SIX MOONS, SEVEN GODS

In Walker’s fantasy novel, the destinies of disparate characters converge in a spasm of violence.

Death haunts the land of Baelon: Years ago, young Princess Lewen died, followed by her mother, Queen Isadora, and the great architect Adrian Dunn. As the book opens, a man named Reynard Rascall, with the help of his eager principal henchman, Spiro, kills a terrified underling named Kasparr, who’s been underperforming recently as a member of the Guild of Takers. In the kingdoms of Baelon, the Guild is an all-pervasive crime syndicate, “an unpleasant fact of life” throughout the land. Its leaders plot the fates of entire nations in their secluded headquarters; overseers (such as Reynard) are capos controlling regions, and at the bottom of the ladder are the lowly street-level Takers. Reynard and Spiro travel to Kasparr’s district to examine his books, but, unbeknownst to them, the bookkeeper himself has been murdered by a group of Takers. Meanwhile, Mari Dunn, the architect’s widow, is plagued by visions predicting the assassination of King Axil of Aranox; the king’s marshal, Erik Carson, acts to save the king, and the king’s former guardsman, the grizzled warrior Rolft Aerns, returns to the capital city on a vengeance quest of his own—he’s eventually aided by Mari’s daughter, Sibil. Walker’s decision to alternate his narrative focus between all of these characters is smart and well done here, enabling him to largely avoid the stilted exposition that’s the bane of so many fantasy novels. The viewpoint-jumping keeps the reading experience fresh, though it sometimes slows momentum and gives rise to confusion. Some characters are unavoidably more compelling than others—it’s a safe bet that most readers will favor the hilarious duo of Reynard and Spiro (“Intuition, my friend,” Reynard taunts poor Spiro at one point. “A faithful companion of the thoughtful. Little wonder you’ve not met”).

A fascinatingly detailed and murder-fueled adventure in a violent fantasy setting.