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Broken Banners by Mark Gelineau and Joe King
When Elinor discovers her fellow soldiers being massacred outside the city walls, she is a lieutenant in the Kings Army. She sets off on a mission to seek justice. Aederon is a world created by King and Gelineau that nods to earlier works of the genre while feeling completely original.
Broken Banners is a collection of war scenes that are masterfully structured and given meaning by the heroine’s magnificent motivations, which are balanced by a sinister foe.
Elinor is unique among fantasy characters. She is a strong, smart, and shrewd woman. She demonstrates her badassness rather than just telling us about it. I can’t help but feel that “Reaper of Stone,” the first novella in the series (I accidentally read this one first) would serve as a good introduction to Elinor for readers.
Some of her motivations, in my opinion, might be made clear in the first book. Despite having written a previous book in the series, King and Gelineau made the uncommon decision to give their characters the attention they deserved in a novella rather than defrauding the reader of a satisfying plot.
This is the second novella by these authors that I’ve read. It’s amazing how much material they manage to cram into such a quick-paced and compact piece. They give us a portion of a world’s history and characters that feel authentically embedded in it in under 90 pages. Elinor has a strong sense of loss and a desire for justice that she thinks belongs in her world.
Readers of all ages who enjoy fantasy should check out the work of King and Gelineau. Their stories are fast-paced, well-written, and full of the kind of intriguing characters and well-written action that fans adore.
About The Book
Slaughtered and left for crows, soldiers of the King’s Army lay dead in a field. A grim reminder: the king’s law ends at the gates of the capital.
Elinor fought for what she believed and now she is an outcast. No soldier will follow her. No officer will stand with her. Yet when she finds her brothers and sisters slaughtered, she cannot turn her back on them.
Long ago, they swore an oath. Not to the king, but to each other. And woe to those who break that bond.
The Review
Broken Banners
9.3 Score
Broken Banners continues the story of Elinor, King’s Reaper, and her loyal friend and royal engineer Conbert which began in A Reaper of Stone . But before they make their appearance, a new character (but an old friend of theirs) makes a rather dramatic introduction. Aldis finding himself in a very precarious situation; his plan of drugging a rival reaper and then besting him in a duel to obtain a lucrative “reaping” contract going awry, as his competition lies dead at his feet. The mysterious circumstances of the death leading to Aldis winding up before a Warden, where he expects jail time and the lose of all he was worked, schemed, and cajoled for. Then a new lease on life is extended to him — if he is willing to trade what little honor he has left to obtain it.
PROS
- Action-Packed Adventure.
- Great Continuation of the Series.
- Epic Fantasy!
- Great Characters.
CONS
- Dull And Boring.
- Terrible Ending.
- Long And Tedious.
- Very Disappointed.
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