K.J.Parker -- Scavenger-trilogy -- Shadow

"Suppose there was a really bad man, a truly evil man who did terrible things; and one day he can't remember who he is or what he's done [...] suppose you can get rid of the past so it no longer exists. After all, the past is just memories. Suppose you can wipe them all out, wash them away like a stain in a shirt, so even you don't know any more. There's no past, just present and the future. And the bad man's not bad anymore, is he?"
-Pattern, page 353 (paperback, UK edition)

I found the first book in the library good week ago. It interested me mostly because of the red colour and the lone crow profile in the picture. The backside didn't really do it for me - the first part was good enough, which I quote now;
A man wakes in the wilderness, amid scattered corpses and inquisitive crows. He has no memory of who he is or how he came to be there. The only clues to his former existence lie in his apparent skill with a sword and the fragmented dreams that permeate his sleep. The second half, though,is mostly about how to make the book seem cooler than it is (leading the reader to expect something other than the book really gives), but most books in the market do that, so you have to give some kudos for the first half being good enough. In this text, I will probaply spoil the first hundred pages of the first book (because reviews are about telling about the book, without telling the sollution; and I feel that hundred pages is the ammount of pages you have to read before you can say if book is good or bad; it is also the ammount of pages you feel can be spoiled and most people will forgive you).

You can't tell much about the books, because the first book (and the second (which I'm halfway thru now) seems to continue the trend) is about a mystery. Who the man is? He sees dreams, but he always forgets them when he wakes, leaving reader with a clue of the identity, while the man himself forgets again.
The first book takes place in an unnamed Empire, which dosent have a name because it's so big, and there's only one of them anyway. Long ago, the Empire was strong, but now its getting ever weaker. The provinces far from the center are rebelling, and the generals who are send to put it down declare themselves kings instead. But while the Empire is getting smaller, it is by no means small. While provinces far off are drifting, the center itself is under attack from the sea; the raiders come out of nowhere, destroying whole cities leaving no person alive. And on addition to the raiders and renegade generals (and those still loyal to the Emperor), there are mercenary armies, that change sides with the wind.

The reader is given several options who the man without memory, calling himself Poldarn (name found from an old tile), could be. Maybe he is just a soldier - he seems pretty good with the sword, and several people in that trade seem to know him - only to get killed before sharing that information. Maybe he is even a general, several great ones have been missing for a while... or even a prince, sent to stop a rebellion.

Poldarn tries to make himself a living by attaching himself to a con-artist, who goes from town to town pretending Poldarn is a god in a cart, and she her priestess, cheating farmers out of their food and valuables. Seems pretty good plan...

But Poldarn is a name belonging not only to a tile or to a man with no memory; there is also a god by that name, who is said to manifest in flesh before the end of the world. And it is said, that this god, he will be traveling from city to city, bringing death after him...

The book does not directly handle magic. I feel this is important to mention, because this is definetly a fantasy book, and fantasy books usually have magic in them.. sometimes, them having magic is one of the selling points of the whole story. Magic sword, spells, dragons...nothing like that in this book, no sir. There are things that can be atributed to it, but on the other hand, that magic can also be great skill or lucky accident. Nothing definetly out of possible happens or is seen; and so the reader is thrown from one theory to the next.

The books are not that action packed; true, the first book is pretty dramatic, and has fighting, but the second one is mostly about farming (at least till now). I cant say much about the third book, which is still a work for the future. You could probaply read the first book without reading the next two. The center mystery (who Poldarn is) is answered, and also pretty definite clues why everyone knew him. But much is left unsaid, hence the next two books. I will go into them later on.

The first book is definelty worth reading, it is quite unlike what you have previously read, I can quarantee it.