I started Oath Sworn by Meg MacDonald years ago, for SPFBO, but despite enjoying it, I set it aside because it—sadly!—got cut, and I needed to finish those still in the running. As these things happen, time flew by, and I forgot about it for ages.
Now I finally got around to starting it over and finishing it, and as I expected, I should have done so earlier!
This is a gaslamp fantasy with plenty of politics, religions, intrigue—and airships!
This book does not hold your hand. It’s complex and the plot has a bit of a slow start, which I didn’t mind because I liked the tone and world enough to be hooked early on. You aren’t told everything, and either you catch things and keep going, or you’re gonna be lost. For me it worked really well, I felt I always knew enough to be engaged, but had enough mysteries and unknowns to want to read on and learn more!
The main characters are Aralt, who swore to protect the boy Lian with his life, but lost him three years ago, presumed dead. Lian suddenly reappears, but we’ve no idea what happened to him in the meantime, and he’s changed from the naive boy he was. He’s very mystical, sometimes young and insecure, but also at other times wise beyond his years and somewhat uncanny.
Aralt on the other hand had his own tragic past, which he’s not really dealt with. He’s decidedly not in the right state to have such a close connection to a kid, but there’s no choice in it for either of them.
Their complicated relationship, which was once formed on love and loyalty, is now strained by barely knowing each other anymore. The things they went through was really well handled, and gave great depth to the story.
I loved the Scottish inspired backdrop! The landscape, the kilts, some of the culture and the language, you ken?
The worldbuilding was well done, with a strong sense of setting and culture that enhanced the flavour and the world rather than feeling anachronistic. One character’s dialogue did descend into idiom a bit too much, to the point where I found it difficult to understand him. However, in a way that was not unlike how I feel when I’m talking to someone with a heavy dialect in real life, so while I would have preferred less tortuous linguistic inventiveness, it did at least feel realistic.
The world has plenty of cool ideas to discover, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing more of it in the next books!
Jennie Ivins