After Atlas - Emma Newman

Emma Newman's After Atlas (2016) is set in the same universe as Planetfall (2015). That book turned out to be one of the top reads of 2016 (I got to it late) and so the sequel jumped right to the top of my to read list. A position it held for an unreasonable length of time. Once again I am late in reading this book. The novel is set in the same universe, but the connection with the first book is minimal. They can be read independently of each other just fine. Although the novel is quite different from Planetfall, it has the same attention the characterization and psychology as the previous book. If you liked that one, After Atlas is a must read.

Many years ago the Atlas project left Earth in search of a new home. Only a few people managed to secure a place on board, to escape the overcrowded, hyper-commercialized planet. Carlos' mother was one of them. His father, who did not manage to beat the last round of the selection procedure, is left a broken man. He seeks refuge with an American religious cult. Many years later Carlos has escaped the clutches of the cult and has become a detective with a European government/corporation. When the leader of the cult he fled those many years ago is found dead and butchered in a hotel room in England, Carlos is put on the case. The investigation will bring up a lot of old hurts, and take him far beyond catching a regular murderer.

The setting of Newman's second Atlas novel is a future Earth. It is something of a dystopia. The distinction between governments and corporations has faded, and just about everything is turned into a commercial transaction. Information technology is employed to achieve a staggering level of surveillance on the general population. The only thing that can get you away from that is money. Huge sums of it. Information technology is integrated into society in a way that makes living without it almost inconceivable. Every aspect of the story is drenched with the possibilities of big data, how to use and abuse it, and how to avoid it. Even labour contracts are enforced 24/7 by employers, creating what amounts to a new form of slavery in the eyes of Carlos. The depiction of how technology might develop is depressingly realistic considering how much data is already being collected over the Internet. Once it is integrated into our bodies, privacy will only become harder to come by.

Even in this Big Brother future, it is possible to be murdered without a camera observing it though. Carlos still employs techniques to research the murder that a detective from a hundred years ago would recognize. Interrogation and looking for a motive are still key to the investigation. Perhaps it is because of the huge quantity of data available to him, that Carlos first needs a lead, an idea of where to look for the needle in the haystack. To him, knowing which questions to ask is critical to a successful investigation. His intuition and reasoning guide him more than all the technology at his disposal. It is this intuition that will get him in trouble eventually. Carlos can't stand loose ends. He keeps digging, even when he is told to stop.

Carlos is a man with more than a few issues. His job has made him a minor celebrity and the media often portray him as abandoned by his mother, the ultimate sin for a woman if they are to be believed. His anger is directed at his father however. A man who couldn't handle his failure. He neglected Carlos for years before entering the sect. When confronted with people from his past, the anger and resentment threaten to boil over on several occasions. Newman carefully reveals bits of his past to gradually expose his psyche to the reader. Through his problematic relationship with his father, his issues with food, and his problems forming social ties, a picture emerges of a man badly scarred by life, but with a strong sense of justice and self-preservation. He is at times desperate, and at the point of giving up, but always manages to make himself ask the next question. Just like Ren in the previous novel, Carlos is a well developed character. One that can carry the story.

The plot, in my opinion, was not as strong as the one in the previous novel. The investigation keeps things moving along nicely, but Carlos is forced to wrap that up with quite a bit of the book still to go. There are unanswered questions of course, questions Carlos' boss would rather not ask. But with a case that is as personal as this one, Carlos can't let go even if he wanted to. The section of the novel that follows feels rushed. Where the investigation is methodical and well-paced, the climax of the novel stuffs in a highly emotional reunion and a worldwide conspiracy. Carlos has to make some cognitive leaps that seem at odds with the steady progress of checking and eliminating he does early on in the novel. Maybe the contrast is intentional. The novel moves from all business to strictly personal after all. I didn't think it was quite convincing though.

Despite the rushed ending, After Atlas is a very good read. Newman creates another marvelously developed character with this novel. At the end of it, she also creates some interesting options for further stories in this universe. I have no idea if she intends to write a third novel, but the potential is certainly there. After Atlas is perhaps not the most uplifting novel, but it is one that is intelligently written and on the character level deeply moving. Planetfall is probably my favourite by a minimal margin, but After Atlas is a worthy sequel.

