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The Book of Words #1
De Meesters van Harvell
Een magiër en een edelman bedriegen elkaar en intrigeren om de koningskroon van Harvell in bezit te krijgen, met gebruik van alle middelen.
528 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1995
76 people are currently reading
4163 people want to read
About the author
J.V. Jones
29 books866 followersJulie Victoria Jones was born in Liverpool, England. She has been writing for years, and is currently working The End Lords. She lives in San Diego, California.
All three books in The Book Of Words Trilogy are #1 national bestsellers, and have been bought for publication in England, Poland, Russia, Germany, France and Holland. Her fifth book, A Cavern of Black Ice, is the first in a new series.
J.V. enjoys cooking, gardening, reading, playing RPG's, watching old black-and-white movies, and pottering around the house!
All three books in The Book Of Words Trilogy are #1 national bestsellers, and have been bought for publication in England, Poland, Russia, Germany, France and Holland. Her fifth book, A Cavern of Black Ice, is the first in a new series.
J.V. enjoys cooking, gardening, reading, playing RPG's, watching old black-and-white movies, and pottering around the house!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 207 reviews
April 23, 2012
What we have here is an orphan boy raised as a servant for the noble folk of Midkemia err, the Six Duchies no, that's not it. Oh yes, the Four Kingdoms. Well, Pug soon finds out. Wait, no. Fitz soon learns that he's a...Dammit. Sorry. Ahem. Jack soon learns that he has an incredible power and he may be destined for shit that isn't baking bread.
Then we have Melli, the pampered noble princess that wants to be more. That is, she wants to have her very own personality. She doesn't want to marry the wicked little demon of a prince, so she runs away. Well, can't fault the poor girl. Can't blame her for not wanting to be married to Prince Kylock:
So, anyway. We also have a young knight by the name of Tawl. Yes, really. I'm not kidding. That's his name. He don't like it either. Well, he's supposed to strike out and find the Chosen One (see paragraph #1), but doesn't know where to look. All he's told by the wiseguy that set him on his quest is that he was looking for...drumroll a boy.
So....likeable but boring protagonists? Don't worry. We have shallow, greedy, and sinister villains aplenty.
First we have Melli's father, the richest noble in the Four Kingdoms, and an owner of a few apple trees to boot, Lord Maybor. Then we have his archenemy of all time, the Chancellor Baralis. They spend the entire novel cooking up evil ways to undermine and assassinate each other. They also do everything they can to grope and/or dry-hump every female in the novel. Of course, when they're not plotting or molesting chambermaids, they each have personal manservants to sit by and listen to their mastermind schemes.
Brilliant.
Finally, we have this third mega-villain sitting back and observing shit. Taviliskthe Hutt, Archbishop of Rorn. He's always eating and being a douche to his sarcastic manservant (yes, to be a villain in these books you must have your own manservant).
As far as story, well. Heroes wander and villains plan dastardly acts. Hilarity ensues, and everyone lives happily...err, nevermind. Apparently you have to read the sequel to see anything happen.
Then we have Melli, the pampered noble princess that wants to be more. That is, she wants to have her very own personality. She doesn't want to marry the wicked little demon of a prince, so she runs away. Well, can't fault the poor girl. Can't blame her for not wanting to be married to Prince Kylock:
So, anyway. We also have a young knight by the name of Tawl. Yes, really. I'm not kidding. That's his name. He don't like it either. Well, he's supposed to strike out and find the Chosen One (see paragraph #1), but doesn't know where to look. All he's told by the wiseguy that set him on his quest is that he was looking for...drumroll a boy.
So....likeable but boring protagonists? Don't worry. We have shallow, greedy, and sinister villains aplenty.
First we have Melli's father, the richest noble in the Four Kingdoms, and an owner of a few apple trees to boot, Lord Maybor. Then we have his archenemy of all time, the Chancellor Baralis. They spend the entire novel cooking up evil ways to undermine and assassinate each other. They also do everything they can to grope and/or dry-hump every female in the novel. Of course, when they're not plotting or molesting chambermaids, they each have personal manservants to sit by and listen to their mastermind schemes.
Brilliant.
Finally, we have this third mega-villain sitting back and observing shit. Tavilisk
As far as story, well. Heroes wander and villains plan dastardly acts. Hilarity ensues, and everyone lives happily...err, nevermind. Apparently you have to read the sequel to see anything happen.
September 3, 2016
An exciting epic fantasy!
This trilogy is a complex series of plot lines that all intertwine with each other forming a beautiful story. Each chapter bounces from one character to another as we learn more and more about them and the world they live in. The characters quickly become real and just as quickly I learned to either love them or hate them. Jack, the baker's boy, became my favorite character and I am very much enjoying how he is developing.
The writing is fantastic. Though this first book never really came to a climax it became obvious this was only the first part of a trilogy and I was reading an epic fantasy and needed to be patient. The complexity of the plot and depth of the characters makes it easy to just get lost in the story. The lack of a climax in this first book it the primary reason I didn't give the book five stars. I think I get what the author is trying to do but I still feel that some sort of climax is warranted in every novel.
I so can't wait to start the second book in the trilogy and see where all this is leading! So exciting!
April 6, 2015
I noted a lot of people were "less than fond of this series" I like it. Somewhat thought provoking considering it isn't really unusual fantasy fare. Good story, likable hero, other characters who are less so... try it yourself.
Jack a "lowly baker's boy" finds himself in the center of plots, danger and intrigue. You'll see some characters who look a bit familiar here (I really don't care for the word "trope")I think as you follow Jack and Melliandra aka Melli (a strong willed rebellious young woman, youngest daughter of a lord, see what I meant?) you are in for a lot of adventurous times before, well before "things work out"...one way or the other.
Fantasy stereotypes aside I liked this series and snapped them up one after another several years ago when they showed up. Try them.
Jack a "lowly baker's boy" finds himself in the center of plots, danger and intrigue. You'll see some characters who look a bit familiar here (I really don't care for the word "trope")I think as you follow Jack and Melliandra aka Melli (a strong willed rebellious young woman, youngest daughter of a lord, see what I meant?) you are in for a lot of adventurous times before, well before "things work out"...one way or the other.
Fantasy stereotypes aside I liked this series and snapped them up one after another several years ago when they showed up. Try them.
July 27, 2014
Some areas of her writing were good; others were not so good.
Looks like plenty of other people have covered the basics.
Hmmm, looking over the highlights, this is how I feel about the story:
SHORT WORD FEELING: Gritty, excellent characterization, lacking in concept and structure at times
CONCEPT: Two fates collide at the castle of the King, a noble girl and a baker's boy. Both desire to escape from their particular lives and do so amidst all the political intrigue. (Nothing really big actually happens in this story. Lots of intrigue and great characters but no spectacular spine to the story).
MARKETING APPEAL: This story was a best seller or so the cover said; I'm not sure for how long but it was well loved on Amazon, too. Very strong and gritty characters; the plot needed work; I think that, based on the story, this novel became more popular through marketing and word of mouth than just straight out concept (since it wasn't terribly interesting compared to many other fantasy novels).
SCORING: Superb (A), Excellent (A-), Very good (B+), Good (B) Fairly Good (B-) Above Average (C+), Mediocre (C ), Barely Passable (C-) Pretty Bad (D+), Dismal (D), Waste of Time (D-), Into the Trash (F)
DIALOGUE: A- STRUCTURE: C+ HISTORY SETTING: B CHARACTERS: B EVIL SETUP/ANTAGONISTS: B EMOTIONAL IMPACT: B- SURPRISES: C LITTLE THINGS: B+ MONSTERS: not applicable PACING: C+ OVERALL STYLE: C+ FLOW OF WORDS: C+ CHOICE OF FOCUS: C+ TRANSITIONS/FLASHBACKS/POV: B COMPLEXITY OF WORDS/SYMBOLISM/THEMES: C+
OVERALL GRADE: B-
HISTORY SETTING: Overall, this was good. The map sucked but that isn't the author's fault. During the novel, we learned about the Four Kingdoms, the adjoining cities and the seaport cities. And, we also learned about the knighthood, which seemed very commerce oriented. A pretty good job was done on the understanding the political structure of the king's court, as well as how the commoners acted towards the lords. The whole tumbling thing with bedmaids, who used the sex to rise in station made logical sense. A good job was done on explaining the seers of Larne, the prophecy of the coming boy of power, the swamplands to the south, the mannerisms of how people acted in the lands, the politics of Rorne and the adjoining Duke with his power interests.
DIALOGUE: Pretty good, actually. I could tell just by reading the dialogue that several of the characters had very distinctive voices. Just about everyone had different sentence structure and used different phrases to describe things. I really liked how she used her dialogue in also setting out the personalities of various characters.
PACING: I would say the story flowed pretty well the first 150 pages. Four confusing parts: (1) when years passed, it made no mention of it except in a sentence later in the chapter. Might have been good to have a date in the title or mentioned it in the beginning; (2) usage of he did this and he did that was a bit much. The author should have looked for a way to use different phrases but apparently she got lazy at times. Anyway, it slowed the story down because it happened so much that I began to get irritated; and (3) the author revealed way too much of what the characters were thinkings and then showed their thoughts. In other words, everything was spoon fed to us. This got irritating at times; and (4) the author went over things she had already explained a few times; it was really getting tiresome and readers should remember it. Characters would go over plans that they had hatched for the second time. Jumping around from character to characters was generally pretty good. A few times it was a bit too quick but other than that, it was fine. Actually, it helped hide the convoluted structure to the story in the last third of the book. In the last third, when there should have been a gradual climatic rise, the story was teetering out. Too much time spent on little details when things should have been moving forward. This may have been why some people at customer reviews claimed that nothing happened at the end.
SURPRISES: Not that good. Part of the problem was that the author revealed so much of what everyone was thinking that there was little room for suspense or mystery.
It's weird because a lot of these characters were quite interesting. The most entertaining were the villains and the mean ones. The main characters, Melli and Jack, really didn't stand out too much. I think part of the reason for it was that they didn't have any ADMIRABLE qualities you look for in such heroes. None of them were especially brave or clever. For most of the story, they were passive and running away from the villains. They would get caught, run away and then get caught again. In fact, Jack only got active when he broke out his cell really and Melli was always sort of helpless, which is fine. So, this is something new that I just learned. Make the characters striking and give them something powerful in personality. Otherwise, they will come across as bland in a novel.
