Blurb:
In the dying port town of Gdansburg, Sir Konrad Vonvalt finds the unthinkable: a fellow Justice imprisoned for the murder of a young boy. Despite the furious insistence of the townsfolk, the only evidence is a question written on a piece of paper by a dead man: what is The Scour?
The answer begins in the town’s haunted lighthouse and ends in its past-where Vonvalt may dig up more than he bargained for.
Review:
Hello again dear reader or listener, today I have a bite-sized treat in novella form by bestseller Richard Swan, curtesy of the folk at GdM – mainly our wonder leader here at BWG, Beth. I am a tad bit late with this review as I was away travelling and laptop-less for some weeks but I am back, so let the catching up begin!
Now, full disclosure, I have only read the very beginning of JoK because when it first came out and I got into it, I was midway through uni stuff and had to set it aside for a while. Life then happened and I decided that, since I loving what I was reading anyway, I might as well keep buying them as they came out and then binge read the trilogy in one go, as I used to before I discovered the reviewing world. Well, life keeps happening as they say, and deadlines keep piling, so I am yet to actual sit my ass down and read the series. Abysmal, I know.
But! I sat and read Grave Empire in almost one sitting when it came out earlier this year – seriously phenomenal stuff that. So, when the opportunity presented itself, I knew I definitely wanted to get to this story as soon as possible. It certainly has succeeded in making me itch to finish out all my arc deadlines so I can finally sit and read in peace, that’s for sure.
With The Scour, Swan offers a dark fantasy prequel set fifteen years before the events of The Justice of Kings, where fan favorites Vonvalt and Bressinger investigate the imprisonment of a fellow Justice. High tensions and horror collide in this little town at the very edges of empire and Vonvalt has to deal with far more than being extremely unwelcome there.
Swans’s novella works great both if you’re missing the characters after having read the parent trilogy, but also if you’re only just dipping your toes into the exceptionally and thoroughly built universe that he has worked on for years to bring to life. The author weaves suspense, dark humor, and tension, along with a pretty simple and straightforward plot, to treat the reader to a story that creeps us out in more ways that one, while also entertaining us with his trademark sass.
If there is one thing I’ve gotten to love in his writing, it is how well Swan builds up the sense of wrongness that permeates everything in the most eerie and atmospheric moments. You are hooked to the page while subconsciously holding your breath over what might happen next. Whether you huff it out in relief or disbelief is entirely up to how the author wants you to react. That’s how entranced you get from the writing style. Moreover, we find some very interesting character work going on, not all that deep under the surface, and that is regarding where we find Vonvalt in his convictions. He has been a Justice long enough to have certain ideals and a reputation that precedes him, for instance. But in this novella, we find him at a time where some of those ideals and beliefs start showing some cracks that will develop into who Vonvalt is when we meet him in Justice of Kings, I feel. The cornerstones that make him who he is are all there but maybe, just maybe, we are treated to the moment in his life where things begin to change in some ways that I am oh so intrigued to find out in the main series.
This also means that I am definitely coming back to reread this novella once I am done with the main trilogy to appreciate all the Easter eggs all the more, yes – some of which I already got thanks to those early chapters I’ve read – but also to chart this development better and see how wrong or right I was in my theory.
The Scour is currently available in all formats as well as in signed hardcover from The Broken Binding and, it will also be available in audio later in the year. It is the perfect treat for spooky season and a worthy addition to any shelves that boast a Swan collection or want to start one.
Until next time,
Eleni A. E.