Title: After Atlas
Author: Emma Newman
Publisher: Roc
Pages: 365
Year: 2016
Language: English
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-425-28240-3
First published: 2016

Planetfall - Emma Newman

Planetfall by Emma Newman is a book I have read a lot of good things about. Newman has published four other novels in the past few years, none of which I have read. The positive reviews I've read about her most recent novel made me want to read it a bit closer to the publication date. That didn't happen unfortunately but I am very glad I got around to reading this book now. It is one of those novels that would not look out of place on the short list of this year's science fiction awards. It is however, a very strongly character driven story. As such, it is probably not everybody's cup of tea.

Twenty years ago a group of colonists arrives at a strange planet in search of the City of God. Their landing doesn't quite go as planned. Part of the crew is lost after their landing pods malfunction. The survivors set up a colony that aims to have as little impact on the planet as possible. Ren is in charge of the colony's 3D-printers. She knows more of what happened during planetfall than the other members of the colony have been told. With the arrival of a young man, claiming to be a child of the lost colonists and the last survivor of their group, all the carefully hidden secrets come bubbling to the surface. The pressure on Ren is rising but telling what she knows might sweep away the foundations of their community.

The story is told in a first person perspective from Ren's point of view. It quickly becomes apparent that she carries a huge burden of guilt. One member of the community shares her knowledge and between them they keep the lid on what has happened twenty years ago. All this secrecy has taken its toll on Ren however. She is a loner, never letting anyone into her house. From the very start of the book she is busy pushing people away from her and minimizing her social interactions. Ren is taking this very far, to the point where she is clearly hiding things from herself as well as from the community. It's these repressed memories that form the core of the mystery the novel presents.

Newman uses Ren's mental issues to gradually reveal what went on twenty years ago. It makes Ren a classic example of the unreliable narrator. What she reveals to us is a selective truth, often only sharing what she is forced to admit to herself by the rapidly changing dynamic in the colony, rather than volunteering any information. The young outsider acts as a catalyst, forcing Ren to review her life constructed of secrets and lies. She soon feels that events are slipping away from her and becomes even more desperate to protect her secrets.

Planetfall is in effect a detailed portrayal of mental illness. Newman uses the circumstances to pile up the pressure on Ren. What happened twenty years ago is much less interesting than what caused Ren to behave the way she does. Her gradual slide towards confronting her fears and facing up to her guilt is described in detail and takes up the bulk of the novel. It is, in other words, not a novel about exploring the mysteries of an alien word. A little bit of light is shed on the reason for making the journey in the first place but it is not the focus of the novel.  It  may disappoint readers looking for a story of planetary exploration.

Personally, I found Ren a fascinating character. There is so much tension in her that you know from very early on in the novel something must give soon, but what it is exactly, takes a bit of time to figure out. The pacing of the novel is directly linked to the personal crisis Ren is facing and it works very well. Her problems make her thoroughly unpleasant at several points in the novel. Her behaviour is erratic, unreasonable and supported by increasingly unlikely rationalizations. Admiration, sympathy, frustration and pity war with each other when reading her tale. She is a well rounded character. With the science fictional and religious elements pushed so far into the background, whether the characterization works for you will make or break the novel.

There is more than a bit of science fiction in the story though. The way the colonists go about minimizing their ecological footprint was of particular interest to me. With the resources of a whole planet available to them, they nevertheless stick to a strict system of recycling, reusing every scrap of material for the printers. Recycling as a religion, maybe Newman is on to something here. Other science fiction elements include advances in information technology, biotechnology and of course space travel. Most of it is pretty low key, although information technology used in the novel allows the characters to pass on events almost instantaneously. It's another element Newman uses to put pressure on Ren.

As a character study, this novel is one of the most interesting ones I have read in quite a while. Mental illness isn't a topic that science fiction usually successfully deals with. Many a character brushes off life changing events that would almost certainly result in a sever case of post traumatic stress syndrome in the real world. I am not really qualified to judge how realistic Newman's portrayal of Ren's mental issues is. In fact, I would be very interested in hearing the opinion of a professional in that field about this book. It feels quire realistic to me though, and the way Newman uses it to shape and pace her story shows she is a very capable writer. Planetfall is another 2015 novel you really ought to read.