CHARACTERS: Done pretty well. Jones spent a good deal of time giving us the details and making each character distinctive in appearance, mannerisms and dialogue. Even the guards who badgered over stupid things had their own dialogue and motivations. Most of the minor characters had these traits also which I appreciated. Sometimes minor characters get lost in the shuffle. Villains were done very well. The problem was with Melli and Jack for reasons listed above. They certainly were distinctive but they didn't stand out strikingly enough. Part of this reason might be because they were such passive characters for a good part of the story.
WHY IT WORKED FOR ME: Loved the character details, as well as the dialogue. In the first 150 pages, the story moved along pretty fast. I was impressed with the spying and political intrigue, as well as with the multitude of characters all about. History of the area was good and I enjoyed the concentration on the local folk and their perception of events. The two guards who told stories were good, but half of the stuff they spoke about seemed redundant. The Archbishop was a pretty interesting character, too. Loved the way he tormented his aide and showed off his gluttony. Some of the details, such as dress and food, were interesting. And, the way bread was baked was kind of interesting, too. Maybor, Baralis and the Queen were all interesting in various degrees. The grittiness with the sex and violence added some flavor to the book, but got a bit crude at times, like when (CENSORED for delicate ears . . . :D Hard for me to believe that this was a fantasy bestseller since certain components of the novel seemed clumsy or half written. Apparently, it became very popular through word of mouth.
COMMENTS: This book had potential to be better than it was, but I think the author got caught up in the characters and keeping the story going. Perhaps she wanted more pages in her book than she could fit, forcing it to become larger. I don't know. If the plot and style had been the equivalent of the characters, this would have gotten a solid B or even a B+. As things stand, it was a B-.
GRADE REASON: Pretty much for reasons stated above. The characters were done very well in certain regards, but since I didn't connect with them, it was hard to rank her higher than a B. The dialogue was very good but the pacing, overall structure and surprises were mediocre to just above average. This is about the average grade I give to most fantasy books. Some are certainly worse and some are better or much better.
Looks like plenty of other people have covered the basics.
Hmmm, looking over the highlights, this is how I feel about the story:
SHORT WORD FEELING: Gritty, excellent characterization, lacking in concept and structure at times
CONCEPT: Two fates collide at the castle of the King, a noble girl and a baker's boy. Both desire to escape from their particular lives and do so amidst all the political intrigue. (Nothing really big actually happens in this story. Lots of intrigue and great characters but no spectacular spine to the story).
MARKETING APPEAL: This story was a best seller or so the cover said; I'm not sure for how long but it was well loved on Amazon, too. Very strong and gritty characters; the plot needed work; I think that, based on the story, this novel became more popular through marketing and word of mouth than just straight out concept (since it wasn't terribly interesting compared to many other fantasy novels).
SCORING: Superb (A), Excellent (A-), Very good (B+), Good (B) Fairly Good (B-) Above Average (C+), Mediocre (C ), Barely Passable (C-) Pretty Bad (D+), Dismal (D), Waste of Time (D-), Into the Trash (F)
DIALOGUE: A- STRUCTURE: C+ HISTORY SETTING: B CHARACTERS: B EVIL SETUP/ANTAGONISTS: B EMOTIONAL IMPACT: B- SURPRISES: C LITTLE THINGS: B+ MONSTERS: not applicable PACING: C+ OVERALL STYLE: C+ FLOW OF WORDS: C+ CHOICE OF FOCUS: C+ TRANSITIONS/FLASHBACKS/POV: B COMPLEXITY OF WORDS/SYMBOLISM/THEMES: C+
OVERALL GRADE: B-
HISTORY SETTING: Overall, this was good. The map sucked but that isn't the author's fault. During the novel, we learned about the Four Kingdoms, the adjoining cities and the seaport cities. And, we also learned about the knighthood, which seemed very commerce oriented. A pretty good job was done on the understanding the political structure of the king's court, as well as how the commoners acted towards the lords. The whole tumbling thing with bedmaids, who used the sex to rise in station made logical sense. A good job was done on explaining the seers of Larne, the prophecy of the coming boy of power, the swamplands to the south, the mannerisms of how people acted in the lands, the politics of Rorne and the adjoining Duke with his power interests.
DIALOGUE: Pretty good, actually. I could tell just by reading the dialogue that several of the characters had very distinctive voices. Just about everyone had different sentence structure and used different phrases to describe things. I really liked how she used her dialogue in also setting out the personalities of various characters.
PACING: I would say the story flowed pretty well the first 150 pages. Four confusing parts: (1) when years passed, it made no mention of it except in a sentence later in the chapter. Might have been good to have a date in the title or mentioned it in the beginning; (2) usage of he did this and he did that was a bit much. The author should have looked for a way to use different phrases but apparently she got lazy at times. Anyway, it slowed the story down because it happened so much that I began to get irritated; and (3) the author revealed way too much of what the characters were thinkings and then showed their thoughts. In other words, everything was spoon fed to us. This got irritating at times; and (4) the author went over things she had already explained a few times; it was really getting tiresome and readers should remember it. Characters would go over plans that they had hatched for the second time. Jumping around from character to characters was generally pretty good. A few times it was a bit too quick but other than that, it was fine. Actually, it helped hide the convoluted structure to the story in the last third of the book. In the last third, when there should have been a gradual climatic rise, the story was teetering out. Too much time spent on little details when things should have been moving forward. This may have been why some people at customer reviews claimed that nothing happened at the end.
SURPRISES: Not that good. Part of the problem was that the author revealed so much of what everyone was thinking that there was little room for suspense or mystery.
It's weird because a lot of these characters were quite interesting. The most entertaining were the villains and the mean ones. The main characters, Melli and Jack, really didn't stand out too much. I think part of the reason for it was that they didn't have any ADMIRABLE qualities you look for in such heroes. None of them were especially brave or clever. For most of the story, they were passive and running away from the villains. They would get caught, run away and then get caught again. In fact, Jack only got active when he broke out his cell really and Melli was always sort of helpless, which is fine. So, this is something new that I just learned. Make the characters striking and give them something powerful in personality. Otherwise, they will come across as bland in a novel.
CHARACTERS: Done pretty well. Jones spent a good deal of time giving us the details and making each character distinctive in appearance, mannerisms and dialogue. Even the guards who badgered over stupid things had their own dialogue and motivations. Most of the minor characters had these traits also which I appreciated. Sometimes minor characters get lost in the shuffle. Villains were done very well. The problem was with Melli and Jack for reasons listed above. They certainly were distinctive but they didn't stand out strikingly enough. Part of this reason might be because they were such passive characters for a good part of the story.
WHY IT WORKED FOR ME: Loved the character details, as well as the dialogue. In the first 150 pages, the story moved along pretty fast. I was impressed with the spying and political intrigue, as well as with the multitude of characters all about. History of the area was good and I enjoyed the concentration on the local folk and their perception of events. The two guards who told stories were good, but half of the stuff they spoke about seemed redundant. The Archbishop was a pretty interesting character, too. Loved the way he tormented his aide and showed off his gluttony. Some of the details, such as dress and food, were interesting. And, the way bread was baked was kind of interesting, too. Maybor, Baralis and the Queen were all interesting in various degrees. The grittiness with the sex and violence added some flavor to the book, but got a bit crude at times, like when (CENSORED for delicate ears . . . :D Hard for me to believe that this was a fantasy bestseller since certain components of the novel seemed clumsy or half written. Apparently, it became very popular through word of mouth.
COMMENTS: This book had potential to be better than it was, but I think the author got caught up in the characters and keeping the story going. Perhaps she wanted more pages in her book than she could fit, forcing it to become larger. I don't know. If the plot and style had been the equivalent of the characters, this would have gotten a solid B or even a B+. As things stand, it was a B-.
GRADE REASON: Pretty much for reasons stated above. The characters were done very well in certain regards, but since I didn't connect with them, it was hard to rank her higher than a B. The dialogue was very good but the pacing, overall structure and surprises were mediocre to just above average. This is about the average grade I give to most fantasy books. Some are certainly worse and some are better or much better.
November 18, 2007
I bought this book blindly, but was pleasantly surprised. I finished the entire trilogy in less than a month. It is a dark fantasy about with a large cast of token characters, including the fleeing princess, the boy who is unaware of his true power, the corrupt religious leader,the disgraced paladin, the annoying juvenile pickpocket, the evil throne-usurping sorcerer and many more. Each of whom are well meshed out and uniquely flavored by Jone's pen.
April 20, 2012
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I went into this knowing that it was the first book in a trilogy, and that it would be mostly setup for the other two books in the series. I went into this knowing that it was very standard, crunchy granola fantasy. A coming of age story with a pretty girl met by chance on the road, stereotypical villains, a coming of age type quest, stuff like that. But... Come on. Nothing happened in this book! And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. Nothing was resolved in the end, and for that matter, I never really even figured out what there was to be resolved. All of the hurdles in this book were such trivial matters.. I never discovered any overarching story line, nothing bigger and badder out there that would come crashing into the story to help tie it together. I still kept holding out hope as I turned each page.. But it never happened.
So obviously this was a pretty big disappointment. I didn't hate it, but I think "meh" is as good as it gets when it comes to finding a word to describe it. And that sucks! I really wanted a crunchy granola standard sort of fantasy. It's been a long time since I read anything like that, I was hoping that reading it would feel sort of like coming home. And I guess it did.. If by "home" you mean some place super boring where nothing ever happens and there is a lot of sex and groping and slutty chicks.
That's another thing.. The women in this book. With the exception of Melli and the Queen, every other woman was weirdly loose with granting access to what was under their petticoats. All the men needed to do was ask if the woman fancied a tumble, and it was a done deal. And holy gold digger, apparently every woman has a price in these books. It was sort of insulting... And really not expected, seeing as though it's written by a female author.
I don't know.. Maybe I'll read the next in the series, in hopes that I can squeeze something out of the time I've already invested into this.. But I need a break first. I'll read something that's actually good and well thought out, something with.. I don't know, a plot maybe? Yeah, a plot, that's the ticket! When I'm ready for some more potential pain, maybe I'll come back and try this series out again. Maybe.
