“We fight, so the rest shall not have to.”
In a world where single combat determines the fate of nations, the Grievar fight so that the rest can remain at peace.
Cego is a mysterious Grievar boy forced to fight his way out of the slave Circles into the world’s most prestigious combat school.
At the Lyceum, Cego will learn a variety of martial arts from eclectic teachers, develop deep bonds of friendship and fight against contentious rivals to climb the school’s rankings.
But, Cego will find far more than combat studies at the Lyceum. He will find the mystery of his past unraveled by forces greater than he could ever imagine.
Hiu’s thoughts:
Okay, first of all, just look at that cover! I’m usually not too big of a fan of characters portrayals on cover art, but Felix Ortiz has done a wonderful job here. Now, let’s talk about the book itself…
Combat Codes was one of the books that initially caught my eye when this year’s SPFBO finalists were first put forward. I was intrigued by how “sci-fi” it looked. Especially for a fantasy competition. The blurb, too, caught my eye, and seemed to feature a lot of tropes that I usually have a good time with.
What we have in Combat Codes is a world that, unsurprisingly, revolves around combat. Even in the political realm, fighting is elevated to almost anime levels, with single combat taking the place of war. It stands to reason this would then have an impact on how society is shaped. It’s a pet peeve of mine when authors add these big, flashy pieces of worldbuilding then neglect to show how these creative decisions affect the rest of their world. Alexander Darwin, thankfully, has thought this through. Combat is present (and revered) in almost every level of his world. There are child-fighting slave rings, there are martial schools, and quite generally a lot of the society is built around the need for developing skilled fighters.
And that’s where Cego comes in. Cego is our “main” protagonist. He’s a child who is far more talented in combat than he has any right to be, and lives by a set of codes instilled in him by his childhood mentor. Cego finds his way into the slave fighting rings and comes to the attention of an old, grizzled talent scout (our secondary protagonist, Murray). From there, the journey is one familiar to anyone who has read a progression fantasy story before. It’s up the societal ladder we go.
I had some trouble working through my feelings on this book. When I read a story that so wholeheartedly embraces its tropes, I tend to find that my problems with this story tend to also be my problems with this type of story. Progression fantasy (or sci-fi, in this case) is predictable. There’s only so many ways it can go. So many story beats it can hit. Often, the only things that make it stand out are the specifics of the world and individual characters.
And so my thoughts on Combat Codes are likewise predictable. I really enjoyed learning about the world. I enjoyed the flashbacks to Cego’s past, and appreciated how those tied in to the worldbuilding. But Cego himself… I kind of feel like I’ve seen him a thousand times before. The side-characters, too, felt too strongly wedded to their archetypes for my tastes. I would have liked to see more flashes of originality, personality, individuality. I appreciated them, don’t get me wrong (love me some Dozer), but I wanted to see a bit… more.
I thought that the plot had a very strong narrative thread. It knows exactly where it wants to go, and it gets the reader there very quickly. But in my experience this kind of break-neck pacing is a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, the story never feels like its stagnating. On the other, sometimes it leaves no room for slowing down slightly and exploring the complexities of the characters. Unfortunately, I’m the kind of reader who looks for the latter.
Combat Codes is a book that will strongly appeal to the right kind of reader — those who enjoy stories such as Will Wight’s Cradle, Pierce Brown’s Red Rising, and Evan Winter’s Rage of Dragons. While I enjoyed the glimpses I had of the world, I wish I’d been able to see more of it. I wish that the characters had stood out to me a little more, or that the plot had went in an exciting new direction. Though, having said all that, there is some indication that I’d get what I’m looking for in the sequel.
In terms of how I’d score this for SPFBO… there’s a few things I want to address first. Firstly, while I do firmly believe that this is a sci-fi story, I think it builds on tropes and a narrative structure that are commonly more synonymous with fantasy. There are some worldbuilding elements (the Wisps, the Circles) that are hand-waved away as “technology”, where a fantasy novel would hand-wave them away as “magic”. This is similar enough for me that I’m not going to lower the score as a result. Secondly, I came into Combat Codes having just read a book from Evan Winter’s series, The Burning, which I’ve already described as somewhat similar. As a result, I feel like I was a bit more sensitive to those aspects that I would personally perceive as “flaws”, and so I have adjusted my score upwards by a point to account for this.
For SPFBO my final rating is 6.5/10.
Travis’s thoughts:
As its name suggests, The Combat Codes is a book that thrives on action. The fight sequences are intense and feel brutally authentic, with the entire world built around the need for epic hand-to-hand combat.
The story follows Cego, a young boy pulled off the streets to become a fighter who happens to be far more honorable and deadly than anyone expected, and Murray, a former champion fighter who now spends his days scouting for new talent. Their relationship was easily my favorite part of the book. Mentor/mentee relationships are always fun, and the bond between Cego and Murray is both more wholesome and honest about each person’s flaws than I’ve seen in many fantasy books.
With its fast pacing, intriguing world, and excellent action sequences, I can see why this book would be an instant favorite for many. That said, there are some aspects of the book that fell flat for me.
While the pacing makes the book a quick read that’s hard to put down, I felt it came at the expense of developing the rest of the story. We hit many of the classic beats I’d expect from a martial coming of age story: our hero is initially underestimated, thrown into harsh training and forced to win the respect of his peers, etc. And yet the story moves as if on fast forward, hitting these beats without slowing to build up the supporting characters or emotional investment needed to fully appreciate Cego’s journey. The most emotional moment in the entire book is skipped over and only revealed through a conversation afterwards.
There’s also an extraordinary lack of consequences. Usually I would expect our hero’s journey to be a “two steps forward, one step back” cycle of trying and failing before eventually reaching his goals. But no matter what he’s faced with, Cego always succeeds on the first try. And for a world where the fighters derive their name from the grievous injuries they suffer, characters suffer injuries that are ignored for the rest of the plot. One character even loses an eye, which is never mentioned again.
Despite these issues, it was still a very fun book. The audio version in particular is very well done. My raw score for SPFBO would be 5/10. However, I lowered that score slightly because there were no fantasy elements in the story. For a Self Published Fantasy Blog Off with a requirement that all entries are fantasy, I felt that I had to factor that into the score.
For SPFBO my final rating is 3/10.
Taking both scores into account, The Fantasy Inn’s final SPFBO rating is 5/10.
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