Kalanon’s Rising is the story of a Brannon Kesh, The Bloodhawk, veteran and King’s Champion, who simply wants to be a physician - a counterbalance to his life of killing. Unfortunately for Brannon, his legend far outweighs his own desires, and it is not long into the book that he is drafted by the powers that be to solve a murder.

I was excited to read a fantasy mystery as I can think of few books that fit that bill outside of the Dresden Files, and in fact this book does remind me of Butcher’s work in a lot of instances aside from the lack of an Urban Fantasy setting.

Setting

Kalanon’s backdrop is the typical medieval Europe fantasy land. There’s a King, there was a war, and the kingdom of Kalanon is still recovering from the conflict with its neighboring Nilar. The story largely takes place in the capital city for the first half of the book, and then shifts to a more rural, small village locale for the back half. This is all fine. There is nothing unique nor wrong with this setting, and it serves its purpose stoically. What is lacking here is any type of world-building. Kalanon could be nearly any kingdom in any book a fantasy reader has ever read.

Where some world-building does happen is in the shadowy or mystical societies that Smith has populated. There is a group of nature-worshipping druid-types who can control evil spirits and turn them into slaves, in essence, through the use of the dead. There is a hidden cadre of assassins who have some relevance to the plot but seem present more to foreshadow themselves in subsequent novels than to retain any major importance in this one. These facets of the book are interesting, but again, they are not particularly unique to fantasy. Smith’s Risen, those corpses possessed by evil spirits, are novel in their origin, but that’s about it. Again, this all works fine, but never captivates.

Plot

As Kalanon’s Rising is a mystery, the plot is the real lynchpin of the book. Mysteries can get by on weaker characterization if their central pivot is strong enough. Oddly enough, Smith reverses this typical situation because while I found his plot fairly predictable, I enjoyed his characters enough that I was willing to see it through. Obviously, this is a problem in a mystery novel, whether it’s fantasy or not. The secrets here are thinly veiled, and I wager there aren’t many who didn’t see to the heart of the book’s shadows fairly early on. It is difficult to explain just how the plot is weak without actually spoiling the entire thing, but suffice to say that point of view is incredibly key to a work like this. Smith has several different PoV characters - almost all of the central characters get a few chapters even if Brannon has the main viewpoint. I think the novel would have been better served had Smith chosen to set the entire thing in his main character’s vision.
Even aside from the mystery, the story leaves some things to be desired. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that the eventual reveal is disappointing and petty, and had it not been a mystery, this is a story that would have been very rote and typical.

Characters

I liked Sir Brannon Kesh quite a bit. He reminds me of a Geralt in a lot of ways - a world-weary soldier who is tired of humanity’s bullshit and just wants to do his job. He is also aged, and as I age myself I find I appreciate the older protagonists more. This may be a personal bias. The cast is rounded out by Draeson, a 300-year old mage who recently found himself a young body with all of the troubles that a new vessel brings, Ylani, the Nilar Ambassador to Kalanon whose position is about as precarious as the peace hammered out years ago, Ula, one of the aforementioned druid types who I thought would be more important to the events of the book but who I largely forgot about until she spoke up once in a while, Taran, a priest with shady talents in alchemy, and Jessamine, Brannon’s new physician apprentice. They blend fairly well, but I often found the common problem of Smith needing a character to talk every once in a while to ensure the reader that they still existed. I’m not entirely sure every character was necessary to the plot, which can be problematic.

I also liked Ylani, and I think Smith does well in her characterization. She is the fish out of water in the story, and her customs and attire make her stand out - an attention to detail that I appreciated. There is a spark between her and Brannon, but it’s subtle and never gets in the way of the plot. It manage to fill a kind of femme fatale trope common in Noir fiction, but isn’t ridiculous in the way that that often can be. She also does not smoke an elongated cigarette.

Parting Words

Kalanon’s Rising was a mixed bag for me, but overall I enjoyed it and I think it is one of the better finalists. It does not win the contest for me by any stretch, but the writing is well done, the plot and characters engaging enough, and it presents a good package even if the mystery is weak. I would recommend it to anyone interested in fantasy mystery, which is a shallow pool and Kalanon’s offers enough that’s different from the rest of the genre that it is worth reading. That I am even considering reading the sequel, and I am considering it, is testament enough that I liked it because that is rare for me!