Review of Mortedant's Peril by R.J. Barker

An important aspect of reading and reviewing fiction is (to attempt) to discern author intention. Just what is he/she trying to do here? Common answers are: art piece, zeigeist rider, bildungsroman, genre mish-mash, veiled imitation, character examination, etc. Another is: insular entertainment, aka quality escapism. In some ways such entertainment is the purest form of fiction. Less subjective than more ambitious efforts, the reader/reviewer can focus on how well it tells a story—technique, character, scene setting, prose, plot, etc. Such intentions 100% clear, enter Mortedant's Peril by R.J. Barker (2026).

Mortedant's Peril is one, unfortunate week in the life of Irody Hasp. As a mortedant, he is a respected member of society, a person who can read the final thoughts of the dead and offer comfort to those still alive. In the opening pages, Hasp is called to the dusty, dingy home of one of Elbay's bean counters, a dime-a-dozen civil servant in the lower tiers. Hasp thinks nothing of the last thoughts being around the berries the man ate. He collects his fee from the grieving wife and returns home to discover the berries actually meant something and he is being accused of murder. The grand magister of the mortedant's priory is able to grant Hasp a reprieve, however. He gives the unlucky mortedant a guard, one of the city's large alien osters, and one week to solve the crime himself. Or be hanged. Little does he know it, but Hasp is about to uncover threats to more than just his own life.

At the macro level, Mortedant's Peril is reminiscent of Robert Jackson Bennett's ongoing Shadow of the Leviathan series. Secondary, quasi-medieval world with its own quirks? Check. Mystery that steadily unfolds via setting? Check. Primary characters with a bit of an edge? Check. At the micro level, however, Barker has created something of his own, at least as much as a century and thousands upon thousands of science fiction and fantasy stories can allow for. We'll start with setting.

Like Daniel Polansky's Those Above/Those Below duology, Mortedant's Peril is set in a tiered city. The higher you live in Elbay, the richer, more powerful you are. The lower, well, best hope you have good connections as a life of poverty is your domain. As a mortedant, Hasp lives in the middle tier. He is allowed to go to upper tiers for administrative or clerical purposes, and the course of his work with the dead naturally often takes him to the lower tiers, at least for people who can afford it. The ring beyond the gates of the city is likewise imporant. An electrostatic charge setting it afire like tides on the ocean, getting in and out of Elbay is not easy.

The second detail worth calling out is the spurriers, the main faction in Elbay opposing the mortedants. Rival guilds, the two do their best to outduel one another in the eyes of the court. But where the mortedants fill a vital social role communing with the dead, the spurriers fill more of a defense and logistics role given they are the main producers of alchemical carriages and weapons, including the fire ring which they routinely set off to keep the fringes of the city clear of vegetation and bandits. For readers looking for fantasy eye kicks, the spurriers deliver.

There isn't much wrong with Mortedant's Peril. It aims to give the reader a murder mystery in a fantasy world, and proceeds to deliver precisely that through imagination, decently sketched characters, and diction that doesn't set the world on fire, but nor does it fizzle or drag. It's workaday stuff that efficiently gets from A to B to C, etc. and keeps the reader reasonably engaged.

In the end, Mortedant's Peril is a piece of genre through and through. Along with the aforementioned Shadows of the Leviathan series by Robert Jackson Bennett and Empty Throne series by Daniel Polansky, I would be remiss not to mention drops of Terry Pratchett and Jack Vance flowing through the novel's veins. Barker is steadily improving as a writer, honing in on the important bits, leaving the spurious out, and keeping pace brisk. Nothing is written between the lines, making for a nice summer beach read.