Friday, May 17, 2019

Books read in 2019: No. 32 -- A Discourse in Steel

by Paul S. Kemp

Started: May 11
Finished: May 17

Notes: I'm familiar with some of Kemp's shorter work as we've both appeared in a few anthologies together, but I've never read any of his longer material, so here goes. I expect good things.

Mini review: This was simply a rollicking ball of fun. Kemp's Egil and Nix characters are obvious versions of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Grey Mouser, but it works without feeling like its ripping off Leiber, mainly because there are enough differences in Kemp's characters from Leiber's to keep them from being exact replicas. In fact, Kemp's work here is likely more accessible to the modern reader than that of Leiber, so in a way Kemp's is the stronger material, at least for modern readers. This was well written and a lot of fun to read. If you like action-driven Sword and Sorcery, then you should pick this up.

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