The Sword and the Lion

This is my favorite book and I just wanted to let the rest of you know that Roberta Cray did not write any other books because it is actually an alias of Ru Emerson (who did write quite a few books). I have not yet read any of them, but plan to soon.

It is a tremendous shame that this was Roberta Cray's one and only novel, for it is excellent. The story is set in a classical Greece style of world, centred around the efforts of one city state (Ghezrat) to resist an expanding empire (Diye Haff). The characterisations are superb. The protagonist (Breyd) and her father are very believable, and the internal struggles of Prince Pellerin and the immaturity of his heir are very well portrayed. In fact, I can only think of one major character (Hadda) that isn't well developed, and that includes characters on both sides of the struggle. Cray starts the novel with the announcement that a war is coming, takes the reader through the battles, and then takes the reader into the aftermath and attempted counterstrike. The announcement comes from an active involvement of Ghezrat's god, and ends with both the Ghezrat and Diye Haff gods taking active roles, something that is not common in fantasy novels even though the gods are frequently invoked in these novels. The problem is that the power displayed in the novel's end is not present during the bulk of the fighting (although the Secchi are an awesome fighting machine). A brief easily missed explanation is that the gods didn't display their power earlier because they didn't want their people to become complacent and lose humility. Unfortunately, this sounds like a weak explanation for a rather clumsy ending. The ending is the book's only real fault. The final victory is too easy. The final battle is entirely one-sided, and isn't even conclusive. Events outside the city and uncontrolled by the city make the results of the battle final, but a different conclusion to those events could have made the final victory worse than disasterous. Still, this was a very enjoyable effort and I wish she had written more.

This is an excellent novel by a novelist that I wish had written more. I would compare it to Robin McKinley's the Hero and the Crown, and this is very high praise from me. Even more interesting is that it is set in a context much like that of ancient Greece in comparison to your average fantasy novel set in what amounts to the British Middle Ages. Good plot, good writing, some serious bad guys and a great heroine.

This book was an excellent read. I read it a few years ago for the first time and several times since. The characters were well-drawn and believable and the story was believable as well. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in "ancient history" and wants a story from the viewpoint of an ordinary girl (I thought that was a nice touch).