Book Review: Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh
Posted on August 20, 2013 2 Comments
Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Stand-alone
Publisher: Orbit
Date of Publication: June 11, 2013
Author Information: Website
I have a confession to make: I’m a sucker for love stories. But not just any kind of love story would do, oh no, because I like my romance the same way I like my Fantasy — gritty, transcendent, in-your-face, plus it helps if it’s just a bit bizarre! Love Minus Eighty is definitely all this and more, as if you couldn’t already tell from its exquisite tagline, “A novel of love and death in no particular order”.
Decades from now, dwindling resources have caused cities like New York City to practically fold in and build upon itself, creating a social stratification system that’s even more segregated than what we know today. No doubt, the book paints a pretty bleak view of the future, but it’s especially bad if you’re one of the hundreds of dead women cryogenically frozen in dating farms, awaiting your lucky day when some rich man will like you enough to pay millions for your revivification before whisking you home to be his wife.
And seriously, to think some of my friends complain about internet dating! Online dating sites have got nothing on the nightmare that are these dating farms, which charge male suitors thousands of dollars by the minute to “date” the dead women, whose consciousnesses are “awakened” for the session before the plug is pulled again and they go back to their state of non-existing. Will McIntosh expanded upon this idea from his award-winning short story “Bridesicle” (because that’s what society in this world called the frozen women. Horrible, right?) for this novel, which follows a group of characters whose lives are all interconnected because of these dating farms.
What a disturbing and yet fascinating basis for a story, and it’s all set before a futuristic backdrop which seems so outlandish but feels familiar enough to make you feel uncomfortable at the same time. It’s a world of digital information and social media on steroids, where attention seekers can be trailed by thousands of literal “followers”, their floating user screens going wherever that individual goes. People wear systems on their bodies to connect them to the network, allowing them to call up and communicate with multiple contacts at the same time. The setting was so vividly described that at times I felt like I was watching a movie (oh why oh why can’t this be a movie?!)
But in spite of all the new technology, some things always stay the same. For one thing, people will still look for love, that timeless, formless, unshakeable deep connection to another soul. This makes Love Minus Eighty a sci-fi novel that’s definitely more about the human story and less about the science and technology. Questions like how the dead can be brought back to life, or how these dating farms even manage to revive dead women for short periods of time aren’t the point. Instead, what’s important is the emotional impact of the story, and subsequently, the ethical implications of keeping women on ice and in limbo, basically according human beings who have the potential to live again less rights than what you’d give a dog in an animal shelter.
I also have to say the focus on love and dating was a nice touch, not only as it’s something practically everyone can relate to, but also because it makes the characters and their motivations feel that much more poignant. It’s hard to really say whose perspective was my favorite — Rob, Veronika, Mira, and even a couple of the supporting characters — because they each had their own experiences which I found acutely heartbreaking and intense.
Of course, this book wasn’t perfect by any means, and I for one had issues with some of the dialogue as well as the pacing, especially with the way it led up to the ending. However, the mere fact that I’m usually so persnickety about these things but was still able to overlook them meant that ultimately for me, Love Minus Eighty was all about the story and its provocative ideas. Above all, I enjoy books that make me feel (and here’s where that whole “I’m a sucker for love stories” comes in), and this one was at once a very thoughtful commentary on the ways of the heart and just twisted enough for me to eat it up.
Cover Lover: Fearie Tales
Posted on August 20, 2013 Leave a Comment
Jo Fletcher Books recently posted the cover of the upcoming Fearie Tales, a collection of definitely-not-for-kids fairy tales twisted and retold by an amazing list of authors, including: Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, Ramsey Campbell, Joanne Harris, Markus Heitz, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Angela Slatter and Michael Marshall Smith.
The exquisite cover is by Oscar-winning artist Alan Lee, who’s art will be featured inside the book as well!