I went into this knowing that it was the first book in a trilogy, and that it would be mostly setup for the other two books in the series. I went into this knowing that it was very standard, crunchy granola fantasy. A coming of age story with a pretty girl met by chance on the road, stereotypical villains, a coming of age type quest, stuff like that. But... Come on. Nothing happened in this book! And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. Nothing was resolved in the end, and for that matter, I never really even figured out what there was to be resolved. All of the hurdles in this book were such trivial matters.. I never discovered any overarching story line, nothing bigger and badder out there that would come crashing into the story to help tie it together. I still kept holding out hope as I turned each page.. But it never happened.
So obviously this was a pretty big disappointment. I didn't hate it, but I think "meh" is as good as it gets when it comes to finding a word to describe it. And that sucks! I really wanted a crunchy granola standard sort of fantasy. It's been a long time since I read anything like that, I was hoping that reading it would feel sort of like coming home. And I guess it did.. If by "home" you mean some place super boring where nothing ever happens and there is a lot of sex and groping and slutty chicks.
That's another thing.. The women in this book. With the exception of Melli and the Queen, every other woman was weirdly loose with granting access to what was under their petticoats. All the men needed to do was ask if the woman fancied a tumble, and it was a done deal. And holy gold digger, apparently every woman has a price in these books. It was sort of insulting... And really not expected, seeing as though it's written by a female author.
I don't know.. Maybe I'll read the next in the series, in hopes that I can squeeze something out of the time I've already invested into this.. But I need a break first. I'll read something that's actually good and well thought out, something with.. I don't know, a plot maybe? Yeah, a plot, that's the ticket! When I'm ready for some more potential pain, maybe I'll come back and try this series out again. Maybe.
February 24, 2022
A young servant and a young noblewoman in the same castle leave of their own accord though not together, then add in sex and politics and this isn’t your traditional fantasy series. The Baker’s Boy by J.V. Jones is the first book of The Book of Words trilogy.
Coming into this book I expected a “classic” or “traditional” fantasy trilogy, by the end of the prologue that assumption was out the window. Yet upon finishing this book I can say that the classic/traditional tropes were there but so were elements akin with George R.R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie’s writing especially connected with sex and politics. Although the titular character, Jack, does feature prominently along with the standard young noble woman, Melli, the character whose story arc in the book that felt more complete was the Knight of Valdis Tawl. The other story arc was the deadly political contest between Baralis and Maybor, Melli’s father, as they jockey for being the power behind the throne in the Four Kingdoms especially on who would be Prince Kylock’s future queen. Then there were outside observers, in particular Archbishop Tavilisk of Rorn, who while not “doing” much in this book look to be important as the series continues. In addition to the “main” characters traveling in circles with minor character development there were questionable decisions that Jones had like the non-regnant queen of the Four Kingdoms being the political figure in charge for the infirmed king instead of the chancellor, Baralis, and the aforementioned queen questioned the very clean appearance of her 17-year old son’s room in a castle filled with royal servants who might take care of that for the heir to the kingdom. Yet with all these issues, Jones writes a very readable book that is engaging if you’re into political intrigue and mysterious magical powers that the reader sees will be important, but the characters still aren’t in control of after one book.
The Baker’s Boy is an interesting opening volume to a fantasy trilogy. J.V. Jones mixes classic tropes with darker ones to create an intriguing story that will get readers attention from the start while building up elements for later in the series.
Coming into this book I expected a “classic” or “traditional” fantasy trilogy, by the end of the prologue that assumption was out the window. Yet upon finishing this book I can say that the classic/traditional tropes were there but so were elements akin with George R.R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie’s writing especially connected with sex and politics. Although the titular character, Jack, does feature prominently along with the standard young noble woman, Melli, the character whose story arc in the book that felt more complete was the Knight of Valdis Tawl. The other story arc was the deadly political contest between Baralis and Maybor, Melli’s father, as they jockey for being the power behind the throne in the Four Kingdoms especially on who would be Prince Kylock’s future queen. Then there were outside observers, in particular Archbishop Tavilisk of Rorn, who while not “doing” much in this book look to be important as the series continues. In addition to the “main” characters traveling in circles with minor character development there were questionable decisions that Jones had like the non-regnant queen of the Four Kingdoms being the political figure in charge for the infirmed king instead of the chancellor, Baralis, and the aforementioned queen questioned the very clean appearance of her 17-year old son’s room in a castle filled with royal servants who might take care of that for the heir to the kingdom. Yet with all these issues, Jones writes a very readable book that is engaging if you’re into political intrigue and mysterious magical powers that the reader sees will be important, but the characters still aren’t in control of after one book.
The Baker’s Boy is an interesting opening volume to a fantasy trilogy. J.V. Jones mixes classic tropes with darker ones to create an intriguing story that will get readers attention from the start while building up elements for later in the series.
August 22, 2023
I'm always looking for hidden gems of fantasy. I had thought I had found a potential candidate with J.V. Jones. I was very wrong. The protagonists were incredible boring and all standard fantasy cardboard characters. For example Jack is the most vanilla of all possible farmboy's the author could have chosen to create. I like vanilla as a flavour. But if it's vanilla you better take care it's the best flavoured , best made Ice cream there is. But Jack had no flavour at all. Around this time Rand and Fitz were already existing. Other authors clearly were able to do something interesting with the trope. I guess J.V. Jones missed the memo
The villains are even worse. They are evil without any nuance. How do I know that they are evil ? Well mostly because they commit sexual assault again and again. Apparently Jones doesn't think her readers will get the message after 1 time. I always like an author with a lot of trust in her audience. The amount of SA in general is massive. Jones will always find an excuse to insert an ( attempted) rape or anything else of sexual inappropriate behaviour in a scene
The author also made the choice to make all the villains pov characters. This is a bit problematic. Firstly they are uninteresting evil characters. Secondly I now get to see all their plotting which takes any mystery out of the story. It gets worse. All the intrigues of the bad guys get repeated. Let me explain: Bad Guy 1 does intrigue x against Bad Guy 2 ( we learn this from Pov of bad guy 1) but later we read the pov of Bad Guy 2 where he finds out about the intrigue against him and figures it all out. Later we read in a chapter how bad guy 1 finds out that his plan against bad guy 2 failed miserably. Do this x 1000 and you have the book. It's boring because nothing of these chapters is new information.
For these reasons I have little appetite to read more books of her. Maybe they do get better over time but I'm out
The villains are even worse. They are evil without any nuance. How do I know that they are evil ? Well mostly because they commit sexual assault again and again. Apparently Jones doesn't think her readers will get the message after 1 time. I always like an author with a lot of trust in her audience. The amount of SA in general is massive. Jones will always find an excuse to insert an ( attempted) rape or anything else of sexual inappropriate behaviour in a scene
The author also made the choice to make all the villains pov characters. This is a bit problematic. Firstly they are uninteresting evil characters. Secondly I now get to see all their plotting which takes any mystery out of the story. It gets worse. All the intrigues of the bad guys get repeated. Let me explain: Bad Guy 1 does intrigue x against Bad Guy 2 ( we learn this from Pov of bad guy 1) but later we read the pov of Bad Guy 2 where he finds out about the intrigue against him and figures it all out. Later we read in a chapter how bad guy 1 finds out that his plan against bad guy 2 failed miserably. Do this x 1000 and you have the book. It's boring because nothing of these chapters is new information.
For these reasons I have little appetite to read more books of her. Maybe they do get better over time but I'm out
January 5, 2012
I can't for the life of me figure out what I liked about this when I first read it a long time ago. It's stuffed full of Snidely Whiplash villains twirling their mustaches at each other and couple of particularly inept Dudley Do-Rights. Combine that with a perplexing fascination for offal, a dogged commitment to promote the abuse of women and a puerile fascination with female sexuality and you have whatever the hell this was. I can remember eagerly awaiting the next book in the series and I have no earthly idea why. About the only thing I can say about all of the terribleness that happens in this book is that at least it happens to terrible people, so okay I guess?
January 31, 2024
Well if there was ever a case of not judging a book by it’s cover it’s this one. Went into it expecting a whimsical tale of a reluctant hero…I was way off.
This has everything I love in a series. Lust and deceit. Scheming and plotting for royal power. Assassins. Sorcery. Disgraced knights. A princess on the run. And a bakers boy who is more than what he seems.
At times this has shocking brutality as well.
Incredibly fleshed out characters. This made me laugh, cringe and thrill.
Any thought I had of a let down after reading the absolutely excellent Sword of Shadows series has completely been expelled. Beyond excited for the next instalment of this series.
Much, much recommended.
This has everything I love in a series. Lust and deceit. Scheming and plotting for royal power. Assassins. Sorcery. Disgraced knights. A princess on the run. And a bakers boy who is more than what he seems.
At times this has shocking brutality as well.
Incredibly fleshed out characters. This made me laugh, cringe and thrill.
Any thought I had of a let down after reading the absolutely excellent Sword of Shadows series has completely been expelled. Beyond excited for the next instalment of this series.
Much, much recommended.
November 26, 2024
After following US politics so closely for the past several years, I was expecting justice and accountability to be in full swing by this month. The shock and disappointment (to put it mildly) of the results of the election hit me very hard. And I'm Canadian.
I can't even begin to imagine how I'd be feeling if I was living in the US.
This disillusionment led me to finally turn my back on all of it. In times like these, one of my mental escapes is, of course, reading.
Not any genre, but one that will take me away to another world; another universe. It's time like these that I feel I can totally give myself over to epic reads, and so here we are in a fantasy world.
Fantasy is always on my radar because it is one of those genres that can certainly take you away. When I heard of J.V. Jones in the Reddit and Facebook Fantasy groups I follow, I was intrigued. It sounded like her stories were right up my alley: kingdoms, some magic, and of course some very dark elements.
The Baker's Boy delivered just fine. This is her first work, and the beginning of her Book of Words trilogy, and after 630 pages I am diving right into the next one. This is a pretty high endorsement from yours truly. There are two reasons for this.
