It may come as no surprise to you that I have been known, on occasion, to read fantasy novels and stories. As such, I am taking it upon myself to post reviews of some of these here on this blog. And with this blog being what it is, my reviews will be made with an eye toward fantasy RPG gaming.
 |
| Brokedown Palace |
The first work up for review is Brokedown Palace by Steven Brust, originally published in 1986 by Ace Books. Some minor spoilers may follow, but I shall endeavor to restrict them, for I am vehemently anti-spoiler.
Brokedown Palace follows the story of four brothers: László, the temperamental and ambitious king of Fenario; Miklós, who begins the novel in exile and beaten near-to-death by his royal brother's hand; Andor, the brother who can never seem to find his place in the world; and Vilmos, a giant of a man with a gentle heart. The heart of the story revolves around the brothers' interactions with each other. Their motivations and loyalties are never simple, their characters are neither wholly good nor wholly bad, and their fate is always - to some degree - in question.
From the beginning of the story, you may think this to be a simple tale: a prince, wrongfully exiled and beaten by his mad brother the king, must journey to the far realm of the Faerie and gain the strength and inner purpose he needs to return and overthrow his tyrannical brother, restoring order to the kingdom. Blah blah blah. Fortunately, the actual story is far more interesting. For one thing, the journey to, and residence in, the Faerie realm is quickly glossed over; this story is about the four brothers' relationships to each other, not one heroic brother's coming of age journey and climactic battle against his cartoonishly evil sibling. They are brothers, after all, and they do love each other. King László has a terrible temper but he is not a tyrant, nor even really a proper villain.
Of course, I am neglecting the titular character - the brokedown palace itself. The crumbling ancestral palace of the kings of Fenario is a character in its own right, and it becomes more and more central to the story and the characters' motivations and the plot progresses. It also acts as a metaphor for something that lies at the heart of this story (I'll let you read it to figure it out yourself), which brings me to my next point.
Categorization
As I read this book, I had difficulty placing it exactly. Was it high fantasy, characterized by widespread use of magic, the presence of fantastical races and creatures, and epic plots? Well, it has Faerie realms marked right there on the map, it features a talking horse, and its plot concerns the fate of a kingdom. On the other hand, is it low fantasy, characterized by a focus on realism and rationality in world-building, a reining in of fantastical elements, and generally a lot of blood? Well, although it sometimes felt more like low fantasy, the high fantasy element dominated.
But neither label quite fit until I realized it was neither: Brokedown Palace is a fairy tale, and the sensibilities of fairy tales pervade its plot and storytelling. People and things within it have very solid metaphorical implications, especially the aforementioned palace and another inanimate character that grows in importance throughout the book. As soon as I realized that this was a fairy tale - albeit a fairytale grounded very much in modern fantasy writing - I started to like the book a lot more. In fact, I would go so far as to say that this book was beautiful.
Setting and World-Building
The setting of this story is what sold it to me (sold it to me at Magus Books in Seattle, to be precise): it is set in a fantasy version of Hungary. My interest was immediately piqued, for you don't commonly see a book set in a pseudo-Eastern European fantasy setting. I would say that, although this pseudo-Hungarian setting did not have much effect on the book itself, it added a nice, unique flavour which I found quite appealing.
As far as world-building goes, there isn't much. To be fair, that is to be expected with a fairy tale, so I don't feel that I can fault it for that. What little there is was intriguing, and helped to make the world feel more realized. In terms of religion, the rulers of Fenaio worship the Demon Goddess, a cruel entity who nonetheless grants great boons to her loyal followers. I thought that was an interesting touch. There are also some fantastical beasts made mention of, like norska (which seem to be some sort of rabbit-like creatures that also eat dragon meat) and jheregs (maybe sort of draconic vulture things?) that could have benefited from additional description.
[Disclaimer: I understand that, although Brokedown Palace is a standalone book, it is set in another of Steven Brust's worlds. I have never read his other books, but I get the feeling there are a lot of little references built in for other readers, and I might have a better understanding of some of the world-building stuff if I read those.]
You get the barest of hints as to what the rest of Fenario is like, with mentions of trade and characters from other parts of the realm, but the action (and description) centers around the palace. And rightly so. As I said above, world-building isn't really necessary in a story like this. But I've been neglecting the main aspect of world-building in this book.
The main story is interrupted from time to time with individual fairy tales set in Fenario. These fairy tales not only help to set the tone, but they add a lot to the feeling that Fenario is a lived-in setting with a real culture and past. Some of them even help explain aspects of Fenarr kingship or the nature of the Demon Goddess.
What Can We Learn as RPG Aficionados?
Well, as a fairy tale, this story doesn't translate well into RPG form. Fairy tales undoubtedly have an influence on fantasy RPGs, but they are fundamentally incompatible with the rulebook and dice-roll based mainstream of RPGs.
Even so, there are some things we can take away from Brokedown Palace for future campaigns:
- Eastern European-inspired settings can be really cool.
- Characters ought to have real motivations, with a balance of flaws and desirable traits.
- Fairy tales are an excellent way to add depth to your world.
~~~~~~
Okay, now for some site news. Regular readers may recall Monster Monday, where I tried to post a new, homebrewed monster on my blog every Monday. I certainly didn't get one up every Monday, but I tried. Anyways, as I am going through grad school at the moment, I think it is more realistic for me to strive for a new blog post in general every Monday rather than just a new monster post. I will definitely still be posting monsters - I have many of them already in existence, a lot more awaiting revision, and even more awaiting me sitting down and working out their stats - I just won't be trying and failing to post a new one every week. Making monsters is hard work. So you can expect a lot more thematic content, various other homebrewed things, and even book reviews like this one.
That's all for now.
~your táltos d20 despot
No comments:
Post a Comment