The Law's Embodiment

House of Assassins by Larry Correia.
Book Review by Michael Isenberg.

The Law is the true embodiment,
Of everything that's excellent,
It has no kind of fault or flaw,
And I, my Lords, embody the Law.
          –W.S. Gilbert, Iolanthe (1882).

The quotation would no doubt have resonated with Ashok Vadal, hero of Larry Correia’s sword and sorcery thriller House of Assassins. Or at least it would have if 1) Gilbert and Sullivan had existed in Lok, the magic land that is the setting of the book and 2) Ashok would ever do anything so frivolous and out of character as attend an operetta.

We first met Ashok in 2016’s Son of the Black Sword the first installment in Correia’s Saga of the Forgotten Warrior. Powerful, skilled, and literally fearless, armed with the magic black sword Angruvadal, and single-mindedly devoted to upholding the Law (always capitalized), Ashok is ideally suited to his role as a Protector—member of the elite order of warriors whose sacred trust is to kill the most dangerous rebels and criminals of Lok, not to mention the occasional demon that emerges from the ocean to terrorize coastal towns.

Alas, Ashok has a fall from grace. The Grand Inquisitor—for mysterious reasons of his own—sentences him to join a rebellion of Lok’s untouchables—the Casteless—and protect its leader—the prophet of Forgotten gods in a land where all religion is prohibited. To become a criminal, in the service of criminals, is pure torture for a dedicated servant of the Law like Ashok. The irony of his punishment is palpable. And yet, along the way, he begins to suspect that the Law is not as infallible as he once believed.

House of Assassins, which won the 2019 Dragon Award for Best Fantasy Novel, picks up where Son of the Black Sword left off. The prophet has been kidnapped by the shadowy wizards of the Lost House and Ashok and his companions must set off on an epic quest to discover its location and rescue the prophet. Along the way they encounter vengeful gangsters, suspicious customs agents, bitter Protectors determined to bring to the justice the man who brought disgrace to their order, and demons far larger and more numerous than Ashok has ever encountered before. Not to mention the treacherous, shapeshifting assassins of the Lost House itself, who are determined to kill Ashok and add the power of the prophet’s magic to their own. And for the first time since he was a child, Ashok must face danger without the powerful blade Angruvadal in his hands.

There is plenty of action, some unexpected twists, and a host of memorable supporting characters. My favorite was Gutch, a smuggler of magical artifacts, who we first meet in Son of the Black Sword, where he was locked up in the same prison as Ashok. His facetious attitude toward his own criminality makes him a perfect foil for the grim former Protector of the Law. But this brief passage from House of Assassins captures the character far better than anything I could write about him. In this scene, Gutch is reunited with Ashok—who doesn’t remember him. But Gutch takes no offense:

“Well, you were a bit more memorable than me, what with all the killings. Place got a lot safer after you arrived, once the uppity sorts became afraid to draw your ire. I did enjoy watching your many duels through a crack in the wall of my cell. Entertainment helped pass the time. As for me? Old Gutch prefers to stay out of the way and not cause trouble.” “Since you’re too large of stature to avoid notice—an unfortunate trait for one who has chosen a life of crime—instead you play dumb and friendly so no one takes you as a threat.” They were far enough from the fire that Ashok could only barely see his features, but it was obvious Gutch’s forced smile had died. As Jagdish warned, this one was smarter than he looked. Then Gutch chuckled. “Dumb, I take some exception to, and I don’t pretend to be friendly. I truly like everyone, General. I just like them better when they’re not informing on me. As the Law says, a man must recognize his place. My favorite place is outside the view of those in your former profession.”

An entertaining character, but then, House of Assassins is an entertaining book. Check it out (Read Son of the Black Sword first if you haven’t already). The ending promises more entries in the Saga of the Forgotten Warrior series in the future. I look forward to reading them.

Interesting Sidebar—I actually made a small contribution to this book (I assume it’s this book), in a backward sort of way. Around three years ago I posted a pet peeve to a Facebook fiction group, “Attention writers,” I wrote. “Please search your manuscripts and replace ‘It's complicated’ and ‘It's a long story’ every time they appear.”

My post was not well received by the authors in the group in general and Mr. Correia in particular. He replied, “Just to be contrary, I stuck both of those phrases into my current manuscript extra times…Any time somebody gives me some ‘rule’ of writing I go out of my way to violate it in a massively bestselling novel.”

Michael Isenberg drinks bourbon and writes novels. His latest book, The Thread of Reason, is a murder mystery that takes place in Baghdad in the year 1092, and tells the story of the conflict between science and shari’ah in medieval Islam. It is available on Amazon.com Please follow Mike on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit(s): Amazon.com