Lord Mouse

I read this quite a while back and it falls squarely into the Swords and Sorcery genre, but with a romance between two men at its center. If you like Conan the Barbarian, or Fritz Lieber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Lin Carter’s Thongor and the Dragon City… this falls more or less in the same category. This is Book 1 of 2: Lords of Davenia and precedes the events of The Shadow Mark. Three Tales  is a collection of three short stories also set in this world – but the characters don’t cross over.

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Scoundrel by nature and master thief by trade, Mouse is the best there is. Sure, his methods may not make him many friends, but he works best alone anyway. And he has never failed a job.

But that could change.

When a stranger with a hefty bag of gold seduces him to take on a task, Mouse knows he’ll regret it. The job? Free Lord Garron, the son of a powerful duke arrested on trumped up charges in a rival duchy. Mouse doesn’t do rescue missions. He’s no altruistic hero, and something about the job reeks. But he cannot turn his back on that much coin-enough to buy a king’s pardon for the murder charge hanging over his head.

Getting Garron out of his tower prison is the easy part. Now, they must escape an army of guardsmen, a walled keep, a city on lockdown, and a ruthless mage using her power to track them. Making matters worse, Mouse is distracted by Garron’s charm and unyielding integrity. Falling for a client can lead to mistakes. Falling for a nobleman can lead to disaster. But Mouse is unprepared for the dangers behind the plot to make Lord Garron disappear.

The Purple Fantastic Steam Rating gives this a 3 out of 5. The book does contain sexual activity, but it remains discreet on specifics. You can read more about the Steam Ratings on the About Page.