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| Cover by Jon Sullivan |
Pyr has just gotten its second starred review in
Publishers Weekly (that makes two in two weeks)! This one is for Pierre Pevel's English language debut, his swashbuckling fantasy
The Cardinal's Blades
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The Cardinal's Blades
Pierre Pevel, trans. from the French by Tom Clegg, Pyr, $16 paper (312p) ISBN 978-1-61614-245-2 Pevel, winner of the 2002 Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire and the 2005 Prix Imaginales, makes a stunning English-language debut with this breathless, swashbuckling tale of intrigue, spying, and swordfights. In an alternate 17th-century Paris, dragonnets are exotic pets, wyverns are high-class riding mounts, and drac thugs are the coarsest of mercenaries. After a five-year hiatus, Cardinal Richelieu reunites his elite force to aid France in its complex relationship with Spain's Black Claw cult of half-dragon royalty. A mostly straightforward adventure plot leaves plenty of room for character development, drama, and excitement. Clegg's solid translation reads pleasingly as culturally French without the language ever feeling stilted or unnatural. Published in France to great acclaim in 2007, Pevel's adventure is just as likely to charm Anglophone audiences who enjoy action-packed adventure with a true historical sensibility. (Oct.)
--Publishers Weekly, August 30, 2010
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