The Baker’s Boy
Author – J.V. Jones
Paperback
Pages: 560
Publisher: Aspect
Release Date: June 1st, 1995
ISBN-10: 0446602825
ISBN-13: 978-0446602822
For the past few years my brother has constantly debated over starting George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. He’s thrown the idea at me a few times, but I’ve always had a few words of caution to go along with the praise:
‘Don’t be in a rush to read it,’ I say.
‘But I hear it’s so good!’ he replies.
‘Oh it is! None better.’
‘Then why shouldn’t I read it?’
‘Don’t rush into it,’ I say, ‘because Fantasy won’t be the same for you afterwards.’
Never has this been truer than with J.V. Jones’ The Baker’s Boy, the first volume of her The Book of Words trilogy.
Published at roughly the same time (mid-nineties), Jones’ The Book of Words and Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire tread a lot of similar ground – multiple viewpoint characters, politics, warring countries, light on magic, a world inhabited mostly by humans, eschewing the typical ‘Quest’ archetype – and yet they diverge at the most crucial point: quality.
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