Recommendation: The Anvil of the World, by Kage Baker

I recently finished the third book in the late Kage Baker's fantasy cycle and will be posting a review of it shortly.  It has been a while since I read the first book, so I won't have a detailed review of it here, however I'd like to give it a recommendation, especially since I recently had a discussion with a friend about it.  She was not normally a fantasy reader and was interested in books that might get her introduced to the genre.  The first book that came to mind was The Anvil of the World, by Kage Baker.



It recommends itself to readers new to the genre for a number of reasons.  For one thing, the world itself is very much a blank (there's no map either).  It foregoes detailed, name dropping and backstory-heavy world building for the more immediate and intimate concerns of the ordinary people who populate the world.  Most characters worry about being unemployed, not ancient prophecies, although there is room for that.  The light, whimsical style is appealing.  There is deliberately anachronistic humour, including hotel inspectors and real estate subdivisions, which also make this a departure from classical high fantasy.  The short segments could almost be self-contained stories, so the investment for readers new to the genre is small.  Ultimately, its Baker's empathy with the characters that make this a good read.  The story is one of breaking from the past and building a family with those around you, and that's an idea that crosses any genre.

So whether you are interested in checking out fantasy for the first time, or are simply interested in a good read, I recommend The Anvil of the World.