≡ PDF The Anvil of the World Kage Baker 9780765349071 Books

The Anvil of the World Kage Baker 9780765349071 Books

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The Anvil of the World Kage Baker 9780765349071 Books

This was such an interesting book. You find yourself immersed in a world of adventure of not 1 but 3 great tales. It all begins when Smith has to lead a caravan from his cousins town to Salesh-by-the-Sea. All along the way, they are met with difficulties of attacks and wrecks. Though, they finally make it to find that they failed to protect some cargo which gets them all fired. So, the team buys a hotel in Salesh and begin the business there. The next adventure deals with Smith and friends trying to find out who murdered a client staying at the hotel during a festival. And finally, the next tale takes Willowspear, Smith, and the Lord on a sea faring adventure to the anvil of the world where Smith will have to make a crucial decision.

At first, I didn't quite get how all these different cultures and storylines could mesh together without making me go insane. But slowly and surely they did. There was no huge love story or big battle scene. It was an easy going page turner where you laughed, cringed, sighed, and laughed some more. By the end of it, I loved many of the characters and wished to know more of their adventures. I was vaguely disappointed that there really was no big climax. Still, it was a good story with likeable characters that had you guessing at times with plenty to keep you turning the pages.


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The Anvil of the World Kage Baker 9780765349071 Books Reviews

Anvil of the World by Kage Baker was interesting. I didn't find it quite as engaging as her Company series, but it had it's moments. The book almost seems like three stories put together to make a novel. They all center around a character named Smith. The one problem with using Smith for a name is she had several characters all going by Smith. It was a bit confusing in the beginning until I got more familiar with the characters.

**Caution Possible Spoilers Ahead**

In the first segment Smith is the caravan master for a group heading from the farming town of Troon to the city of Salesh by the sea. He must safely shepherd the group through the wilderness fighting off assassination attempts as he goes.

In the second segment he's now a hotelier with the former cook from the caravan train as his chef in the restaurant potion. The various other workers for the caravan are now porters in his hotel. Smith must solve the mystery of a murder in his hotel before the end of the festival, or he'll have all sorts of trouble with the local authorities.

In the third segment Smith is wisked off to a monastery, by the lordling from the caravan, to rescue the lordling's sister.

Each story was interesting in it's own right, but as a whole the plot seemed disjointed. There didn't seem to be much of a connection from the beginning of the book to the end other than the use of the same characters. I suppose many find this sort of day in the life prose interesting. I prefer stories that are driven more by a single plot with various side plots adding depth to the characters. Ms. Baker's world building is sound, and each segment was enjoyable. I did find the end segment to be a bit preachy, but not so much as to detract from the book.
I picked this up cheap (free, if memory serves) for my , and it turned out to be one of the best low-cost pieces I've read. Baker creates an intriguing world with both fantasy and steampunk nuances, and populates it with a gaggle of interesting characters loosely organized into 2 unusual families. The book is really 3 individual but interconnected stories, and each is worth a read. The protagonist, known only as Smith, begins the tale as a man shrouded in mystery, and each subsequent tale adds pieces of information to his backstory, until in the end we discover his true heritage and he is faced with a monumental choice. Baker writes cleanly, with a nicely descriptive but spare style that fleshes out the story only as much as is necessary without bogging down the reader with unneeded clutter. I would definitely recommend this one - it's worth a read by anyone with a taste for good fantasy.
Kage Baker's first venture into fantasy, "Anvil of the World," is a funny but fragmented story full of religious fanatics, reformed demons, orgiastic festivals, verbal duels dead gossip columnists and a key that can destroy mankind. What's not to love?
Smith is a mystery man, an ex-assassin who has joined his cousin in a caravan going from dusty Troon to Salesh, with a sickly half-demon playboy Lord Ermenwyr and his beautiful nurse, a mysterious courier, the capable cook Mrs. Smith, a cold Yendri healer, a sulky runner, and a load of glass butterflies. As the caravan proceeds, they thwart attacks
When the caravan arrives (minus a few passengers), the butterflies are shattered and Smith and his friends have to open a hotel, only to have a celebrity guest croak in the middle of an orgiastic festival of free love. One verbal mage duel and a few surprises later, a Yendri sacred site is endangered, and a race war may break out -- with religious Yendri fanatics seeking out a mythical object that could wipe out all human beings.
When the first page casually mentions the "Festival of the Respiratory Masks," you can tell you've got a winner. This is not a tightly-written book, but it makes up for its lack of tightness with continuous humor and a cool invented world with interesting magic, some rather weird demons, and invented fantasy races whose "magic" is scientific in nature (the Yendri doc's explanation of infection is a hoot).
Fans of Terry Pratchett will find some similarities in "Anvil" Smith is somewhat reminiscent of Sam Vimes, and the humor is like a mildly racier version of Pratchett's. The verbal duel is pure genius, where two mages call each other names -- and magically transform one another ("I know you are, but what am I?!"). And like Pratchett, Baker manages to toss in a little social commentary -- religion, enviromental problems -- without being preachy.
The main problem lies in the structure. "Anvil" was originally three novellas, and so the story is divided into three main parts. What's wrong with that? Only the barest threads seem to tie the plotlines of the first two to the third climactic one. The dialogue is spectacular, especially when the demon siblings are bickering ("You can't tell us to shut up. We're DEMONS"; "You're going to break heads! You're going to rip off limbs! You're going to do amusing things with entrails!")
Smith is a likable guy, solid and essentially honest in nature. Mrs. Smith is a pleasant older woman whose respectable appearance hides her racy past; Willowspear and Burnbright are okay but not amazing. It's fussy, sickly, blunt, underage-playboy-mage-turned-junior-gigolo Lord Ermenwyr who really steals the show, whether he's resurrecting demons or whining about his food.
"Anvil of the World" is one of those books that begs for a sequel. While it's rather fragmented and a bit confusing, it's also too hysterically funny to not check out.
This was such an interesting book. You find yourself immersed in a world of adventure of not 1 but 3 great tales. It all begins when Smith has to lead a caravan from his cousins town to Salesh-by-the-Sea. All along the way, they are met with difficulties of attacks and wrecks. Though, they finally make it to find that they failed to protect some cargo which gets them all fired. So, the team buys a hotel in Salesh and begin the business there. The next adventure deals with Smith and friends trying to find out who murdered a client staying at the hotel during a festival. And finally, the next tale takes Willowspear, Smith, and the Lord on a sea faring adventure to the anvil of the world where Smith will have to make a crucial decision.

At first, I didn't quite get how all these different cultures and storylines could mesh together without making me go insane. But slowly and surely they did. There was no huge love story or big battle scene. It was an easy going page turner where you laughed, cringed, sighed, and laughed some more. By the end of it, I loved many of the characters and wished to know more of their adventures. I was vaguely disappointed that there really was no big climax. Still, it was a good story with likeable characters that had you guessing at times with plenty to keep you turning the pages.