Review Page: The Jackal Of Nar by John Marco
| Title: |
Jackal Of Nar, The |
| Author: |
John Marco |
| Format: |
Novel |
| Genre: |
Fantasy |
| Publisher: |
Millenium |
| Date of Publication: |
2000 |
| ISBN: |
1-85798-869-8 |
No. of Reviews: 1
Av. Rating: 0/10
Buy this book from the Amazon website.
26.09.2000 - Agema - 0/10
List of Reviews | Bio
The plot outline is simply that Richius, prince of a minor kingdom in the empire of Nar, is involved in a war in Lucel-Lor. During the course of the war he meets and falls in love with a beautiful woman, and ultimately is forced to choose between his heart and his kingdom.
This is a remarkable piece of work. It is worth review primarily as a display of almost everything that is lazy, incompetent, and just plain feeble in modern fantasy - although we are spared the cliche of a magic sword. Many fantasy writers seem to think that fantasy involves imagination (and they don't even generally manage that) only and have full licence to write wholly unconvincing stories.
Richius is a hero we should despise. Like most fantasy heroes he is so morally uptight he ends up causing havoc amongst those around him through sheer stupidity. The villains are as cheesy as they come. They betray all the typical sins of murderousness and vice as normal, and of course in true modern fantasy tradition display more modern immoral traits. The bad guys are easier to spot these days for their racism, sexism, willingness to get involved in politics and rampant disregard for the environment.
There is something unsettlingly masochistic about the way the hero suffers from doing what he thinks is right. At no point are we asked by the author to question whether we should condemn him for gross idiocy, merely to nod in sympathy at his trials and tribulations.
Meanwhile every woman he meets falls deeply in love with him. His squeezes (I describe them so disrespectfully as they serve no more relevance in the story) are of course astoundingly beautiful. All men of honour end up respecting him. Yet it is impossible for the reader to love or respect his righteousness and whining self-pity. Nor is there any hint of irony to suggest the author is mocking all his hack compatriots who do pretty much the same. (Terry Goodkind's "Wizard's First Rule" is an excellent example.)
In brief, the characters and world setting are completely hackneyed and insubstantial, the language quality is at most ordinary and imagery non-existent. This leaves pretty much only the plot to redeem it, and as that is just a jumble of cliches and gross inadequacies, I can only suggest this book as a near perfect example of utter failure.