Promised Valley Rebellion

Title: Promised Valley Rebellion
Author: Ron Fritsch
Publisher: Asymmetric Worlds
ISBN: 0615464513
Pages: 172, Paperback/Kindle
Genre: Historical Novel/Gay Fiction

Reviewed by: Brandon Nolta, Pacific Book Review

 

Book Review

For generations, the fertile valley lands have been possessed and worked by the valley people, favored by the gods and allowed to live amongst the bounty after their time in the wilderness. Unlike the hated hill people, always doomed to wander after game and wild fruit, the valley people can live lives of relative prosperity and peace, especially after the last bloody war. This is the world that Blue Sky, son of the valley king’s best friend and the protagonist of Ron Fritsch’s Promised Valley Rebellion, was born into, but despite its stability, Blue Sky’s journey threatens to upend everything he knows. Unable to be with the man he truly loves, and unable to determine why the king and queen and his own parents refuse to let his sister marry the prince, Blue Sky pursues a path of independence and investigation that puts him into direct conflict with the kingdom, and perhaps even the gods that granted his people the valley…or so his people thought.

With this first novel in a projected four-book series, Fritsch does an admirable job of setting up the overarching framework and building a world without neglecting the basic story. Despite the sometimes tortuous lengths he goes to in order to describe terms and concepts without seeming anachronistic, the storyline stays clear throughout, and placing the characters is never difficult. Although the early introductions of all the characters goes on too long, and at times feels like an info dump, the story picks up pace and clicks along efficiently once the stage has been set and the main characters identified. Some characters are shortchanged by the narrative – although there aren’t any outright evil characters, the antagonists are given only the briefest of description and might as well be named “Bad Guys” – but over the course of the novel, most of the characters come off in a positive light. Even horrific acts are presented in context, and the characters are shown attempting to understand that context and come to a balanced view.

Perhaps even more notably, Fritsch also presents a society that views homosexuality as natural behavior and thus attaches no shame or stigma to it. Wisely, Fritsch makes no attempt to draw attention to this aspect beyond what is required by the story; he simply presents it as part of the overall narrative, allowing characters to interact in the story with their homosexuality being simply part of them instead of a defining characteristic. This works better with some characters than others – Blue Sky and his fellow guards Many Numbers and Spring Rain come off well, though Noon Breeze, another guard, veers close to cliché at times. Overall, however, Fritsch succeeds in making it a normal part of the novel’s world without forcing the point. By the novel’s end, the cumulative momentum of the narrative rolls into a conclusion that is genuinely moving, and doesn’t feel like a transparent hook leading to the next story. In spite of a few early stumbles, Promised Valley Rebellion emerges from its meticulous narrative as both a strong introduction to a world and a satisfyingly complete story by itself.