One, it's a really good story. And two, by all accounts I've read, J.V. Jone's writing gets much better with each book. Indeed, the series in which she is presently writing book 5 has gotten massively good reviews.
The Baker's Boy does have the typical trope of a coming of age story, where a lowly boy discovers he is more than meets the eye, but there are definitely some original spins. One that I can't get out of my head. (Larn. Brrrrrr)
So with the promise of greater writing to come, and this story to really take off, I am immediately beginning A Man Betrayed.
Four strong stars here.
I can't even begin to imagine how I'd be feeling if I was living in the US.
This disillusionment led me to finally turn my back on all of it. In times like these, one of my mental escapes is, of course, reading.
Not any genre, but one that will take me away to another world; another universe. It's time like these that I feel I can totally give myself over to epic reads, and so here we are in a fantasy world.
Fantasy is always on my radar because it is one of those genres that can certainly take you away. When I heard of J.V. Jones in the Reddit and Facebook Fantasy groups I follow, I was intrigued. It sounded like her stories were right up my alley: kingdoms, some magic, and of course some very dark elements.
The Baker's Boy delivered just fine. This is her first work, and the beginning of her Book of Words trilogy, and after 630 pages I am diving right into the next one. This is a pretty high endorsement from yours truly. There are two reasons for this.
One, it's a really good story. And two, by all accounts I've read, J.V. Jone's writing gets much better with each book. Indeed, the series in which she is presently writing book 5 has gotten massively good reviews.
The Baker's Boy does have the typical trope of a coming of age story, where a lowly boy discovers he is more than meets the eye, but there are definitely some original spins. One that I can't get out of my head. (Larn. Brrrrrr)
So with the promise of greater writing to come, and this story to really take off, I am immediately beginning A Man Betrayed.
Four strong stars here.
October 5, 2013
Yesterday I finished The Baker's Boy by J.V. Jones.
It was not a good book.
I would not go so far as to say it was a horrible book (a description I reserve for 1-star ratings and the majority of fanfiction), but it is a bad book. It suffers from a number of major problems, ranging from technical writing issues to poor story decisions, any one of which could perhaps be forgiven on its own if the rest of the book was strong enough to support it, but it isn't. It does not surprise me that this is the author's first book, nor that (as the story goes) it was found in the slush pile. What surprises me is that it ever made it OUT of the slush pile. I -am- going to track down the rest of this series to read it. This is for two reasons: I am the kind of person who is compelled to finish a story once I start, and this book has kind of a Train Wreck in reverse feeling for me. I want to see if it gets better (and it does, a little).
So. Let's start with grammar.
I began wincing on the first page. Here we are introduced to foul deeds done by dastardly villains, and also to the author's strange relationship with pro- and proper nouns. Here's what I mean:
"The deed is done, master." Lusk barely had a second to notice the glint of the long-knife, and only a fraction of that second to realize what it meant.
Baralis sliced Lusk's body open with one forceful but elegant stroke, cleaving from the throat to the groin. Baralis shuddered as the body fell to the floor with a dull thud. He held his hand up to his face where he detected a sticky wetness: Lusk's blood. On impulse he drew his finger to his lips and tasted. It was like an old friend, coppery, salty and still warm.
He turned away from the now lifeless body and noticed his robes were covered in Lusk's blood...
First of all, it's crude writing to begin a sentence with the same word twice in a row, especially a proper noun (unless you are doing it deliberately in order to make a point, in which case you should use at least three sentences, and even then be careful about it). I can almost see the author's dilemma: "But if I use a pronoun there, then I'll just have the same problem with the next sentence!" This is easy to fix - use the name again as the beginning of the third sentence. It's also very distracting that 'Lusk' is used so often, and especially that 'Lusk's blood' is used twice in quick succession. Give us more descriptors! What this person is is much more important than who he is. He is named FIVE TIMES on the first page, and never appears in the book again. Is he a spy? A servant? Does he have weaselly features?
Before I get too distracted going on in this vein, let's talk about the author's habit of throwing phrases together in a paragraph and expecting commas to just tie them neatly together:
He turned away from the now lifeless body and noticed his robes were covered in Lusk's blood; it was not a random spraying, the blood formed a scarlet arc against the gray. A crescent moon. Baralis smiled, it was a good omen-a crescent moon marked new beginnings, new births, new opportunities-the very currency he would deal in this night.
Oooo-kay. What we have here in the first sentence are three distinct and complete phrases that could stand along by themselves, but are connected by punctuation. The first two a linked with a semicolon - this is fine, as this is one of the functions a semicolon can serve. Semicolons are Advanced Punctuation, so it is then surprising to find a comma given a job too big for it. Commas are not used to connect independent clauses, they are used for lists or dependent clauses. You can fix this by putting a period where the comma is, or by moving the semicolon to the comma and putting a period there. And then it happens again in the next big sentence! I might be able to live with this kind of thing if it were an isolated incident, but it happens All. The. Time.
Alright, on to content.
Let's play a little game called "Where's the plot going?" After reading the summary provided on the back of the book, I was expecting our two main characters to flee the castle and the book would be about their journey and pursuit by the Big Bad. Nope. They do get out of the castle, eventually, after two chapters and a prologue of backstory (none of which give you easy clues that they are time-skipping), but they are almost immediately split up. And then they get captured again and dragged back to the castle. And then they kind of wander around the castle a bit being prisoners/escaping, and then they finally leave again and the book ends, randomly, with them in the middle of nowhere a little less than halfway to their destination, which they first set out for in chapter 3. This isn't the plot taking a nice little meander before it gets serious, this is the plot stalling - kicking and screaming and dragging its heels before going off to the next book to sulk. "I just wanted you to get to know the characters!" it whines, when that would take you one chapter at the most because...
...the characters are incredibly one-dimensional. You could use a handful of words to describe their defining character traits and motivations at the beginning of the book and rest comfortable, knowing that these first impressions will not change. There's not a lot of variation either: on the "greedy" side we have the gluttonous, power-hungry, and stupid varieties, while "naive" comes in the poor-little-rich-girl and actually-poor-with-mysterious-powers flavors. Guess which are the good guys and which are the bad guys? Our one exception is the Knight With A Guilty Past (which is foreshadowed so much that by the time the flashback at the end of the book tells you what he's guilty about it's not a surprise), who is one of the few characters with a little depth because by the end of the book you're not sure if he's still a good guy. The main characters develop too, a little, and while they're kind of starting to fall in love with each other by the end, neither of them are dwelling on it a lot because they have other stuff to worry about, which is refreshing because...
...there is way too much talk of sex. About of third of the way through I was positive this book had been written by a 15-year-old boy. Nope. The author is female - J. V. is short for Julie Victoria - and in fact, this is one of the reasons I wanted to read this book. Women are still underrepresented in the industry, so I should support them by reading their books! Plus, maybe I'll get a more balanced/feminist-aware view of a fantasy world! Nope. There are exactly three kinds of conversations between characters in this book: political (I'm talking with you to further my dastardly goals/about the political situation), normal (What should we do next?), and sexual (I want to have sex with __/__ is having sex with __/I'm having sex with __/should totally have sex with __/etc.). That last category takes up fully 50% of the conversations in the book. It's really annoying. There's even a couple of minor characters whose entire purpose in the book is to pop up randomly and mention what another character is doing - after they talk about their imaginary sexual knowledge in the most crude way possible. And of all the female characters in the book (not counting characters who only get one line or show up in flashbacks), one is a prostitute, one gets raped in the prologue, one runs a gang of prostitutes, two want to have sex with main characters, and one (the main character) is almost raped and almost forced to become a prostitute. The only female character in the book not portrayed in a negative sexual way is old and oppressed because of her gender. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that the girl main character is INEXPLICABLY attracted to the Big Bad, who is a rapist, a pedophile, and a Creepy Dude. I really want to find out later in the series that this attraction is caused by a spell he cast on her as a child. There is evidence to support this.
So. Bad book. Why am I still going to read the series? I want to see if it has a good ending.
It was not a good book.
I would not go so far as to say it was a horrible book (a description I reserve for 1-star ratings and the majority of fanfiction), but it is a bad book. It suffers from a number of major problems, ranging from technical writing issues to poor story decisions, any one of which could perhaps be forgiven on its own if the rest of the book was strong enough to support it, but it isn't. It does not surprise me that this is the author's first book, nor that (as the story goes) it was found in the slush pile. What surprises me is that it ever made it OUT of the slush pile. I -am- going to track down the rest of this series to read it. This is for two reasons: I am the kind of person who is compelled to finish a story once I start, and this book has kind of a Train Wreck in reverse feeling for me. I want to see if it gets better (and it does, a little).
So. Let's start with grammar.
I began wincing on the first page. Here we are introduced to foul deeds done by dastardly villains, and also to the author's strange relationship with pro- and proper nouns. Here's what I mean:
"The deed is done, master." Lusk barely had a second to notice the glint of the long-knife, and only a fraction of that second to realize what it meant.
Baralis sliced Lusk's body open with one forceful but elegant stroke, cleaving from the throat to the groin. Baralis shuddered as the body fell to the floor with a dull thud. He held his hand up to his face where he detected a sticky wetness: Lusk's blood. On impulse he drew his finger to his lips and tasted. It was like an old friend, coppery, salty and still warm.
He turned away from the now lifeless body and noticed his robes were covered in Lusk's blood...
First of all, it's crude writing to begin a sentence with the same word twice in a row, especially a proper noun (unless you are doing it deliberately in order to make a point, in which case you should use at least three sentences, and even then be careful about it). I can almost see the author's dilemma: "But if I use a pronoun there, then I'll just have the same problem with the next sentence!" This is easy to fix - use the name again as the beginning of the third sentence. It's also very distracting that 'Lusk' is used so often, and especially that 'Lusk's blood' is used twice in quick succession. Give us more descriptors! What this person is is much more important than who he is. He is named FIVE TIMES on the first page, and never appears in the book again. Is he a spy? A servant? Does he have weaselly features?
Before I get too distracted going on in this vein, let's talk about the author's habit of throwing phrases together in a paragraph and expecting commas to just tie them neatly together:
He turned away from the now lifeless body and noticed his robes were covered in Lusk's blood; it was not a random spraying, the blood formed a scarlet arc against the gray. A crescent moon. Baralis smiled, it was a good omen-a crescent moon marked new beginnings, new births, new opportunities-the very currency he would deal in this night.
