Cold Iron - Stina Leicht

A few years ago I read Stina Leicht's début Of Blood and Honey (2011) and I liked it very much. The book, which is an urban fantasy set in Northern Ireland in the 1970s,  did get a bit of criticism for not getting all the details right. It didn't bother me, probably because I am not familiar with the region in that much detail. For some reason I never got around to reading the sequel, And Blue Skies from Pain (2012), even though I do own a copy. I should remedy that sometime. In Cold Iron, Leicht strikes out in another direction. The novel is a flintlock fantasy, set in a secondary world and the first part of a series. It will definitely have an appeal for the epic fantasy reader but not necessarily for people who liked Of Blood and Honey.

For centuries the ruling class of the kingdom of Eledore has relied on their magic to defeat their enemies. Their magic is what raises them above humans and what determines their status in society. Humans may not have magic, their technology is more advanced and firearms appear to be a match for magic. The king of Eledore, heavily influenced by his younger brother, sticks to the traditional way of running his army. His children however, realize that without embracing new technology the kingdom is lost. A long and dangerous struggle to save the kingdom begins.

The world Leicht has created seems to be mostly inspired by Scandinavia. Most of the Eledoreans have Finnish sounding names. There are more than a few characters with Swedish sounding names as well. The story is an interesting reversal of history. Where in our 18th century, the Swedes ruled Finland (until a wave of Finnish nationalism dislodged the Swedes in the early 19th century only to be replaced by the Russians as rulers), the characters with the Finnish sounding names seem to be in control in the early stages of the novel. I'm not entirely sure if there is a particular work or event that inspired Leicht to create this setting. If there is, I didn't recognize it.

Leicht tells her story from three different points of view. The disgraced royal son Nels, who failed to develop any appreciable magical talents and got his hands bloodied in a skirmish. He is forced into a career in the military, where more than a few officers would see him die for king and country sooner rather than later. His twin sister Suvi, now heir-apparent, is the second point of view character. She has a better head for politics and tries to limit her uncle's influence on the court. The third point of view is that of Ilta. She is a talented healer, destined to take over as one of the most important advisors to the crown. She struggles with the weight of responsibility however.

The Kingdom of Eledore feels like a lot of mighty states in epic fantasy do. It's old, rich and decadent, led by a king who is not particularly interested in affairs of state and unreasonably certain that magic will overcome any obstacle. Leicht shows us the limitations of that magic early in the novel and keeps doing it throughout the story. It is terrible, could be wielded very effectively, but it also has drawbacks. The technology this magic is going up against is fairly rudimentary. The firearms are single shot rifles, using gunpowder and balls instead of cartridges. The same goes for the unwieldiy cannon. They are not all that reliable, nor very accurate and leave the user defenceless in the time it takes to reload. And yet they are the future and the younger characters in the book see it clearly.

Personally I would have liked to see a point of view of someone who was a bit more invested in the old ways. The three point of view characters have a very clear view of where things are going and show us the story more or less from the same side of the conflict. The main antagonist in the story, the king's brother Sakari, makes for a shallow character because we don't get to see much beyond his thirst for power. The king himself is similarly shallow. A bit more conflict between the main characters might do the next novel in the series good.

The story is told in short, snappy chapters. Cold Iron weighs in at 657 pages in hardcover but it feels like a much shorter book. It is one of those novels where you can easily read 200 pages in a sitting, or read it over the weekend. She keeps the pace up and doesn't bother the reader with too much background material on her world. This does have the drawback that some elements in the world are not as clear to the reader as one might wish for. I have no idea what caused the war between Eledore and its neighbour for instance. It might have made the intrigue at the Eledorean court more interesting if that had been a factor. Not everybody can be as closed to the outside world as the king.

The title of the series is The Malorum Gates and this refers to another layer in the story. The characters are mostly distracted by the immediate demands of the war but there is an ancient evil in the world that needs attention too. Ilta in particular is aware of it. We do not learn much about it, other than that magic is the key to containing the horrible creatures hiding behind the gates. Magic therefore, cannot be replaced by technology without putting the world at risk. This part is clearly the overarching story for the series. Instead of one replacing the other, as you'd find in  many fantasy novels, in this series the two are condemned to each other and not all the characters realize it yet.

Cold Iron is a fun, fast read but as the opening novel of a new series it is perhaps not as convincing as it might have been. There are a lot of interesting elements to the story but, in this first book at least, they don't link up yet. A little bit of detail in some places would have made it a bit more coherent. Leicht has a lot of work to do to bring this story together. That being said, I am curious about what will happen next and that is always a good sign for a first book in a series. Even if there is some room for improvement, Leicht has convinced me to try the second volume.

