Blood of Ambrose by James Enge

It's difficult to proceed in reviewing a novel that has been so well-reviewed as James Enge's BLOOD OF AMBROSE. It is funny and frightening and gripping. It is a page-turner in a way that most books are not. I read it in a couple days because I couldn't stop. What's it like? It reminded me a bit of Zelazny's Amber books -- I'm sure the comparsion has been made elsewhere -- with the powerful, ancient, de Medici-esque family, the immense back story which works seamlessly into the ongoing front plot. The language is exactly right, and yet Enge has a way of slipping into ... well, in most fantasy novels of this broad type, I'd say a character telling another character "We're screwed" would be out of place, but not so here.

The world is fully developed. The appendices cover geography, religion, even the complex three-moon astronomical system. I haven't read enough of the associated short stories to know if the background so well-detailed is derived from those stories, or if it's all in Enge's head, but the book left me yearning (quickly) for the sequel, THE CROOKED WAY. (There are numerous Morlock Ambrosius short stories available for free online. Here's a link: http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2009/05/interview-with-james-enge-interviewed.html).

Ah, Morlock Ambrosius. The most original character I've read in many a moon. Part Elric (he has a damned sword), part Corwin (though without the amnesia), part Merlin (actually, Merlin's in the book too). Exile, sorcerer, dry drunk...how many alcoholic heroes exist in S&S? Does anyone know? And it *matters* in these stories. (See "The Red Worm's Way" in the anthology RETURN OF THE SWORD.)

And the boy king. A hint of THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, a hint of fairy tale. A bildungsroman. It works.

I like it. Buy it. Read it.