In 2017/2018 Nicholas Eames two books in his first series “The Band”. Both of these books stuck with me more so than most other books I read this year and I wanted to take the time to write about them. This post will contain minor spoilers for both books.
Kings of the Wyld
In this first book, we follow Clay Cooper, an older man who is presumably part of the “town guard”, which is implied to be a pretty ragtag group of volunteers that defends his little town. While we learn later just how formidable a warrior/fighter Clay is, he is just a run-of-the-mill grunt in this system. Clay has a wife and child, whom he cares for dearly and it is told very early on that Clay was once a part of a mercenary band called Saga.
It is here on his walk home we meet the second member of Saga, and its “leader” Gabe. Gabe is clearly down on his luck, he recants to Clay that he is now divorced, and his daughter (Rose, it’s important later) has run off to a faraway city besieged by monsters seeking greatness. Gabe comes seeking to get Clay, and the rest of the old band, back together so they can cross the world to save his daughter Rose. Clay initially says no but relents after his daughter asks “Would you come save me”. That is the setup, shortly thereafter we begin traveling and meet the remaining members of Saga in the form of the eccentric wizard Mogg, the once deadly rouge now fat king Matrick, and (after some hardship) Ganelon who for reasons hasn’t aged at all.
The formerly legendary group set off and their adventures as we the readers follow them on this journey through thick and thin. While I found the pacing to be a bit odd, I eventually came to terms with the fact that all of our characters were essentially the equivalent of high-level DnD protagonists. But the parts of this book that stick with me are the way Eames writes friendships. He captures the feeling of having friends that feel closer than family. The little moments in this book are my absolute favorite for that reason. When the spectacle subsides, we can see how deeply these characters care for each other.
I’ve found that for me, it’s hard to sell these kinds of bonds in fiction. One of the only other examples I can think of is Wax and Wayne from Mistborn Era 2. But it’s exactly these kinds of relationships that make a story stand out to me, and make it feel more real. Eames accomplishes this in several ways, but mainly through the characters actions. These are gruff, grizzled, battle-hardened warriors. Outside of some of Clay’s inner monologue, we get very few moments of outward expression. It is through seeing the little actions they all do for each other, and some exchanges that hint at an incredible depth of knowledge regarding each other that we understand.
Bloody Rose
In the second book, Eames switches it up on us a bit. We follow Tam Hashford, a young girl from a small town. With dreams of adventuring. Due to circumstances, Tam ends up joining the mercenary band “Bloody Rose” (yes that Rose). Eames uses this to show us deep friendship from an outsider’s point of view. We have all the same questions as Tam, regarding the group dynamic. It should also be noted that this is a more “modern”(?) friendship. The band is much more open about their feelings and emotionally available, unlike Saga in the first book who showed this mainly through actions. We are shown this through both action and words. The group bickers, cries, laughs and is put through the wringer together.
Again Eames can portray this group of friends in a way that feels exceptionally real, and authentic. The characters do stupid and dangerous things for their friends. Confide in one another about their fears and dreams. The beauty of this is we see it all unfold from Tam’s point of view. We are discovering how much these characters care for each other at the same time as Tam is, and in addition the entire time Tam is slowly being integrated into the group as well. The moments of vulnerability in this story stand out to me, and it shows that even the larger-than-life individuals that Tam has joined up with are still people at their core.
Closing thoughts
The reason these books, despite some of their flaws, have had such a grip on me this year is due to how real these bonds feel. I was able to connect to the characters more deeply than other, probably more “realized”, characters because of the way Eames portrayed their friendship. In two distinct ways, Eames shows us how capable he is of this type of character work. It is for this reason that I am so highly anticipating the third entry in “The Band” (Just please don’t pull a Rothfuss on me 🤞).