Book Review: The Red Knight / Author: K. T. Davies / Publisher: Anachron Press / Release Date: August 31st

Anachron Press are beginning to shape up as a small press publisher worth watching; previous releases (such as Day of Demons) have been very promising and worthwhile, and their latest release The Red Knight by K T Davies, knocked my socks off.

Gritty fantasy dramas featuring knights and warfare are a growing trend in fantasy fiction, and yet The Red Knight delivers all these things without descending into cliché. This is a tale of conflict, battle and strangeness, yet the heroes of this fantasy tale are believable and sympathetic. The dialogue is solid and possesses the sort of rough and ready humour one finds in the everyday, engaging the reader so subtly that you may find it hard to put down. Davies is a talented storyteller who can quickly immerse the reader into a world that seems so real you can almost hear the clash of swords and the crunch of bone.

The protagonists are very interesting, and the main character, Knight Captain Alyda Stenna, is exactly what you want from a strong female lead, though perhaps not what you may have come to expect from the  genre. Some of the supporting cast seem to have very interesting back stories and I would have liked to learn more about the world in which this story is set. There are a lot of intriguing ideas here, and it does get a little crowded at points, though not enough to break the flow of the story.

This is a smashing debut, and a very refreshing and exciting read. Davies is one to look out for, and I wait with interest to see what she does next.