Book Details
Title: Cold Iron
Author: Stina Leicht
Publisher: Saga Press
Pages: 657
Year: 2015
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4255-8
First published: 2015

Fool's Quest - Robin Hobb

Fool's Quest is the second book in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy, in which Robin Hobb returns to her most successful character. The previous two trilogies were entirely written from Fitz' point of view though. In the first volume of this trilogy, Fool's Assassin, she adds the point of view of Fitz' daughter. This second volume is mostly focussed on Fitz again, although the Bee chapters do drive the story to a large extent. With 7 books on Fitz under her belt already, Hobb knows where she is going with this character. Fool's Quest is a strong book with a strongly character driven plot. Readers who like Fitz will love this book. It is a middle book in a trilogy though, so don't expect any resolutions just yet.

Fitz has returned to Buckkeep and this time, his role in keeping the Kingdom together during the last years of the reign of King Shrewd is fully acknowledged. Fitz is no longer Tom Badgerlock, he is a Farseer prince with all the power and obligations that come with the position.He doesn't get to enjoy his new status for long though. Word of the raid on Withywoods and the taking of Bee and Shun reaches the court. Fitz wants to go after his daughter right away but practicalities keep holding him back.

Fool's Assassin was a pretty hefty tome at 630 pages. This second volume is even longer. Hobb has never written fast-paced stories and she doesn't start now. Life at Buckkeep and the changes since Fitz' youth are described in detail. The changes in the relationships between the characters and their status also takes up quite a bit of Fitz' thoughts. Kettricken is still her queenly self. Dutiful has grown into his role as king, Chade enjoys his new freedom as member of the court but can't stop playing his games. Lady Rosemary is entirely absent, as befits her status as royal assassin, but between the lines you can feel the tension between her and Chade and the changing view on the usefulness of quiet work. Nettle is still her prickly self but these days, she is backed by impressive knowledge in the Skill as well as a number of coteries. I have rarely read a book in which the secondary characters and their relationships are as detailed as in Robin Hobb's work. The complexities of the court are a joy to read.

Most of the book centres on Fitz and the Fool however. The Fool is slowly recovering from his injuries. The first, reckless attempt by Fitz to heal him did not have the desired effect but after another attempt he appears to be making progress. Both Fitz and the Fool are impatient to be on their way. As Fitz coaxes the horrible tale of his stay with the Servants out of the Fool, it becomes apparent that Bee is in mortal danger and the Servants cannot be allowed to exist much longer. Fitz is not planning on taking the Fool anywhere though. He is simply too weak. The Fool will have none of it and it becomes the ground for another one of their famous spats.

The Fool's tale as well as what Fitz finds at his raided estate, make this book a very violent one. Hobb doesn't show that much of it but at Withywoods especially, the trauma of the raid is described in great detail. Where most fantasy authors would focus on the deed itself, Hobb pays attention to the mess left behind and that makes the book one of the darkest she has written. Where in other books Fitz suffers for what is done to him, in this novel, in part at least, he suffers for what is done to those he loves and cares for. His brief moments of triumph and tiny amounts of hope keep him going though.

Bee's storyline is less prominent in this book. Withywoods is deep within the Six Duchies and her kidnappers have a long way to go to safety. During the gruelling journey Bee begins to realize the full extent of her powers. They don't give her the means to escape though. Unlike Fitz when he was that age, Bee appears to be wise beyond her years. She is still naive in some ways but her magic, or perhaps I should say, her acceptance of it, gives her an edge. Where magic is a struggle for Fitz and has been his entire life, it comes naturally to Bee. You can already tell Fitz and Bee will have some issues to work through if they do get together again.

In terms of the world development there are two things that stand out in this book. The first is the new information we get on the Servants. In the previous seven books Hobb has given us hints but for the most part they remained mysterious. The Fool is giving us a more detailed look at how their settlement works and how much he was made to suffer at the hands of the Servants. Bee's storyline shows us the Servants at work. Although she doesn't understand their motivations, the reader does get to see what can only be described as religious fanatics through her eyes.

The second thing the reader will notice is that Hobb is weaving storylines of her Rainwilds books into these novels. The reappearance of dragons, to which both of these sets of novels have contributed, is obviously going to be important to the resolution of this story. We get to see a bit what has happened after the ending of Blood of Dragons. Events in Buckkeep point at tension between the Rain Wilds and the Six Duchies over the dragons. It will be interesting to see if this is just background or if Fitz will have to come to some sort of arrangement with them. Hobb also leaves herself an opening here to return to Kensingra for more stories.

What can I say about Fool's Quest that I haven't said of other Hobb books already? I'm a great fan of Hobb's novels (and Lindholm's for that matter) and this book delivers what I have come to love about the series. In terms of characterization Hobb is just way ahead of the pack in epic fantasy. It will likely be another year before it appears but the final volume in this trilogy is already on my to read list. With Hobb in this form, it promises to be a dramatic ending to the story of Ftiz and the Fool.

