The Anvil of the World

Back cover: The Anvil of the World is the tale of Smith, and his feud-prone people, the Children of the sun. Smith, formerly a successful assassin, is trying to retire, hoping to live an honest life in obscurity in spite of all those who have sworn to kill him. But when he agrees to be the master of a caravan travelling from the inland city of Troon to salesh by the sea, trouble follows. As always, Baker's approach is charmingly distinctive. Smith's adventure is certainly the only fantasy featuring a white-uniformed nurse, gourmet cuisine, one hundred and forty-four glass butterflies, and a steamboat.

"Troon, the golden city, sat within high walls on a plain a thousand miles wide."

Oh my gosh, you guys, this book. It's fantasy like you've never seen it. There's caravans which are huge things with gears and keymen who drive them like some steampunk creation, minus the steam, and dragons and demons (well, half-demons, maybe a quarter) who get high, and mages who have challenges to the death by throwing insults. It's like Baker took all the cool things the genre had to offer and mixed them together. It's called a novel but it's more like three novellas with three seperate storylines that happen to involve the same characters in a relatively close time period. It's so readable, I read each part of the novel in about two to three hours over three nights. I just, I don't even know what else there is to say about this book because if you aren't already interested I'm not sure what your deal is. It made me laugh out loud in at least three spots I can recall off the top of my head. Baker doesn't go hugely in-depth with the characters initially -- the main characters I would classify as Smith, Mrs. Smith (no relation) and Lord Ermenwyr -- but they are so much fun to read it's like do you really care that you don't know what your friend's relationship was like with their father or why they got started in their career if they are getting up to crazy hijinks and making you laugh your ass off? And to be fair you do get a lot of Lord Ermenwyr's family issues right up in your face, poor thing.

Seriously, I know I said I wanted another George R. R. Martin type epic politcal read but man, this book is just another example of how great fantasy can be. Why would you stick to the worn out stories/themes/settings when there is so much room to play? If Martin does dark and gritty tangled fantasy, Baker's shown how fantasy can be magic and fun and light. The closest comparison would be Terry Pratchett but that's satire, a whole 'nother kettle of fish. If Pratchett plays with the tropes, Baker just ignores them or uses only the fun parts.

TL;DR-- Baker brings the fun back to fantasy. You should read it.

For more info/reviews check this book out on Amazon UK/US.