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Arts of Dark and Light #0.2
The Wardog's Coin
The Wardog's Coin consists of two stories set in the epic fantasy world of A Throne of Bones. The title story is about a human mercenary company which finds itself in the employ of an elf king. Outnumbered and under attack from an army of orcs and goblins, the Company discovers it is no longer fighting for pay, but for survival. The second story, Qalabi Dawn, features a young tribal chieftain, Shabaka No-Tail, who seeks to find a way to unite the fractious tribes of The People before the implacable legions of the Dead God invade the desert to carry out their crusade of total extermination.
85 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 26, 2013
8 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Vox Day
66 books450 followers Theodore Beale does much of his writing under the pseudonym Vox Day. Three-time Hugo Award nominee Vox Day writes epic fantasy as well as non-fiction about religion, philosophy, and economics. His literary focus is military realism, historical verisimilitude, and plausible characters who represent the full spectrum of human behavior. He is a professional game designer who speaks four languages and a three-time Billboard top 40 recording artist.
He maintains a pair of popular blogs, Vox Popoli and Alpha Game, which between them average over 20 million annual pageviews. He is a Native American and his books have been translated into ten languages.
He is the Lead Editor of Castalia House, and is also, with Tom Kratman, the co-creator of the military science fiction anthology series, RIDING THE RED HORSE.
He maintains a pair of popular blogs, Vox Popoli and Alpha Game, which between them average over 20 million annual pageviews. He is a Native American and his books have been translated into ten languages.
He is the Lead Editor of Castalia House, and is also, with Tom Kratman, the co-creator of the military science fiction anthology series, RIDING THE RED HORSE.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 4, 2014
This ebook contains two novelettes set in the world of Vox Day's epic fantasy Throne of Bones. The world is an interestingly derivative fantasy setting in which a Christian Roman empire vies with elves, orcs, and cat-people. This is the sort of worldbuilding one might suspect was born in a fantasy RPG campaign, and that suspicion might be reinforced by the fact that the heart of this novella's two stories are battles between two fantasy armies with some magical tricks and clever tactics used to decide the outcome. Yet it did not read particularly like a novelized fantasy RPG (I've acquired a sensitivity to that sort of writing), and in fact I found both stories quite entertaining.
Vox Day's writing is not bad - it is a bit florid at times, but that's a common failing of epic fantasy writers. The descriptions of the environment and the armies make it easy to visualize the action, which sometimes zooms in on the individual participants (the main characters) and then pans out to show how the overall battle is progressing.
The first of the stories, The Wardog's Coin, is a fairly standard tale of a mercenary company finding itself up against suicidal odds. In this case, they are facing an orc army, fronted by goblin spear-carriers (literally) and backed by giant war-pig riders. The main character is a veteran sergeant in the company, chosen for an infiltration mission to plant a magical surprise in the orc camp that will even the odds.
The second story takes place in a different part of the same world. Here, the POV alternates between that of a Roman commander who raised a couple of Legions to go conquer some primitive tribesmen, in what he thought would be an easy and career-enhancing campaign, and his opponent, the leader of a tribe of shapeshifting cat-people who are defending their desert homeland against the numerically and technologically superior humans. Once again, there is some individual action (and more politics, both on the Roman and the cat-people sides), followed by the big battle.
Nothing here is terribly original, but the writing is competent, the worldbuilding is interesting enough to anyone who is a fan of epic fantasy, and there is reasonable attention paid to characterization within the limits of two short stories that are essentially descriptions of battles between fantasy races. If you like epic fantasy that's heavy on the military action, this isn't a bad little novella.
Vox Day's writing is not bad - it is a bit florid at times, but that's a common failing of epic fantasy writers. The descriptions of the environment and the armies make it easy to visualize the action, which sometimes zooms in on the individual participants (the main characters) and then pans out to show how the overall battle is progressing.
The first of the stories, The Wardog's Coin, is a fairly standard tale of a mercenary company finding itself up against suicidal odds. In this case, they are facing an orc army, fronted by goblin spear-carriers (literally) and backed by giant war-pig riders. The main character is a veteran sergeant in the company, chosen for an infiltration mission to plant a magical surprise in the orc camp that will even the odds.
The second story takes place in a different part of the same world. Here, the POV alternates between that of a Roman commander who raised a couple of Legions to go conquer some primitive tribesmen, in what he thought would be an easy and career-enhancing campaign, and his opponent, the leader of a tribe of shapeshifting cat-people who are defending their desert homeland against the numerically and technologically superior humans. Once again, there is some individual action (and more politics, both on the Roman and the cat-people sides), followed by the big battle.