Book Details
Title: Fool's Quest
Author: Robin Hobb
Publisher: Voyager
Pages: 739
Year: 2015
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-00-744421-2
First published: 2015

Skin - Ilka Tampke

It's been a while since I read some historical fiction so when the good folks at Hebban offered me a review copy of Ilka Tampke's début novel Skin I jumped at the opportunity. The slightly different Dutch language version of this review can be found here. Other than that she is from Australia I don't know anything about the author and since it is a début I had no idea what to expect. Skin turns out to be a novel set right before the Claudian invasion of Britain, including some very peculiar speculations  on Celtic society in the first century AD. It's probably a book that is going to divide readers.

Ailia is dropped at the doorstep of the Queen's kitchen. She is raised by the cook and as a person of unknown parentage, or skinless person, she is one of the lowest ranked members of her tribe and considered unfit to learn just about anything to improve her position. Ailia wants to learn though, and as she grows up, it becomes apparent that she has a talent for the spiritual teachings of her people. The nation is desperately searching for guidance under the threat of a Roman invasion but do they dare put their fate in the hand of a skinless woman?

Skin is centered on the Druidic culture that existed in Britain before the Roman invasion. Since the Celts didn't write any of it down, at least not in those days, we actually know very little of their teachings. There are Roman sources of course but they are not considered too reliable. Roman historians had the tendency to portray Rome's enemies as more barbaric than they really were. When it comes to the customs of the Celts at that time, a lot of stuff has been written that the archaeological records doesn't support. It gives a historical novelist quite a bit of space to work with and Tampke uses that space extensively in the novel. Sometimes a bit too extensively. One of the major plot twists hangs on a dubious depiction of human sacrifice, a custom that may well have been a figment of a Roman historian's imagination.

That isn't to say the author hasn't done her homework. Most of the story is set in Cad (modern day Cadbury Castle in Sommerset), one of the large hillforts in the south of England. Tampke hints at the events and social developments (the move away from hillforts to towns in particular) that are apparent in the archaeological and historical record. She admits to slightly adapting the timeline to better suit the story but the main sequence of events is historical.She also borrows a bit from early Welsh and Irish written sources. For readers familiar with this bit of history, the  story is clearly recognizable but there is also something very alien about it.

The central concept of the novel is skin. Skin determines all sorts of things in a person's life. Which animal their totem is, whom they can marry, whom they consider kin. It creates bonds beyond blood relationships but is also the source of taboos. Without a skin, a person's place in society is undetermined and it limits them in all sorts of ways. It will come as no surprise to the reader that Ailia is desperate to find out what her skin is. It is one of her motivations throughout the novel.

I've read a number of novels in this timeframe as well as some non-fiction and I haven't come across this concept before. It wasn't until I came across a clear reference to the songlines, an Australian Aboriginal concept, that the penny dropped for me.

‘What is it we stare upon?’ he asked.
I looked at him. Did he trick me? ‘It is Central Durotriga…?’
‘But what do you see in it?’ He bit into his fish.
I frowned. ‘Fields, rivers, many stones…’
‘When you train you will see it in a different way’ The sun turned his eyes to amber. ‘You will see the stories.’

Chapter 19 - Trees

Besides their view on the landscape, it would seem Tampke also let herself be inspired by an Aboriginal kinship system. I know very little about the details of how it works in Aboriginal society but Tampke doesn't seem to have transplanted one on one to her story. It's nevertheless a strange combination. I must admit I had a bit of trouble reconciling elements from two such vastly different cultures. To an extent even, that it derailed the story for me.

Another thing that bothered me in the novel was the language Tampke employs. You'd expect a few Celtic words or concepts to be added to the text to add a bit of authenticity. Tampke doesn't really do that in her novel but, especially in the dialogue, she uses old fashioned English. It makes the dialogue feel forced.

'Why do you cease?' asked Tara. 'Are you troubled?'
'No.' I shook my head. ' I am thinking of a knave I have met near here'
'A knave?' She sounded surprised.
'Yes - of some height with dark hair.' I looked at her. ' Have you seen him? Do you know of whom I speak?'
Her strong brow furrowed. 'No,' she said. ' He has not come here. And it would not be well for him if he did. This is a woman's place. Men are not permitted here. men will not survive.'

Chapter 14 - Ceremony

Why use 'knave', a word with a Germanic origin, instead of lad or boy? Why refrain from using contractions? Remember that this is a girl with no education whatsoever. Would she speak in such a formal style? It strikes me as a very unnatural dialogue.

