J.A. Pitts

Black Blade — (2010-2011) Publisher: Sarah Beauhall has more on her plate than most twenty-somethings: day job as a blacksmith, night job as a props manager for low-budget movies, and her free time is spent fighting in a medieval re-enactment group. The lead actor breaks Sarah's favorite one-of-a-kind sword, and to avoid reshooting scenes, Sarah agrees to repair the blade. One of the extras, who claims to be a dwarf, offers to help. And that's when things start to get weird. Could the sword really be magic, as the "dwarf" claims? Are dragons really living among us as shapeshifters? And as if things weren't surreal enough, Sarah's girlfriend Katie breaks out the dreaded phrase. 'I love you.' As her life begins to fall apart, first her relationship with Katie, then her job at the movie studio, and finally her blacksmithing career, Sarah hits rock bottom. It is at this moment, when she has lost everything she has prized, that one of the dragons makes their move. And suddenly what was unthinkable becomes all too real, and Sarah will have to decide if she can reject what is safe and become the heroine who is needed to save her world.

Black Blade Blues

Sarah Beauhall, heroine of Black Blade Blues, was a woman after my own heart from the very beginning. Not only is she a lesbian and a blacksmith — traits that set her apart from the Standard Urban Fantasy Heroine — she also attends sci-fi conventions and hangs out with Ren Faire and SCA enthusiasts. This isn’t just a character I’d like to have a beer with. This is a character I feel like I’ve already had a beer with! Like lots of her compatriots in urban fantasy, she does have anger-management issues, but there are reasons for this.

I have to admit, though, that I didn’t quite understand Sarah’s decision, at the beginning of the book, to let her prized antique sword be used in a friend’s B-movie shoot. Other characters said she was crazy to do it, and I actually kind of agreed with them. She’s a blacksmith, after all; why not make a convincing fake and keep her prized possession out of harm’s way? The plot requires that the sword be broken, and the movie shoot does achieve this aim, but it just doesn’t seem like the most realistic way of getting it broken.

Sarah decides to reforge the sword, and in doing so, attracts all sorts of supernatural attention. Turns out it’s a magical sword linked to the god Odin. Now Sarah has a stubborn dwarf trying to convince her to use the sword for heroic purposes, a couple of dragons (disguised as humans) who will stop at nothing to keep her from using it, and all sorts of mythical nasties threatening her friends.

And as if this weren’t enough trouble for one woman, her girlfriend Katie wants to take their relationship to the next level. But Sarah, who was raised by a Fred-Phelps-esque father, has lots of lingering angst about her sexuality and isn’t quite comfortable with who she is.

I really enjoyed the blacksmithing scenes. J.A. Pitts shows us how much Sarah loves the work, and how much work it really is. The battle scenes are also excellent, in a horrific sort of way. Sarah teams up with a group of SCA fighters to combat the villain, and the violence is rendered incredibly gritty by the fact that the heroes are all just humans, with no magical powers, pitting their courage and skill against dragons, trolls, ogres, and giants. People die; people suffer ghastly injuries. If Sarah and her friends were superpowered, these scenes wouldn’t be nearly as wrenching.

The climax comes earlier in the book than one might expect, followed by a rather long denouement. I kept thinking I was about to reach the ending, only to find another chapter of conversation. But Pitts ties up all the necessary ends, gives Sarah some great character development, and sets up a tantalizing plot hook for book two. I’ll be looking forward to it! —Kelly Lasiter

Honeyed Words

A few months ago, blacksmith Sarah Beauhall reforged the legendary Norse sword Gram, attracting the attention of a number of supernatural beings that wanted the sword for themselves. This culminated in an epic battle, in which Sarah and her valiant SCAdian friends defeated a dragon but suffered tragic losses. Honeyed Words, the second in J.A. Pitts’ Black Blade series, continues Sarah’s story.

From the perspective of character development, Honeyed Words is terrific. Sarah has always had avoidant tendencies, and here she begins to take responsibility for that trait and works on overcoming it and facing its consequences. This occurs on several fronts: her relationship with Katie, her friendship with the Black Briar SCA group, and her dealings with supernatural beings — and it’s hinted that her family of origin may soon join that list.

The fantasy plot didn’t grab me as hard, though, as that of Black Blade Blues. For about the first half of the book, the plot felt scattered, and if you’d stopped me midbook and asked me what it was about, I’d probably have replied, “A bunch of stuff is happening.” It takes a while before the story starts to feel like a unified whole. I think this is partially because Pitts frequently cuts away from Sarah’s point of view to look in on the scheming of characters who aren’t as interesting as she is. It’s also because while one plotline (the kidnapping of a musician acquaintance) is introduced early in the book, the other main plotline (creepy goings-on at a fellow blacksmith’s farm) doesn’t make its entrance until around page 150. The result is that the introduction of this blacksmith feels like a distraction at first. Once it becomes clear that this plotline is important, though, it’s spooky and well-executed, and does eventually tie in with the kidnapped-musician thread. The climax is tense, though it’s not as grand (or as wrenching) as that of Black Blade Blues.

Honeyed Words doesn’t quite live up to Black Blade Blues, but it’s worth reading for the growth in Sarah’s character, and I will definitely be back for the third installment. I recommend reading this series in order, as Honeyed Words would be quite confusing without the background. —Kelly Lasiter