The Scour

When the folks at Grimdark Magazine approached me for an early read of Richard Swan's The Scour, I wasn't sure I was the right fit for an advance review. Though I've read the author's latest novel, I haven't read the Empire of the Wolf trilogy. Since this novella is a prequel set fifteen years before the events of the first series, even if it was always meant to be a standalone, I wasn't sure I would enjoy it as much as a Swan fan would. Now that I've read it, although someone with no prior knowledge of the original series can follow the plot easily enough, since The Scour features a number of important protagonists from the trilogy it's obvious that people familiar with them and their relationships will get more out of their reading experience than newbies like me likely will.

Hence, you might want to start with The Justice of Kings if you want to give Richard Swan a shot. But if you're a fan, this opportunity to see those characters once more might be a real treat!

Here's the blurb:

A HAUNTED LIGHTHOUSE

A JUSTICE ACCUSED OF MURDER

AND A SINGLE QUESTION

What is The Scour?

In the dying port town of Gdansburg, Sir Konrad Vonvalt finds the unthinkable: a fellow Justice imprisoned for the murder of a young boy. Despite the furious insistence of the townsfolk, the only evidence is a question written on a piece of paper by a dead man: what is The Scour?

The answer begins in the town’s haunted lighthouse and ends in its past–where Vonvalt may dig up more than he bargained for.

In my review of Grave Empire, I mentioned that the book did suffer from pacing issues. It took a long while for all three perspectives to come together. As a matter of course, the author needed time to lay down the groundwork for all three storylines. Problem is, Swan does like to overindulge when it comes to the travelogues and he made sure to showcase every single village/city/region down to the smallest detail. It did make his universe come alive with arresting imagery, yet it also slowed the rhythm of the tale too often for my liking. I was curious to see how he would do when working within the constraints of a novella-length project. And like Tad Williams, who's known for writing doorstoppers, it appears that such restrictions bring the best out of Richard Swan. When he's forced to focus on what's important, the man can be surprisingly concise. Paired with his excellent prose, this, for me at least, was quite an improvement from his only novel-length work I've read thus far.

Konrad Vonvalt and Dubine Bressenger make for an interesting duo. The banter and the interactions between the two will probably be the highlight of this novella for Swan fans. I can only imagine how their relationship will evolve over the years and what will happen to them in the Empire of the Wolf trilogy. Resi August's arrival changed the dynamics of the characterization a bit, but the wit and the humor remained to somewhat balance the darker elements of the tale.

The author created a haunting atmosphere that permeates the entire novella. The Scour is a murder mystery set in a dark fantasy environment spiced with a dash of paranormal horror. My only gripe is that too often the plot turns into a law procedural show, with Vonvalt being an annoying pedant that won't back down, and this is in no way necessary. In fact, it does get in the way of the story time and again, and I feel that such scenes could have been cut to allow for a better flow of the rhythm.

All in all, Richard Swan's The Scour is a compelling read when it's not focusing on the Slovan Criminal Code and the characters are working on solving the mystery they have unveiled. Readers already familiar with the protagonists will inevitably get more bang for their buck, yet that's the way love goes!

The final verdict: 7.5/10

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