The fusion culture created for this novel and use of language are personal quibbles of mine. If they don't happen to be your quibbles the book might still still hook you. It is a very fast paced story with a likeable main character. Ailia is a curious girl, stubbornly working towards her goal of obtaining training in the spiritual teachings of her people. I thought there was a bit of a contradiction in her character in that she is trying very hard to save a way of life that essentially dooms her to being a second rate member of the tribe. She does defend it with a fire that makes what history teach us will happen even more tragic.

To let the tragedy that is about to envelop her people even closer, the author presents Ailia with two interesting men in her life. They have radically different views on the future however. Her love life runs parallel to the military conflict that is brewing. At the end of the story, Ailia makes her choice but it is clear that the battle for control of the island is not done yet. Tampke leaves herself more than enough space for a sequel. My advance copy doesn't mention if there will be one but it seems likely to me.

Skin is not quite what I am looking for in a historical novel.For me. it was a decent read but I do feel Tampke sacrifices a bit too much historical accuracy to the needs of her story. I sometimes wondered if, with the fusion culture Tampke uses, it wouldn't have worked better in a completely fictional setting. The story leans on the supernatural for a large extent. The step into fantasy seems a minor one. Still, if that sort of thing doesn't bother you Skin can be a very entertaining read. All things considered, it is a début with room for improvement.

Book Details
Title: Skin
Author: Ilka Tampke
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 356
Year: 2015
Language: English
Format: Galley paperback, uncorrected proof
ISBN: 978-1-473-61642-4
First published: 2015

Karen Memory - Elizabeth Bear

Some books spend years and years on the same bookshelf without being touched, others have adventures. My copy of Greg Egan's Teranesia for instance, was printed in the US, shipped to Australia where a friend bought it as a gift for me. It then travelled to Ireland, the UK, Italy, the Czech Republic and Germany before ending up in my bookcase. I also own a copy of Frank Herbert's Destination: Void that once belonged to a highschool library in Canada and had at least two other owners before it ended up in a second hand bookshop in the Netherlands. My copy of Karen Memory also had an adventure. I took it with me to read at the hospital while waiting for my girlfriend to wake up from narcosis after surgery. Of course I forgot to take it home with me. The nurses were kind enough to put it away for me. It then spent a week in the hospital before I could collect it. I'm grateful to the hospital staff, if it had gone missing I would have missed out on an incredibly fun read.

Karen Memery is a 'seamstress'  in Rapid City, a town on the west coast of the United States. She works in Madame Damnable's establishment, catering to high paying clientèle. Life in Hôtel Mon Cherie is thoroughly disrupted when two injured prostitutes appear at their door. They are taken in to recover from their injuries but only minutes later one of the more influential citizens of Rapid City and owner of one of the cheap brothels in town, Peter Bantle, comes calling. His demands are the beginning of a feud that will see Karen plunged in a whirlwind of murder, corruption and violence but will also introduce her to the love of her life.

The novel is set in an alternative version of the 1870's. It is essentially a steampunk western. It is full of strange technologies and fantastical machines. The timeline has been adapted a bit by moving the Alaskan gold rush a few decades back. Rapid City is fictional but it is clearly inspired by some towns that did exist at the time. The setting reminded me a lot of Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century books. There are lots of references in the book to historical figures in the Old West, although their lives, given the alternative timeline, rarely follow the historical paths. For readers who are well acquainted with the period but not too attached to western clichés, there is a lot to be had in Bear's alternative timeline.

Prostitutes are a cliché in both westerns and other genres. They are almost always secondary characters. Women rarely seen as persons by their clients or the writers who use them as characters. Apparently many writers find them hard to write and many readers find it hard to identify which such a character. Bear breaks right though these preconceptions in this novel. Karen is a well rounded character. Her life has not been easy but she has held on to her optimism, dreams and sense of humour. Contrary to the dominant view of her profession displayed in many novels, she is neither a victim nor powerless. In fact, she has a very clear opinion of the fallen woman (or, as they put it in this novel, soiled dove) nonsense that surrounds her. Whichever way you look at it, Karen is (no pun intended) a memorable character.

Bear tackles other clichés in the books as well. The view that the American West was entirely populated by white cowboys and red Indians for instance. With the occasional lost Mexican mixed in if you were lucky. The cast is remarkable diverse. Karen herself is half Danish and the novel also includes a black law man, a Comanche warrior, French, Russian, Chinese and Indian (as in from the country in Asia) characters. Rapid City is a mix of cultures, languages and customs much more representative of historical fact than the dime novels Karen and her colleagues read to entertain themselves. Bear uses the possibilities all these different cultures offer to create a rich environment to tell her story. I thought it was a very well developed setting.

Karen herself is the narrator of the story. She is not a character with a lot of formal education so she tells it to us like she experienced it. The book is written in the first person and is seen entirely from her point of view. Her style is humorous and full of tongue-in-cheek comments on  men and the world around her. Her language is straightforward, full of poor grammar and a kind of vernacular that would have been ruthlessly stamped out by any respectable English teacher of the time. It is quite an achievement that Bear has managed to carry this style for an entire novel without fail. It must have been a challenging book to edit.

