The Vagrant by Peter Newman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A silent warrior sets out on a dangerous path to reach the Shining City. All he carries with him is a baby, a powerful sword, and whatever meager supplies he has accumulated. Many tainted beings are searching to destroy the sword and only the man, The Vagrant, is able to protect and wield the divine weapon.
The Vagrant is a hard story to get into. First of all the title character doesn't speak. On top of that there is no internal dialogue that helps guide the story. Information is gathered from other characters along with flashbacks, but that's largely drips of information into a lake of a story.
The adversary in The Vagrant is rather vague. A breach has opened up in the world and the Seraph Knights along with one of the seven, Gamma, face off against the gaseous enemy that emerges from it. They are obliterated, but Gamma manages to wound the strongest of the enemy who becomes known as the Usurper. Before the sword can be destroyed a Seraph Knight flees with it.
The best way I can describe this gaseous enemy is that it's similar to the demons from the Supernatural TV series. Particularly early on before everyone and their mother had a demon killing blade. These gaseous enemies can possess living and dead people like the Supernatural demons. Doing so provides the possessed with a new personality and greater strength. They can also mildly alter others in a way known as the taint. The infected people can range from having full control of themselves to mindless pawns of the enemy. Many are physically altered as well.
Honestly I'm not sure I understand much else about what was happening in the story. The Vagrant seeks to reach the Shining City with the baby and travels from place to place doing good along the way even at the cost of ease and comfort to himself.
In the end The Vagrant is a story that took big risks with its storytelling and for me it didn't truly come together.
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