Title: Planetfall
Author: Emma Newman
Publisher: Roc
Pages: 320
Year: 2015
Language: English
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-425-28239-7
First published: 2015

The House of Shattered Wings - Aliette de Bodard

For some reason all publishers decided to release works I absolutely want to read in a matter of two months this year. This summer so many books I'm interested in are appearing that I can't keep up with them. For me,  The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard is one of the most anticipated titles of 2015. This book has been on my to read list since I first learnt she was working on a new novel and when it came in last week I almost put Nnedi Okorafor's The Book of Phoenix away to dive into it. That would have totally messed up my review schedule of course, so I regretfully put it away for a bit. The two review copies that are also on the to read stack had to wait though. Reviewing is all well and good but sometimes you have to treat yourself to the book you want to read most at that particular moment. And a treat is exactly what The House of Shattered Wings is.

In the late 20th century the ruins of the city of Paris are populated by a mix of humans and fallen angels. The angels may have lost God's grace but they still have power. Their bodies contain magic that can be used by humans and angels alike. A central government, if ever there was one, has disappeared and the upper layers of society is organized into houses. These houses continually vie for influence in a Machiavellian political game. Silverspire, the oldest of these houses, founded ages ago by the very first fallen angel, is now in trouble. Since the disappearances of its founder, its influence has decreased to the point where its enemies feel they have a chance of taking them down a notch. Distracted by house politics, the real nature of the threat eludes Selene, the head of the House of Silverspire. Three people connect to the house, an addicted human alchemist, a newly fallen angel and a mysterious young man hold the key to saving it or taking it down for good.

The House of Shattered Wings has so much worldbuilding in it that is almost wasted even on a novel length work. Fortunately there is going to be a second book in this setting. The book tells us the basics of what happens from the end of France's Belle Époque to sometime in the late 20th century. De Bodard doesn't mention a specific year but at least sixty years have passed since the end of the Great War and Paris is still struggling to recover. The Belle Époque, a part of French history usually thought of as the years between the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and the start of the First World War in the summer of 1914, was a period in which rapid technological progress and economic growth fuelled by France's growing colonial empire seemed to make anything possible. There are hint throughout the novel that fallen angels have been present in the world for a very long time, and that they are not the only mythological creatures appear to mere mortals. Their presence doesn't seem to have radically altered the course of history up to 1914 however.

The focus of the novel is on House Silverspire. It was founded by the very first of the Fallen. He is referred to as Morningstar in this novel, which, as most of you will have already guessed, one of the names of Lucifer. The main antagonist is another figure from Judeo-Christian mythology. Asmodeus is sometimes thought of as one of the seven princes of hell but in the novel he leads a rivalling house. Fittingly, house Silverspire occupies the Île de la Cité in the very heart of Paris. It is the location of one of France's most famous cathedrals, the Notre Dame, which - like much of the rest of the city-  lies in ruins. There is in other words no lack of religious symbolism in the novel.

The author doesn't limit herself to Judeo-Christian mythology. There are references to Greek and, briefly, Persian mythology as well and, through one of the main characters, Chinese/Vietnamese myths. De Bodard uses the word Annam to refer to Vietnam. It is an old name that was used for Vietnam or parts of it before decolonization. What happened to Frances colonial empire after the Great War is a bit unclear in the novel. Travel and communication have been severely limited and the characters do not seem to know much of what goes on outside of Paris.

De Bodard shifts effortlessly between Christian images of heaven and hell and the Chinese influenced court of the Jade Emperor, includes wide ranging concepts as the grace of God to Buddhist views on reincarnation, and views energy not only in the western sense but also as the flow of Khi (or Ch'i, or Qi).  Where many writers would be tempted to simplify matters and pick one religious view as the highest truth, or at best two opposing views, De Bodard's creation has room for many of them. The co-exist in a way that is as complicated and messy as the real word. Behind each character and each significant event in the book lie layers of history and mythology for the reader to unravel. The temptation to infodump every other page must have been overwhelming at times but the author manages to keep that to a minimum. These shifts in worldview and thematic background keeps the reader on their toes.