The plot itself is that of a good adventure story. Bear keeps the pace up and doesn't let herself get distracted by side plots. The whole story is neatly wrapped up at the end. Although the setting would lend itself to more stories, the novel very much looks like a singleton. As the story advances, the steampunk element becomes more pronounced. Towards the climax of the book, a number of interesting machines play a crucial role in resolving the plot. Bear allows her characters to grow first, without the distraction of too many gimmicks. It's a well structured book in that sense. The main character carries the story, not the cool machines or other steampunk technology.

Karen Memory is a book I appreciate in several ways. On one level it is a fast-paced adventure, on the other it challenges a number of clichés encountered in genre fiction. I loved Karen's sense of humour and the immersive alternative history Bear has created. It's a very fun read. Not as demanding as Bear's previous novels in the Eternal Sky universe perhaps, but clearly showing her versatility as a writer. It is a 2015 release you really ought to read. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Book Details
Title: Karen Memory
Author: Elizabeth Bear
Publisher: Tor
Pages: 350
Year: 2015
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-7653-7524-7
First published: 2015

Goodnight Stars - Annie Bellet

I started reading Elizabeth Bear's Karen Memory last weekend. Unfortunately I left the book at the hospital on Tuesday when my girlfriend had an appointment there. It is waiting for me at the desk. When we go back there on Monday, I can pick it up. I didn't think I had enough reading time to finish another full novel for this weekend's review so I had to resort to reading something shorter. I decided to have a go at Goodnight Stars by Annie Bellet. It was originally included in an anthology edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey called The End is Now (2014). It is part of a triptych of (post) apocalyptic fiction. Bellet has stories in all three anthologies and, as far as I can tell, they are set in the same world. Goodnight Stars is readable as a standalone though.

Goodnight Stars was nominated for the Hugo this year as part of both the Sad and Rabid Puppy slate. When the shortlist was announced and the success of the Puppy slates became apparent, she decided to withdraw the story and stay out of the fray. That was both a wise and probably very difficult decision. As far as I can tell all the novels she has written are selfpublished. A few of her stories were published by paying markets but a Hugo nomination, or even better, a win, would have put her on the map. It would also have been a bit of recognition for this form of publishing. The Hugos haven't paid that much attention to self-published works yet. The price of being a punching bag in what is basically an extension of the American culture wars was obviously too high and so Bellet had to be content with one of George R.R. Martin's Alfies instead. Personally I consider that a good trade. Especially since her withdrawal allowed Thomas Olde Heuvelt a place on the shortlist. He would go on to win the category and further frustrate the Puppies' attempt to sweep the awards.

In Goodnight Stars we meet Lucy Goodwin. Her mother is an engineer working on a project on the Moon when something strikes it. The Moon is shattered and meteors rain down on the Earth, causing widespread destruction and disruptions in communication. With a group of friends she sets out to reach the relative safety of her father's farm in Montana. A long and dangerous trip.

To be perfectly honest I don't think this story is Hugo Award material. I enjoyed reading it but it doesn't do anything to make it stand out from the mass of high quality short fiction that is being written at the moment. Scientifically I have my doubts about whether the Moon breaking up would be survivable. If only a fraction of the mass of the Moon was to hit Earth it would probably cause a mass extinction event in which humans would be one of the first victims. Bellet's style is not remarkable either. The prose is serviceable but doesn't stand out, she has a very straightforward way of telling her story.

What the story does have going for it, is that it is emotionally powerful. The main character is someone we can relate to. A girl cast into a situation where she has nobody to fall back on. It gives her a new perspective on what's important in life and makes her appreciate her mother's choices more. There is a lot of anger in her, she doesn't feel like her mother understands the choices she wants to make in life. The disaster that strikes them brings them closer together by putting them forever beyond each other's reach. The character development in this story is definitely the strongest part of it.

Bellet may not have chosen to be on the Puppy slates but when you look at it from their perspective, it does make sense to include it. It is a very plot oriented story, with a comfortably familiar topic for science fiction readers. Bellet keeps the pace up and doesn't need any literary acrobatics to tell her tale. It is a story that can be enjoyed at face value. Personally, I don't think that is the most challenging or rewarding kind of reading but if that is what you are looking for in fiction this author delivers. Her Hugo nomination was a very unfortunate way to catch the spotlight but her writing is sure to win her fans. Goodnight Stars will not be the last we have heard of Annie Bellet.

