THE COMBAT CODES (The Combat Codes #1), by Alexander Darwin

I received this novel from the author, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review: my thanks to both of them for this opportunity.

This review is part of the Combat Codes Blog Tour organized for the novel’s publication, which is scheduled for Tuesday June 13^th. You will find the links to the other posts for the Tour at the end of the review.

I have to confess that when Alexander Darwin contacted me about reading and reviewing The Combat Codes I was initially dubious because of the martial arts angle which features prominently in the story, since it’s not exactly my cup of tea, but a swift research online showed me that there was a good measure of character development in the book, and that was enough for me to take the proverbial plunge. Now I’m very glad I accepted because this novel offered much more than I expected, both story-wise and where characters are concerned.

The world in which the story is set has a long, bloody history of violent wars between nations; presently they have been set aside thanks to Grievar Knights, dedicated warriors who act as champions for the various factions: they meet in ritual combat in the arena and any dispute is settled with the outcome of the fight.  

“We fight, so the rest shall not have to.”

Grievars follow a set of rules, the Codes (each chapter starts with a quote from them, and is relevant to the events that take place in the story): they dictate not only the kind of moves allowed in combat, but also the moral tenets every fighter must adhere to, and these rules have been rigorously followed for a long time, but in recent times they have been abandoned in favor of more “modern” techniques and more performative physical enhancements.

Murray Pearson is a former Grievar Knight, once famous and powerful, now fallen into almost oblivion: he spends his days drinking and scouting for talent to be turned into Grievar champions in the prestigious Lyceum, the city’s academy where fighters’ skills are honed to perfection.  Cego is a young boy barely surviving in the depths of the city: he has no memory of how he ended there, only flashes of a former life on a remote island, where he and his two brothers were taught the way of the Grievar by an old mentor. Captured and forced to fight in the slave pits, a travesty of the Grievar arenas, he catches Murray’s eye who sees an enormous potential in the boy and manages to get him enrolled in the Lyceum. 

While he grows as a fighter and future Grievar, Cego starts to learn more about himself and his abilities, forms bonds of friendship with his team-mates and also deals with some unsavory characters who test his temperament and his respect for the Codes. Meanwhile, Murray is conducting something of an investigation into the dealings at the Lyceum, and both his search and Cego’s journey will take the readers toward a surprising revelation that will certainly lead to new and intriguing narrative paths in the next books of the series.

Where the novel’s structure holds a certain kind of familiarity – the old mentor, the young apprentice learning new skills, the school setting with its challenges, the adversarial bully, and so on – the story is carried by a very engaging prose that makes for a compelling reading, aided by the slow revelation of a very complex world in which elements of fantasy and science fiction seamlessly blend together to build the intriguing picture of a dystopian background in which technology and magic live side by side.  One of the details I found most intriguing is the link between the Circles (the fighting arenas) and the substance from which they are built: depending on the base element, the Circle takes on a specific color and can exert an equally specific influence on the fighters – either in mind or body – and therefore influence the outcome of a fight.

Another intriguing facet comes from the “present” evolution of the fighting rules: the Codes seem to be slowly losing their impact on the style and mindset of the Grievars, the use of enhancing drugs taking the place of more intensive training or as a way of increasing stamina. Older Knights, like Murray, perceive this phenomenon as a departure from the honorable way of fighting they were taught, while the younger generations see it as a way of gaining an edge against their opponents. It’s interesting to see how a young person like Cego feels a compelling need to remain faithful to the Codes, while feeling the pressure to perform better and better and therefore be an asset for his nation – a dichotomy that will take an interesting turn as the story goes on…

And speaking of Cego, I enjoyed his coming-of-age journey, from the grim depths of the slave pits to the excellence of the Lyceum, from the loneliness of the outcast to the glory of championship and the rewards of friendship and found family: throughout all these experiences, he manages to retain a certain form of candor, a deep capacity for honesty and appreciation for friendship that quickly endeared him to me and made me follow his progress with keen interest. And since this leads to discussion of the combat itself, I have to say that I appreciated these descriptions as well, to my surprise: as I mentioned at the beginning of the review, martial arts are not within my sphere of interest, but I found the depictions of Grievar fights very well detailed and quite cinematic, so that it was not hard to see them in my mind’s eye and they ended adding to my enjoyment of the novel.

The momentous revelation at the end of the book represented a big surprise for me and while it did not close the story on an actual cliffhanger (for which I’m very grateful…), it did promise interesting developments for the future, so that I’m more than looking forward to the continuation of this series.

My Rating:

THE COMBAT CODES BLOG TOUR

June 6^{th Queen’s Book Asylum}

June 8^{th Out of This World SFF}

June 9^{th BookwyrmsDen}

June 10^{th Under the Radar SFF Books}

June 11^{th Grimdark Magazine  &  FanFiAddict}

June 12^{th Fantasy Book Critic}

June 13^{th WeatherWax Report  &. Jessie MaeBooks}

Alexander Darwin’s website: http://www.combatcodes.com/