The Lascar's Dagger: Book 1 of The Forsaken Lands

What would you do to gain freedom? Would you kill? Would your plot to escape an appalling future involve despicably tricking and using people who profess to love you?These and other profound questions are intrinsically linked in this multi-layered tale woven by Glenda Larke. There is also an interesting world building and magical system – reminiscent of other excellent fantasy women writers such as Margaret Weis and Katherine Kerr.Regarding the writing, I found it a little difficult to get used to the writing style, mainly the inner monologues in the beginning. At the start I also found the two main female characters grumpy and always suspicious and really not very likable. I then asked myself: what would be my world view if I were facing the same circumstances, be it from a princess’s or handmaiden’s point of view? I certainly would not be saintly and would be irritated and bad-tempered when considering what fate/God/cards had given me. What these women were doing and indeed, what I believe the author is showing is that we do what we can to make the best of our material conditions. Other people may view our actions as being wrong or immoral; they however, are not in our shoes.I love authors who write thrilling fantasy that allows me to escape from the quotidian grind of the mundane. I also love authors who combine this aspect with questions that make me think.Highly recommended.

Interesting and gripping with a hero that's not amazing but flawed ... Sometimes I wanted to slap him!! Will def read other books by this author

Enjoyable fantasy. A young priest and spy, drawn into royal intrigue and politics, is granted an unusual gift of magic by the country's god. A young Lascar sailor from the far away spice islands, is sent on a quest to retrieve stolen magic feathers, which are capable of keeping their owner under their thrall. He and the priest have to unite in finding the feathers and returning them to their island. However, that's just part of the story. A very good, interesting adventure fantasy.

I’ve been a fan of Glenda’s for quite a few years, I love the way she brings amazing fantasy worlds to the fore and adds not only cultures but individual characters that make the world a wonderful place to discover as they go about their quest. Here in her latest book is a story that opens into something that is not only imaginative but will feed the soul of fantasy readers the world over. Its compelling, it has some great concepts within and with a magic system that makes organic sense all round generates something special that you can get behind.That said however there are problems with this book, first of all it is quite slow with a pace that never really gets going apart from around the principle character and when you add to this supporting cast members feel rather flat left me feeling a little cheated. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy a lot of the elements within however if the second title doesn’t fix these errors I won’t be reading the third.

Lascar's dagger took a while to get into the story line. Once the story was well established, this became a book well worth reading. Good adventures that seemed real. Good read.

I have loved every book she has written , not disappointed with this one either

Just coming to the end of the book and I think its great. Good characters, interesting situations, just keeps me wanting to turn those pages.

GOOD BOOK

Great reading for a great price.

Whilst this seems to start out at a slower pace than most glenda larke books, it continually builds and the world becomes enthralling.The characters have real development and the ominous nature of the story forms a backdrop where we get to see the characters thoughts and emotions.The magic of the world feels natural against the setting Glenda creates.

No one builds a world like Glenda Larke. She hasn't just created one new culture here, she's created several; and while you can recognize hints of places like the Netherlands and Southeast Asia, they aren't identical. Most importantly, they've got their own magic. Of course, Ms. Larke's characters are no less wonderful than her world. No one is one-note, no one's all good, no one's all bad, everyone has a motivation all their own, which makes every point of view exciting to read.

‘The Lascar’s Dagger’ by Glenda Larke is the first in The Forsaken Lands trilogy, a book I’ve been excited for ever since I heard of it, as Glenda Larke is one of my favourite authors.Saker seems to attract trouble, which makes life interesting when you are a spy, acting under cover as though he’s simply a priest of the Va-Faith (as compared to that of The Way of the Oak and Flow, the competing religion in their lands). He acts directly for the Pontifect of the Va-Faith, carrying out orders and travelling the lands as so may be required. It is on these travels when he is wounded by a lascar’s blade by a sailor youth when they bump into each other in hiding… and from then on, the blade seems to leave the youth, and instead follow Saker around, wherever he may travel.The youth is known as Ardhi, who seeks revenge for something disastrous that happened to his people. This also takes him across the world, and his path crosses Saker’s more than once.We also have Sorrel Redwing, who is on the run after finally setting herself free from her violent husband, but now also leaves her at the mercy of spoilt Princess Mathilda, whom she turns to as a servant. Sorrel is probably the most complicated and interesting character of the novel, and also acts as the turning point for the novel in many areas of the plot.Throughout this novel we have a complicated blend of politics, religion, magic and allegiances, with sharp and deep worldbuilding that takes care to show the differences between lands. This gives the novel depth, as some other fantasy novels either show you only the one land, or all the lands seem rather similar. In this novel you see what is allowable in one region, and not allowed in anther. Glenda Larke’s travels show in this work – she lived in Malaysia for several decades, which is evident in this series especially.What I loved especially was the slight ways Larke subverted tropes within this work – like how within her society, there was more gender equality seen within the religious order, than throughout the rest of the world. We see this most with Sorrel especially, and the unfairness she faced, which drove her to what she did at the start of the novel.The pacing throughout this novel is comfortable. It eases you into where the full story begins, and throughout keeps the same speed, showing all characters right when needed, so you’re never left wishing you saw most of a certain character or feeling bored or like it’s dragging when it changes to follow another character.Overall this is one of Glenda Larke’s best books – though her Watergivers series is damn excellent also. I highly recommend both series.The next book is the series is currently titled The Dagger’s Path, and is due out in 2015.

Même si on n'est pas au niveau des maîtres de la Fantasy, cette histoire sympathique est bien construite et agréable à lire. Les personnages ne sont pas trop stéréotypés, et la jolie princesse par exemple est plutôt roublarde et tête-à-claques. L'histoire de magie venue d'îles lointaines se double d'un autre mystère : pourquoi les jumeaux du royaume de Lowmeer sont-ils considérés comme diaboliques? Saker, notre charmant héros ecclésiastique, s'intéresse tout d'abord à la question par curiosité intellectuelle, jusqu'à ce que cette histoire le touche de très près.Les tomes 1 et 2 sont à lire à la suite, c'est une seule et même histoire (le tome 2 s'arrêtant d'ailleurs en plein suspense...).