Sharps - Book Review

Sharps, by K. J. Parker, is a fantasy set in two neighbouring kingdoms that are finally enjoying an uneasy truce after a long and terrible war. As some factions desperately attempt to keep the peace while others plot to spark conflict once again, a team of reluctant fencers is sent to represent their country in a special tournament. One slip could cause a political incident; one mistake could mean war. And the fencers soon find that they are expected to fight with sharps, not the blunt performance weapons they are used to.

Sharps is ‘low fantasy’, a story set in a world that is definitely not our own, but without magic or strange creatures, featuring no supernatural beings or non-human races. It could be historical fiction except for the fact that it does not fit into any actual historical setting of our world. The setting felt vaguely Renaissance to me, but different enough to feel like a true fantasy world. This is a very different kind of fantasy from the dragons and wizards of other stories, or even the gritty battles and adventurers of the more modern fantasy epic. Dealing with the aftermath and politics of war, it is realistic but not grimdark, and though it follows the fate of two countries, it is essentially a character driven story, narrowing in on a specific set of people and exploring not only how events affect them, but how they could change the future of their nations. For a story about sword-fighting, it is a more thoughtful, slower-paced and political book than one might imagine.