Oooo-kay. What we have here in the first sentence are three distinct and complete phrases that could stand along by themselves, but are connected by punctuation. The first two a linked with a semicolon - this is fine, as this is one of the functions a semicolon can serve. Semicolons are Advanced Punctuation, so it is then surprising to find a comma given a job too big for it. Commas are not used to connect independent clauses, they are used for lists or dependent clauses. You can fix this by putting a period where the comma is, or by moving the semicolon to the comma and putting a period there. And then it happens again in the next big sentence! I might be able to live with this kind of thing if it were an isolated incident, but it happens All. The. Time.
Alright, on to content.
Let's play a little game called "Where's the plot going?" After reading the summary provided on the back of the book, I was expecting our two main characters to flee the castle and the book would be about their journey and pursuit by the Big Bad. Nope. They do get out of the castle, eventually, after two chapters and a prologue of backstory (none of which give you easy clues that they are time-skipping), but they are almost immediately split up. And then they get captured again and dragged back to the castle. And then they kind of wander around the castle a bit being prisoners/escaping, and then they finally leave again and the book ends, randomly, with them in the middle of nowhere a little less than halfway to their destination, which they first set out for in chapter 3. This isn't the plot taking a nice little meander before it gets serious, this is the plot stalling - kicking and screaming and dragging its heels before going off to the next book to sulk. "I just wanted you to get to know the characters!" it whines, when that would take you one chapter at the most because...
...the characters are incredibly one-dimensional. You could use a handful of words to describe their defining character traits and motivations at the beginning of the book and rest comfortable, knowing that these first impressions will not change. There's not a lot of variation either: on the "greedy" side we have the gluttonous, power-hungry, and stupid varieties, while "naive" comes in the poor-little-rich-girl and actually-poor-with-mysterious-powers flavors. Guess which are the good guys and which are the bad guys? Our one exception is the Knight With A Guilty Past (which is foreshadowed so much that by the time the flashback at the end of the book tells you what he's guilty about it's not a surprise), who is one of the few characters with a little depth because by the end of the book you're not sure if he's still a good guy. The main characters develop too, a little, and while they're kind of starting to fall in love with each other by the end, neither of them are dwelling on it a lot because they have other stuff to worry about, which is refreshing because...
...there is way too much talk of sex. About of third of the way through I was positive this book had been written by a 15-year-old boy. Nope. The author is female - J. V. is short for Julie Victoria - and in fact, this is one of the reasons I wanted to read this book. Women are still underrepresented in the industry, so I should support them by reading their books! Plus, maybe I'll get a more balanced/feminist-aware view of a fantasy world! Nope. There are exactly three kinds of conversations between characters in this book: political (I'm talking with you to further my dastardly goals/about the political situation), normal (What should we do next?), and sexual (I want to have sex with __/__ is having sex with __/I'm having sex with __/should totally have sex with __/etc.). That last category takes up fully 50% of the conversations in the book. It's really annoying. There's even a couple of minor characters whose entire purpose in the book is to pop up randomly and mention what another character is doing - after they talk about their imaginary sexual knowledge in the most crude way possible. And of all the female characters in the book (not counting characters who only get one line or show up in flashbacks), one is a prostitute, one gets raped in the prologue, one runs a gang of prostitutes, two want to have sex with main characters, and one (the main character) is almost raped and almost forced to become a prostitute. The only female character in the book not portrayed in a negative sexual way is old and oppressed because of her gender. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that the girl main character is INEXPLICABLY attracted to the Big Bad, who is a rapist, a pedophile, and a Creepy Dude. I really want to find out later in the series that this attraction is caused by a spell he cast on her as a child. There is evidence to support this.
So. Bad book. Why am I still going to read the series? I want to see if it has a good ending.
December 31, 2014
So. This is an interesting one to judge.
The story overall is a lot of fun; I'm not going to deny it. I loved Maybor and Baralis' scheming, and Tawl was a fascinating character. But this book is so clogged up with unnecessary and repeated exposition that I wanted to bash my head against a brick wall. Rescued from the slush pile? Well believe me, it shows.
Large portions of the book are given over to characters repeating the goings on to each other - goings on which the reader already knows, because they READ ABOUT IT HAPPENING. (Read: every one of Tavalisk and Gamil's ridiculous duologues. And Grift and Bodger. And Maybor and Crandle. Kill me now.)
Other reviewers have already pointed out how hideous PoV changes and basic errors already appear in the first paragraph; I'm going here to address one of my favourite examples of overwriting. Between the pages 180 and 350, the book is told from Jack's PoV for a total of 31 pages, on 10 separate occasions. And how many of those pages are devoted to Jack's internal monologue? 11. Over a third of those pages consist of zero plot, zero dialogue, simply the author repeating over and over the same inner questions and concerns Jack has on discovering he is a sorcerer. I wanted to hit the author over the head.
This book also requires a large suspension of disbelief as the workings of the Castle Harvell court always seem inadequately explained. Other than Baralis, Maybor, his son and the Queen no other nobles, or any sort of ministers, are given any characterization or input. I suspect Jones was either too lazy or unskilled to work in the complications in the plot this would entail. This leaves the plot in the castle resting on the actions of three people alone, which is far too simplistic.
Another major gripe of mine is how virulently misogynistic this novel is. Jones seems to take delight in having every single female character molested or violated in some way, and more than once too. It opens with a stone cold rape scene, for god's sake, and it's more or less a similar story from then on. Can someone explain to me what Melli's attempted forced prostitution and brutal flogging served to the plot? None, that's right. None at all. Jones just has a thing for watching Melli be assaulted, it seems. I was stunned to find out the author is female; I guess she was thinking 'Look, I may be a woman but if I treat my female characters like shit lads will enjoy my book too!' Well guess what, Mrs Jones. Unnecessary rape is not character development. Unnecessary rape does not make you a mature author. Unnecessary rape is disgusting. Cut it the fuck out.
All in all, this book ain't. Unless you, like me, have too much time on your hands and take a foolish level of comfort and enjoyment from reading the same old bog standard fantasy tropes being hashed out over again with little originality to liven them up, I wouldn't bother with this.
The story overall is a lot of fun; I'm not going to deny it. I loved Maybor and Baralis' scheming, and Tawl was a fascinating character. But this book is so clogged up with unnecessary and repeated exposition that I wanted to bash my head against a brick wall. Rescued from the slush pile? Well believe me, it shows.
Large portions of the book are given over to characters repeating the goings on to each other - goings on which the reader already knows, because they READ ABOUT IT HAPPENING. (Read: every one of Tavalisk and Gamil's ridiculous duologues. And Grift and Bodger. And Maybor and Crandle. Kill me now.)
Other reviewers have already pointed out how hideous PoV changes and basic errors already appear in the first paragraph; I'm going here to address one of my favourite examples of overwriting. Between the pages 180 and 350, the book is told from Jack's PoV for a total of 31 pages, on 10 separate occasions. And how many of those pages are devoted to Jack's internal monologue? 11. Over a third of those pages consist of zero plot, zero dialogue, simply the author repeating over and over the same inner questions and concerns Jack has on discovering he is a sorcerer. I wanted to hit the author over the head.
This book also requires a large suspension of disbelief as the workings of the Castle Harvell court always seem inadequately explained. Other than Baralis, Maybor, his son and the Queen no other nobles, or any sort of ministers, are given any characterization or input. I suspect Jones was either too lazy or unskilled to work in the complications in the plot this would entail. This leaves the plot in the castle resting on the actions of three people alone, which is far too simplistic.
Another major gripe of mine is how virulently misogynistic this novel is. Jones seems to take delight in having every single female character molested or violated in some way, and more than once too. It opens with a stone cold rape scene, for god's sake, and it's more or less a similar story from then on. Can someone explain to me what Melli's attempted forced prostitution and brutal flogging served to the plot? None, that's right. None at all. Jones just has a thing for watching Melli be assaulted, it seems. I was stunned to find out the author is female; I guess she was thinking 'Look, I may be a woman but if I treat my female characters like shit lads will enjoy my book too!' Well guess what, Mrs Jones. Unnecessary rape is not character development. Unnecessary rape does not make you a mature author. Unnecessary rape is disgusting. Cut it the fuck out.
All in all, this book ain't. Unless you, like me, have too much time on your hands and take a foolish level of comfort and enjoyment from reading the same old bog standard fantasy tropes being hashed out over again with little originality to liven them up, I wouldn't bother with this.
June 18, 2025
English version below
****************
Mir hat die Sword of Shadows-Reihe der Autorin außergewöhnlich gut gefallen. Daher waren meine Erwartungen an die Book of Words-Reihe ziemlich hoch.
Die Sword of Shadow-Reihe ist auch nicht wesentlich später veröffentlicht worden, so dass ich auf ein Leseerlebnis ähnlicher Qualität gehofft hatte.
Nach 460 Seiten verlässt mich jedoch nun die Kraft, es weiter zu versuchen.
Dies ist keine Grimdark-Fantasy, sondern eine -reihe, in der es nur sehr, sehr böse oder unglaublich gute Charaktere gibt.
Die Bösen sind grausam, gewalttätig, brutal und bis ins Mark verdorben, während die Guten so unschuldig sind, dass sie ausgesprochen dämlich wirken.
Die Protagonisten sind wie zur damaligen Zeit erwartbar der unbedarfte Bauernjunge (in diesem Fall ein Bäckerjunge), in dem unentdeckte Fähigkeiten schlummern, das arrogante Aristokratenmädchen, das von ihrem Vater zu politischen Ränkespielen missbraucht wird und große Probleme hat den Jungen als gleichwertig zu betrachten, sowie ein junger Ritter, der sich ganz furchtbar ums Edelsein bemüht, wobei ihm sein Karrierestreben ein bisschen im Weg umgeht.
Und die Antagonisten sind … böse, böser, am bösesten. So böse, dass sie schon ein bisschen langweilig sind.
Nach den erwähnten 460 Seiten habe ich jetzt einfach keine Lust mehr, und sortiere das Buch enttäuscht aus.
