Thrall

After a confrontation in a tavern results in the death of a local official's mercenary, legendary warrior Gorias La Gaul is commissioned to prevent the resurrection of a cult leader. Accompanied by his grandson, the official's daughter, and a bard, Gorias traverses the vampire-plagued land only to find himself caught between an invading horde of barbarians, a powerful necromancer's advancing troops, and two old enemies from his past. Gorias must rely on his own experience and tactical planning to prevent an even greater evil from ravaging the land.

Steven Shrewsbury crafts an engaging tale, much in the tradition of Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. The action scenes are depicted in brutal detail, putting the reader at the center of the action. Shrewsbury also has a good sense of tactics and timing, which works well as the forces converge and Gorias's plan begins to unfold.

If I had any complaints, the first chapter is a little slow in its set-up, appearing almost directionless until Gorias gets his mission. Also, there were times when I had difficulties with the dialog as the characters' voices switched between the more traditional fantasy style of speech versus the modern, contraction-laden vernacular. The electronic copy of the book I read also had some infrequent grammar and spelling errors and would have benefited from another round of editing.

Despite these minor issues, this is a welcome addition to the sword-and-sorcery fantasy genre, and fans of the aforementioned authors should enjoy this book. I look forward to reading more of Shrewsbury's work, as well as the forthcoming books in this series.

Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million.

Title: Thrall
Author: Steven L. Shrewsbury
Year: 2010
Pages: 288