The Fallen themselves are just as complex as the worldbuilding. They are born into the word with powerful magic but little in the way of memories. They are extremely long lived and, particularly in their youth, radiate magic. Their breath holds power, their nail clippings, their blood all can be made into magical objects. Even their bones can be ground up to make a particularly potent and terrifyingly addictive magical aid. It puts them in a very difficult position. They are born with power but without the experience to handle it - youth is most definitely wasted on the young in this case - into a world that has as much use for them dead as alive. Although their magic dims as they age, many rise to positions of power. A process that tends to turn them from angelic and naive to cynical and cold creatures. Their very nature makes them lager than life, their flaws and mistakes likely to have severe consequences for the people depending on them. The head of Silverspire in particular is in a position of power but lacks the strength to improve the situation of the house. The best she can hope for is maintain the status quo. Seeing that precarious balance between the houses break down might be an interesting topic for another novel.

The main characters are all people who are not in a position of power but possess the potential to wield it in significant quantities. On the surface they appear to be quite different people but they share the fact that they've been torn away from their homes and have to make a new place for themselves in this shattered world. Like the city longs to recapture the optimism of the Belle Époque, the characters long to return to the home that is irretrievably lost to them. The novel is a tragedy on many levels.

With so many influences The House of Shattered Wings is not a novel that is easy to categorize. It has a distinct post-apocalyptic atmosphere with Paris in ruins and largely depopulated. I've also seen it described as a Gothic novel, which given the ruins of the Notre Dame, the sense that the past glory cannot be recaptured,  and the way  some of the characters fit into Gothic archetypes makes sense. You could call it an urban fantasy or an alternative history as well in a way but none of these fit entirely. It's a fusion novel that, in the way it blends and twists familiar genre tropes, remind me a bit of Elizabeth Bear's Edda of Burdens or Ian Tregillis' Milkweed Triptych.

My expectations of this novel were probably unfairly high but De Bodard manages to surpass them anyway. As should be evident from the somewhat rambling review there is so much in this novel worth discussing that I scarcely know where to begin. It is a novel filled to overflowing with fascinating world building, complex characters and elegant writing. It is a demonstration of what is possible within speculative fiction if one is willing to look beyond established formulas and classifications. Once De Bodard has dragged you into this world there is no alternative. You will be back for more. I am not sure that I will be able to resist another of Nnedi Okorafor's books away when the second, as of yet untitled, volume set in this magnificent world is published.

Book Details
Title: The House of Shattered Wings
Author: Aliette de Bodard
Publisher: Roc
Pages: 402
Year: 2015
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-451-47738-5
First published: 2015

River of Stars - Guy Gavriel Kay

After the publication of Under Heaven (2010), a novel set in a fantastical analogue of the 8th century Chinese Tang dynasty, Kay's enthusiasms for Chines history didn't wane. His latest novel River of Stars is set a few centuries later in the same time line. There are a few references to the earlier book, as well as a few others Kay has written,  but it's not a sequel in the traditional sense of the world. Both novels can read independently, something I very much appreciate in much of Kay's work. As always with Kay, it is a beautifully written book. I would not be surprised if it ended up on many a best of 2013 list.

Several centuries after the events that led up to the Al Li rebellion described in Under Heaven, the Kitan empire is but a shadow of its former self. Fear of a strong army, loyal to its generals have severely crippled the strength of the Kitan empire. It has lost control over important trade routes and is forced to pay tribute to the tribes of the northern steppes to keep that from taking more than the fourteen prefectures they currently occupy. But the tribes are always restless and a rebellion on the steppes offers opportunities if the Kitan empire can overcome its military weakness, inspire an emperor who would rather devote his time to art than governing the realm and survive the continuous maneuvering for position to going at court.

Kay approaches this novel in more or less the same way as the previous one. There are a number of main characters but we often get to see them though the eyes of lesser characters or the narrator. Being a point of view character in this novel is decidedly unhealthy. Quite a few of them kick the bucket after a few pages. The technique to use the past tense for the male and the present for female points of view also returns, as does the tendency to tell the reader the outcome of a scene before letting it unfold. For readers who pay more attention to the structural side of a novel there is a familiar feel to it.

