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4.0 

Pathfinder Tales: Liar's Bargain

By Tim Pratt
Pathfinder Tales: Liar's Bargain by Tim Pratt digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

Paizo Publishing is the award-winning publisher of fantasy roleplaying games, accessories, and board games. Pathfinder Tales: Liar's Bargain is the latest in their popular novel series.

The sequel to Hugo Award Winner Tim Pratt’s Liar’s Island! For charming con man Rodrick and his talking sword Hrym, life is all about taking what you can and getting away clean. But when the pair are arrested in the crusader nation of Lastwall, Rodrick faces immediate execution, with Hrym spending the rest of eternity trapped in an enchanted scabbard. Their only hope lies in a secret government program in which captured career criminals are teamed up and sent on suicide missions too sensitive for ordinary soldiers. Trapped between almost certain death and actual certain death, the two join forces with a team of rogues and scoundrels, ready to serve their year-long tenure as best they can. Yet not everyone in their party is what they seem, and a death sentence may only be the start of the friends’ problems.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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2 Reviews

4.0
“This was my first Pathfinder novel and it did not disappoint. It’s full of witty banter, fun characters, interesting sci-fi elements weaved into this rich fantasy world, and so much more. There were a few aspects that fell flat, but overall it was a fantastic book. The characterization is phenomenal. Just in the short first chapter we see that our eccentric main character has a passion for creating and learning things. I fell in love with Alaeron immediately, and my love for him only grew over the course of the novel. Following an alchemist is so cool and rather unusual, and it made for unique action sequences and some really fun discussion. On top of that, Tim Pratt makes it very clear that Alaeron is neurodivergent/autistic; he isn’t adept in social situations, hyper-focuses as a way of life, and generally over-analyzes things. He uses logic and reasoning when it may be wiser not to, but he doesn’t always recognize that. It can often lead to humorous moments, but not in a way that’s offensive at all. As someone with ADHD, I found myself relating to this character much more than your typical fantasy protagonist. On the topic of characters and diversity, Skiver is also amazing. He’s a snarky gay thief whose pretty typical of the archetype, but a welcome addition nonetheless. He balances and blends with Alaeron so well and their dynamic is so amazing; their banter made this novel shine for me. And as I mentioned above, he’s gay. Pratt recognizes queerness as a normal thing within this world, and it’s so wonderful. It’s not often you find a neurodivergent lead character with a gay sidekick in fantasy. The integration of sci-fi tech into a fantasy world is done incredibly well. The black box is so cool, and the automatons, annihilators, gearmen, etc. were super fun to see in action. This book also went into the lore behind the crashed spaceships, and I thought that concept was incredible. This was my first Pathfinder novel, though, so that may be par for the course, but I still thought it was awesome. Spoiler warning for the next section. The climax fell short for me, but climaxes in fantasy novels often do. I wish we could have gotten a more proper conclusion to the crashed spaceship shuttle plot and less with the politics of infiltrating the technic league, but it wasn’t too bad. I liked the concept, but I think it should have been it’s own thing. It would have been cool if the shuttle plot was wrapped up in this book and there was another book where they infiltrated the technic league using whatever they found in the shuttle, but alas. Even so, the focus was on the characters and by the end Alaeron was a much more learned and wise person than when the novel started, and that’s the most important thing to me.”

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