Book Review: Countdown City by Ben H. Winters
Posted on August 19, 2013 Leave a Comment
Countdown City by Ben H. Winters
Genre: Sci-Fi Apocalyptic, Police Procedural
Series: Book 2 of The Last Policeman
Publisher: Quirk Books
Date of Publication: July 16, 2013
Author Information: Website | Twitter
What would you do if the world was going to end in a little less than three months?
Being a wimp, I’d probably hide in the basement closet with a comforter over my head, praying that it’s all a bad dream. Most likely I’d be depressed and wouldn’t be able to go about my everyday life like everything was normal. I definitely wouldn’t be like Hank Palace, the main character of this novel, because even with an asteroid hurtling through space towards earth threatening to wipe out all life on the planet, he’s still out there patrolling the streets trying to be the best damn policeman he can be.
Not that Hank’s even a policeman anymore; he’s been relieved of his duty, after what’s left of law enforcement in the country went through some major restructuring. In the time between Countdown City and the previous book The Last Policeman (my review here), things have gotten worse. Even the last vestiges of institution and pockets of civilization are starting to break down, with electricity gone now and water about to be next.
Hank, though, is still on the job, taking on a missing-persons case to find the husband of Martha Cavatone, the woman who used to be his babysitter. Much like he was in the last book, he becomes rabidly obsessed with the case, but is this merely due to his personal connection to Martha? Or it this just Hank’s own version of hiding in the basement under the covers? I get the feeling that beneath his focused exterior, he’s just as crazy with panic as everyone else. To me, this made him a very interesting breed of unreliable narrator.
Once again, I’m just floored by Winter’s interpretation of a pre-apocalyptic America. While I’ve read tons of apocalyptic novels, most of these take place after the destructive event has already happened, or they take place just before. Very rarely do you see a book like this where everyone knows the end is coming, but the catch is that it’s not coming for a while yet, and the world has to suffer through this plodding march towards doom like watching a slow death.
In circumstances like these, anything can happen, really. But the author makes it so realistic, showing a wide variety of human reactions to the killer asteroid. There’s Hank, who immerses himself in work, and there are also people like his sister, who still believes there’s hope and joins a commune. As you’d expect, there are also those who just lose it and commit suicide (thus giving us the basis of the first book) as well as a significant portion of the population that goes “Bucket List” (which forms an interesting theory for this book). As Hank notes, cases that seemed mundane under normal circumstances take on a whole different meaning in these new times, because there’s no such thing as “normal circumstances” anymore.
A police procedural set against a backdrop like this takes on a brand new twist – and I think this is the key to why I enjoyed this sequel even more than its predecessor. The Last Policeman had a good story, but I felt the details of the case Hank worked on in that book had very little to do with the social climate or the situation with the asteroid. This book, however, has those elements all over his missing-persons investigation. It made the impending armageddon an integral part of the case rather than just the background. Clock’s ticking and it’s getting real now, and this book really makes you feel it.
Audiobook Review: Black Feathers by Joseph D’Lacey
Posted on August 18, 2013 Leave a Comment
Black Feathers by Joseph D’Lacey
This was an audiobook read, narrated by the magnificent Simon Vance.
The birth of Gordon Black signifies the end of the world. Year after year following his birth, the world slides into more and more poverty and destruction. People call it the Black Dawn and the Crowman becomes its symbol. Whether the Crowman is a harbinger of the final end or the saviour of the world, no one is certain, but when the Ward goes after a teenaged Gordon, they are certain that the Crowman must be stopped by any means and that Gordon, tasked by his family to find the Crowman, must be captured. Meanwhile, in the post-apocalyptic future where life has reverted back to a time before technology with remnants of the old world buried, a young girl named Megan is summoned to take her place as the first ever female Keeper. Her task? To write the Crowman’s story.
This book is a cautionary tale (that occasionally gets a bit too preachy in its warnings against our reliance on technology and modern comforts and convenience, etc) and is told in a very unique way with very interesting characters. Gordon’s journey is intriguing, and I liked the way Megan’s role is worked in, with her seeing the events of the past in order to record the dark and painful tale of the Crowman.
