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Books like Bridgehouse by J. Sebastian King demonstrate that the indie scene can offer fiction literature that is as competent, as skillfully elaborated, and as professionally written as the best of them.
This is a very ambitious project; it is vast, and complex, and it doesn’t hold back!
This is also not the type of story where everything gets spoon-fed to the reader. If you want a straightforward narrative, this might not be a good pick. If you want your mind to be stimulated and even challenged at times, pick up a copy today!
INITIAL DOUBTS:
Based on how the book is structured, I had my doubts that J.S. King would be able to pull it off, and this seemed (at first) like a house of cards about to crumble under its own weight. And here is why:
3 STORIES/1 BOOK:
Three separate storylines run parallel in this book, with three main characters each, for a whopping 700+ pages:
- Captain Catherine A. Russo (classic sci-fi)
- Lady Qona Itarte (space opera)
- Pon er Lugal (sword and sorcery)
What I found annoying at first was how we keep getting thrown from one story to the next every few chapters, and with no apparent connections among all storylines. Obviously we know that these characters and locations must be all connected somehow but for quite a while we feel like we are reading three separate books, with the author dictating which one to read and when.
It’s only ¾ into the book that we start seeing clear links and connections, but the way it happens is so subtle that when it finally hits us we can’t help but be left in awe of what we are going to find out!
ATTENTION TO DETAIL:
King is very pragmatic in his approach to fiction writing and in some aspects he reminds me a lot of another author we have covered before, James Krake. These two are both very analytical writers who really stress all major and minor details of story writing. I was honestly waiting for King to slip at some point by trying to cover so much ground , but the guy doesn’t miss a thing; everything is accounted for, and no stones are left unturned. This can be particularly challenging given the scale of this vision–again showing that level of professionalism I mentioned earlier.
CHARACTERS/PROSE:
All main and supporting characters are well developed, they are all memorable and they feel ‘tangible’ to us because so much detail is revealed about them over the course of this story.
The description of places, cities, buildings, mountains, rivers, and oceans is top notch, thanks to a prosaic style that comes off as seasoned and competent. Hard to believe this is King’s first publication!
MINOR ISSUES:
Only a few things I personally had minor issues with that are worth mentioning:
- Some of the language used in the ‘sword and sorcery’ story, with some F bombs and S bombs that at times felt out of place, especially on the lips of a character like Lilia (imagine LOTR’s Galadriel throwing S bombs if she got upset!)
- The military experience displayed by Qona Itarte in the ‘space opera’ story felt forced. Here is a woman with apparently 0 military experience; she is surrounded, outnumbered and yet always able to counter every move of the invaders on the battlefield.
- The English language used to create the native speech of some foreign tribes like the Nabadeans was hard to read at times, thus making some passages a chore to get through.
But again, these are just personal minor issues and pale in comparison to the awesome moments this sci-fi epic offers. They certainly don’t detract from the compelling aspects that make this a must-read work of fiction.
CONCLUSIONS:
What strikes me most about Bridgehouse is how professional it all comes across. It puts to shame not only a lot of indies but most tradpub as well. I look forward to book 2, but the real question is: is it going to be another 700+ pages with 3 books into 1? Just kidding of course! If King can capitalize on what he’s done here, I am convinced this could be one of the most epic fiction works of our times!
🦀