Nothing here is terribly original, but the writing is competent, the worldbuilding is interesting enough to anyone who is a fan of epic fantasy, and there is reasonable attention paid to characterization within the limits of two short stories that are essentially descriptions of battles between fantasy races. If you like epic fantasy that's heavy on the military action, this isn't a bad little novella.
January 4, 2016
This is what I wrote in 2013 when I first read these stories.
"I found one glaring problem with these stories. Not enough of them. And please hurry up on the second book in the Thrones series."
Vox don't let us down, we need a follow up to that terrific book!
"I found one glaring problem with these stories. Not enough of them. And please hurry up on the second book in the Thrones series."
Vox don't let us down, we need a follow up to that terrific book!
August 19, 2013
The first story could have been a paint by numbers battle between the Orcs and Elves with their human mercenaries. It wasn't, instead it was a satisfying blend of combat using different tactics and styles of the different forces involved, the human aspect of a company of mercenaries, a dash of magic used tactically as a weapon instead of a thinly veiled deus ex machina solution, and the chaos when two opposing armies clash, each with different strengths, weaknesses and plans. Vox handles the frontline perspective that transmits the chaos of an armed engagement but done in a manner that did not devolve into some sort of poorly edited shaky-cam movie scene. He limits the reader's viewpoint to the sergent, the aftermath is where we gain an understanding of what had happened where the sergent was engaged elsewhere in the battle. Additionally, I appreciated the character depictions of the sergent and the capitaine. It's clear that both men are intelligent and experienced in war, and the sergent wasn't educated much at all while the capitaine was. It's attention to details like that which make these stories such a pleasure to read for me.
The second story is about the desert cat people and Vox's story telling skills really shine. The cat people are alien, and the reader is quickly thrown into their world and left to figure out meaning and significance. Vox does it right, everything starts making sense quickly, and by the end of the short story the cat people are understandable, and I have to admit, I was rooting for them. The human enemy isn't some cardboard cut out villain, twirling his mustache and rubbing his hands and chuckling evilly. His motivations and desires are human in nature combined the results of his cautious planning provide a satisfactory ending.
As stand alone stories, they are good, but properly placing them in the world of Selenoth makes them solid contributors to Vox's growing legendarium.
The second story is about the desert cat people and Vox's story telling skills really shine. The cat people are alien, and the reader is quickly thrown into their world and left to figure out meaning and significance. Vox does it right, everything starts making sense quickly, and by the end of the short story the cat people are understandable, and I have to admit, I was rooting for them. The human enemy isn't some cardboard cut out villain, twirling his mustache and rubbing his hands and chuckling evilly. His motivations and desires are human in nature combined the results of his cautious planning provide a satisfactory ending.
As stand alone stories, they are good, but properly placing them in the world of Selenoth makes them solid contributors to Vox's growing legendarium.
February 11, 2014
The Wardog 's Coin by Vox Day is an interesting fantasy tale about a group of human mercenaries. The Capitaine, Donnier, is hired by the king of the elves, King Everbright. The Capitaine volunteers the sergeant to go behind enemy lines to assist the elves in destroying the enemies warboars. Only half are killed. The next day the battle begins. Goblins are forced to march and attack. Followed by the calvary orcs on warboars with the orc infantry in the rear. The elves and humans defeat Ulgor and force him to flee. In the end, the Sarge collects the deceased 's coin pouches so Capitaine can plant the seeds for new recruits.
December 24, 2016
I’ve had “The Wardog’s Coin” in my library for quite some time, and now wish I read it sooner. I found both stories entertaining and well written. Solid characterization, interesting settings and descriptions—satisfying fantasy that won’t take you a month to read. Fans of both Westeros and Middle-earth will feel comfortable here.
February 26, 2014
I enjoyed the author's older short fiction piece, A Magic Broken, better, but these two short stories are solid high fantasy with richly developed settings and plenty of action.
January 3, 2016
I had fun.
June 15, 2018
Gross plot.
July 28, 2020
Too short.
October 27, 2020
This was my favorite of Vox's short stories so far. I loved the protagonist's "voice", and enjoyed the compact scope of the setting. I'd love to find out more about the characters in another story.
February 6, 2014
Great short story!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews