In The Shadow of Their Dying by Michael R Fletcher and Anna Smith Spark
I would like to thank Grimdark magazine for a copy of this novella in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Grimdark Magazine
Published – Out Now
Price – Hardback £15.99 Paperback £8.99 kindle ebook £3.92
The third best assassin. A second-rate mercenary crew. One terrifying demon.
As Sharaam crumbles under siege, a mercenary crew hires an assassin to kill the king. For Tash, it's a chance at glory-to be the best blade in the dark Sharaam has ever known. For Pitt, it's a way to get his cutthroat crew past the Tsarii siege and out of this hellhole, maybe even with some gold to their name. For Iananr the Bound One, it's a dream of shadows and human blood.
I’ve a soft spot for Grimdark. It can and often rightly be criticised when its delivered lazily just pure violence and little else. But good grimdark (and all sub-genres have their great and poor examples) can pointed in its criticism of the classic idea of war, challenge the stereotypes of fantasy and occasionally be funny and despairing at the dame time. A great example of this is the novella In The Shadow of Their Dying by Anna Smith Spark and Michael R Fletcher that seamlessly combines Grimdark’s dark cynical humour with a poetic tragic view of the futility of human greed to create a thoroughly enjoyable read.
Tash is an arrogant young Assassin (third best) hired to kill his own King as a new way to end the war/siege that has gripped the city of Sharaam under attack from the Tsarii. He creeps in and finds a young woman who also happens to be a possessed dangerous demon who stops him. Tash flees and the demon Iananr follows. Tash’s hirer Pitt and his gang of mercenaries and his own employer a spy await news. Sharaam is about to have all these forces combine and a dreadful night is about to begin for everybody.
A bad day at the office doesn’t cover how bad things are about to get for everybody in this story. Everything escalates and it’s a thoroughly enjoyable and yet at the times dark, bittersweet tale that doesn’t glorify war but makes you understand why it happens and the trouble it endless causes. You’ll laugh; you’ll care for people you shouldn’t, and you may find happy endings do not come to the best people.
Central characters are Tash – a cocky, stupid, arrogant and selfish person you one minute dislike and then want to help. In a situation too deep for him. Pitt his employer is the cynical brainy squad leader veteran who perhaps is in love with the spy paying him. Fletcher and Spark have a great assembly of characters who feel archetypal and then we get layers to them. They’re mainly here for the pay and the secret that they like doing this work. . My favourite human character is the warrior Gerti who we find as much as does this also has a husband and children she cares about but would never tell them to their faces. These are not characters you’d ever want to be in a room with but they’re fascinating to see as the situation escalates which way they’ll go. It is I assume you never going to be quiet.
The standout character though is the demon Iananr. We get regular chapters from her point of view and her story. These sections are filled with gorgeous dark poetical language that is visceral, scary and eerily beautiful at the same time. How she got here; what she wants and her idea of freedom is a fascinating otherness that makes her quite compelling. We also see there is nothing that can stop her most of the time and her actions are a lever of brutality no human can match. How her tale unfolds is the most unexpected and yet quite Grimdarkly beautiful.
Now the plot is racing. From a simple failed assassination, we move to shady bars; barricades and violence ensues. Just when you think a demon and traitorous mercenaries is enough then on top…well lets say hordes of the undead but not perhaps as we tend to expect..I’ll leave it at that. There are moments of humour, lots of violence and yet also a pointed look at how these warring peoples simply fighting because that’s what they want for themselves aren’t that different. The circle turns and things move on and perhaps really very little gained in the process. Of course, humans being human may still mess things up even then.
If I was to imagine this story it’s the characters chasing each other on the edge of a falling blade about to hit a very sharp rock. The outcome for everything is uncertain and just possibly if everyone stopped being selfish, they’d have had a better day, but life is often not like that. It’s a tale that reminds us Grimdark may no longer be the bright shiny new darling of the genre but is now an established evolving sub-genre that clearly is not dead yet and is just winking at us covered in blood…and intestines. Grimdark is the whisper that humans can mess things up if we are not careful just as much as Cosy fantasy whispers that we can do better. Personally, I think the world needs to hear both. Highly recommended!
