On the subject of super-out-of-print, through the wonders of eBay I’ve just attained and re-read a much loved fantasy trilogy from my youth: The Tales of the Bard, by Michael Scott. It stood out at the time, and re-reading it it’s not hard to see why; clearly formative in ways I don’t want to think about, the main character, Padeur, is a bard, scholar, immortal, and, unlike almost all of the fantasy protagonists I was aware of at the time, really a bit of a bastard. He was also ominously secretive, arrogant, aloof, hook-handed, didn’t sleep, was emotionally dead, couldn’t stand to be touched… and despite it being written in an occasionally over exclamatory fashion and with a figure of perhaps ridiculous excesses looking back, it’s not hard to see why it was attractive, and still is: with an incredibly singular central character (relative to the genre of teen fantasy), an exotic Celtic mythology inspired background (not an orc in sight), and the strong invocation of the conflict between pagan and monotheistic religions, there are passages which attain an iconic grandeur that more polished fantasy series’ that I’ve read never get near.
Talking of buying this on-line I got burned a few months ago when trying to buy the first part of the Culai Heritage/Tales of the Bard Trilogy "Wizard's Law" off abebooks. *Shakes fist at sky*. I really can agree on "Demon's Law" and "Death's Law" though, absolutely standout and still very readable. The world of the novel is remarkably rich, the subplots skillfully tied together with the mainplot, and, as you say, pleasingly free of happy-go-lucky elves/orcs. Which isn't to say that the characters don't veer tangentially toward the fantasy novel stereotype at times (as they do) but importantly never too often or inappropriately, I felt. In fact, I have real affection for the cast of characters created (gods included) just for being so terribly embittered, savage, shrewd and cut-throat in their dealings.
Scott's never written much else that I know of unfortunately. |
