Ed McDonald, Blackwing (2017)

On By Ola GIn books, Ola, reviews

Blackwing

Author: Ed McDonald

Title: Blackwing

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 378

First, an admission. I read a lot of books when my mental plate’s full, as they provide a bit of comfort and take off some strain from my overworked brain – when they’re good, of course, because bad books don’t help at all 🙂 However, by the same logic, I write no reviews when I’m stressed out, because writing demands a lot more from my already  overworked brain 😛 No surprise, then, that lately there are less reviews on our blog, even though the amount of books I’ve recently read has noticeably grown.

I’ve spent the last couple of months checking out some of the books our fellow bloggers recommended, and Ed MacDonald’s Blackwing had been favorably reviewed by many. A special shout out to Aaron at Swords & Spectres for persuading me to finally try it out, because it was definitely worth it :).

Blackwing follows the story of Ryhalt Galharrow (it’s a mouthful, I know – try to say it out loud a few times!), a former pampered noble and an ex-Army officer who now serves as a Captain of Blackwing: a private military unit in employ of a Nameless sorcerer called Crowfoot. Galharrow as we meet him is a down-on-his-luck cutthroat – a glorified spy/bounty hunter/enforcer to a ruthless, ancient being, who had not been seen in the world for a long, long time. Yet, as the war between the Nameless sorcerers of the republic with powerful Deep Kings of the Eastern Empire still brews on, centuries in the making, Galharrow soon finds himself in the thick of the bloody action.

First of all, it’s a debut; and as a debut, Blackwing is hellishly impressive. McDonald possesses a sparseness, grace and surety of prose of much more experienced writers, and his command of language is enviable.  His characters are fleshed out and believable, and their backstories, which we are left to piece together from bits and pieces scattered through the novel, serve as a bait and an anchor, keeping the reader’s attention as well as sneakily get him/her invested in the characters’ fate. Much of the novel’s appeal comes from the gritty, world-wearied voice of its narrator and main protagonist, Ryhalt Galharrow. He’s an interesting guy I wouldn’t really want to meet: a mix of Pratchett’s Sam Vimes and Bogart’s Sam Spade, with ruthlessness and vices of Cook’s Raven, and more than a touch of Abercrombie’s Logen Ninefingers. He’s a typical noir detective with military past, thrown into the middle of a fantastical, brutal world. Galharrow is ruthless and calculating, first and foremost a survivor. But he possesses qualities that come as a surprise even for himself – or mostly for himself, as his self-esteem has long ago hit the bottom and now, dead and shriveled, serves as food for less savory beings. He’s fiercely loyal, with a strong sense of justice and fairness, and a fair amount of dejected fatalism mixed with paranoia – in short, he’s a typical Western sheriff, alone against the uncaring world. He’s actually so typical that at the beginning he seemed a paper-thin stereotype. Thankfully, his voice and presence quickly became realistic enough that the generic frame could be forgotten and the force of his personality ultimately set the tone of the novel.

Western
Galharrow heading to Misery 😀

McDonald writes female characters well – their strength comes mostly from the fact that nothing really determines their actions as inherently gendered; were the sex roles reversed, they’d probably still make the same choices and acted along the same internalized values. And yet, they’re not sexless, and the fact that they are females plays an important role in the overarching plot. Ezabeth might come off as overly saint at times, and though this treatment seemed necessary as a tool to push Galharrow out of his current comfort zone and more into his old self, it flattened her character in an undeserved way. Or, it might have been the flame of the old love that blinded Ryhalt into seeing her in such a light 😉 Either way, her relationship with Galharrow was the emotional axis of the book, and McDonald knew perfectly well how to deliver a very satisfying conclusion.

In the topic of women, it would be a sin not to mention Nenn. I really appreciated how her character had been presented: ferocious and brutal and insecure, with an incurable case of puppy love for Galharrow, who of course remains oblivious to it all. As we see her through Galharrow’s eyes, we see only those aspects of her that Ryhalt sees – and the play of expectations and reality forms a basis for an important element of the plot in the second book, Ravencry (yes, I’ve read it already – see the first paragraph :P).

