Book Review: Scourge of the Betrayer by Jeff Salyards

Scourge of the Betrayer by Jeff Salyards

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of Bloodsounder’s Arc 

Publisher: Night Shade Books (May 1, 2012)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

If you want to see a cool way to tackle dark fantasy, look no further than this novel. It’d been sitting on my shelf for a while, and earlier this month I finally picked it up. It didn’t take more than a few pages for me to realize I was looking at a very special book.

Jeff Salyards’ approach to storytelling gave me a very unique experience. For one thing, I thought I had a pretty good bead on what I like in my fantasy — you know, the things I enjoy and don’t enjoy about the genre, etc. Well, that was before this book came along and turned everything upside down, making me rethink my own preferences.

Example the first: I’d always thought I preferred answers to any mysteries, but Scourge of the Betrayer was a book that provided scant detail about its story right from the start, leaving many questions open even once we were well past the midway point. But guess what? I found myself totally okay with this. More on this in a sec.

Example the second: Precious little words were wasted in the telling of this story, which didn’t come as a surprise to me after taking in account the relatively modest page count. I usually assume this means the author won’t be going into too much detail about the world or its characters. Of course, I was wrong with this one. What struck me was the fact that even though Jeff Salyards ever only gave just enough information for the reader to follow along, the world-building never suffered.

There was a good balance, plain and simple. What should have been a frustrating experience instead had me completely riveted. Not unexpectedly, the characters had a lot to do with drawing me in; after all, dark tales such as these tend to feature gritty, nasty personalities that nonetheless exude a certain charm. We have Arkamondos, a young scribe hired on to chronicle the exploits of a rough band of Syldoon warriors led by the formidable Captain Braylar Killcoin. Why Arki is there among this crew, or what the Syldoon are up to in the first place are questions that remain a mystery for quite a while, but the winning characters and the promise that I was going to get better acquainted with this crazy lot were reasons enough to stick around to find out more.

In a way, the players are more important than the plot. The story works well told from Arki’s perspective in the first person, especially since Salyards doesn’t hold anything back with his bold and unflinching style. We are privy to his protagonist’s every thought and emotion, riding along in Arki’s head as he experiences everything from his most awkwardly humiliating moments to the terror and disgust he feels towards the brutal violence of his Syldoon companions. The more ugliness this meek and bookish scribe gets exposed to, the more compelling his character becomes. Arki’s personal growth takes center stage, and his relationships with Braylar and the inscrutible scout woman Lloi go a long way in also enhancing that journey.

The author took a huge gamble when he chose to approach the story this way, but it certainly paid off. The book is a refreshing change from the usual dark fantasy; it’s fast-paced and energetic without sacrificing world building or character development. A lot of reviewers have compared it to The Black Company, and in truth I’d do the same except I honestly felt that Scourge of the Betrayer was a much better book. I liked Glen Cook’s series, but didn’t get into his characters or take to his writing the same way I took to Jeff Salyards’. Scourge hooked me right away, and even though the ending was somewhat abrupt, my overall feelings for the book are extremely positive. I’m glad the release of book two is just around the corner, because I can’t wait to continue Arki’s story.