Stripped of his magic, a pyromancer hunts for the sword that can save his daughter in this expansive, intriguing fantasy world.
After the events of book one, Ashe is trying to save his comatose daughter. Still searching for the stolen klavensol Nixer (a black, curved sword whose Harm Hex prevents wounds from healing), he and his allies (the Brigands) now find themselves in the midst of an escalating war.
The Brigands are thrown in with the Velsuvian forces against an advancing Palle army, with the archmancer Corsis (still disguised as the peddler Svithe) quietly pulling strings behind every alliance and betrayal. The A Pox is gone now. But somehow, that hasn’t made anything calmer. Alas, its defeat seems to have only worsened the chaos.
As the worldbuilding remains vivid and impressive—with the Palle Empire, the Roaq Coalition, the Bank of Decadia, and the Holy Alliance all working against each other in a complicated mix of alliances and betrayals—the political landscape is equally intricate. The consequences of magic, such as the psychological toll of the ViRauni armor and the permanent erasure of Hrolish, are also explored in great depth.
His authority undermined and his pride rather wounded, Quar Iniv, for all his cruelty, is shown systematically sidelined by his wife Nirva. His desperation to be acknowledged and in control certainly doesn’t excuse his actions, but it does make them quite legible. Giving the circumstances, some decisions feel almost understandable, with even the villains earning a pause from criticism.
The battle at the Treboer Lakes with tentacled monsters erupting from corrosive cauv and cyborgs marching from the depths is a propulsive opener. The constant uncertainty surrounding Corsis’s manipulation calls for caution even when things seem to be going well, providing a steady dose of tension. McGowan maintains the emotional connection between readers and Ashe by focusing on his determination to save his daughter, allowing readers to empathize and remain emotionally invested even in the most chaotic battles.
There are a lot of characters and subplots in this world, and some get lost in the shuffle. The Holy Alliance contractors are around constantly but don’t quite feel fully developed. Gwelgrauthi, supposedly a dragon in hiding, mostly just exhales toxic gas and exits. Frulgrath has been the recurring threat since book one, but his only stated reason for anything is that he likes killing and that Svithe pays well. It feels a bit unclear why he switched sides or what exactly he wants, even if his presence is sufficiently intimidating. The middle parts of the book, particularly the extended sequences in the Realm of Thought’s Divergence with Avril and the Sphinxes, tends to drag, and Avril does quite a lot of repetitive running in the Time Tunnels.
Somehow, the Brigands feel and operate as a family, and their shared moments of levity and grief add a poignant counterbalance to the demonic carnage surrounding them, making their struggles resonate far beyond the battlefield. Moments between characters that feel simply human balance the tension of the battles and ensure The Brigands’ ever-brewing chaos never feels like mere spectacle.
James McGowan’s The Brigands sets up a compelling future, as the rules of the Game might just be more flexible than anyone thought. As the apparent irreversibility of Corsis’s curse comes to light, the possibility of even more explosive action carries us into the next book.
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