-----------------------
I really enjoyed the author's Sword of Shadows series. My expectations of the Book of Words series were therefore quite high.
The Sword of Shadow series wasn't published much later, so I was hoping for a reading experience of similar quality.
However, after 460 pages, I'm now running out of steam to keep trying.
This is not grimdark fantasy, but a series in which there are only very, very bad or incredibly good characters.
The bad guys are cruel, violent, brutal and rotten to the core, while the good guys are so innocent that they seem downright stupid.
The protagonists are, as was to be expected at the time, the inexperienced peasant boy (in this case a baker's boy) with undiscovered abilities, the arrogant aristocratic girl who is misused by her father for political intrigues and has great difficulty seeing the boy as an equal, and a young knight who is trying terribly hard to be noble, although his career aspirations get in the way a little.
And the antagonists are ... evil, more evil, most evil. So evil that they're a bit boring.
After the aforementioned 460 pages, I just don't feel like reading any more and I cull the book in disappointment.
****************
Mir hat die Sword of Shadows-Reihe der Autorin außergewöhnlich gut gefallen. Daher waren meine Erwartungen an die Book of Words-Reihe ziemlich hoch.
Die Sword of Shadow-Reihe ist auch nicht wesentlich später veröffentlicht worden, so dass ich auf ein Leseerlebnis ähnlicher Qualität gehofft hatte.
Nach 460 Seiten verlässt mich jedoch nun die Kraft, es weiter zu versuchen.
Dies ist keine Grimdark-Fantasy, sondern eine -reihe, in der es nur sehr, sehr böse oder unglaublich gute Charaktere gibt.
Die Bösen sind grausam, gewalttätig, brutal und bis ins Mark verdorben, während die Guten so unschuldig sind, dass sie ausgesprochen dämlich wirken.
Die Protagonisten sind wie zur damaligen Zeit erwartbar der unbedarfte Bauernjunge (in diesem Fall ein Bäckerjunge), in dem unentdeckte Fähigkeiten schlummern, das arrogante Aristokratenmädchen, das von ihrem Vater zu politischen Ränkespielen missbraucht wird und große Probleme hat den Jungen als gleichwertig zu betrachten, sowie ein junger Ritter, der sich ganz furchtbar ums Edelsein bemüht, wobei ihm sein Karrierestreben ein bisschen im Weg umgeht.
Und die Antagonisten sind … böse, böser, am bösesten. So böse, dass sie schon ein bisschen langweilig sind.
Nach den erwähnten 460 Seiten habe ich jetzt einfach keine Lust mehr, und sortiere das Buch enttäuscht aus.
-----------------------
I really enjoyed the author's Sword of Shadows series. My expectations of the Book of Words series were therefore quite high.
The Sword of Shadow series wasn't published much later, so I was hoping for a reading experience of similar quality.
However, after 460 pages, I'm now running out of steam to keep trying.
This is not grimdark fantasy, but a series in which there are only very, very bad or incredibly good characters.
The bad guys are cruel, violent, brutal and rotten to the core, while the good guys are so innocent that they seem downright stupid.
The protagonists are, as was to be expected at the time, the inexperienced peasant boy (in this case a baker's boy) with undiscovered abilities, the arrogant aristocratic girl who is misused by her father for political intrigues and has great difficulty seeing the boy as an equal, and a young knight who is trying terribly hard to be noble, although his career aspirations get in the way a little.
And the antagonists are ... evil, more evil, most evil. So evil that they're a bit boring.
After the aforementioned 460 pages, I just don't feel like reading any more and I cull the book in disappointment.
June 20, 2009
Unexpectedly good.
A review I read previously on another one of J.V. Jones' works mentioned it was boring and flat, so it was more an accident than anything that I ended up picking this book on my last trip to the library. And I'm glad, because this was rather a pleasant surprise.
Rather than flat, I found the characters quite interesting, with their own personalities, character traits and issues to deal with. Jones is obviously better at developing her villains; I found Baralis and Maybor (his being a villain is debatable, but he's heavily into those political circles) extremely engaging. Baralis, in particularly, really jumped off the page - he's evil, but he's so clever and his plots work so well that you can't help but admire him somewhat. Kylock, from the few descriptions we've been given thus far, is creepy, and I look forward to his character being fleshed out more in the next installment.
The development of the "good" guys was slightly weaker, but essentially effective. We're sympathetic to Jack and Melli's plight, and we're kept interested in what's going to happen to them next. The weakness lies in the lack of time given to them; Jack is supposedly the main character, pulled by destiny, but more time is given to Baralis and Maybor than both Jack and Melli put together. The novel starts with Baralis and ends with Baralis.
The plot is typical fantasy fare, but the political intrigue is entertaining. The world building is not as strong as it could be - I still don't have a very clear picture of how the whole thing ties together; different parts of this world is mentioned constantly, but how they lie in relation to one another isn't really dwelt upon. But the main Castle Harvell is very vividly painted; I can almost see the hidden stone passages and rooms in my mind.
All in all, The Baker's Boy is worth a read if you're a fantasy fan, looking for relatively light fantasy that isn't intent on constantly inflicting pain on the main characters. The editing problems in the book in parts can easily be ignored in favour of the engaging plot.
A review I read previously on another one of J.V. Jones' works mentioned it was boring and flat, so it was more an accident than anything that I ended up picking this book on my last trip to the library. And I'm glad, because this was rather a pleasant surprise.
Rather than flat, I found the characters quite interesting, with their own personalities, character traits and issues to deal with. Jones is obviously better at developing her villains; I found Baralis and Maybor (his being a villain is debatable, but he's heavily into those political circles) extremely engaging. Baralis, in particularly, really jumped off the page - he's evil, but he's so clever and his plots work so well that you can't help but admire him somewhat. Kylock, from the few descriptions we've been given thus far, is creepy, and I look forward to his character being fleshed out more in the next installment.
The development of the "good" guys was slightly weaker, but essentially effective. We're sympathetic to Jack and Melli's plight, and we're kept interested in what's going to happen to them next. The weakness lies in the lack of time given to them; Jack is supposedly the main character, pulled by destiny, but more time is given to Baralis and Maybor than both Jack and Melli put together. The novel starts with Baralis and ends with Baralis.
The plot is typical fantasy fare, but the political intrigue is entertaining. The world building is not as strong as it could be - I still don't have a very clear picture of how the whole thing ties together; different parts of this world is mentioned constantly, but how they lie in relation to one another isn't really dwelt upon. But the main Castle Harvell is very vividly painted; I can almost see the hidden stone passages and rooms in my mind.
All in all, The Baker's Boy is worth a read if you're a fantasy fan, looking for relatively light fantasy that isn't intent on constantly inflicting pain on the main characters. The editing problems in the book in parts can easily be ignored in favour of the engaging plot.
March 2, 2016
Read this. It will make you feel a sense of dread, happiness, hope, joy, lust, fear and loathing. Well written and she writes with distinction. She is right on so many levels how the people at the top care nothing for the ones that slave for them, instead, they only care for themselves. It is sci fi and I can only tell you that the truth is written in it and if you can catch onto it, you will the what world leaders do now...
April 2, 2017
I gave up 200 pages in because I didn't like anyone, it was way too rapey, and the writing wasn't necessarily bad, but it was so awkward?! I just wanted to rewrite about 2/3 of the text. So. Not for me.
April 6, 2015
An easy, fun, and enjoyable ride. A highly recommendable read.
December 2, 2022
3.5 Rounded up
I had a decent time with Bakers Boy however the name sake and actual Bakers boy lost my interest a little way through the book. The side characters however were enough to keep me entertained. I really liked some of the character dynamics between the duos we were following and look forward to continuing on.
I had a decent time with Bakers Boy however the name sake and actual Bakers boy lost my interest a little way through the book. The side characters however were enough to keep me entertained. I really liked some of the character dynamics between the duos we were following and look forward to continuing on.
November 22, 2024
The Baker’s Boy by J.V. Jones, published in 1995, is a richly woven fantasy told through multiple perspectives. At its heart is Jack, the titular baker’s boy, who begins his journey in a seemingly ordinary life only to discover he is far more than he appears. Which all feels like typical 90s fantasy and it is that and a whole lot more.
Jack’s story stands out because of its grounded nature. He isn’t an overpowered hero from the start but a young man grappling with his emerging abilities and trying to survive in a world rife with danger and intrigue. Melliandra’s storyline complements this perfectly, adding layers of tension and depth as she battles against the constraints of her royal upbringing. Her defiance against oppressive norms is particularly well executed, making her one of the novel’s most compelling characters.
J.V. Jones excels in crafting a narrative that seamlessly blends political intrigue, magic, and an ever-present sense of dread. The court machinations are as riveting as the action sequences, and the villains—especially Baralis—are chilling in their subtlety. Jones has a talent for creating antagonists who manipulate from the shadows, their schemes invisible to most but devastating in their effects.
However, the book isn’t without its flaws. The pacing is uneven, with some sections dragging more than others. Additionally, while the darker elements, such as depictions of abuse and power struggles, add realism and gravitas, they can feel excessive and unnecessary at times.
Despite these issues, the vivid descriptions and morally ambiguous characters kept me hooked. This isn’t a straightforward hero’s journey; it’s gritty and layered, filled with characters whose shifting motives keep you guessing. Though some aspects of the story feel tropey by today’s fantasy standards, its darker moments and unflinching exploration of human nature set it apart.
I enjoyed this for the intricate plots, complex characters, and a touch of grim realism, The Baker’s Boy is a compelling read—and one that makes you eager to see where the rest of The Book of Words trilogy will lead.
Jack’s story stands out because of its grounded nature. He isn’t an overpowered hero from the start but a young man grappling with his emerging abilities and trying to survive in a world rife with danger and intrigue. Melliandra’s storyline complements this perfectly, adding layers of tension and depth as she battles against the constraints of her royal upbringing. Her defiance against oppressive norms is particularly well executed, making her one of the novel’s most compelling characters.
J.V. Jones excels in crafting a narrative that seamlessly blends political intrigue, magic, and an ever-present sense of dread. The court machinations are as riveting as the action sequences, and the villains—especially Baralis—are chilling in their subtlety. Jones has a talent for creating antagonists who manipulate from the shadows, their schemes invisible to most but devastating in their effects.
