Book Review: The Baker's Boy by J.V. Jones

The Baker's Boy by J.V. Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A young servant and a young noblewoman in the same castle leave of their own accord though not together, then add in sex and politics and this isn’t your traditional fantasy series. The Baker’s Boy by J.V. Jones is the first book of The Book of Words trilogy.

Coming into this book I expected a “classic” or “traditional” fantasy trilogy, by the end of the prologue that assumption was out the window. Yet upon finishing this book I can say that the classic/traditional tropes were there but so were elements akin with George R.R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie’s writing especially connected with sex and politics. Although the titular character, Jack, does feature prominently along with the standard young noble woman, Melli, the character whose story arc in the book that felt more complete was the Knight of Valdis Tawl. The other story arc was the deadly political contest between Baralis and Maybor, Melli’s father, as they jockey for being the power behind the throne in the Four Kingdoms especially on who would be Prince Kylock’s future queen. Then there were outside observers, in particular Archbishop Tavilisk of Rorn, who while not “doing” much in this book look to be important as the series continues. In addition to the “main” characters traveling in circles with minor character development there were questionable decisions that Jones had like the non-regnant queen of the Four Kingdoms being the political figure in charge for the infirmed king instead of the chancellor, Baralis, and the aforementioned queen questioned the very clean appearance of her 17-year old son’s room in a castle filled with royal servants who might take care of that for the heir to the kingdom. Yet with all these issues, Jones writes a very readable book that is engaging if you’re into political intrigue and mysterious magical powers that the reader sees will be important, but the characters still aren’t in control of after one book.

The Baker’s Boy is an interesting opening volume to a fantasy trilogy. J.V. Jones mixes classic tropes with darker ones to create an intriguing story that will get readers attention from the start while building up elements for later in the series.

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