Fifth Ward: First Watch Creates the Buddy Cop Fantasy Novel

Well, Dale Lucas has. In Fifth Ward: First Watch, Lucas brings the city of Yenara to life and explores the business of keeping order in a place where a dozen different races co-exist. In doing so, hehas created a whole new sub-genre: the Buddy Cop Fantasy. And it’s a little different from every other fantasy novel you’ve ever read.
Law and Order
Yenara is a sprawling city where various races, factions, and political forces come together. Orcs and elves, dwarves and humans, mages and criminals all cram into the city walls to pursue their own agendas. Friction and conflict are thus inescapable, and Lucas dives in and asks: how could a city like that function without some kind of organized law enforcement? The Wardwatch exists for that purpose. Each Ward of the city has a Watch to keep order. It’s a rough, violent job requiring dedication and a strong moral code. Our main character, Rem, is fleeing his comfortable life up North and finds himself hungover in a jail cell. Seeing an employment opportunity, he volunteers to join the Watch, and is partnered with the grumpy, extremely angry dwarf Torval, an exile from his people with a serious chip on his shoulder when it comes to Orcs, who killed his wife and two of his children during a protracted war.
Buddy Cops
Rem and Torval’s dynamic feels unique in the fantasy sphere: they’re Buddy Cops. Rem is the green, inexperienced rookie; Torval is the grizzled vet who initially despises his new partner. Their relationship gets off to a rocky start when they stumble on the body of Torval’s usual partner, Freygaf, who’s been murdered, and it’s a surprising dynamic in the confines of a fantasy story. As Torval and Rem learn to trust each other, they bring all the tropes of a police procedural into play—the glowering supervisor, the sketchy informants, drug busts that turn out to be more than they seem, interviews with powerful underworld figures. In a story set in Detroit, these tropes would be played out. In Yenara, they feel fresh and exciting.
Two Great Genres That Taste Great Together
Lucas cleverly maps the police procedural onto a fantasy setting in surprising ways. Magic exists in Yenara, and serves as a sort of CSI-like option for Torval and Rem, giving them clues they couldn’t otherwise discover. Each Ward has its own crime lords, Watch Prefects, and Ethnarcs (official representatives of the different races, empowered by treaty to intervene) who serve as sources of information and stonewalling. Drug smuggling, human trafficking, and illegal gambling dens are all stock features of the police story—but Lucas gives each them a magical spin.
Investigation as Exposition
Lucas elegantly marries exposition to the investigative mission of Rem and Torval. As they make their rounds, gathering clues, battling heavies, and fending off assassination attempts, Lucas is able to explore the city with his readers, explaining the social and political structures, the way each race has left a mark on the city, and something of the history and cultural identity of the universe. This is elegant storytelling, allowing Lucas to flesh out his setting without any of the moving parts showing.
Going Beyond Stereotypes
Lucas does one other thing that makes First Watch special: his characters transcend the clichés attached to their races or roles. Torval is a dwarf, several orcs and elves play pivotal roles, and Rem is a well-to-do human hiding his parentage (and his skill with a sword) in search of a new life. Instead of relying on the established roles of the stalwart, axe-wielding dwarf, the mysterious and immortal elf, the fallible, easily tempted human, Lucas offers twists that serve to make them individuals as well as surprises. Even the orcs get a surprising amount of development, going far beyond the typical “kill ‛em all” treatment.
If you’re looking for a book that will give you everything you love about fantasy in a way you haven’t seen before, you’ve found it.
Fifth Ward: First Watch is available now.