Book Details
Title: Goodnight Stars
Author: Annie Bellet
Pages: 36
Year: 2014
Language: English
Format: E-book
First published: 2014

Dragon Heart - Cecelia Holland

I own a copy of Floating Worlds,  Cecelia Holland's only science fiction novel. It has been on my to read list for ages but  I can't seem to get around to reading it. She wrote that novel fairly early on in her career. Most of the rest is historical fiction but once in a while a fantasy novel appears, usually in a historical context. Dragon Heart is an uncut fantasy novel. When Tor offered me a review copy, the book intrigued me. The cover and synopsis promise a traditional epic fantasy but given Holland's oeuvre I had the feeling it would not be quite what the cover suggested. That turned out be correct. Dragon Heart is probably not quite what the reader would expect but it is a very good novel.

Jeon is sent to collect his mute sister Tirza from the monastery where her mother, Queen of Ocean Castle has hidden her away. On the way back, their ship is attacked by a dragon. Jeon survives the sinking of the ship and returns home. Tirza is captured by the dragon. A bond between the two is established that can't be broken by Tirza's eventual escape. When she returns home, many months later, she finds the situation there desperate. Her mother is forced to marry a brother of the emperor whose army killed her father. She has held of, grieving for her supposedly killed daughter, but with Tirza's return, there is no more putting off the inevitable. A power struggle between the old ruling family and the empire is about to begin.

There are two very clear elements in this novel that show it is written by an experienced author. The first is the pacing, which is absolutely amazing. The author takes the time to develop Tirza. Since she can't speak to any of the characters but the dragon, the first section of the novel is where we get to know her. Holland also slips in some history of her family disguised as legends. Once we get back to Castle Ocean and more points of view get mixed in, a game of pretence develops between the empire's representatives and the locals. Like the waves crashing on the beach below Castle Ocean, a series of increasingly violent confrontations wash over the reader, raising the tension until the final, lethal climax of the book becomes inevitable.

The second element of the novel that I really liked was the way it relies on what the author doesn't tell us as much as on what is described. Castle Ocean is a mysterious place. There is a bit of haunted house horror in this novel as well as epic fantasy. The reader gets clues along the way but almost never a straight explanation. For the locals, the events in Castle Ocean are business as usual, nothing to remark upon. For the empire they are a mystery, one they don't care to think about as the habits of the local primitives are beneath them. Holland skilfully uses this to slowly reveal to the reader what we need to know to fully understand the plot.

Just as Holland limits what she tells us about Castle Ocean and the area around it, information about the empire is scarce. We know it is huge and still expanding, technologically more advanced than Castle Ocean and that it radiates the arrogance of power. Where many authors would choose to add more worldbuilding and develop this part of the story beyond the bare minimum Holland keeps her novel concise. It is focussed on the events in Castle Ocean, a very isolated part of the world, and word of events taking place in the world outside their borders penetrates slowly. It is another example of how Holland uses what you don't get to see to shape the story.

Tirza's family has a connection with the castle, the ocean and the lands along the coast the empire fails to understand. They live with the rhythm of the tides, return to the ocean in times of distress and are intimately familiar with the land, seasons and weather. The novel contains a lot of imagery based on storms, waves, foam and tides. The locals exploit this knowledge in their conflict with the empire in a number of very clever ways. In a way Dragon Heart is a tale based on a conqueror's underestimation of the locals. A fairly common theme in fantasy.

Tirza's family is tied to Castle Ocean, they belong there but to an extent it also keeps them prisoner. Their family's history is ingrained in the walls of the castle. The empire may represent culture, splendour, riches and advanced technology, none of it will be able to break the link with their home. It is the tragedy of Tirza, who was despised by her mother but loved by her siblings, that she is unable to communicate her feelings on the matter. As the Castle claims her siblings, the rift between her and the family's residence increases. She is torn between wanting to break away and wanting to protect her home until one of the two must give.

I'm very impressed with this novel. It is so tightly written and so well paced that I can't really find anything negative to say about it. Dragon Heart is one of those fantasies you can enjoy without committing to a sprawling series or a single huge tome. I have no idea if Holland planned sequels. It is not impossible to write more in this setting, but the story in Dragon Heart doesn't require it. Some readers may find it a bit too concise, preferring to spend more time with the many point of view characters. I feel Holland has the skill to give them depth in the short time we spend with them.In less than 300 pages, Holland packs everything a good fantasy needs. Something more than a few fantasy authors should take note of.

Book Details
Title: Dragon Heart
Author: Cecelia Holland
Publisher: Tor
Pages: 288
Year: 2015
Language: English
Format: E-book
ISBN: 978-1-4668-3649-5
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

The Book of Phoenix - Nnedi Okorafor

The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor is a prequel of sorts. A story that explores what happened to create the world described in her 2010 novel Who Fears Death. I read Who Fears Death in 2013 and thought it was a very confronting and in some ways very depressing book. It got quite a bit of attention at the time, but maybe not quite as much as it should have. This new entry in the series started out as a short story published in the March 2011 edition of Clarkesworld. It was then expanded to a novella, which appeared under the title African Sunrise in the Fall edition of Subterranean Magazine. The once again expanded novel version of the story was published by DAW in May of this year.

