Every so often, a new writer comes along who can surprise us in a pleasant fashion. J. V. Jones is one such author. The Baker's Boy is the story of a coming of age for both a young man, Jack, the so-called baker's boy of the title, and young Melliandra, a girl of noble birth whose father plans to use her to gain advantage. The evil villain of this piece, Baralis, is the common thread that binds Jack and Melli together, and he is an altogether rascal when it comes right down to it.
Jones' writing style is the first thing that draws one's attention to this book. The Baker's Boy is written almost in the form of a young adult fantasy novel, something that the author may or may not have done deliberately. Since the story is told from an omniscient point of view that places a strong emphasis on both Jack and Melliandra, the writing style reflects this. However, in this case the writing is deceptive because there are quite a few very adult points of view here as well, notably those of Baralis (the villain, as noted earlier) and the two guards, Bodger and Grift, whose commentary throughout the book is both humourous and insightful as to the nature of the world around them and some of the events and how they perceive them.
Which brings me to the other element that needs commenting on in this book. The Baker's Boy is the first book in the Book of Words trilogy, and it's easy to see at this point that the author intends both Jack and Melliandra, among others, to be caught up in the events of the war that is brewing by the end of the first book. Jones has created a world that is both fleshed out and that evokes a strong fantasy feel, but one can't help but think that it's a somewhat simplistic world in both its viewpoint and in terms of the cultural clashes that are occurring throughout the work. While I suspect that the series may turn a corner with the second book, given that both Jack and Melliandra have grown up somewhat, I think that the series could use a more adult-oriented style of prose and could use a character with whom we can actually empathize. By the end of the book, both Jack and Melliandra have not become all that much more likeable or lovable as characters go, and the only thing that held my interest by the end of the book was to see what was going on with the evil Baralis. He is a villain of note, since I've not seen such a multi-levelled character in quite some time in fantasy.
If The Baker's Boy has one strength, it is the fact that by the end of the book, the heroes and villains are somewhat interchangeable. Baralis is not the evil person we think he is necessarily, and neither Jack nor Melliandra come across any longer as the totally good heroes. That is what will certainly bring me back for the second book in the trilogy, but I hope that Jones does a better job of giving the reader a point of view that is consistent with the story she is trying to tell.