A beautifully-written fantasy adventure with steampunk elements from SJ Hull.

I have to admit I was very excited when I learned that SJ Hull had released his debut novel. We went to university together, and though that was over ten years ago now, even back then I knew he was very interested in the fantasy genre, and it didn’t surprise me in the slightest that he’d written his own. In fact, I was pretty confident it would be a great read, and I was not disappointed! Full disclosure: I picked up The Crimson Script entirely independently and I was not approached for a review.

Summary

Abys-Luthil is a city that stands upon the brink of civil war. Its halls of power darken with growing plots, and rival gangs terrorise its aged streets. Criminals raid stately homes in search of arcane artifacts, as the city's nobles withdraw behind their household guards. Within this city of masks and deceit, Lyra Alpheri moves between the shadows, hunting those who would prey upon the weak. By day she returns to a life of civilised nobility, as the daughter of the renowned magister, Maellon Alpheri. Aided by her friend Kat, and the master of the arcane forge, Virgil, Lyra swiftly brings justice to those who plague the streets. However, it is not long before the political upheaval of Abys-Luthil's scheming magisters brings trouble to her own home, and after the very fabric of her world is ripped from under her feet, Lyra descends into the city's depths to wreak a terrible vengeance. In a journey that runs thick with blood, betrayal and otherworldly power, Lyra walks the darkest of paths, one which soon tests mind, body and soul. But, as the bodies mount, is Lyra in danger of becoming the very evil which she so desperately fights against?

Review

The Crimson Script is a thoroughly enjoyable read with a great cast of characters, intense action, political scheming and a deep and well-realised world. It gets very heavy and emotional at times, with often gruesome violence, but it’s well balanced with humour and lighter character moments. The story is underlined by strong themes around freedom of speech and examines the importance of the ability to freely criticise the government.

Following along with Lyra’s journey of vengeance was thrilling, and the supporting cast of characters were great fun. I think my favourite characters were the soldiers Rillo and Aequo for their absolute banter and the way their personalities complemented each other so well. On the whole, all of the characters are pretty well-rounded and feel real. Humour is used to good effect with character interactions and serves to balance out the more dark and gritty aspects of the plot. This means that the book never gets weighed down by its own themes while at the same time allowing for some very beautiful introspective character moments.

The depth of world building in here is one of the book’s strengths. The society and culture of Abys-Luthil is an intriguing mix of Regency and Ancient Rome that works really well. Plus there’s the steampunk influence merging magic and guns that gives it a unique edge. There’s more than a little influence to be felt here from Dante’s Divine Comedy as well - especially in the classical names and roles of some of the characters. All that being said, I would like to have seen a more explicit explanation of the magic system in the world. The technique used to deliver the information for it was good on a technical level with tidbits sprinkled throughout the narrative, however. Arguably that’s the best way to do it and it’s clearly a “hard” magic system (working within a set of known limitations) but I would liked to have seen more of those limits in the story.

The structure and plot is very well paced. There are no places in which I felt it got too bogged down in anything unimportant. Everything was, for the most part, driving the plot forwards. Although there is one regrettably large info-dump detailing the history of the city that could have been spread out more like how the explanation of the magic system was. This wasn’t a big deal, however, because SJ Hull’s prose is excellent. It’s beautiful, flowing, evocative and fairly unique in its descriptive style. In short, the whole book is an absolute joy to read, and the quality of the prose goes a long way to covering over some of the weaknesses in sentence structure or the odd typo here and there. I would also like to have seen more of Lyra and Kat’s vigilantism that we’re introduced to at the very start of the book. The plot pivots in a few unexpected places that broke with my expectations in a good way, and the ending was both immensely satisfying and left me wanting a sequel.

The Crimson Script is an excellent debut novel, and I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a fun and action-packed fantasy.