"The Hammer" could shatter the perceptions of fantasy lovers in the Spokane area in the best possible way.
"The Hammer" is a fantasy novel in the sense that the characters live in a completely fictional world loosely based on Renaissance Europe. However, anyone expecting vampires, dragons or half-human protagonists with pointy ears might be surprised to see how grounded in reality this tale of revenge is compared to most popular fantasy works.
"The Hammer" is set in the same world as K.J. Parker's other books and novellas, such as the Fencer trilogy, but fortunately for a first-time reader the story works brilliantly as a stand-alone novel. Basically, the only things that people need to know are that the technology level is roughly comparable to Europe in the early 1700s and the members of the ruling class have some Italian influences in their culture.
K.J. Parker is something of an enigma. The author uses a pseudonym and his or her gender is uncertain enough to provoke debates among fans online. Whoever he or she really is, Parker brings a staggering amount of practical knowledge about how people would have worked and lived in the 18th century. Parker is an amateur carpenter, metalworker and blacksmith. This brings a high degree of realism to depictions of life in the struggling island colony where "The Hammer" takes place.
The first chapter of the book, called "Seven Years Before" introduces readers to protagonist Gignomai ("Gig") met'Oc as a precocious seven-year-old growing up on a farm. He is the youngest son in an exiled family of nobles who long to return to a country they simply call Home.
In the next chapter "("The Year When"), the book jumps forward in time and begins revealing more about Gig, his stern father and his brothers Luso and Stheno. Gig is extremely bright, but his father won't let him learn about anything that he doesn't consider appropriate, which leaves him without much to do other than read books from the family's remarkable library and sneak out to see his friend Furio who lives in a nearby town.
Readers also learn more about Luso, who spends most of his time either hunting in the forest near the family's estate or raiding local farms and stealing livestock with a band of ruffians who work for him. Something happens in that chapter that is only referred to as the Bad Thing and readers are left to wonder what exactly introduced darkness into Gig's fairly idyllic life.
The book jumps forward in time another seven years and things really get interesting. The quiet farmers and shopkeepers who uneasily share the colony with Gig's family have their quiet lives disturbed by a variety of thefts, murders and feuds that often seem to be at least partly Luso's fault.
Gig escapes from the met'Oc estate with vague plans about selling an expensive sword he was given and buying passage on a ship somewhere else. Then, he suddenly decides to stay and set up a factory where he can create tools and other items that are illegal for the colonists to make for themselves.
The government back Home has placed restrictions on what the colonists are allowed to own or make that are reminscent of restrictions the British Empire placed on colonists in North America. They aren't supposed to have weapons, ships or a long list of items they have to buy at artificially inflated prices from the local general store. Gig starts making tools and other useful things as he and his steadily growing crew of craftsmen teach themselves how to work with iron.
Along the way, Parker introduces fascinating supporting characters such as Furio's uncle Marzo who finds himself becoming the local mayor against his will and transforms into an effective leader, or the Island's natives who refuse to believe that the colonists really exist.
Parker complicates things by introducing two of Gig's distant relatives from back Home who seem to be behind some of the criminal activity. Parker keeps things maddeningly ambiguous by keeping his female cousin Pasi and her foppish brother Boulo away from most of the other characters so that nobody can be certain how involved they are in all the mayhem.
Everybody seems happy with Gig's success except for Furio who suspects he is up to something else. Parker gradually reveals that Furio was right and Gig wants revenge on his family for whatever the Bad Thing was.
Eventually, Gig brings his revenge plot to fruition with help from sympathetic locals after revealing why he is convinced that the rest of his family needs to die. But even though that brings many plot threads and recurring images to a satisfying close, the book isn't really about the fate of the met'Oc clan so much as it is about enjoying Parker's deft prose and amazing dialogue.
If the reader can't feel much sympathy for Gig and his downright Macciavellian behavior, he or she should still have a great time becoming immersed in Parker's world. The book should leave most people wanting to know more about the history alluded to throughout the book and why Gig's culture lost so much knowledge about 600 years before his time.
Even though "The Hammer" is fantasy, it feels more like really good historical fiction. The world building on display is nothing short of remarkable.
Fantasy buffs in the Spokane area may find themselves wishing there were more elves in the novel, but any serious fans of the genre will find themselve admiring the craft that went into the writing and all the subtle details that imply there is much more lurking beneath the surface of the story.
"The Hammer is available in the Spokane area from the Spokane County Library District, the Spokane Public Library and local retailers such as Hastings Entertainment.
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