The Crowman himself is a fascinating character. Is he a creature of good? Is he evil? Throughout the book, we get glimpses of his development and his influences on the world, but we’re never quite sure of his purpose and how he will decide the world’s fate. Is the world’s fate a decision for him to make? Or is the Crowman simply just doing his part in an incomprehensible cycle?
I was not overly fond of the Ward. The Ward represents the ruling party who wish to maintain control throughout the chaos and the Crowman is a threat to their hold on everything. They are Big Bad Corporations, The Man, Big Brother and every other example of oppressive regimes that we’ve seen in the past. Personally, I would have enjoyed their part more if they weren’t represented in such a heavy handed manner. In a time of chaos, it is understandable that there are those who try to control and take advantage. But those trying to maintain order and fairness, such as not allowing people to hoard food while others starve, is not necessarily evil. I would have liked it if the purpose of the Ward was as ambiguous as that of the Crowman.
Overall, I enjoyed Black Feathers. It was very good, but there’s a “but” floating around in my head somewhere that I’ve yet to put my finger on… Whatever that may be, for better or for worse, the book has stayed on my mind since finishing it, and I definitely approve of a book that keeps me thinking long after I’ve finished reading the last page.
Book Review: Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin
Posted on August 18, 2013 Leave a Comment
Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy; Dystopia; Steampunk
Series: Book 1 of Masque of the Red Death
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Date of Publication: April 24, 2012
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Never have I felt so broken up over writing a review for a book that ultimately ended up not being my cup of tea. It’s tough, seeing asMasque of the Red Death is a Young Adult dystopian novel inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe short story of the same name, and so it is at once creative, original and highly ambitious — which all happen to be qualities I admire in a book. It had some good ideas, and so I wanted to like this, tried hard to like it, but in the end there simply were too many issues that prevented me from getting on board.
The book is set in a gothic, post-apocalyptic rendition of the late 1800s, with a dash of steampunk mixed in for good measure. 17-year-old Araby Worth lives life amongst the elite thanks to her father’s illustrious career as a scientist, while the poor are left to fend for themselves in a city ridden with plague and death. Those who have the means to afford them buy the elaborate porcelain masks which help prevent the contagion, but the dictator Prince Prospero has a iron hold over their production. Still grieving the death of her twin brother which she believes is her fault, Araby wants to help change the way things are by working towards making salvation from the disease available to all.
I’m torn over these details. On the one hand, I’m completely in love with the setting, and my one regret is wanting to know a lot more about the history and background than the book was able to give me. I also think the main character had a lot of potential, but for some reason Araby feels pretty much devoid of any personality. If I had to guess, I would say it’s the writing style; told in first-person present tense, the narration could have been a lot more powerful, but instead it came across very clipped as I was bombarded with simple short sentences that often described everything Araby saw in front of her eyes but sadly not what was going on inside her head. As such, I couldn’t get a sense of who she was at all.
Even now, there are so many blank spots in my mental picture of her as a character, since a lot of her motivations and behaviors just didn’t match up. Her father, for example, whom she thinks is cold, aloof and uncaring, is actually in my opinion a sweet, kind and rather cool dad! I mean, here’s a man who takes his morose teenage daughter for walks just to get her out of the house and on a whim would buy her nice things like books. Then there’s Araby, one of those girls who contemplates betraying her parents for a boy she’s only known for a grand total of like five minutes. I’m just shaking my head.
Which brings me to another thing that bothered me — the dreaded love triangle. It would be nice if I had any interest at all in either romantic option, but behind door number one is Elliott, the prince’s nephew who seeks to fuel a rebellion by convincing Araby to join him by his side. Meanwhile, behind door number two is William, the handsome porter with the awesome tattoos who works at the club Araby frequents and whom she is drawn to. One guy is arrogant, the other is dull, and both are patronizing to the extreme. It’s really tough for me to get into a book when the romantic drama takes up such a huge part of the story, especially when I think the heroine is deserving of so much more than what she’s offered.
