Majordomo: A Novella
I read this books as part of Team Booked Solid, judging the SFINCS novella competition. This review reflects only of my own thoughts and does not represent the team’s final score.. I received a free copy of the book for the purpose of judging.
By: Tim Carter
Jack is a kobold. He’s small and weak, and with his malformed foot, he can barely walk, much less run. He’s the kind of monster adventurers dispose of with barely a thought and even less effort.
Jack is also the majordomo of the estates of the great and ancient necromancer Nepherous. This means he’s responsible for staff, maintenance, and supplies at the kind of secret underground dwelling usually only heard of in legends.
The problem is it’s actually heard of outside of legends too (quite a bit, in fact) and adventurers regularly come to seek out the treasures such a place might hold – not to mention the glory that would come from slaying a fabled evil such as Nepherous the Necrotic.
The other problem is that Nepherous is old. He’s been old for centuries already, but now he’s becoming the kind of old where his mind starts to go, and where he’s no longer quite there all the time. Plus, it’s not like he’s bothered anyone for a really long time, so why can’t those pesky do-gooder murder hobos leave him to fade away in peace and quiet on his own?
This is Jack’s dilemma. Nepherous is the only one who’s really cared for him, and the old mage has become something of a father figure to Jack.
Majordomo was not at all the book I expected it to be (I didn’t read the description and barely looked at the cover before I started). My first impression was that I was in for an attempt at hard-boiled fantasy badass-ness, but what I got was a heartwarming and humorous tale of getting by in a world where you’re judged, not for who you are, but for what the common man’s wisdom (prejudice) says you are.
Everyone knows necromancers are evil, because they raise the dead. Never mind that Nepherous’s greatest and most well-known feats were ultimately what you’d call “good” if you looked at them from the perspective of anyone not a noble or in a position of power. Had Nepherous been a paladin, what he did would have been considered valorous and heroic, but since he’s a necromancers, it’s vile and horrific.
In a way, the story is also a timely and on-point commentary on the world we live in (the real world, right now) and how we experience it – like all great comedy.
What I Didn’t Like
There may have been details here and there that I could remark upon, but after having sat here for several minutes trying to come up with something, it’s starting to feel a bit silly I don’t want to complain for the sake of complaining.
[A week later, as I’m preparing to share this review, my memory has no complaints about the book]
What I Liked
The tone. The narrative voice initially threw me off, but I quickly grew used to it and came to enjoy it a lot. There’s a kind of world-weary cynicism in Jack’s telling of his story, but there’s no bitterness. He’s resigned to the hand life has dealt him, and while he complains about the injustice of everything, he doesn’t expect anyone else to do anything about it.
References. The way heroes and monsters are referred to in the book draws heavily on popular tropes and terminology. It’s a bit like Jack is on the wrong side of a lopsided Dungeons & Dragons adventure.
Final Words
A heartwarming and humorous tale of life on the wrong side of history.