In a way, the plot devices are familiar too. The historical setting is clearly recognizable, with a number of characters clearly inspired by historical figures. I must admit I'm not that well versed in the history of the Song dynasty so, as usual when I read one of Kay's novels, the text promoted more than one Wikipedia reading session. Kay is not a slave to historical accuracy. He doesn't let it get in the way of telling the story he wants to tell but there is still a lot that is clearly recognizable. In broad strokes, it tells the story of the collapse of the Song dynasty under pressure from the Jurchen (a few centuries later known as the Manchu) and its eventual rebirth as the southern Song that follows. It's a fittingly dramatic event in Chinese history and Kay uses it to full effect.

What I found most interesting about the way Kay treats history is aware of the fact that history is often disputed, muddled by storytelling, myth and legend and coloured by the view of the historian. In several places there are remarks to the effect that the way this event ended up in history not quite like the way it unfolded in reality. I wonder if Kay has chosen to do this at points where there are different accounts of events or where historians disagree on the interpretation of certain sources. I do not know the history of the Song dynasty well enough to make that kind of detail out, but someone who does might find it an interesting layer in the narrative.

Where the book differs significantly form Under Heaven is in the atmosphere Kay creates. In his previous novel he portrays an empire at the height of its power. The pinnacle of civilization and culture in the known world as well as an economic and military power to be reckoned with. The radiate the kind of arrogance that comes with such power. In River of Stars the empire still sees itself as the pinnacle of civilization but is forced to employ all kinds of tricks with words to avoid the appearance of being subjugated to the northern tribes. It's a kind of desperation, a futile attempt to hold on to its former glory that saturates the book.

Another emotion that permeates the narrative is fear. The wounds suffered during the An Li rebellion clearly haven't completely healed. The empire is more afraid of its own incompetent generals than of the outside enemies that mass on its border. It's this fear that shapes the story and the live of the main characters. An empire with superior numbers and technology and a strategy that can defeat the horsemen that invade their country brought to its knees by evens centuries in the past. It's even more tragic when you realize that court intrigue contributed to the defeat of the southern Song a century and a half later.

For readers who loved Under Heaven, River of Stars is a must read. Kay once again shows what he is capable of with his trademark quarter turn to the fantastic. Maybe Kay takes a little more time than strictly necessary in some places but the sheer beauty of the prose more than makes up for that. I loved the way in which history shapes the lives of the characters and the decisions of individuals in turn shape history. It's a book that requires a bit of patience but in the end it is a very rewarding read. I'm very impressed with Kay's oeuvre as a whole and this book certainly lives up to the reputation he has built. I think I'm going to have to reserve a place for this book on my own best of 2013 list.

Book Details
Title: River of Stars
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Publisher: Roc
Pages: 639
Year: 2013
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-451-46497-2
First published: 2013

Under Heaven - Guy Gavriel Kay

Guy Gavriel Kay is not an author who has a book out every year so when a new one does appear, it rockets to the top of my to read list immediately. I chose to order the US edition of this book, even though it would take longer to arrive and was a bit more expensive, just because the beautiful cover art by Larry Rostant Roc has put on their edition. Kay's last novel Ysabel (2007), a book set in contemporary France, was something of a departure from the style and setting of his more recent works, clearly reaching back to his earliest novels, The Fionavar Tapestry. In Under Heaven Kay seems to have returned to his historical fantasy, books in the style of The Lions of Al-Rassan and The Sarantine Mosaic novels. Like in previous works Kay creates an analogue of a period in history as a backdrop for his story. This time he is taking us back to 8th century China under the Tang dynasty. An interesting choice since most of his readers would be more familiar with European history. A choice that turned out very well indeed. I've seen this book praised and then praised some more in various reviews. I can only say the reviewers were right. It is a brilliant novel.

