The Sword-edged Blonde
Author – Alex Bledsoe
Paperback
Pages: 320 pages
Publisher: Tor Fantasy/Nightshade Books
Release Date: June 30, 2009
ISBN-10: 0765362031
ISBN-13: 978-0765362032
The Sword-edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe is one of those rainy-day kinda novels. You know the type. It’s not the deepest book on your bookshelf, but it’s fun. It won’t stick with you for weeks afterwards, but you can’t put it down while you’re reading it. It’s got problems, but, for some reason, you’re willing to look past ’em. The Sword-edged Blonde doesn’t set out to be anything more than what it is: a pulpy homage to Raymond Chandler, set in a world not unlike those found in any other Fantasy world. Bledsoe knew what he was aiming for, and hit the mark on the first try. Mostly.
It seems obvious: take the tried and true detective novel formula and plunk it down in a standard Sword & Sorcery world. Like Urban Fantasy throwing werewolves and vampires into the mix, putting a traditional story in a new setting can make the old feel new again and that seems to be exactly the angle Bledsoe was trying to take. He pulls more or less every cliche out of the book – a case with a personal connection to the gumshoesword jockey’s past; amnesia; a murdered prince; gangsters, gambling dens and thugs; pretty girls and dangerous fellows – but uses them all with tongue firmly in cheek, and comes out the other end with a novel that’s fun for all the right reasons.
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