Ok, I’ve been gushing long enough that I either lulled you into believing that everything was perfect, or you’re already waiting for the inevitable shoe to drop 😛

Here it is: while the characters were superbly done, the worldbuilding left a lot to be desired. It had been very generic, to the point of changing into a set of used theatrical props. How many times did I encounter this Biblical trope of the desert? Call it what you will, Misery/Plain of Fear/blight/Veil/an unnamed, unhealed wound in the ground/etc./etc…, it just shows up and up and up. Maybe it’s simply because the military/epic fantasy genre lends itself easier to it than others ;). It is a handy tool, don’t get me wrong: done well, it works wonders, especially when merged with the hero’s journey trope and the general philosophy of knowing thyself. But in Blackwing the Misery just sat there, a nasty, dusty, threatening piece of background, with neon signs “here be dragons” everywhere. Even the monsters were generic. Sigh. But I’m happy to report it gets much, much better in Ravencry! 🙂

And then, it’s almost always a republic against an empire. Again, it can be done very well, as McClellan’s books can attest, but it can also be done not so well; in here, the politics play almost no role, except for the fact that the “republic” has an elite class of nobles owning almost everything, the other classes are mostly poor and badly used, and the other side is so bad with its ruthless rulers and hordes of zombies that the name Eastern Empire must simply have been predestined 😛 It was indeed painful for me – but I can be an exception 😉 You could probably easily ignore it altogether, especially if you’re not a political/military fantasy buff.

Add to it the Nameless, and though I appreciated the effort of showing their long backstory along the lines of ascendancy, they also seemed like a necessary prop, an unmoving, unbeatable piece on the board found on the attic in the box labeled “cantankerous old bastards”.

Up carl-fredricksen
Crowfoot. A part of him can jump out of your arm where it resides as a tattoo.

Yet again, there were some nice, redeemable twists along the way, and even though they were not very surprising, they hadn’t been signaled off half a book before – the clues were here and there, aptly scattered in many places, so that the reader, if he/she felt so disposed, could pick them up and puzzle it out. If, of course, they had time for such stuff, because the second half of the novel significantly picked up the pace and from a noir crime changed into full-fledged epic fantasy. Similarly, the Deep Kings seemed very generically Lovecraftian and underdeveloped – hopefully this will change in the third book.

To sum it up, the first book in McDonald’s trilogy Raven’s Mark is a solid, highly entertaining, fast-paced and well-written read. I enjoyed it enough to delve into the second installment immediately after I finished the first, and I will definitely read the third once it’s out. Plus, look at that glorious cover!

Score: 8/10

40 thoughts on “Ed McDonald, Blackwing (2017)”

  1. Excellent and detailed review! Glad you gave it a go 😊 still think my favourite thing in it is the Gillings … just because of how horrible they are yet how simple at the same time.

    It really is stunning as far as debuts go.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks a lot! 😊
      Indeed. Though I must say I actually preferred the second installment – I thought Saravor was a much better, more fleshed-out and believable villain than Deep Kings, and I loved the Misery part 😀

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

        1. Or maybe the ones you should risk eating if you want to become this super-amped hero warrior 😎
          Ravencry definitely beat up Blackwing. Can’t wait to see if the third will top both 😃

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

            1. 😀
              I prefer the dead tree versions myself, but a well-read audiobook is a wonderful thing. However, sometimes a bad voice, or a manner of reading from a person who didn’t read nor understand the book/character earlier can be very detrimental to the experience. I recently listened to one of my favorite books by Pratchett, The Light Fantastic, and the audiobook just sucks so much I couldn’t finish it :/
              Did you have any bad experiences with audiobooks? Or you’ve been lucky? 😉

              In general, I think their quality improved immensely over the last decade or so… One thing I really love is audio-plays!

              Liked by 1 person

              Reply

              1. I have had a couple of bad experiences. Sometimes the narrator just bores me and I can’t pay attention. I don’t listen to books with narrators whose voices I don’t like as I use the ‘sample’ feature on Audible after being let down by shoddy narrating on ‘The Haunting of Hill House’.

                Fortunately, if you do not enjoy an audio book for whatever reason, Audible let you return it and get your credit/money back. So no risk 😊

                But yes, the quality has vastly improved in recent years.

                Liked by 1 person

                Reply

                1. Huh, need to try it out finally then 🙂 I don’t spend that much time in the car, which is where I mostly listen to audiobooks. When I work I tend to stick to music or some background noise (otherwise I won’t concentrate on what I do, but on the thing I’m listening to! ;))

                  Liked by 1 person

                  Reply

  2. Most of the reviews I’ve read so far have all been of the gushy kind like this one. Upon asking questions though, I have formed the idea that this is pretty grimdark and as such, I’d better stay away from it.
    So, if Black Company is the father of dark fantasy, where does this book fall in relation to BC?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Mine is only half-gushy (if there is such thing :P) The gushy ones are reserved for Cook 😉
      I don’t consider it grimdark. Thought about mentioning the idiotic tag a long time ago, but it’s just a waste of time – the marketing wins either way. Sigh. To the point: it’s not even close in darkness or moral ambiguity to Cook. It’s a redemption arc/love story dressed in noir dressed in Western and with a hat and zombie paint borrowed from the nearest cosplay shop.
      And if Black Company is the father/mother 😛 of dark fantasy, Blackwing is the younger cousin: ambitious and well-meaning, but not that close a relation 😀 It is very well written, intense and with well-crafted characters, but still slightly generic (especially the villain!); it gets better in the second installment.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Thanks. I just won’t bother with grimdark, so that helps in me making an informed decision once book 3 comes out.

        Phrack marketing to heck. First Red Rising as YA, then this as Grimdark. It is just wrong and I hope someone burns for those decisions…

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        1. Yeah, Red Rising was an interesting one 😀
          As for grimdark, I wouldn’t call Cook’s books grimdark – maybe some of Erikson’s. Only Abercrombie fully gets over the mark I set it, for all the wrong reasons (gratuitious violence)… But I admit, for that very reason of fishy marketing I hadn’t read anything by Lawrence yet 😉

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

          1. Good luck with Lawrence. I’ve only read 1 book by him so far and I was less than impressed. I’m giving him his second (and final) chance with the Holy sister trilogy. We’ll see what happens…

            Liked by 1 person

            Reply

    1. You’re very welcome!
      I think you’ll actually like this book very much 🙂

      Btw, I listened to your advice and gave October Daye another chance – thanks! Review to come up soon 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

        1. In short, not bad 😉 getting better than the first book for sure. A bit like Dresden in that aspect, though still the plot construction and the villain leave much to be desired.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
  4. piotrek

    Oh, I might give it a go, although the worldbuilding comments make me a bit worried… corrupted republic vs eastern empire, in a war of the tropes :D?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Exactly! I knew that would get your attention 😉
      It’s a good book – not on par with Cook, but highly enjoyable and decidedly lighter in tone. You might still want to give it a chance if you have time 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. Really glad you enjoyed this one! I found it really entertaining too and I agree that it’s so impressive as a debut! And I absolutely loved Galharrow’s voice!! And glad you thought the world building got better in ravencry. Awesome review!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks a bunch! 🙂
      I did, it was definitely worth reading and one of the rare books that actually lived up to the hype 😉 And I was very pleasantly surprised by the second installment, which I think is even better than the first! 😀

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. Pingback: Bloggers Who Deserve More Attention #3 – the orang-utan librarian

  8. Oh my!!! A book I’ve read!!! 😀 😀 I’m really happy to hear how much you appreciated this debut. I know I was stunned by the quality of the prose and the voice of the protagonist! The world is definitely not super complex but with such a “short length” and a focus on the character, I felt like the world gave us enough “threat” with ugly creatures to fear that I just didn’t need more (well… I always want more of good things…)! Wonderful review! I can’t wait for the next book this summer. 😛

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. LOL! I like to defy expectations, so wouldn’t be so sure the wait will be so short! 😜
      I really enjoyed this book, and the second was even better, so I’m looking forward to the grand finale 😁

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  9. Pingback: Ed McDonald, Ravencry (2018) | Re-enchantment Of The World

  10. Pingback: Ed McDonald, Crowfall (2019) | Re-enchantment Of The World

Leave a Reply to Ola G Cancel reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s