Shen Tai, the second son of a famous and recently deceased general of the Kitai empire, has elected to spend his time of mourning at the site on a battle that marked his father. Bloody beyond belief, this remote battlefield is still haunted by the ghosts of the unburied dead. Tai is determined to bury as many of them as he can before tradition allows him to return to his normal life again. His efforts do not go unnoticed. The site is guarded by a small garrison of the Kitai empire on one side and an a Taguran (Tibetan) garrison on the other. The Tagurans have send word back to their capital and a Kitai princess, sent to the Tagurans as part of the peace agreement that ended the war, has bestowed an impossibly great honour upon Tai. For his labours he is to receive two hundred and fifty prized Sardian horses.

At no time in its history has the empire as a whole possessed such a number of these horses. It is a gift beyond the imaginable. It is also a death sentence. Tai will not be able to even get the horses to his father's estate without being robbed and murdered. And even if he somehow manages to make it back to civilization in one piece, an even more dangerous political game will begin. The empire is lead by an ageing emperor who does not seem to be as interested in running his empire as he was during his younger years. Control of these horses can shift the balance of power among those seeking influence at court or even the throne itself. In short, Tai is in serious trouble.

There's an awful lot about this novel to admire. For one thing I very much liked the way in which the novel gradually zooms out from Tai's personal problems with his unexpected gift to those of the empire as a whole. The events being described are the opening stages of a civil war known to historians as the An-Shi rebellion (in the book changed to An-Li rebellion), eight years of unparalleled bloodshed, violence, hunger and political chaos. Casualty figures as high as 36 million haven been named. Although it is not certain if there were indeed that many dead, it is quite clear the rebellion itself was catastrophic. It would have been easy to let these dramatic events take centre stage but Kay remains pretty focussed on the direct, often more pressing, problems of his main characters. In an empire at the height of its power, they are not in a position to influence matters greatly. History is the canvas on which Kay paints his story, it is not what the book is about.

Kay captures the inertia of such a large state with fairly limited means of communication very well. The delays, the waiting for new, the ad hoc decisions because nobody is around to give orders. Where fantasy tends to find ways to speed up communication, Under Heaven sticks to what would actually have been available back then. In earlier books Kay inserted a bit of supernatural. There are Shen Tai's ghosts of course and they do have a major impact on one of the opening scenes but ones Tai leaves the valley there is barely a hint of it. This absence is one of the reasons why I think this book is his best one yet. In Tigana and The Last Light of the Sun in particular, supernatural elements felt a bit out of place to me. Not enough to really diminish the reading experience but enough to make me wonder if the story needed it. There is no hint of that in Under Heaven.

One of the things that make Kay's books stand out is his beautiful, poetic prose. There's some fine examples of superb writing in this novel. There's two things I've noticed about thee writing this book in particular. The first is the shift between past and present tense, depending on whether the point of view character is male of female. Sometimes it can be distracting for an author to change back and froth between various styles. It made Elizabeth Bear's By the Mountain Bound, which changes from past to present tense as well as from first to third person depending on the point of view, quite a challenging read. With Kay the transition is so smooth that I actually had to go back and check once I noticed the change. A second thing I noticed about the writing is a technique where he tells you the outcome of a scene and then lets the reader watch it unfold. This is something he's done in several of his books, I remember it from The Lions of Al-Rassan in particular. Not many authors would choose to give the outcome away at the start of the scene but again, Kay pulls it off admirably.

Under Heaven is a book that really has it all. Beautiful use of language, great world building, well developed and interesting characters and an intricate plot that includes court intrigue, a love story, and a dip into Shen Tai's past to examine the motivations for some the hard choices he has to make throughout the book. It is by a fair margin the best book I have read this year. We're not even halfway yet but if this book doesn't end up in the best of 2010 lists we're in for an exceptional year indeed. In other words, this is a wonderful book. Go read it.

Book Details
Title: Under Heaven
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Publisher: Roc
Pages: 573
Year: 2010
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-451-46330-2
First published: 2010

Blood and Iron – Elizabeth Bear

Blood and Iron is the first book of Bear’s Promethean Age series. Until now, four books out of a dozen or so planned novels have been published. I can't find anything on a possible fifth installment at the moment. This massive series chronicles a conflict between the Fae and mages that has been going on since Elizabethan times. Bear claims the books will be independent reads but I decided to start at the beginning anyway. A while ago I read her excellent novel All the Windwracked Stars, the first in a trilogy book books based on Nordic mythology in a post apocalyptic setting. It was one of the best books I have read in 2008. Based on that experience and some of her short fiction my expectations were quite high. Blood and Iron is an interesting novel but it did not quite live up to those expectations.