I feel like I’m being too harsh in this review, but even after putting my YA-reading hat on and embracing the romance, I just couldn’t get into this book. I think it had some great ideas, but I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface on a lot of them, much like how I think Araby’s character could have been much better developed. While this book was a quick read, I can’t help but think maybe a little more detail could have gone a long way into fleshing out the story and making it more satisfying.
Want more steampunk? New to the genre? Visit Once Upon A Time’s Clockwork Carnival 2013 for all sorts of steampunk goodies.
Mogsy’s Book Haul
Posted on August 17, 2013 Leave a Comment
I always love welcoming new books to my library, and the last couple of weeks saw some new arrivals from various sources!
In the physical book pile:
The Crimson Shield – won from a giveaway the author Stephen Deas (writing as Nathan Hawke) was hosting on his blog and on Twitter, so I was pretty psyched out of my mind when my copy arrived safe and sound from its long journey across the Atlantic. What a bold choice it is to leave all writing including title and author information off the front cover, but I can’t deny that the result is quite dramatic and effective. Can’t wait to read this book.
Countdown City – from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program, the second book of the Last Policeman series. I read the first book earlier this year and was really looking forward to seeing what would happen next, so I pretty much devoured this sequel. Look for the review in a couple days!
Skulk – an ARC I received from Strange Chemistry, and it’s one of those books that make me really happy I check out YA. I meant to review this closer to its release date, and only picked it up to read a chapter or two just to see what it’s all about. I ended up finishing the book in a couple sittings because I couldn’t help it; it was pretty addictive. My review should be up closer to October when the book comes out!
Love Minus Eighty – oh man. Oh frickin’ man. My deepest gratitude to My Shelf Confessions for hosting the giveaway of this book, which is how I got my copy. I’d been falling to pieces lately pining to read this, and I was floored when I got the email saying I actually won. Currently in the middle of this and I can’t even being to describe how captivated I am by it right now.
Now on to the digital pile:
Looks like I didn’t do quite as well on the self-restraint front this week with NetGalley:
The Troop – looked interested from the NG newsletter they sent out.
Warrior of the West – invite from Atria to review the second book in the King Arthur Trilogy after I reviewed the first.
Letters from a Murderer – from Angry Robot’s mystery and crime friction imprint, this one looked like something I’d enjoy.
Ebooks I purchased:
Stormdancer – a friend of mine has offered me an opportunity to read the second book, but whether or not that pans out I wanted to read book one first before the sequel comes out. Plus, the description on this looked cool, and I’ve heard some great things.
Angelfall – an interesting looking YA book I came across while browsing Amazon’s own publishing titles, which got some pretty good comments and reviews. For a few bucks I picked up both the ebook and the audiobook Whispersync bundle.
The Mister Trophy – recommended to me by a Goodreads friend who told me to check this author and series out if I enjoy urban fantasy. It’s a short read and it could be had for a couple of bucks, so I thought, why not!
Book Review: The Exodus Towers by Jason M. Hough
Posted on August 17, 2013 Leave a Comment
The Exodus Towers by Jason M. Hough
Genre: Science Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic
Series: The Dire Earth Cycle #2
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Date of Publication: August 27, 2013
Author Info: www.jasonmhough.com
With thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Exodus Towers takes up shortly after The Darwin Elevator. The “traitors” are now separated from Darwin, Australia after the discovery of a second alien elevator in Belem, Brazil. Skyler Luiken and the colonists are working to set up, well, a colony, using the new alien towers and their transportable auras. Tania Sharma and her crew are supporting them from above and desperately trying to keep Russell Blackfield from finding out about the colony, while still maintaining the food for air and water trade with him. Meanwhile, Sam Rinn and Kelly Adelaide are still imprisoned by Blackfield within Nightcliff.
From the first image of a girl dancing among the ghosts of desolation, I was hooked. Things quickly picked up from there, moving along at a spiralling pace that introduces some intriguing new characters, eager to stake a claim in the aftermath of Neil Platz’s death and Blackfield’s anarchy. The Jacobites take on a greater role and Skyler learns that he isn’t as unique as he thought.