Phoenix is a genetic experiment. Her growth is accelerated and she is able to do things no ordinary human can. She grows up in a facility called Tower 7 among doctors and other genetic experiments. Her heritage is unknown to her as is the full extent of her abilities. Her captors don't seem to fear her as much as they should though. She is not allowed to leave but gets unlimited access to information. She seems content until one day the only man she considers a friend witnesses something that pushes him to take his life. After that, the world is beginning to take shape for Phoenix. She becomes destructively desperate to escape her keepers.

In Who Fears Death, Okorafor tackled some very difficult themes. The use of rape as a weapon of war was one of them, female genital mutilation is another. For her western audience this is something that, while horrific, is not likely to be part of their personal experience. Most western countries haven't had a war fought on their soil in two generations, such brutalities usually take place in far away places. Easy to close the book, shake your head and move on if you choose to do so. In The Book of Phoenix Okorafor tackles slavery. It forces the white western reader to consider their part in that ugly piece of history. There is a lot of uncomfortable material in either book but for different subsets of Okorafor's readership.

The novel shares the same type of futuristic magical realism with Who Fears Death. It is essentially set before the wrath of Ani destroyed the highly technological society that preceded Onyesonwu's world. It is a world severely impacted by climate change, but not so much that society has collapsed completely. With the aid of technology, people have adapted. Technology is the key to power in the world and genetics is an important part of it. It is presented as a framestory. An explanation of how one man found an account of the end of the world in a cave in the dessert and how he, with the aid of his wife used it to write the 'Great Book' of the Okeke, a book that would go on to create misery for many of the characters in Who Fears Death.

Phoenix is essentially a slave in the book. She is valued as an experiment, not a human being. Her fellow prisoners are traded like commodities, used to enhance the quality of life for the ruling class. The parallel with the African slave trade is inescapable. Okorafor does a very good job in exploring how Phoenix and her fellow captives are dehumanized and how the fact that their captors don't recognize them as human beings with human desires eventually leads to their downfall. The arrogance of the ruling class in this novel is painfully obvious and possesses the short-sightedness displayed by many currently wielding economic and political power. The Book of Phoenix does not attempt to be a completely accurate extrapolation of current trends but it certainly contains a warning for a society displaying a similar kind of hubris.

Another thing that struck me was how the novel lashes out at the consistently one-sided view of Africa that can be found in western media. What we get to see is the wars, the natural disasters, famines and epidemics. Africa in the media is a place to pity, to send emergency aid to and to avoid if you want to stay healthy. This incomplete image of the continent is one that annoys Okorafor and she is quite clear about it in the novel. One of the characters puts it better than I ever could:

"Will you come with us?" I asked again.
"No." He spread his wings. "I am guarding New York."
"Why not Mali?"
"Africa bleeds, but it will be fine," he said. "I go where I am most needed."

Chapter 18 - Deus Ex Machina

That should give the reader something to think about.

Most of the story, all of the material in the frame, is written in a first person point of view from Phoenix' perspective. The name of the main character is no accident. She is quite literally a phoenix. The novel tells the tale of her transformation, her deaths and her rising from her ashes. Each incarnation is a bit different from the last. Phoenix is a character that doesn't respond well to injustice and one that wields the power to break free of who ever tries to contain her. She spends quite a lot of the novel exploring those powers and figuring out how to use them. Her growth as a character is often in violent spurts, conveyed to the reader in emotionally powerful scenes. She is rash but also compassionate, deeply in love but filled with rage at the same time. She is in other words, a wonderfully complex character.

The Book of Phoenix could be considered science fiction but the language, imagery and themes of the novel are not those encountered in novels that are generally considered science fiction. Is Phoenix post human or godlike? How about the tree that grows through Tower 7? Does humanity fall because of messing with genetics too much or for cutting down the tree of life? Or is one simply a differently framed image of the same thing? Okorafor pours her science fiction in a mythological cast that results in a book with a slightly magical atmosphere to it. It is a rare combination, one that sets this book apart from pretty much everything else I've read this year.

There is probably not much in it but I think this prequel is a better book than Who Fears Death. It is a pretty wild ride, looking over the shoulder of a very unpredictable main character. I felt Who Fears Death relied a bit too much on magic to resolve tricky problems in the plot. The Book of Phoenix is better in that respect. Like its predecessor, it is a novel that asks equally difficult questions to most of its readership, and one that doesn't shy away from pointing out uncomfortably truths. Combine that with beautiful writing and a complex main character, and you end up with a very interesting read. Very much recommended.