The series is not published in chronological order. Blood and Iron is set in the autumn of 1997, partly in New York City. This is where we meet our main character, Elaine. She has given up that name hinks of herself as Seeker instead. Seeker is bound to one of the Fae courts and is tasked with finding humans, often of Fae ancestry to abduct back to the Fae realm. She is opposed in her work by the Prometheus Club. A group of human mages organized along the lines of a secret society, trying to rid the world of Fae influence. In our modern society they have almost succeeded. Iron, the bane of the Fae is just about everywhere. The Fae are not to be underestimated however.

After a successful mission during which Seeker managed to bind one of the wild Fae, she is told by the Queen that a Merlin walks the world again. The appearance of a Merlin heralds the coming of a new Dragon. A time of strife and warfare is on them but also a time of opportunity to the Fae. The Merlin’s power is terrible, it would strengthen the Fae enormously if they managed to win the Merlin for their cause. The Merlin is human however, and the human mages of the Prometheus Club, most notably the mage Matthew Szczegielniak (I have yet to figure out how to pronounce that name) are not going to give her up without a fight. And then there is the fact that the Merlin has some peculiar ideas on how to handle the magic a Merlin embodies as well. Things soon descend into a very complicated political game between the various Fae factions, the mages and a number of rogue characters thrown in the mix.

As this synopsis makes clear the author bases the story for a large part on Celtic mythology. One of the main concepts in the book is that of geas (or geis), as I understand it a curse that either obliges or prohibits someone to do something specific (okay, okay, it's a bit more complicated than that). It compels a great many characters to do certain things in certain ways or see them done, usually at high cost. Seeker is one of the characters who is less than free to do what she wants. She is bound to the Mebd, the Queen of the Daoine Sidhe and can simply be ordered to perform the kidnappings the Queen requires. Some carry a more subtle geas of course but the fact remains that a lot of the (Fae) characters spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get away with not doing something the really, really don't want to do, or the other way around. There's also a fair bit of guilt involved when they (almost inevitably) fail. The Fae do of course provide a rationale for not being guilty.

These are older rules and even the Mebd must abide by them – that in life one may be bound or bought, but in the end you go to judgement naked, clad only in what you are born with and what you have earned, lessened only by what you have sold or given away. That which is taken by force, for good or ill, goes unconsidered.

The Dragon Mist talking to Seeker – Chapter 2

I thought the author overused this particular device a bit. Some of the characters seem to think they have very few choices of their own. Guilt is a powerful emotion of course and something well worth exploring in a character but it turns into too much of a drama before the characters figure out how to use the wiggle room they have left. The opposition also seems to be a completely blind to the arguments of the other party. Most of the mages have lost at the hand of the Fae and it has made them willing to great violence in return. Reasonable is not a word any of the sides is familiar with.

Bear manages to put a very interesting twist on the Fae story. It’s been extensively used and overused in fantasy but I must admit her perspective is refreshing. The sense of the slowly fading Fae world is very strong in this book. You can tell they are near the breaking point that the opening of the book. I very much liked they way Bear weaves in all manner of modern accomplishments that limit the power of the Fae. One example of this is a reference to the golden spike, the joining of two railroads to create the first transcontinental connection in the US in 1869. In the view of the Fae a band of iron spanning a continent. There are a lot more of these of course but I thought this was the most striking example.

Apart from the interesting use of Celtic mythology, Blood and Iron is stylistically very well done. The concept of a war between the Fae and the mages certainly has potential beyond this first book. The plot however didn't really appeal to me. If you like Bear's writing and the subject she takes on here, this book will most likely be one of your favourites. I am not entirely convinced yet but I certainly liked it well enough to try the second Promethean novel Whiskey and Water.

Book Details
Title: Blood and Iron
Author: Elizabeth Bear
Publisher: Roc
Pages: 431
Year: 2008
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-451-46217-6
First published: 2006