The Boy with the Porcelain Blade

The Boy with the Porcelain Blade by Den Patrick, The Erebus Sequence #1

Lucien de Fontein has grown up different. One of the mysterious and misshapen Orfano who appear around the Kingdom of Landfall, he is a talented fighter yet constantly lonely, tormented by his deformity, and well aware that he is a mere pawn in a political game. 

Ruled by an insane King and the venomous Majordomo, it is a world where corruption and decay are deeply rooted - but to a degree Lucien never dreams possible when he first discovers the plight of the 'insane' women kept in the haunting Sanatoria.

The Boy with the Porcelain Blade is another big debut release this year. So far 2014 has treated me well with several debuts. Gollancz has been steadily feeding the media with more and more information about this book and it has gotten me psyched about it. The Boy with the Porcelain Blade is written by Den Patrick, who has been an comic book editor, bookseller and has worked at Games Workshop. With such a background The Boy with the Porcelain could only turn out to be an awesome read, have you looked at the synopsis!? I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by many features that were shown in The Boy with the Porcelain Blade, Den Patrick paints his characters and world with delicate strokes. 

The story in The Boy with the Porcelain Blade is told from the perspective of the main protagonist that of Lucien de Fontein who is an Orfano. This of course translates into the English as an orphan, but not Lucien's background is perhaps a bit more complex than your typical orphan. Lucien and a few other are termed Orfano and they all share one thing in common, hideous disfigurements or deformities that set them apart from the other characters in the book, Lucien for example doesn't have any ears and he when he bleeds it isn't red. There are also other features such as poisonous spines an your arm, as well as an orfano who is brilliantly smart but cant talk. In the beginning I did find it hard to accept that yI just had to deal with them being Orfano, this aspect was very intriguing and interesting especially when you see how it influences each of the Orfano, they struggle with every day life and acceptance. Luckily later on in the book you start to learn more and more about this. The focus of the story is mostly on Lucien himself, as you have a present storyline alternated with a storyline taking place in the past, that shows just how difficult a life Lucien has when navigating through a treacherous world. 

Den Patrick starts his story with Lucien who is about to start the trial that will, if he wins, grant him a place in the ranks of House Fontein. Lucien is skilled with his blade and carries with him an ever fragile porcelain blade, that only true swordmasters are able to wield and win battles with. In winning this trial, Lucien is all of a sudden confronted by, you might say, one of his arch enemies of House Fontein Giancarlo di Fontein who changes the rules for his last duel, they have to be to the death and at one point he shatters Lucien's delicate blade. Thereby igniting Lucien's passion in a flash of rage and Lucien does something unforgettable that in the end also shatters his one and only dream and there is nothing left for Lucien has to flee. This is only the start of the book and after several revealing from the past storyline you get to see that Lucien has been navigating through a thick political web all his life and that he is starting to broach and put one and one together until there is only one inevitable encounter remaining...

Character wise I found that Lucien was a well constructed and interesting character to read about. Of course this is owed to the fact that he is an Orfano, which marks him as special. But when you look further than this and relate all the past events that Lucien has gone through, you can see why he acts the way he does. He questions his existence. He is smart, and mostly takes in every action, ponders it and reacts. But there are also the scenes in which Lucien doesn't think about his actions but acts on his emotions. It's part by these traits that I found his character very likeable, he might not seem human on a few fronts but does react that way. Lucien has and still is constantly bullied by one of his fellow Orfano and one Superiore of House Fontein, but Lucien knows he is good and gladly takes on any challenge that is thrown at him. Lucien might come over as a very confident young boy, but I think deep down he just wants to be accepted and gain the acknowledgement that he deserves, thereby putting on a bit of an "face" to show that he is confident, but deep down we all know a different tale. Besides Lucien there are a few different characters that you get to meet along the way, many of them are fellow Orfano like Anea the clever girl, DIno the boy that cries blood tears and Golia the bully who has poisonous spines on his arms, but also the Majordomo of the King. These secondary character did take a place in the background of the story but they all feel well developed, their lives are closely intertwined with that of Lucien. I was impressed with how layered Den Patrick made Lucien's character especially as you came to understand more and more of the dynamics of the world, the political game that was played only further build on Lucien character. 

Some of you might think what terrible faith has struck these Orfano? Lucien has deformities and the other Orfano's as well, how, what, why and how did that happen. Well this part isn't really clear, like I mentioned in the beginning you have to accept it for what it is. In this Den Patrick played a terrific game with my thoughts, everyone who reads about this aspects and the world of Landfall itself will start to wonder how this all came to be. The Boy with the Porcelain Blade has some scary, eerie and grotesque scenes that make this book for me one-of-a-kind, there are bound to be other books that might have used this element, but I haven't read them so what Den Patrick has done to his story made me very excited and part creeped out by the vividness in how it was all told into the fine detail. I still got this picture in my mind of Dino crying. Likewise what I have said in the parts above, these deformities really helped shape the characters, it's though for them to live with it but makes them and the story hauntingly captivating. Added to this were my thoughts on the world itself, from several of the words used in the story, you can make out that there is a definite medieval Italian influence going on, but not directly falling into a setting like the Three Musketeers, Den Patrick cleverly build up his world from different elements blending them nicely into an interesting setting, the ending even felt a bit sci-fi for me. It did feel that the story was centered around more on the characters than the world itself, there might have been a compromise between world building and building the characters, I do have to say that Den Patrick still impressed me with his interesting world and it did feel like I learned a lot. This was owed to the fact that Lucien's story was also told with flashbacks and this is the part where a lot of the dynamics were shown. Very neatly done. 

With The Boy with the Porcelain Blade Den Patrick shows that he has a vivid imagination that he bring to show in many different sometimes bright and often darkened colors. He is of to a good and solid start with The Erebus Sequence. There might be a bit of a small pacing issue with the flashbacks that could have transitioned smoother, but this is a minor detail and the rest of the story was just pretty amazing for me. Amongst many of the existing fantasy book currently published Den Patrick makes an original and exciting entrance. The characters are well executed and fleshed out that you, as soon as you read about them, will grow attached too. This especially comes to show by what tough and corrupted world they live in. I am definitely in for more stories set in this intriguing world, Den Patrick is off to a good start, a true gem in the making!