The Court of Pe’kar, by Joseph Sale
Blood Bound Books, 2024
ISBN: 9781940250687
Available: Paperback, ebook edition
The Court of Pe’kar is the penultimate story in Joseph Sale’s riveting Carcosa series, and it does an outstanding job setting the stage for the final volume, while being an excellent addition to the series based on its own merits.
This fourth volume has more of the feel of the first two in the series: quick pacing, tangible enemies, and good head-crushing, stomach-tearing battles. The third volume, while good, took the series in a more cerebral, introspective direction, where the adversaries were contained within the characters themselves. With The Court Of Pe’kar, it’s back to the prior approach, as Alan Chambers, Queen Cassilda, and their companions, complete the journey to the City of Demons to face off with Pe’kar the Demon King, and Cassilda’s traitorous sister Cali.
While most of the chapters focus on the protagonists, some of the earlier chapters feature Cali. The author makes the most out of these chapters, using them to sow doubt about Cali’s final intentions toward Pe’kar, when it appeared that she was previously in league with him. The story takes a somewhat similar turn with Pe’kar, as his intentions towards Alan and his party, as conveyed by his minions, are not at all what the group expects. That’s what the narrative does best in this volume. The actions of some of the characters cause some of the others to view their own intentions with a level of dubiousness, making for an exciting, yet unpredictable story. It’s best exemplified by a meeting between Cassilda and Cali towards the end, which may be the best part of the book. Alan’s group may have been united in their quest to eliminate Cali, but as she and others become unpredictable and show other facets of themselves previously hidden, the heroes have to question if the desired result would benefit the land of Carcosa, or themselves. In all fairness, although Alan Chambers was the driving force behind the series in the beginning, it’s a bit more about Cassilda and Cali, and their relationship as sisters and mortal enemies, which is now the focus. Of course, that may very well change in the final volume, as the author has proven adept at surprising readers.
Worth noting also, the final battle in this book is a thrilling collage of bloodshed: it’s almost as good as the epic battle that closed out volume two.
While it’s kind of sad when you can see the journey start to end as the series nears its conclusion, it’s been a hell of a ride getting there, and still is. We probably won’t see another fantasy series this good anytime soon. Most definitely recommended!
Reviewed by Murray Samuelson
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