Of Deeds Most Valiant by Sarah K.L. Wilson

Review & Cut by Taylor

“Book learning isn’t very attractive in a beggar anyway. People don’t give freely to those who seem superior to them. It feels wrong. Makes their palms itch. They want that warm feeling of having blessed a lesser person.”

The beginning of this book started out particularly strong with a humorous touch and well written prose. I enjoyed the very tongue-in-cheek way the main character and her mentor communicated, and we enter the world in a very unique situation as well; having just completed a battle with a demon and dealing with a slight issue of possession.

In addition to the well written prose, I found that the insights Wilson had to offer about the world were well placed and poignant: “Book learning isn’t very attractive in a beggar anyway. People don’t give freely to those who seem superior to them. It feels wrong. Makes their palms itch. They want that warm feeling of having blessed a lesser person.”

However, despite all of the things there were to love about this story, I found that I couldn’t sink my teeth into it no matter how hard I tried. The world building felt convoluted to me and the essence of time and place kept slipping through my fingers. While I do think the world envisioned is fascinating- a God with 10 aspects who has different orders of paladins representing each one- I felt no clearer on the details as I read along.

It could be that the style of world building here just doesn’t match me as a reader, so if this premise sounds interesting to you and you like snappy banter, I don’t think you would go wrong giving this a try! Nevertheless, for this year’s SPFBO9 competition, this is a cut.