A Book Review: Cold Counsel by Chris Sharp

Cold Counsel, written by Chris Sharp, is an epic fantasy novel with a troll as the protagonist.

Huh? Did you say a troll is the protagonist in this book? Are you trolling? No, I am not trolling, but a lot of goblins in this book got “trolled”, big time! 

Ok, jokes aside, take a look at the book's cover. Can you see that bad-ass, tusked warrior standing there and holding a mean-looking ax? That, is the protagonist in Cold Counsel and he is a troll.

The news for Cold Counsel arrived at the shore of my reading domain, on a barge of internet review articles. It gained a top spot on my list for “to be read books”, because it looked like my cup of tea. Last Friday, The Book Depository delivered this tale of blood and thunder to my mail box. I devoured this book in a gusto and loved every page of it. I highly recommend Cold Counsel, but I believe a certain type of audience will especially appreciate this book. What type of audience? My review will discuss this question. Meanwhile, here is a synopsis for the book.

Synopsis:

It was a dreadful day, a raging storm besieged the mountain, and the chief of the Blood Claw Clan welcomed his son into the world. Everyone agreed, there was something unusual about this newborn. Perhaps, his strangeness flows from the fiery gleam in his small black eyes, a pair of eyes that opened the window to blood and fury. They named him Slud, Bringer of Troubles.

Baby Slud's presence changed his father, who united his fellow trolls and took the mountain from the goblins. The elves, however, were unnerved by the return of the lesser giants. They stormed the mountain with twenty thousand warriors, wiping off the trolls from the face of the earth.

But the elves missed two trolls.

Among the smoldering fire and the crimson deaths, an old witch from Ironwood carried baby Slud away before the elven blade could touch him. In the two decades that followed, the old hag molded Slud into an instrument of one purpose - revenge.

My thoughts on this book:

Let me present a checklist to you. If your literary taste matches this checklist, then you will probably love Cold Counsel as much as I did.

If you like:

• Grimdark fantasy
• Conan the Cimmerian
• Norse mythology
• Morally ambiguous characters
• A revenge/heist story
• A story with a wicked sense of humor
• Bloody and thunderous battles
• A troll for the protagonist

Then you will love this book.

This is not to say Cold Counsel is perfect. While every character in this book is pure awesome, but I would have liked to see more character development. Otherwise, when I finished Cold Counsel, I let out a sigh of contentment. Among the sea of fantasy books, Cold Counsel is a rare breed. Why? Not only is this a self-contained story with no loose end, but it is also short, only 270 pages in length.

Seriously, in an age when most fantasy books are 600+ pages, and in serials, where will you find a fast-paced, compact, and self-contained story like Cold Counsel? This book is built with the savage economy of a desert wolf; in a surprisingly short length, the author jampacked the book with a hella of an adventure, vast and epic. Its worldbuilding draws heavily from Norse mythology, with a perspective from the monsters and the creatures that stalked the night. It offers an interesting, and alternative take on the classical mythology – what if the struggles were never about good vs. evil, but that of power and influence?

Slud takes on the centre stage of the story. As a troll, Slud has the brawn, a lot of it, but he is also surprisingly resourceful and intelligent. The combination of his qualities made him a force of nature. Slud reminds me of Conan the Cimmerian, the kind of guys you don't want to mess with. They are neither good nor evil, they do things because it needs to be taken care of, and they will fight anyone who stands in their way, be it a god or a monster. Other than Slud, Cold Counsel also features a cast of intriguing characters; a witch/hag, an (almost) unkillable goblin warrior, and a giant wolf who is also the descendant of Fenrir, the bane of Odin. I particularly liked the goblin warrior, the dialogues between Slud and him often made me grin from ear to ear, it is wicked and humorous. Let me put it this way, the cast in Cold Counsel is like the medieval, fantasy equivalent of Suicide Squad.

When I closed this book, the sound of battle and clashing steels receded in my head, but I wanted more stories about Slud and his band of cutthroats. On Goodreads, I asked the author if there will be a sequel. Mr. Sharp replied, he is planning and hoping for a sequel (a trilogy, in fact). However, his sales numbers are currently a bit light so there is no surety. Therefore, if you like Grimdark fantasy, then make sure to check out Cold Counsel and give this book some support. Spread the words.

I highly recommend this book.

P.S. Some reviews have complained about Slud's dialogues for being unintelligible. The author confirmed, he intended Slud to sounding like a pirate. When I was reading this book, I read out Slud's dialogues, loud, in the deep, guttural voice of an orc but with an accent of a pirate. The result? It was great fun! Try it out.