's actually overlaid with this kind ofsupernatural, almost Moorcockian cosmological construct to add even more layersof psychedelic madness, death, carnage, and destruction. You see the cosmology,but most of it is left unexplained. That’s great for me because we love allthose sword and sorcery and fantasy and sci-fi books from the 60s and 70s, youknow, good quality, roaring pulp adventure, and this fits right into that nichefor me, and the reason why I enjoyed it so much is that it doesn't over-explaineverything. I think there's a temptation with more modern audiences that, andyou see it in films as well, the way they spell everything out, spell outeverybody's motivations.
So, we've not only got the magic that's weird and dangerous,which I think originates earlier on in the story with John Dee. But we veryquickly come across it from other angles as well. We've got magical McGuffins thatthey need to go essentially on a quest to find, which is a sword and sorcerystaple component. We've got wizards and witches, fights, and horror elements,and it is all set in a really, really dangerous world with complex cultures andcultural motivations. And when you think about that period of history in whichit's set, well, what a perfect world and environment to actually set this kindof tail.
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