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The tumultuous story of Benvenuto Gesufal, “master-spy” in the service of an eminent politician, both witness and participant in the most vile intrigues and the most treacherous betrayals. The fictional world, organised into city-states, each governed by powerful aristocratic and merchant castes, recalls the Italian Renaissance.
I criticised the French translation of Horse Piss, and the misplaced use of 1950s slang in a medieval setting. I lamented the low standard (and the level of conformism) in French fantasy literature (Ayesha). Well, here it is! The French Heroic Fantasy novel that would not envy Émile Zola!
Aside from the high-quality writing (notably, five pages of absolutely delightful dialogue in slang that comes at you about a third of the way through the book), the main character (and narrator) has all the qualities I love to see in an antihero. He is anything but bland. Neither good, nor young, nor handsome, nor overpowered; he is cynical without being arrogant. He sometimes makes heavy mistakes, takes a beating, and openly confesses to his reader that he is a bastard, while cheekily suggesting that they come and take his place!
I would only have two minor complaints about the book: the (though discreet) presence of elves and dwarves (the Tolkien stereotypes annoy me) and secondary characters lacking substance, with Benvenuto himself hogging all the attention.
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