Seven Blades in Black

Short Review: An epic set in an unusual fantasy world that soon reveals itself to be a psychological exploration. Worth a read, though emotionally exhausting.

Longer Review (possible minor spoilers): This book revealed itself to me in stages. It opens in what seems a bit like a cliché fantasy: An adventurer, called Sal, walks into a bar in a village, various characters sit around, the bartender knows more than he lets on. This adventurer is apparently a very experienced adventurer hunting a renegade mage, OK slightly interesting. Then things kick off and we discover that Sal “the Cacophony” is a gunslinger with a very interesting and special gun who is hunting down everyone on a specific list...but why?

We slowly discover more about the world - which I found really fascinating, yet the adventure and the western/fantasy world, even the great characters we meet, ended up taking a back seat as we slowly realise that the centrepiece of the book is really the very complex and compelling personality, motives and past of our main character and narrator: Sal.

My advice is to avoid all spoilers about Sal. Read the book but be ready for an emotional ride - especially in the latter third.

It shouldn't need to be said for a western-fantasy hybrid about a manhunter, but there are many violent scenes. Our narrator, Sal, adds a lot of humour which most of the time softens the edges - but in some sections things get pretty serious. They never made me want to put down the book because they never felt gratuitous - there was always a plot, pacing or character reason - but different readers may have different tastes.