Nightblade: Social Justice Fantasy

Characters and Narration

An arguably narcissistic main character is not exactly the most sympathetic of characters to write about. Loren, the lead character and self-proclaimed master thief “Nightblade,” is arrogant but full of imagination and repartee. The author has come out on his YouTube channel saying he’s a self-proclaimed narcissist and Loren’s personality — thinking she can outmaneuver law enforcement officers because she’s the fastest in the village is assumption bordering on arrogance. It’s this quirk of hers that makes her reaction to events more frustrating than a good decision on her part. Near the end of the book, this personality trait borders on foolishness.

Garrett Robinson’s choice of voice for Loren was something unexpected and went unnoticed for the first couple of chapters. He slips back into his regular accent in scenes of emotional power. The southern twang in his voice when he voices his protagonist is refreshing and unexpected in a fantasy novel where such an accent shouldn’t exist. The version I listened to was the Nightblade Epic Volume One on audible, which contains the first three novels in this series — “Nightblade”, “Mystic”, and “Darkfire”. The first book is also available as a podcast.

Mayhap, you’ve heard of Nightblade?

The language and dialogue are dated on purpose. It gives the story a more medieval feel all around and the narration a bit of weight. This will turn some readers off. Something other modern fantasy works shy away from in their stories. As a fan of Tolkien’s work, Robinson modernizes the social and cultural mores but keeps the language idiosyncrasies of something closer to Shakespeare’s work. It’s an interesting blend, to say the least. Making the High King a woman is just one example of a Robinson playing with gender roles.

While this book is about a young girl, according to the author, it’s not a young adult book. Perhaps it’s the divide between traditional and self-publishing ecosystems. I’ve heard that YA books aren’t edited for content in traditional publishing. That said Robinson dances that line between obscene and unsettling without being overly graphic. It’s more subtle and nuanced than in your face, but putting the pieces together makes you squirm a little more.

If you like fantasy that blends history and language with social justice and gender roles, you’ll find no better story than “Nightblade”

4/5 Stars