New York: Ace, 2013-2018.
I do not usually binge read a series. So why did I binge Django Wrexler’s Shadow Campaigns series—THE THOUSAND NAMES, THE SHADOW THRONE, THE PRICE OF VALOR, THE GUNS OF EMPIRE, and THE INFERNAL BATTALION—in less than two months? And tell my husband he had to read it? I was more amenable because the whole series was available, and it was complete. (You know what they say in sports—your best ability is your availability.) The five books represented, at first glance, a clear, five-act arc. The series introduced me to a new subgenre I found intriguing because it wasn’t the usual medieval fantasy that I’ve been complaining about for years. (Could we at least make it to the Renaissance?) Most of all, I am thinking about converting my 18th century mysteries to gunpowder fantasy, and I wanted to see how a good author did it.
Django Wrexler came to writing from role playing games. He told Gabriela Periera on DIY MFA podcast (#314, 15 July 2020) that he got a little frustrated with by players not being interested in long-form storytelling. He also wrote fanfiction in college—at Carnegie Mellon where he did a double major in computer science and creative writing. The attraction of fan fiction was/is the built in audience.
THE THOUSAND NAMES begins the adventure. The Redeemers have backed the Vordanai Army in Khandar, the Colonials, up against the sea when new troops with a new commander arrive from Vordan. The acting commander, Senior Captain Marcus d’Ivoire, promotes Ranker Winter Ihernglass to sergeant because the new regiments need experienced NCOs. The captain, with the rest of the Colonials, is unaware that Winter is a woman masquerading as a man. Marcus d’Ivoire becomes executive officer to the brilliant, but enigmatic Count Colonel Janus bet Vhalnich Mieran. His orders are to put the traditional ruler back on the Vermillion Throne, quash the Redeemers, and defeat the Steel Ghost and the Desoltai allies of the Redeemers. Vhalnich is also searching for an ancient, magical artifact, the Thousand Names. An agent of the Concordat, a representative of the loathed and terrifying Duke Orlanko, also accompanies the army as it beats back the Redeemers. The agent keeps an eye on Vhalnich and is kept at arm’s length by Marcus d’Ivoire. At the same time, Winter Ihernglass demonstrates a real talent for leadership, showing courage under fire, and compassion for the Khandarai. She rescues a young priestess who warns her there is a great sorcerer in the Army. After defeating the Redeemers and putting down a mutiny in the Colonials, Vhalnich, d’Ivoire, and Ihernglass find the Thousand Names, but before they can take custody of the artifact, they must use its magic to save themselves.
Now the hero of Khandar, Janus bet Vhalnich returns to Vordan in THE SHADOW THRONE. He arrives well ahead of the Colonials and the Thousand Names, but with Marcus d’Ivoire and Winter Ihernglass in tow. The reason for his haste? The king is dying, and his only heir is the young Princess Raesinia. Vhalnich secures his place on the king’s council as a counterweight to Duke Orlanko, the head of the feared and hated Concordat, whose headquarters is the dreaded Vendre. Vhalnich makes Marcus d’Ivoire Captain of the Armsmen, Vordan City’s gendarmerie. This move gives Vhalnich eyes on the city and “troops” to use against the Concordat. It’s a move that allows Marcus the opportunity find out who killed his family and why, a gaping, still bleeding wound for him. At the same time, Vhalnich sends Winter Ihernglass out, dressed as a woman, to infiltrate a group of tough female dockworkers, the Leatherbacks, which brings Winter face to face with her personal nightmare, Jane Verity. Unbeknownst to all of them, Princes Raesinia has her own plans for pushing Orlanko from power. She uses her friends and allies within the university students to achieve her ends. After an extraordinary bank failure and the arrest of the voice of the people, the king’s death becomes the spark for the confrontation between Vhalnich and Orlanko; thus, a revolution is ignited.
