Published: May 23, 2023
Publisher: Self Published
Series: Glass Immortals #0.5
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 131 (Kindle)
My Rating: 4 Stars
Synopsis:
Twelve year-old Montego al’Bou is an orphan, a provincial peasant boy left alone by the recent death of his grandmother. Possessing nothing more than his grandmother’s cudgel, he strikes out to the capital where the influential Grappo have offered to bring him up in the luxury of an Ossan guild-family. He finds his welcome frosty, his new home full of confusing responsibilities.
He quickly discovers that the greatest sin in the capital is to be born without money, and the classist elite will not hesitate to remind him of his humble origins. Montego dreams of being his own man, of making it in the cudgeling arenas of the Empire’s deadly spectator sport where even a provincial can be worshipped like a god. But skill isn’t the only barrier for a wannabe cudgelist. Without allies, cunning, and a helping of daring, he can’t hope to make it in the capital.
As I impatiently await the second installment in the Glass Immortals series, I decided to go back and read the novella about how the famous Baby Montego came to be part of the Grappo family. I’m quite picky about novellas and typically think they need a bit *more* to be truly great, but this was solid! I think I prefer novellas that build upon an established world or story like Montego does.
Montego, our large, titular character is bereft of family and comes to Ossa with only the mark of a favor owed and a cudgel. He wants to be a cudgelist like his grandmother, but the Grappo intend to school him alongside Demir, which only results in Montego sneaking off to do his own thing and befriending Kizzie Vorcien. This is the uncomplicated story of how Montego goes from being a lonely orphan to famed cudgelist and dearest friend of Demir Grappo. I loved the adult versions of this trio in In the Shadow of Lightning, so the idea of seeing them as kids was rather novel.
Montego highlights how our beloved trio of characters acted as children and how much guild politics affected even their lives at those tender young ages. Kids don’t have much of a chance to be just kids when they’re being groomed for politics, military, or guild enforcement and while that may sound rather stuffy, Montego was a solid story that left me wanting more from this fascinating world. I would almost say it was charming, but there are some rather violent parts and the guild politics are cutthroat, even for kids.
Overall, this was a strong addition to the Glass Immortals series and I really enjoyed learning about how Baby Montego earned his iconic name and how he, Kizzie, and Demir became friends in the first place. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing another prequel novella about how Demir came to his first military command on to the disaster that begins In the Shadow of Lightning.
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