While stories can be solely for escape, they also ask and answer questions that are too ghastly to be explored in real life. Even though fiction asks many questions, it sticks to certain ones, and others are ignored. In Fantasy, the war to end the evil empire is common, but rarer are the stories that explore what happens in the aftermath. The war, once won, doesn’t just disappear. It remains everywhere. The land, the people, all still bear the horrors of war. How does society recover? And when that conflict is years long, what lasting effects linger? Adrian Tchaikovsky sets his novel Redemption’s Blade in the aftermath of a decade long fight against the evil emperor, who happens to be a demigod. In a land ravaged by war, a hero and three of the evil overlord’s victims set out to correct one of the horrors of the war. In Redemption’s Blade, Mr. Tchaikovsky explores a world emerging from the shadow of a magical, horrific war. Here he attempts to answer the question of what happens afterward.
TL;DR
From the Publisher
Ten years ago, the renegade demigod known as the Kinslayer returned. His armies of monsters issued from the pits of the earth, spearheaded by his brutal Yorughan soldiers. He won every battle, leaving burnt earth and corruption behind. Thrones toppled and cities fell as he drove all before him. And then he died. A handful of lucky heroes and some traitors amongst his own, and the great Kinslayer was no more.
Celestaine was one such hero and now she has tasked herself to correct the worst excesses of the Kinslayer and bring light back to her torn-up world. With two Yorughan companions she faces fanatics, war criminals and the monsters and minions the Kinslayer left behind as the fragile alliances of the war break down into feuding, greed and mistrust.
The Kinslayer may be gone, but he cast a long shadow she may never truly escape.
Story
Mr. Tchaikovsky starts Redemption’s Blade by dropping us right into the story. We follow Celestaine, hero of the war, one of the Slayer’s of the evil emperor, and her not-so-merry band as they seek a way to restore one of the world’s species to flight. The novel follows this band on their quest across the battle-scarred land. Quest is the best way to describe it as this reminded me of a video game. They travel around, ask questions, and fight bosses. Granted, that’s a bit reductive, and surely others may/will see it differently. For me, the story wasn’t the strong point of the novel. Their quest gave us a chance to see the world, to learn of its people, and to spend time with the amazing characters.
Redemption’s Blade has me thinking about story as well. Mr. Tchaikovsky has set himself an interesting task. How does an author build tension in a world that is the denouement of a different story? One way is to introduce a new and bigger evil (see also: The First Order). The other is to make the stakes individual instead of concerning the entire world. Mr. Tchaikovsky chose the latter. But in a world that is chaos, where does the tension come from? It’s the characters putting themselves in harm’s way to achieve a goal bigger than themselves. The book does this, but due to the nature of fiction, the stakes never felt too high.
In the best ways, Redemption’s Blade reminds me of The Malazan Book of the Fallen. It’s dense, deep, and brutally imaginative. Doctors Catt and Fisher remind me of a mix of the pairs Tehol & Bugg and Bauchelain & Korbal Broach. Redemption’s Blade features a lot of action and fights mixed with philosophical contemplation about the effects of war. The ideas are big here, but the entertainment balances well with the philosophy. Like The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Redemption’s Blade drops us in media res and trusts the audience to pick up the clues as it goes. I enjoy this style of writing. It’s work but worth it.1
Characters
Celestaine, the main character, is a capital H, Hero. She helped kill the evil demigod. She killed a dragon. But she is a conflicted hero who starts the novel lacking a sense of purpose. Now that the big evil is dead, she feels she peaked. The life she knew during the war, the person she was, is gone, and while not exactly enjoying it, the life of a soldier was the one she knew. With the war over, how does Celestaine recapture that feeling of purpose, of being a hero? Or a better question, is she still a capital H, Hero? By healing the Aethani, a race of beings mutilated by the evil emperor, she found direction. She seeks to recapture her war-time status and with it a sense of who she is, of purpose. Celestaine’s role is that of the soldier in peace. What contributions do the fighters make to rebuilding society?
Heno and Nedlam, two Yorughan, start off as brutish creations of the dark lord, but as the novel grows, Mr. Tchaikovsky fleshes them out as three-dimensional, complicated characters. Throughout Redemption’s Blade their journey lets the author humanize the orc-like creatures. Actions that are horrible to the outsider are given reason. To me, the text doesn’t judge their actions, maybe even crimes; it’s up to the reader to decide on the moral value. While many are not ethical, their reasons are at least understandable. In this book, we get to see what scares the monsters, what drives them. Some of what they did during the war is without a doubt horrific, and we see what they think of their crimes. One of the best parts is how the people of the world react to these two. Even though months have passed, they were at one time the enemy, and now they travel with a Slayer. Are they still the enemy, or are they more? And, if more is the answer, can society see them as anything other than the enemy’s monsters?
Identity
In Redemption’s Blade, the characters live with the past. The war, though finished, remains with them, with the whole world. Because the characters swim in the currents of that conflict, questions of identity pop up in many interesting ways. What are Heno and Nedlam now that they’re not the enemy? How does Celestaine recapture that feeling of belonging and importance that she felt in the war? Can Amkulyah recapture the former glory of the Aethani? These are all worthy questions, and one that soldiers deal with upon entering the civilian world after time in the service. Peacetime is a difficult transition for the soldier, and from my outsider viewpoint, Mr. Tchaikovsky succeeds in capturing this.
But the identities of the Guardians play a very interesting role in this story. The Guardians are demigods, which puts them above mortals but below gods. This privileged position played out in many ways during the war, and it’s worth thinking about their stories. Persona versus personality is at play here. In Redemption’s Blade, the character of the Undefeated exemplifies this theme. His name is the Undefeated, and yet during the war, he hid away from the fighting. (His refuge is quite funny.) He’s built an image, even down to a name, that implies invincible, indomitable, but at the first challenge worthy of his name, he flees in terror. All the stories of him as the Undefeated are now called into question because his actions reveal his personality. And those actions weigh on him. The person he was during the war isn’t the person he believes himself to be. This is a common thread for all the characters, and Mr. Tchaikovsky hit the nail square on the head here.
Consequences
Conclusion
In Redemption’s Blade, Adrian Tchaikovsky has created a character driven narrative set during societal reconstruction. It’s dense, creative, fun, and looks at a part of war that Fantasy often ignores. Â While the overarching story isn’t its strong suit, Redemption’s Blade features wonderful characters, excellent world-building, and hope. Highly recommended.
8 out of 10!
1. I like to mix in ‘easy’ and more demanding reads. Return.