And all the while, the mystery of the aliens and their purpose continues to loom over them, now with a clock ticking down, if Tania’s calculations on the “Builders’” schedule is correct.
For the first half of the book, my thoughts went off the rails because of how much was happening. I hate to use typical review buzz words, but I’m going to have to fling out “action-packed” and “edge of your seat” to describe the suspense, drama and excitement as I hopelessly devolved into subhuman squeals, flails and tears. I may have even uttered a loud “**** YEAH!” at one point.
Fortunately, before my review completely deteriorated into “lakjdflajf!!!,” with me huddled in the corner desperately reading The Plague Forge, impatiently awaiting news about when The Dire Earth Cycle is going to be made into movies, the second half of the book settled down and allowed my nerves to do the same.
Time is a big factor, with the Builders’ scheduled to – do something – in two years from where the book begins. After the initial action, events skip quickly through the more mundane aspects of taking control of Nightcliff and setting up the colony. This part of the book might seem dull to some, but, as I said, time is a factor and I appreciate the way Hough worked all of this preparation in under the continued, ominous mystery of the Builders. Are the Builders malevolent or benevolent? Their SUBS disease has wiped out/converted 90% of human life on earth, while their elevators and aura towers are protecting the rest. WHAT THE HELL DO THEY WANT???
*ahem* Sorry.
Also during this time, the characters and their relationships change significantly and sometimes surprisingly. Certain relationships that seemed to have been forged in The Darwin Elevator have not ended up where I expected – and I love that! I might be disappointed that I don’t get what I thought were OTPs, but I love that Hough hasn’t taken the obvious routes.
I am really happy to spend more time with Sam, one of my favourite characters from the previous book. She’s a rough and tumble woman of Amazonian height who can hold her own against any man. She began as a dangerously subordinate member of Skyler’s crew, but she really impressed me after Jake’s death, showing a side of herself that isn’t just about the typical bluff and bluster. This continues in Towers, where she gets to display intelligence, leadership and compassion. Meanwhile, Hough continues to reveal that his other lead characters are not perfect and sometimes, aren’t even likable.
One thing I really want to praise is the diversity of Hough’s survivors. Too often, post-apocalyptic stories forget that the rest of the world exists. It’s ironic that the survivors have all been sequestered into one small pocket on the bottom of the world, yet Hough has made it clear that, when the crisis hit, everyone from everywhere attempted to make their way to Darwin. That means that the one million remaining humans are a true cross-section of the billions of people that used to live on the planet, and it does not feel like tokenism when we meet characters from various cultures, some of whom don’t even speak English.
Click here for more on The Dire Earth Cycle, including an interview with author Jason M. Hough.
Book Review: Children of Fire by Drew Karpyshyn
Posted on August 16, 2013 Leave a Comment
Children of Fire byDrew Karpyshyn
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Series: Book 1 (so far)
Publisher: Del Rey
Expected Date of Publication: August 27, 2013
Author Information: Website | Twitter
I’d looked forward to this novel for a long time, ever since last year when Drew Karpyshyn announced he was leaving BioWare to focus on his own original book project. Having very much enjoyed his work in video games in the past, including the novels that spawned out of the Mass Effect and Star Wars: The Old Republic universes, I was disappointed to see him go but was also very curious as to what he was working on.
Turned out, it was Children of Fire, the first book of his idea for a new epic fantasy series, and it sounded something he’d been cooking in his head for long time. After years of reading his Star Wars and video game tie-in novels, I was very interested in seeing what Drew can do with his very own story and characters. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with this e-ARC.
About the book:
Long ago, a great warrior called Daemron was was chosen by the gods to lead the war against the Chaos spawn. He was given three magical talismans to aid him in the fight — a crown, a ring, and a sword. Daemron, however, grew corrupted with their power and ended up turning against the gods. The savior of the world instead became its destroyer.