However, the book isn’t without its flaws. The pacing is uneven, with some sections dragging more than others. Additionally, while the darker elements, such as depictions of abuse and power struggles, add realism and gravitas, they can feel excessive and unnecessary at times.
Despite these issues, the vivid descriptions and morally ambiguous characters kept me hooked. This isn’t a straightforward hero’s journey; it’s gritty and layered, filled with characters whose shifting motives keep you guessing. Though some aspects of the story feel tropey by today’s fantasy standards, its darker moments and unflinching exploration of human nature set it apart.
I enjoyed this for the intricate plots, complex characters, and a touch of grim realism, The Baker’s Boy is a compelling read—and one that makes you eager to see where the rest of The Book of Words trilogy will lead.
October 8, 2012
I must preface the account of the book’s plot and characters given below with a quick apology, I had no idea how difficult it would be to describe what’s going on in The Baker’s Boy! The story is written in no fewer than 16 voices (though 6 dominate), and rather than an installment in a series the books, it’s more like the first chapter of a bigger book. So please bear with me, and hopefully I’ll get better at this…
At about 2am this morning I finally laid The Baker’s Boy to rest. As the first of three books that make up JV Jones’ Book of Words series, there’s much more to come- I wasted no time of getting started with volume II, A Man Betrayed, whilst eating my breakfast. My haste in moving onto the next book was less to do with exceptional writing (a far cry from it) and more to do with the fact that the final chapters of the book provide absolutely no closure on any of the characters, nor any of the story threads, leaving the reader with a cliff hanger that would do the most salacious soap opera proud.
The Baker’s Boy, set in the various territories of a medival-eque land dominated by Kings, Lords, Knights and war, follows the intertwined fates of six characters as their journeys inadvertently play into an age old prophecy. Jack, a boy of inauspicious parentage (his father unknown, mother branded a whore), is the book’s main character and seems to be tied by destiny, coincidence and sorcery to all the others. Having started as a browbeaten kitchen hand in Castle Harvell’s bakery, Jack is compelled to flee the Castle he grew up in by an unfortunate incident involving some burnt bread which sees him uncover his own ability to wield magical powers. Stumbling through the forest his path crosses that of Melli, the daughter of the country’s wealthiest noble and the unhappy betrothed of the sinister Prince Kylock, set to inherit his sickly father’s Kingdom. Stubborn yet naïve, Melli’s run away from the forced engagement, upsetting the machinations of her ambitious father, and throwing him at the mercy of his main rival, Baralis the King’s Chancellor, a dark and powerful sorcerer. Baralis is determined to increase his power over the Four Kingdoms by marring Prince Kylock to a distant Lord’s daughter instead- having himself conceived the Prince by raping the queen in a drug assisted sleep, he is single-minded about using the boy to bring to fruition a dark prophesy and his own control of the Crown. Against this backdrop Tavalisk, Archbishop of Rorn is seeking to shore up his own wealth and status by weighing into the politics of the marriage- most encounters with his character involve the consumption of rare delicacies and the formulation of devilish plans to foment a rebellion here, a crisis there. Meanwhile, a kindly old wiseman named Bevlin sets Tawl, a young Knight of Valdis, the task of finding the boy foretold by prophesy. Alongside the adventures of Melli and Jack as they seek to evade forces from the castle, we follow Tawl’s determined journey throughout the Known Lands to uncover a boy for whom he has no name or description, just a year of birth. It is clear to the reader that this boy is Jack, though how Tawl is ever to find him is a great source of puzzlement and frustration.
The plot is rich and convoluted and full of twists and turns and a lot of evil to keep the reader entertained. Furthermore the characters play their roles well- the noble knight, the damsel in distress, the evil sorcerer, the gallant young hero. Each plot development is provided with a good degree of depth by the rotating narrative- the story is told by major and minor characters alike to allow the author to fully explore events in distant lands and the scheming that is the cause of them. Although an original way to write a book, it unfortunately does interfere with the fluidity of the story, and the perspective of peripheral characters, though often amusing, cuts back on Jones’ ability to flesh out the more central.
Where the book is weakest is in the description. I picked up the Book of Words because I needed something to follow George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, and it is clear Jones’ efforts simply don’t measure up. Martin set a high bar in detailing fantastical scenes from ship decks to castles and walls of ice, the scheming of his characters in the power play of court is high politics and everyone was involved, either using or being used by any number of other courtiers. Jones affords her characters fewer complex motives and they often lack the well-rounded development that Martin created- the incestuous Jaime Lannister, on the wrong side of the much loved Ned Stark is nevertheless vested with qualities of intelligence, loyalty and honour- Jones’ knight has a penchant for pretty girls and an amorous liaison with a whore, Maybor is driven only by greed and vanity, Baralis only by ambition, and Melli is headstrong and stubborn but cruelly naïve, as one would expect a spoilt little girl.
I recognize I was recently spoilt by the richness of physical descriptions in Shantaram and Game of Thrones, but Jones is a little lazy in painting a picture of her characters’ appearance. We know Jack is tall and strong and handsome, his hair floppy, Melli is dark haired and feminine, Baralis is raven like, with dark features and clawed hands. There isn’t enough here to paint vivid pictures in the minds eye that make the characters come to life. Oddly the only time Jones really invests in description is when she is dealing with food and wine, or the peculiar sexual ponderings of two castle guards.
Overall it lacks polish and sophistication, its target audience definitely the teenager or young adult. Nevertheless the galloping pace and great scope for development keep the reader engaged, just enough wile away an afternoon or two. If you’re looking for an epic saga that strikes all the right notes then go read A Song of Ice and Fire. If you like the classic battle of good and evil and you like a bit of fantasy you could do a lot worse than The Baker’s Boy.
(Marod’s Prophecy, to which each character’s destiny is intimately linked:
“When men of honor lose sight of their cause
when three bloods are savoured in one day
two houses will meet in wedlock and wealth
and what forms at the join is decay
A man will come with neither father nor mother
But sister as lover
And stay the hand of the plague
The stones will be sundered, and the temple will fall
The dark empire’s expansion will end at his call
And only the fool knows the truth”)
[From http://mspeacockescapes.wordpress.com/]
At about 2am this morning I finally laid The Baker’s Boy to rest. As the first of three books that make up JV Jones’ Book of Words series, there’s much more to come- I wasted no time of getting started with volume II, A Man Betrayed, whilst eating my breakfast. My haste in moving onto the next book was less to do with exceptional writing (a far cry from it) and more to do with the fact that the final chapters of the book provide absolutely no closure on any of the characters, nor any of the story threads, leaving the reader with a cliff hanger that would do the most salacious soap opera proud.
The Baker’s Boy, set in the various territories of a medival-eque land dominated by Kings, Lords, Knights and war, follows the intertwined fates of six characters as their journeys inadvertently play into an age old prophecy. Jack, a boy of inauspicious parentage (his father unknown, mother branded a whore), is the book’s main character and seems to be tied by destiny, coincidence and sorcery to all the others. Having started as a browbeaten kitchen hand in Castle Harvell’s bakery, Jack is compelled to flee the Castle he grew up in by an unfortunate incident involving some burnt bread which sees him uncover his own ability to wield magical powers. Stumbling through the forest his path crosses that of Melli, the daughter of the country’s wealthiest noble and the unhappy betrothed of the sinister Prince Kylock, set to inherit his sickly father’s Kingdom. Stubborn yet naïve, Melli’s run away from the forced engagement, upsetting the machinations of her ambitious father, and throwing him at the mercy of his main rival, Baralis the King’s Chancellor, a dark and powerful sorcerer. Baralis is determined to increase his power over the Four Kingdoms by marring Prince Kylock to a distant Lord’s daughter instead- having himself conceived the Prince by raping the queen in a drug assisted sleep, he is single-minded about using the boy to bring to fruition a dark prophesy and his own control of the Crown. Against this backdrop Tavalisk, Archbishop of Rorn is seeking to shore up his own wealth and status by weighing into the politics of the marriage- most encounters with his character involve the consumption of rare delicacies and the formulation of devilish plans to foment a rebellion here, a crisis there. Meanwhile, a kindly old wiseman named Bevlin sets Tawl, a young Knight of Valdis, the task of finding the boy foretold by prophesy. Alongside the adventures of Melli and Jack as they seek to evade forces from the castle, we follow Tawl’s determined journey throughout the Known Lands to uncover a boy for whom he has no name or description, just a year of birth. It is clear to the reader that this boy is Jack, though how Tawl is ever to find him is a great source of puzzlement and frustration.
The plot is rich and convoluted and full of twists and turns and a lot of evil to keep the reader entertained. Furthermore the characters play their roles well- the noble knight, the damsel in distress, the evil sorcerer, the gallant young hero. Each plot development is provided with a good degree of depth by the rotating narrative- the story is told by major and minor characters alike to allow the author to fully explore events in distant lands and the scheming that is the cause of them. Although an original way to write a book, it unfortunately does interfere with the fluidity of the story, and the perspective of peripheral characters, though often amusing, cuts back on Jones’ ability to flesh out the more central.
Where the book is weakest is in the description. I picked up the Book of Words because I needed something to follow George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, and it is clear Jones’ efforts simply don’t measure up. Martin set a high bar in detailing fantastical scenes from ship decks to castles and walls of ice, the scheming of his characters in the power play of court is high politics and everyone was involved, either using or being used by any number of other courtiers. Jones affords her characters fewer complex motives and they often lack the well-rounded development that Martin created- the incestuous Jaime Lannister, on the wrong side of the much loved Ned Stark is nevertheless vested with qualities of intelligence, loyalty and honour- Jones’ knight has a penchant for pretty girls and an amorous liaison with a whore, Maybor is driven only by greed and vanity, Baralis only by ambition, and Melli is headstrong and stubborn but cruelly naïve, as one would expect a spoilt little girl.
I recognize I was recently spoilt by the richness of physical descriptions in Shantaram and Game of Thrones, but Jones is a little lazy in painting a picture of her characters’ appearance. We know Jack is tall and strong and handsome, his hair floppy, Melli is dark haired and feminine, Baralis is raven like, with dark features and clawed hands. There isn’t enough here to paint vivid pictures in the minds eye that make the characters come to life. Oddly the only time Jones really invests in description is when she is dealing with food and wine, or the peculiar sexual ponderings of two castle guards.
