The first volume of John Maddox Roberts’ Stormlands series, The Islander, doesn’t read like a 380 page book. I had to slow down, pace myself, so as not to fly through the pages. This is heroic fiction done right.
The setting is post apocalyptic. I don’t know how far in the future the story is set, but all the animals appear to have mutated. Roberts doesn’t mention a single currently extant bit of fauna. The western coast of the US seems to have cracked off, leaving only islands. Nevada (the Kingdom of Neva) appears to be part of the coastline now, with its capital city the main port. The hero, Hael, is an inhabitant of a large island off the coast. After having recently finished Charles Saunders’ Imaro, I couldn’t help but note the similarities between Hael’s tribe of kagga herdsmen and Imaro’s cattle herders, and the stories of the individual protagonists. Both men begin as young warriors, spearmen. Both have to slay a particular dangerous cat to be initiated. And both are beset by a rival before ultimately being driven from the tribe.
Hael, ever curious and studious, takes ship from the island, learns about sailing and trading at various ports, before arriving at the mainland and the capital of Neva. There he rescues a noblewoman, is befriended (maybe) by her grateful father, and is rewarded by being enrolled in an exploratory expedition eastwards across the mountains. Roberts’ travelogue continues, never palling, always providing something new for the reader. Crossing the mountains, Hael again rescues a woman, Deena, an escaped captive of a nomadic tribe who ride mutated goats (“cabos.”) When the expedition meets the nomads, Hael defeats the one who’d captured Deena. He draws the attention of a tribal priest who recognizes Hael’s affinity with the supernatural and declares him a hero of prophecy. Hael, by this time, has begun having grand ideas. He returns Deena to her people, a forest dwelling tribe of longbow hunters. He conceives the notion of combining the two warring tribes into one, creating a sort of Hun-like tribe of horse-archers (or, rather cabo-archers.) The story concludes with a wedding, a sort of trial by fire of the first band of cabo-archers, and hazy prospects for the future.
At times the book reminded me vaguely of Crawford Killian’s Eyas. I ought to give that another read sometime.
There’s a lot going on in this novel. A great deal of clever, colorful world building, and plot points laid down for decanting in future volumes. I’m looking forward to the next, assuming it ever gets here. What is taking DHL so long? My only quibble with The Islander is the title; “Islander” doesn’t leap out at the reader, bloody sword in hand, screaming adventure. But nonetheless, that’s what you get once past the title, so I suppose it doesn’t much matter.
If you’re in the mood for adventure, pick up a copy of Islander. Or, if you’ve already read that one, try something of mine. Blood and Jade, for example.