Daemron was thwarted in the end, banished to a plane beyond the Chaos Sea, sealed behind barrier called the Legacy. A religious cabal called The Order have been tasked to maintain this magical shield, protecting the world from the Chaos and its minions. The three magical talismans were hidden away or lost.
Now the Legacy weakens, and Daemron grows strong enough to cast his essence into the world. Across the land, four Chaos-touched children are born beneath a blood red moon, each embodying an aspect of Daemron himself. Though Keegan, Scythe, Vaaler, and Cassandra grow up in different places with different lives, their fates are intertwined — but whether it is their destiny to restore the Legacy or unleash the destroyer upon the world is yet unknown.
My thoughts:
I loved lots of things about this book, and on the top of that list was the sweeping, overarching feel of the story. The introduction including the details surrounding the four children’s origins was in my opinion the best part of the book. While all born of “suffering and strife”, the background and circumstances of each child were nonetheless unique and interesting.
The character development continues as we follow the four children, and we get glimpses into the major events of their lives as they grow up. But as we edged closer towards the present and more and more talk of fate and destiny crept into the picture, that’s when I hit a wall. I still enjoyed the story very much, but at this point everything began to feel a lot more run-of-the-mill and typical.
It is possible that I am just a bit more critical of the fantasy I read these days, especially if they come with the description of “innovative epic fantasy”, but I admit I expected a lot more from the characters and plot. Both bordered on the cut-and-dried and formulaic after while, which I felt was the main thing holding back the story. I know the concept of the Big-Damn-Hero-destined-to-save-the-world is one that’s tried and true, but it’s very in-your-face here and nowadays I crave a lot more out of my fantasy reads.
And maybe I’m just still not used to seeing the author’s writing outside of media adaptations, but while I love his “pulpy” style in Star Wars and game tie-in books, here it kind of feels out of place for the kind of story he wants to tell. I thought that more focus could have been placed on the setting and supporting characters too, to give the story as a whole more of an “epic” vibe, because I didn’t feel like I was getting enough of history and identity from this original world he’s establishing from scratch. The Danaan people and their cities come to mind, for example.
I also think some of the points I brought up above could do with the pacing. I think Drew Karpyshyn did a fantastic job presenting to us his main characters, considering there are four of them and that’s quite a few different perspectives to follow. Keegan gets the bulk of the attention, though, and I wished we could have seen more of of the others at different ages because it feels like a couple of them disappear for a long stretches at a time. When they resurface, sometimes years afterward, I don’t feel like I know them enough anymore to know if it only seems like dialogue feels forced, or if they are actually acting out of character.
Overall, this ended up being more of a fun read than a truly epic read, and became a lot better once I shifted my expectations accordingly. It felt like the book could have benefited from a little more structural editing to address pacing issues and plot and character development, but it was a great introduction to a brand new world of magic and fantasy lore. I’m a big fan of Drew Karpyshyn, and I’m glad he finally got the chance to bring his own ideas to life and share it with his readers.
Book Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Posted on August 15, 2013 Leave a Comment
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
As with the pattern of previous Neil Gaiman books I’ve read, Ocean features an average male protagonist who wouldn’t be particularly interesting, but for the magical realm he’s introduced to and the ensuing adventure. But, while the other books adhere firmly to this fairly specific pattern, Ocean quickly and mesmerizingly walks down the lane into an entirely different story. Well, not an entirely different story, but this time, the story of the man quickly becomes the story of the boy he once was and the women he met in the house at the end of the lane, including one Lettie Hempstock, a girl just a few years older than his seven years, who takes him to a pond, only to reveal an ocean.
Thus far, I’ve found Gaiman’s books to be dark but whimsical. Even the evil characters have a sense of humour and are quick with their wit, but Ocean was very melancholy and I felt connected with it far more deeply than I have the others. I thought Gaiman did an excellent job of telling the story through the eyes of a little boy who becomes bound to a frightening creature who can control his family with her desire to make them happy. The boy’s sense of hopelessness and fear and his bravery are palpable, making the story very engaging.