Book Details
Title: The Book of Phoenix
Author: Nnedi Okorafor
Publisher: DAW Books
Pages: 233
Year: 2015
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-7564-1019-3
First published: 2015

Six Years and Counting

Today it has been six years since the grand opening of this blog. Since I'm past the halfway mark, reaching double digits doesn't seem entirely impossible anymore.

Falling in Love with Hominids - Nalo Hopkinson

Tachyon Publications publishes a lot of very interesting fiction for which there is a limited market. Novellas and short novels, single author collections and themed anthologies for the most part. It is not material that is likely to end up on best-seller lists but for the real fan of fantasy and science fiction, it is a treasure trove of works that would otherwise easily be overlooked. I've been reading a couple of these a year since I joined NetGalley. Tachyon doesn't seem to have a problem with me being located in the Netherlands. Where I get frequent refusals because of my location from other publishers, Tachyon is generous with advance copies. So in the interest of full disclosure, I received a copy of Falling in Love with Hominids from the publisher in exchange for a review.

This collection is my first encounter with Nalo Hopkinson's work. She is originally from Jamaica but has lived in several other places as well before ending up in Canada. In 2011 she relocated to California, where she currently resides. Falling in Love with Hominids collects eighteen pieces of short fiction, all previously published between 2002 and 2014. There is no overarching theme or link between the stories. There are a few recurring elements of course, and some of them are linked to Hopkinson's novels, but other than that the pieces all appear to stand alone.

Hopkinson's writing is very diverse. It ranges from post-apocalyptic to surreal and from historical to contemporary fantasy. There are a few things that keep coming back in the stories though. There are references to Caribbean/African tradition and folklore in several stories, although Shakespeare and western mythologies pop up too. Hopkinson also uses a very varied cast of characters, people of all races, genders and sexual orientations appear in her stories. Although she doesn't emphasize it in most of the stories in this collection, there is a sensitivity to issues relating to racism and sexism in her writing. For some reason, I also get the impression that Hopkinson's home is full of house plants.

There's a few pieces that connected with me in particular. For some reason most of the ones I liked best are in the first half of the collection. The first is the one that opens the collection. The Easthound (2012) is a post-apocalyptic tale seen from the point of view of a child. It is a very creepy story. The author uses the point of view of the main character to throw the reader off balance. Without adults around, the children create their own view of the world, one where stories and fantasy mix with the deadly reality of their situation. The characters are children and at the same time wise beyond their years. An absolutely brilliant piece of writing.

Soul Case (2007) is more of a historical fantasy in which Hopkinson describes an assault on a community of escaped slaves. The story is based on a number of real communities that existed in various places in the Americas. Most of them were eventually destroyed by the colonial powers. I came across the story of the Jamaican Maroons in Maryse Condé's historical novel Children of Segu a while ago. She focusses on a different part of their history than Hopkinson does. The story is related to the novel Hopkinson is currently working on. I will have to keep an eye out for Blackheart Man. A novel length treatment of this topic could be a very interesting read.

In The Smile on the Face (2004) Hopkinson takes us in a very different direction. Although there is a reference to an early Christian saint it is much more contemporary. In essence it deals with a young girl whose changing body is getting her unwanted attention and is making her feel insecure about her looks. The guy in the story seems to be a bit too good to be true but it is a good look into the mind of a teenage girl and the bullshit they have to put up with in an age that seems to value appearance over anything else.

The final story I want to mention is Old Habits (2011). It is a ghost story set in a rather dreary mall. The main character was unfortunate enough to loose his life there and now he is stuck with a bunch of other ghosts who shared the same fate. They can't see the living, can't interact with them, and can't leave the mall. Or they can but what awaits them outside is just as uncertain as what awaits us after death. Most of the ghosts are not in a hurry. The loneliness and desperation of the ghosts is worked into this story very well. They strike you as a bit peculiar in the opening stages. Hopkinson then proceeds to make them almost inhuman in their hunger for a taste of life, and then shows us the tragic demise of the main character, bringing him back to being human again by killing him. Very disturbing.

A collection of such diversity as Hopkinson delivers here, will always contain a few stories that don't connect with the reader. There were a few that did little for me but overall I very much enjoyed Hopkinson's imaginative and varied approach to storytelling. In just over 200 pages she travels the length and breadth of speculative fiction. Falling in Love with Hominids is as good an invitation to delve deeper into an author's oeuvre as you are likely to get. I think I am going to take her up on that. It would appear that once again the to read stack has grown.

Book Details
Title: Falling in Love with Hominids
Author: Nalo Hopkinson
Publisher: Tachyon Publications
Pages: 222
Year: 2015
Language: English
Format: E-book
ISBN: 978-1-61696-199-2
First published: 2015