The Price of Valor

[sawyl]

Eagerly anticipating the third of Django Wexler's The Shadow Campaigns novel, I managed to restrain myself for a whole ten days before wolfing down The Price of Valor. As with the previous two books, the plot mix sorcery with Napoleonic era soldiering and French Revolutionary politics to very great effect: the series just seems to get better and better as it goes on — and it didn't exactly start from a low base.

Following on from the chaotic revolution of The Shadow Throne it finds the principal characters divided with Winter Ihernglass, still maintaining her male persona despite the admission of women to the army, off east with General Janus Vhalnich to fight the war against the Free Cities League while Marcus D'Ivoire and Queen Raesina in the Vordan capital where the queen attempts to maintain her tenuous position in the face of opposition from Johann Maurisk, the Chairman of the Directory of National Defence and de facto ruler of the country.

When an attempt is made on the life of Queen Raesina at a ceremony to demonstrate a new scientific means of execution, Raes quickly recognises the hand of Maurisk behind it and presents to retire to the country for her own safety. Using a cover identity, she joins forces with Marcus D'Ivoire and sets about digging out enough evidence to prove the Director's treachery to Assembly of the Deputies General.

Meanwhile in the east Winter Ihernglass, in command of the Fifth Volunteers also known as the Girl's Own, finds herself promoted to colonel when Janus Vhalnich reorganises the old army regiments to combine them with the new volunteers in order to create a more effective fighting force free of the conservative traditions of the aristocracy. Despite the struggle to integrate the two forces — and the on-going problem of Jane Verity, Winter's fiery girlfriend, who turns out to be a less-than-brilliant officer — the different forces manage to combine their fighting styles, helping the Army of the East to secure a couple of dramatic victories against the forces of the League.

Both situations are greatly complicated by the Penitent Damned, an elite order of the Sworn Church who have committed the greatest sin imaginable — joining with the spirit of a demon — in exchange for unique supernatural abilities that they deploy in support of their faith and in the interests of the Pontifex of the Black. Determined to recover the Thousand Names, recovered by Janus in the first book, the priests set about torturing and killing anyone who might be able to get them closer to their goal. They also take a keen interest in any other demon-haunted individuals they encounter, causing them to take dangerously close interests in both Raesina and Winter, both of whom were placed in situations where they were unable to avoid becoming hosts — the similarities and differences between their two experiences echo the differences between Janus and the priests of the Sworn Church.

As with previous books Wexler does an excellent job of ratcheting up the tension, suppling the reader with a handful of asides that provide just enough information to reveal a series of deeper agendas. Thus we get to see the Penitent Damned deploying themselves against Janus or using menace and manipulation to push Johann Maurisk into doing their bidding, much as they did with Duke Orlanko before the revolution, and see the suggestions of disagreements and personal differences within the ranks of the order.

The book also adds clue after clue to indicate that Janus Vhalnich is far more than merely a brilliant tactician and masterful planner who can see several steps ahead of everyone else. His charisma, as Jane despairingly points out to Winter, seems to sweep almost all before him, bringing out a loyalty that causes people to do what he wants even as they think they are following their own desires and interests. There are a couple of telling moments when Winter gets to see further into Janus' interior than usual: in a moment of stress, Janus suffers a unique loss of temper, showing, as with the Roston incident in the desert, that he isn't infallible or omniscient; then, later, he tries to explain to Winter why, at critical junctures, he doesn't issues orders but instead arranges for those around him to draw their own conclusions because his own perceptions are just too different and detached to allow him to make a judgement.

Obviously I've got my own theories about where Wexler may be going and I'm very much looking forward to discovering which, if any, turns out to be correct. Roll on the next book...