The men in Gaiman’s other books tend to annoy me with their refusal to believe in the magical things presented to them. Here, a child who adores books and takes so many cues from them, willingly accepts the unbelievable, both good and evil. And when he finds it in himself to fight, it feels far more real than the grown ups who suddenly realize their role as the hero. Perhaps it helps that this book doesn’t require the main character to valiantly save the girl; he has to fight to save himself.
I suspect that the men in Gaiman’s other works are loosely based on himself. Upon reading Ocean’s acknowledgements, I came to feel like this was far more personal to the author than anything else he’s written. That the little boy was far more himself than any other character he’s brought to life. He does state that the family in the story is nothing like his own and this really is a work of fiction, but his comment about the Hempstocks being with him all his life is what really struck me and made me appreciate Ocean all the more.
Book Review: Dragon’s Child by M.K. Hume
Posted on August 14, 2013 1 Comment
The King Arthur Trilogy Book One: Dragon’s Child by M.K. Hume
Genre: Historical Fiction, Arthurian Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of King Arthur
Publisher: Atria Books
Date of Publication: November 12, 2013
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Thank you to Atria Books for sending me an advanced copy of Dragon’s Child in exchange for an honest review! Originally published in 2009, a new edition of the paperback and ebook will be available later this fall, thus it was provided to me via Atria’s latest Galley Alley program. This book first caught my eye when I found out it was an Arthurian fantasy novel written by an expert on the subject. Like many, I’ve been exposed to my share of retellings and interpretations of the King Arthur mythos in fiction (there are a ton out there!), but I am most definitely not well-versed in the historical details. This made me curious as to how an academic authority on Arthurian literature would tackle the legend.
Not surprisingly, the novel turned out to be a story of Arthur (known here as Artorex) and his journey from a humble childhood to become the High King of the Britons. Artorex is presented to us as the reluctant hero, whose personal choice would have been to raise a family on his foster family’s farm and live out the rest of his days as a simple steward. Fate, however, has set him on another path.
I’ll admit that I found it difficult to get into the story at first. The introduction to the hero’s journey is a familiar one: the boy who everyone had initially dismissed suddenly discovers that he has a greater destiny. In the next few chapters, his skills are honed and he becomes stronger. He learns to fight, he learns to ride, and he gains all the experiences he will someday need to become a great leader. It was pretty standard, even as Arthurian legends go, and I had to suppress the temptation to skim this section, especially knowing that the real meat of the story had to be just beyond this point.
Thankfully, I was right and the book did get better. Much better, in fact, with the introduction of Gallia, Artorex’s first wife. That’s right, I did a double-take too when I saw that. M.K. Hume herself wrote in her Author’s Note explaining that she once came upon an evocative reference in an obscure text named Guinevere as Arthur’s second wife, but even though she could find no other material in her research that even hints at a first wife, the idea stuck. And I have to say, the fact whole epic trilogies can develop and evolve from tiny little tidbits like that is what fascinates me about historical fiction, and why I love the genre.
In this case, I really enjoyed the author’s take on Artorex’s childhood and teenage years, as well as her reasoning behind why she chose to tell his story the way she did. A lot of attention is given to these formative years, and I was surprised at how engaging the story became after getting past his boyhood training. Even though Hume used a third person omniscient point of view to narrate the story (which I normally dislike, because it tends to distract me from the main character), the focus always remained on Artorex, making his transformation from the boy known simply as Lump to King Artor of the Britons a very drawn-out but believable one.
In the end, I went from feeling luke-warm towards this novel to liking it quite a lot. The writing style can come off as a bit cumbersome at first if you’re not used to it, but I later felt it suited the book very well, giving a cold edge to some of the darker and more violent parts of the story. This first book ends with Artorex being crowned the High King, and the best part is knowing there is so much more to his legend, which I’m looking forward to continuing in the rest of this trilogy.
The BiblioSanctum 