Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Ten Half-Pennies, by Matthew Hughes

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(High Fantasy; Baldemar) Young Baldemar gets a favor from a moneylender’s hired muscle. The challenge is paying it back. (7,512 words; Time: 25m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average
Recommended By: SFRevu:4 RHorton:4

"Ten Half-Pennies," by (edited by C.C. Finlay), appeared in issue 03-04|17, published on by .

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: It’s fun watching Baldemar progress in his career, particularly since he never really hurts anyone. It’s also admirable that he realizes just how much Vunt did for him over the years and that he’s determined to pay the man back.

Con: Baldemar is too close to a Mary Sue for my taste. Except for the overarching goal of paying Vunt back, every challenge he faces is neatly dealt with just a few paragraphs later.

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3 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. It seems like Hughes is going to have Baldemar as his next recurring character, and I'm really curious to see where that goes -- it's a very different style character than his previous devil-may-care rogue. Kind of a paladin among thieves -- stoic and ruthless. Not an easy archetype to write a story around, but Hughes is fantastic, so I think an unusual character gives us a lot to look forward to :)

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  2. Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing Baldemar in an adventure. I just didn't see anything really special about his origin story.

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  3. Agree this was good, but almost too straightforward.

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