Dave Duncan is one of the most consistent producers of top-notch fantasy novels in the business (and also a very nice guy). His latest, Ill Met in the Arena, isn’t my favorite of his books, but it’s still a fun read that had me devouring pages like potato chips by the end.
Duncan has set up a complex world, called Aureity, in which nobles have bred their children over generations for psychic talent. Men have powers of telekinesis–strong enough to kill by throwing someone against a wall or twisting their body–and also teleportation: they can port anywhere they can remember. Women rule, however, because they can read minds and know instantly when men are lying to them. They can also exert psychic control over men, “improving” them if they do something bad or even impairing them all the way down to dribbling idiots.
Men compete for prime positions of champions, consorts or husbands in the arena, in games in which they battle other noblemen using their psychic abilities. (“Ordinaries” have none of these powers–and also figure only slightly in the narrative.)
Our hero, now known as Quirt, is a former champion of the arena who has been doomed by his hegemon (female ruler) to seek out the Enemy who murdered her daughter, to whom Quirt (then known as Mudar) was betrothed. Things are complicated by the fact the Enemy is also the man who mentally crippled (with drugs) his mother, raped her, and so sired Quirt. Which makes the Enemy’s son, Humate, Quirt’s half-brother…
If you’re already thinking that’s a lot of people to keep track of, well, there are a great many more. And the politics of Duncan’s imagined world are Byzantine, to say the least. I think that may be why it built more slowly for me than some of his books, but in the end, as I say, I was racing through it to see what happened next, always the sign of a successful tale.
So, recommended, but with two caveats: if you’ve never read Dave Duncan before, don’t start with this one. I’d recommend the King’s Blades series, personally. Read this one after you’re already addicted.
And the second caveat: if you’ve never read a fantasy novel before, don’t start with Ill Met in the Arena, either. The number of names to keep track of and the complex geopolitical situation, all of it imaginary, is liable to throw you for a loop. And the narrative structure is unusual, with an extended flashback in the middle of the book and a few other oddities (all necessary to the telling of the story, though).
If you’re new to both fantasy and Duncan, start with his last two books, The Alchemist’s Apprentice and The Alchemist’s Code (and I’m thrilled to note the third in this excellent series, which are as much historical as fantasy and conjure up the amazing place that was Venice a few centuries ago with as much elan as any purely fantastical realm, will be out next summer).
Then come back to Ill Met in the Arena. Because once you have been properly initiated into Duncanania, you’ll want to get all of it you can.