In THE PRICE OF VALOR, the revolution isn’t going as planned. Yes, Orlanko and the Concordat have been pushed from power, but the Last Duke isn’t done or dead. He works openly with the source of his feared power—the Priests of the Black and their minions, the Penitent Damned. An outlawed branch of the Sworn Church, the Priests of the Black are alive and well and coming for Queen Raesinia of Vordan. The Deputies in the National Assembly are nearly useless, and real power has failen to the Directory, headed by Felix Maurisk, who feels personally betrayed by the queen. Vordan is surrounded by enemies—Borel maintains a blockade on Vordan’s shipping ports, Imperial Mursk readies its unwieldy forces, and Vhalnich is in the east, putting Desland to the revolution. Winter Ihernglass, now promoted colonel, is in command of a battalion, which includes both the Old Colonials and the Girls’ Own regiment, drawn at core from the Leatherbacks. However, her lover Jane Verity’s insecurities and fierce hatred of men threaten Winter’s command at every turn. Furthermore, the Penitent Damned are hunting Winter. Marcus d’Ivoire, also now a colonel, remains in the city where he is charged with keeping the queen alive, her enemies at bay, including Maurisk, and the Thousand Names out of the hands of the Black Priests. He fails. The Directory moves against Vhalnich, despite his string of stunning victories, attempting to remove him from command and arresting him. The stage is set for a countercoup and a battle for possession of Vordan City.
Vordan has turned the tide. Her international enemies seek peace whist her domestic enemies have been quashed. In THE GUNS OF EMPIRE, Vhalnich, who has become First Consul despite growing distrust of him, proves inimical to peace. He holds there can be no peace so long as the Priests of the Black remain in existence. He undercuts Queen Raesinia publicly to launch a campaign against Mursk. His goal? To take Elysium, the home of the Sworn Church and the Priests of the Black. Column-General Marcus d’Ivoire and Division-General Winter Ihernglass, whatever their misgivings, march into Mursk with Vhalnich—and Queen Raesinia. She still seeks peace at the first opportunity, and the Borelgai Duke of Brookspring concurs and keeps channels of communication open with her. Vhalnich is his usual, brilliant, enigmatic self, and Elysium has to pull out all its magic tricks to save itself—freakish winter weather in spring, tribal marauders, an assassination attempt on Vhalnich himself. All of these disasters combine to force Queen Raesinia to demand the Army retreat and return to Vordan. That retreat is almost worse than the advance; it’s a heavy, dispiriting burden for Marcus d’Ivoire. Winter and a handpicked team slog on to Elysium in hopes of undoing the magic draining Vhalnich’s life. They get to Elysium, only to discover the worst—the Beast of Judgment is real and has been loosed on the world.
Vhalnich recovers, but is dismissed as First Consul and sent into exile in Mieran. He never makes it. Instead, he is captured and incorporated into the Beast of Judgment. In THE INFERNAL BATTALION, Vhalnich declares himself Emperor of Vordan and begins to march on Vordan itself. Civl war looms. The government deems Marcus d’Ivoire too close to Vhalnich to take command of the army, and he has to serve under a punctilious fussbudget of a general with little battlefield experience. Even possessed, Vhalnich proves he is a brilliant strategist and tactician. Winter Ihernglass, reeling from all of her losses, remains deep in Mursk, struggling to get home with few resources, physical or emotional. She finally discovers a group of Mages who explain to her what magic is, where demons comes from, and why hers is so important. The Mages also help her on her way home—both the physical and the psychological home. She is further assisted by the Queen’s intelligencer, Sothe, who has her own ghosts to assuage. Whilst Marcus struggles with the Army, Raesinia goes to Borel to seek aid. The cost? Her marriage to the heir of Borel. She manages to wriggle out of that, with the help of the Duke of Brookspring, and bring sorely needed military aid to Vordan just in time to confront the Beast of Judgment with Vhalnich at the head of its army.
I admit that summarizing the plots of five novels, each of which runs to five or six hundred pages each, is both daunting and absurd. Certainly, I have done no justice to the richness of Wrexler’s world, which does bear strong, but not exact, parallels to Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. The striking number of named female characters, all in control of their lives and choices, is clear evidence we’ve parted company with ancien regime Europe. Still, the military stuff really matters, and he gets it right. Furthermore, because the military action matters so much, the magic is more personal, more subtle (DIY MFA podcast #314, 15 July 2020). The use of magic, which we see through various eyes, “demons” or “naath” that give people special talents is another clear indication that we’re not in Europe anymore. The series starts off more heavily weighted toward the history with little magic, yet the magic, the fantastical element, increases with each novel until the end when the fantastical eclipses the historical. It’s a well planned and executed series from that standpoint.
In my next blog review, I’ll discuss its strengths and weakness, which will tell you far more about me than about the series.