The Barbed Coil By J.V. Jones

I've read a few of J.V. Jones' books before, and I've had a generally good impression. This one interested me; unusually for a fantasy novel of its type, it's a single standalone volume, which is always convenient, especially to someone like me who often buys books second hand. Anyway. I should give a plot overview... but like a lot of my favourite stories, this has two different ways you can look at the plot.

The most obvious is this is the tale of the kingdom of Garizon, and its king, Izgard, the wearer of the barbed coil. Garizon is a warlike place, and with the advent of a new king their eyes turn to the west and to the rich coastal provinces that were once part of their empire, long ago. Invasion follows, and the heroic actions of Tessa, Ravis and Camron are all that stands between the port of Bay'Zell and oblivion...

But I don't really like to think of it entirely that way. This is the story of three people; Tessa, Ravis and Camron, drawn together against an impending invasion. Through the book, each wrestles with their own past and present before realising their own faults, but also their own strengths, and uses their talents together in a grand finale.

Perhaps both of those are a little too grand, and both in some ways miss the point, but... I really enjoyed this book. It's a good story in both its "action" side and its character development. The world is interesting and feels correct; it has heroes and villains and ordinary people who make the best of what they have. None of the characters are too heroic, none of them are so skilled as to be silly. There's some lovely bits of interplay between the characters; the jealousy of Tessa, the temper and subsequent regret of Izgard. Some of my favourite parts were the parts about Angelique, Izgard's wife; she's childlike, and the sections about her feel right... they're written more simply and you get a real feeling of how she works. The characterisation in this book is fantastic.

More than just the people feel right too: the mechanics of the inevitable magic are interesting; I'll not go into details, but they're fairly unusual. I like the fact the magic is underplayed regarding its power - we're not talking wizards on high towers flinging spells at each other, but rather subtle interactions by people working behind closed doors. I also like the universe J.V. Jones has created; there's actually a lot of potential to other tales not just in the main world, but also in others with some of the same plot devices (for example, what happens to the barbed coil at the end?)

Most books have their bad sides, and this does too; like many books, it has influences or similarities with other books. So, for the first half of this book, I felt like I was reading Lord Foul's Bane, with Tessa as a slightly nicer version of Thomas Covenant, drawn into a parallel world by someone else's actions, and magically cured of her illness that dominates her life. It wasn't until quite some way in that I began to feel that the book differed enough to fail to irritate me. Perhaps if I had never read the other book, this would have been a 9... but as it is... it was just too similar to really feel great.

But. I don't want to end on that note. This book was really very good. Wonderfully written, great story, great characters, and something I'd very heartily recommend.

8/10