Overall it lacks polish and sophistication, its target audience definitely the teenager or young adult. Nevertheless the galloping pace and great scope for development keep the reader engaged, just enough wile away an afternoon or two. If you’re looking for an epic saga that strikes all the right notes then go read A Song of Ice and Fire. If you like the classic battle of good and evil and you like a bit of fantasy you could do a lot worse than The Baker’s Boy.
(Marod’s Prophecy, to which each character’s destiny is intimately linked:
“When men of honor lose sight of their cause
when three bloods are savoured in one day
two houses will meet in wedlock and wealth
and what forms at the join is decay
A man will come with neither father nor mother
But sister as lover
And stay the hand of the plague
The stones will be sundered, and the temple will fall
The dark empire’s expansion will end at his call
And only the fool knows the truth”)
[From http://mspeacockescapes.wordpress.com/]
March 10, 2019
Добре написана.
November 21, 2014
It would be tempting to dismiss this one as formula fantasy. Just the title itself alludes to the notion that this is going to be one of those "assistant pig keeper" types. You know, the type of fantasy novel that we've all read where an unknown orphan boy turns out to be the world's greatest sorcerer or heir to the kingdom...or both. And I will admit that this first novel by J.V. Jones has some of those tendencies. There is a young orphaned lad who works in the bakery and there is definitely something special about him. And there is a beautiful girl who also happens to be the daughter of the richest lord in the kingdom that shares a grand adventure with the baker's boy. Even that age old magical device where names have power is in here. Never tell somebody your whole name for fear they will then hold magical power over you.
But that's where such comparison's end. The author has the gift of storytelling. This is not just the story of the baker's boy and the beautiful girl. It is also the story of a young knight trying to prove himself and find himself at the same time. And there are a handful of other prominent characters as well, each with their own motives and agendas. Their stories are told through their eyes as the author rotates the POV among all of them. Together, their individual stories form a nice fabric and I enjoyed living it with them. There are certainly some stereotypes of fantasy scattered throughout but the author's writing still drew me in and I was happy to escape into this world. Note: there is some mild sexual titillation in this novel, mostly of the older men leering at young female attributes variety. But nothing "on screen" as it were.
For a first novel, this is impressive work and I will happily pursue the rest of this trilogy as well as her more recent novels.
But that's where such comparison's end. The author has the gift of storytelling. This is not just the story of the baker's boy and the beautiful girl. It is also the story of a young knight trying to prove himself and find himself at the same time. And there are a handful of other prominent characters as well, each with their own motives and agendas. Their stories are told through their eyes as the author rotates the POV among all of them. Together, their individual stories form a nice fabric and I enjoyed living it with them. There are certainly some stereotypes of fantasy scattered throughout but the author's writing still drew me in and I was happy to escape into this world. Note: there is some mild sexual titillation in this novel, mostly of the older men leering at young female attributes variety. But nothing "on screen" as it were.
For a first novel, this is impressive work and I will happily pursue the rest of this trilogy as well as her more recent novels.
October 7, 2012
I will not be reading the rest of this series. At all. It took me forever to get into the story - if I did at all - and took me forever to finish it. There's not even much of a story. The boy, Jack, accidentally burns bread and then accidentally uses the magic that he accidentally learned when he accidentally learned to read from scribing for Baralis to fix the burned bread. When the loaves are perfectly golden brown, Jack kind of knows what he has done and decides to run for it. Because that makes sense.
On the other side of the spectrum, Melli is promised to wed a prince who is the equivalent of Prince Joffrey though maybe not so malicious. So she decides to run away not knowing much of anything about the outside world. She ends up getting robbed and then roped into being a whore - but when the man wants his payment, she attacks him. So she's beaten. Until she's saved.
The best part of the book were the characters of Bodger and Grift. They are usually found talking about myths to keep women from getting pregnant, but once in a while they have gossip about the other characters in the book. Honestly, they were the most entertaining part, and I always looked forward to their appearances.
On the other side of the spectrum, Melli is promised to wed a prince who is the equivalent of Prince Joffrey though maybe not so malicious. So she decides to run away not knowing much of anything about the outside world. She ends up getting robbed and then roped into being a whore - but when the man wants his payment, she attacks him. So she's beaten. Until she's saved.
The best part of the book were the characters of Bodger and Grift. They are usually found talking about myths to keep women from getting pregnant, but once in a while they have gossip about the other characters in the book. Honestly, they were the most entertaining part, and I always looked forward to their appearances.
November 9, 2015
I wanted to really like this book. There was a potential to it. There was a promise in lines that somewhere it will get better. Sadly it did not. Not saying it's a bad read. But it's not a great read either. Maybe because I was reading Robin Hobb before this, My expectations were high. Somehow I didn't connect with the characters. Something was missing from it. I wasn't able to invest in it that is, in my opinion, biggest flaw with this book.
I would read the next one, But not expecting anything much now.
I would read the next one, But not expecting anything much now.
September 27, 2017
So... this book was very difficult for me to enjoy. I had very high expectations because I loved the author from "A Cavern of Black Ice." Unfortunately I did not see any of the wonderful worldbuilding, complex characters, or interesting plot that I found before. Instead this book is full of very flat, one dimensional characters. the good ones are attractive and very good. Bad ones are ugly, sometimes with disabilities, and excessively evil. And speaking of excessive evil, be warned because there is an absurd amount of unnecessary, non-plot-furthering rape and abuse.
Also, nothing happens.
Also, nothing happens.
April 4, 2008
first of servicable fantasy trilogy. Jones set up some potentially very interesting character development, only to back away from it and hide in cliches. A detriment to the suspense of the plot was that as much page-time was given to the evil characters as the good--not so bad in itself, but they were staggeringly reptitive scenes used only for exposition. That exposition could have been bypassed to create more suspense.
May 13, 2016
This is a great book. J.V. Jones is a for the most part a unheard, and underrated author. I found her to be a hidden gem. I would never have known she existed if I hadn't read a blurb by Robert Jordan saying how good she was. I was not disappointed. The Baker's Boy is a goodread.
December 2, 2018
This series was completely engrossing, the kind of writing that lead you to submerge yourself into it's world, and only come up for meals and trips to the lavatory.
April 14, 2020
For a pretty hefty book not a lot actually happens in it really. I'm not saying it's bad but it is a bit slow.
Jack is the baker's boy of the title and after something happens with a batch of loaves, he has to flee the castle he grew up in. But he is only one of a host of characters in this book as an old prophecy seems to be about to come to pass and various rulers are making moves to further their own agendas. Caught up in their machinations are Jack, Melliandra the daughter of a powerful noble in the same castle as Jack, and Tawl a knight given an almost impossible quest.
Honestly I don't think I've read as tropey a book since David Eddings. A poor orphan farm boy (well baker's boy) with destiny written all over him - check. A beautiful princess fleeing a marriage she doesn't want - check. A wise old man living like a hermit - check. A knight on an impossible quest with a tragic past - check. An old obscure prophecy that seems imminently to come to pass - check. An evil counsellor to the king - check. An evil hedonistic clergyman who really runs his country - check. An evil nobleman who will do anything for political power - check. Every one of these political characters have manservants who they all treat like shit and employ henchmen to do their dirty work.
Now for all these tropes I still actually quite enjoyed it. OK all the baddies are almost caricatures but there is some nuance to some of them and I did like that we got quite a few POV's from their perspectives which is still pretty unusual. It definitely has a nineties fantasy feel to it, the world is almost generic fantasy land (TM). At the end of the book, the characters are pretty much in the same place as they were near the start. Magic in the world is very undefined and is extremely rare and carries great personal consequences to the person doing it which I like. Most of the book is taken up with the political manoeuvrings of our baddies with our trio of goodies caught up in their whirlwind.
For all that not much happens in the grand scheme of things I was still caught up in the story and eager to find out what happens. It really feels just like an extremely long intro and it ends on a whimper, almost no climax to speak of. The constant POV changes was a bit annoying as there were so many, on top of the main ones there were other single POV's dispersed throughout. For a debut book though it's not bad and even if it's a product of its time I still enjoyed it enough to continue on.
Please see this and other reviews at https://barrysbloodybooks.home.blog/
Jack is the baker's boy of the title and after something happens with a batch of loaves, he has to flee the castle he grew up in. But he is only one of a host of characters in this book as an old prophecy seems to be about to come to pass and various rulers are making moves to further their own agendas. Caught up in their machinations are Jack, Melliandra the daughter of a powerful noble in the same castle as Jack, and Tawl a knight given an almost impossible quest.
Honestly I don't think I've read as tropey a book since David Eddings. A poor orphan farm boy (well baker's boy) with destiny written all over him - check. A beautiful princess fleeing a marriage she doesn't want - check. A wise old man living like a hermit - check. A knight on an impossible quest with a tragic past - check. An old obscure prophecy that seems imminently to come to pass - check. An evil counsellor to the king - check. An evil hedonistic clergyman who really runs his country - check. An evil nobleman who will do anything for political power - check. Every one of these political characters have manservants who they all treat like shit and employ henchmen to do their dirty work.
Now for all these tropes I still actually quite enjoyed it. OK all the baddies are almost caricatures but there is some nuance to some of them and I did like that we got quite a few POV's from their perspectives which is still pretty unusual. It definitely has a nineties fantasy feel to it, the world is almost generic fantasy land (TM). At the end of the book, the characters are pretty much in the same place as they were near the start. Magic in the world is very undefined and is extremely rare and carries great personal consequences to the person doing it which I like. Most of the book is taken up with the political manoeuvrings of our baddies with our trio of goodies caught up in their whirlwind.
For all that not much happens in the grand scheme of things I was still caught up in the story and eager to find out what happens. It really feels just like an extremely long intro and it ends on a whimper, almost no climax to speak of. The constant POV changes was a bit annoying as there were so many, on top of the main ones there were other single POV's dispersed throughout. For a debut book though it's not bad and even if it's a product of its time I still enjoyed it enough to continue on.
Please see this and other reviews at https://barrysbloodybooks.home.blog/
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