CAIRNS BOOK REVIEW: Royal Exile by Fiona McIntosh (Harper Voyager)

All hail Fiona McIntosh, queen of swashbuckling fantasy.

Royal Exile is the first in her new series The Valisar Trilogy and it’s as full of depth, colour, honour, romance, blood, guts and glory as McIntosh’s previous works.

A ravening barbarian lord has come out of the East, rampaging through the countryside taking off left, right and centre.

Only one country remains, the richest and most powerful realm of Penraven.

Unfortunately the country has been so rich and so powerful for so long that its king has become complaisant.

Never believing the barbarian hordes are capable of breaching their defences, the King and his councillor leave it until the last minute to try to save something from the disaster being visited upon them.

The King’s son, a mere child, beloved and protected heir to the throne, is handed over to a trusted knight, and the king and queen walk out to their doom.

What saves McIntosh’s work from ordinariness is her distinctly dark way of looking at life.

It’s not enough that the boy-prince sees his land taken; he must also witness the death and betrayal of his parents.

The horrific experience sets the steel in his backbone, giving him a reason to fight on.

The prose is tight, the dialogue realistic, the action fierce and the realism of this fantasy world solid.

McIntosh’s true skill is to immerse her readers in a world so finely detailed that we look up expecting to see swords and magic in our lounge room.

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