Setting
At least a good thirty percent of the success of a fantasy is dependent upon bringing to vivid life the fictional construct of the time and place in which it is set. If you can’t make your readers breathe the musky air or feel the superheated warmth on a distant horizon, how are they going buy things like dragons, magic or fury crafting as a livelihood:
“The sky began to lighten as they passed the apple orchards, the beehives, and then the northern fields laid fallow for a season. The lane wound through a forest of mostly oak and maple, where most of the trees were so ancient that only the most meager grass and brush could grow beneath them. By the time the predawn pale blue had given way to the first tints of orange and yellow, they had reached the last stretch of woods before leaving the lands of Bernardholt."
Crows
Crows are pervasive in the novel as symbolic harbingers of death. They are to this realm what vultures are to our own. But the imagery penetrates deeper because when the crows are not literal, they are metaphorical. Lots of references to crows and not a single one of them positive or optimistic. For example:
“That’s crow fodder.”
“Time had swept down on her, swift as a hungry crow.”
Distraction
Beginning with this volume commencing the series and increasing in intensity with each subsequent book is the role that distractions play in pursuing subjective goals. This plot element begins as imagery so subtly introduced as to seem merely a passing fancy by a guy who seems to desperately desire being thought smart. But is he really:
“Ad hominem,” noted Aquitaine, “is a notoriously weak logical argument. And is usually used to distract the focus of a discussion—to move it from an indefensible point and to attack the opponent.”
Chess
A chess-like game call ludus will come to play a significant role in later volumes, but again the opening book establishes foreshadowing of things to come with subtle imagery. The tale has barely begun before the term “checkmate” is used twice in quick succession only to never recur again in this book:
“We’ve lost, Amara. Checkmate.” The words hit Amara like hammers. Cold. Hard. Simple.”
“You will tell us what you know about the palace, Amara. It might get ugly before it’s over, but you will. This is checkmate.”
