I received a free copy of this book, and I read it as part of the judging effort for the SFINCS3 novella competition. I’m part of Team TBR, but these thoughts are my own and do not reflect the final rating of the team.
The Weaver & The Wyrm
By Ben Galley
My main issue with this book is that I’m not part of its target audience. That’s unfortunate, because if I were, I’d probably have enjoyed it immensely. The pacing is tight, the world building is solid, and there’s plenty of story without the book feeling rushed or compressed.
The Weaver & The Wyrm is action-packed grimdark fantasy, and while that’s not what I normally seek out, I also don’t have any objections to it as such. In fact, it was quite nice to read something this close to the fantasy books I grew up reading. The book doesn’t try to subvert expectations or explore some obscure aspects of the human condition. It’s just a straight up adventure story with action, magic, and monsters, and it does that really well.
Where the book misses the mark for me is the main character. Farden, a mage with some serious combat capabilities, feels like he’s written for readers who like to identify with a jaded, badass loner who kicks ass and doesn’t take names, but who still has a righteous heart hidden deep under that stone cold surface.
In my twenties and thirties, I absolutely adored such characters, and I devoured the books about them.
These days, stories like this don’t speak to me in the same way.
What I’ll whine about
The prose. The book is written in a style that makes me think of hard boiled, noir detective stories, and it leans heavily into the grimdark-ness of the setting. The world is cruel, dirty, and miserable, and every part of it is described in rich, elaborate detail.
Unfortunately, I feel like the story tries a little too hard to show how awful and dreary everything is, and it becomes difficult for me to take it seriously. A few times I found myself questioning whether the story is poking fun at itself, or if there’s some joke I don’t get.
What I’ll gush about
Nostalgia. This story definitely scratches the nostalgia itch for me. This is fantasy of the kind I used to love, back in the day, before I even knew what grimdark was. It’s a great piece of escapism, and it’s quite the feat to pack so much world building and sense of place into a novella.
Final Worlds
The Weaver & The Wyrm is an action packed grimdark novella with some heavy nods to classic fantasy.
