Fantasy Fiction, Other Fantasy Fiction Categories, Crimes - Fiction

Ill Met in the Arena

Name: Ill Met in the Arena
Author: Dave Duncan
ISBN: 9781617566165

by Dave Duncan

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Overview

Though Quirt's name is little-known, his skills as a gladiator are quickly obvious and hard to match. In Aureity, noblemen battle in the arena circuit, using their powers of teleportation and telekinesis to prove their breeding and strength. The prizes at play are not only silver and bronze but also the chance to rise amongst the nobility and mate with the ruling class of women.

Older than most players, Quirt still manages to draw attention and awe through his mastery of the games. Some of that attention comes from Humate, a brash young competitor with unbelievable power and little patience or control. To him, Quirt is a mystery he can't resist.

However, that mystery soon proves much bigger than all of them. Ancient crimes, struggles for status, romance, vengeance, duty--Humate has a lot to learn from the world-wise Quirt. As the secret of Quirt's true identity and past unfolds, Humate and Quirt race to bring justice to the murderer and madman whose blood links the two gladiators together.

With ILL MET IN THE ARENA, award-winning fantasy author Dave Duncan creates yet another new, fully-realized world filled with complex cultures and brisk adventure. Intrigue, politics, action, humor--this book will grab you from page one and not let go until the final word.

About the Author, Dave Duncan

Originally from Scotland, Dave Duncan has lived all his adult life in Western Canada, having enjoyed a long career as a petroleum geologist before taking up writing. Since discovering that inventing imaginary worlds is more satisfying than poking holes in the real one, he has published three dozen novels, mostly in the fantasy genre, but also in young adult, science fiction, and historical. He has at times written as Sarah B. Franklin and Ken Hood. He married his wife Janet in 1959 and they have one son and two daughters.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Complicated politics and family scandals twist through this tale of courtly intrigue from prolific fantasist Duncan (Children of Chaos). Rape and murder are almost unheard of in Aureity, where the female nobility cross bloodlines for strength: men's physical, women's mental. Aging gladiator Mudar of Quoin, shamed by the death of Mandragora, the woman he served, hunts for her killer. As he learns that his own father, Piese, slew Mandragora after she recognized him as a rapist, he schemes to arrange a fight with his half-brother, Humate, in psychic arena games. Mudar must convince Humate of their father's guilt, bring Piese to justice and reclaim his name, rank and lands before Humate can marry Mudar's beloved Tendence. Though made fresh by matter-of-fact female supremacy and its midlife hero's view of youthful warrior culture, the culture's obsession with degrees of caste and the absence of commoners may leave readers wishing for a more revolutionary resolution. (Aug.)

Kirkus Reviews

Another well thought-out fantasy from the reliable Duncan (Mother of Lies, 2007, etc.). In Aureity the nobles arrange marriages not for wealth or status but psychic powers. The males are telekinetic (here the skill is called "heft") and can teleport (here called "porting") while the females, through their ability to read, dominate and edit the contents of male minds, naturally rule. To win the favor of a female who will cherish him and not "improve" his disposition, men compete in the arena at games involving hefting and porting. The narrator, Quirt of Mundil, a champion ten years ago under his real name, seeks his Enemy, whom he is psychically compelled ("doomed") to discover, reveal, disgrace and punish. This Enemy, you see, raped and nearly killed Quirt's mother, Hyla, Quirt being the bastard offspring, but until recently the Enemy's identity remained unknown. Now Quirt plans by winning tourneys to gain a place close to the Enemy, so as to fulfill his doom. Unfortunately, a "baby dragon"-a noble whose 16 full royal great-great-grandparents guarantee unmatchable psychic power-has also chosen to compete. Young Humate, while overmatching Quirt in raw power, has little craft, and Quirt manages to defeat him. But there are complications. Humate's reason for competing is to win the hand of the woman Quirt loves; worse, Humate is the Enemy's son-Quirt's half-brother. Not the author's most visionary scenario, but one with agile plots springing in unexpected directions: Duncan in good-but not top-form.