Percepliquis by Michael J. Sullivan

Percepliquis
Michael J. Sullivan
Orbit, 2012 (In The Heir of Novronfrom Orbit Books)

The concluding novel to Michael J Sullivan’s Riyria Revelations, Percepliquis, is available as part of Heir of Novron (along with Wintertide). I was graciously sent a copy of the book by the author. If Winteride is the Empire Strikes Back of the Riyria Revelations, then Precepliquis is Return of the Jedi. Indeed much The Trilogy, Riyria Revlations wraps up in a similar manner things are tied up nicely and neatly. This series has always been of a more traditional bent hearkening back to the classics of the genre so the fact that the novel and series wraps things up in very neat package. There are twists and turns on the journey, surprising revelations on the way and while the finale might lack the grit and menace of more modern subversive fantasy there is a welcome heft to the ending that left me feeling satisfied and hopeful the Sullivan may one day explore future adventures in this world.

Wintertide concluded on a dark note. Things were looking grim, our heroes were split apart, and a shadowy threat was emerging out of the chill winds of winter. In the opening pages of Precepliquis that threat is revealed in all its might and as the novel progresses you begin to wonder if our heroes can manage the Hail Mary save. What I love about Precepliquis is that it could have easily been a gritty fantasy had Sullivan wished it to be. The fledgling Empire is hopelessly outmatched, winter beats down on Aquesta, and humanity stands on the precipice of destruction. It’s hard to get darker than that. There is plenty of room in Percepliquis for long, bloody last stands, for really hammering home in agonizing detail precisely how bad humanity has it near the end. Sullivan offers brief glimpses of that dire position but never goes overboard. As the Empire’s back is pushed ever closer to the wall the threat of annihilation places greater and greater importance on Royce and Hadrian’s quest to uncover a mystical horn.

I love the classic dungeon delving feel of the search for the titular city of Percepliquis, ancient seat of Novronian Empire. As I’ve stated in the past I’m a sucker for the exploration of things in my fantastic literature. Haunted houses, ancient ruins, and derelict spaceships are always an easy sell for me and so the journey to Percepliquis was quite an awesome moment for me. While I do wish we could have seen more of the city, Sullivan does and excellent job of stringing you along with a bit of mystery. Arista’s flashbacks were also rather neat and it was fun to get a brief glimpse of the ancient empire.

While Royce and Hadrian are in top form (more or less, poor Royce) in this novel not enough is said about the supporting cast. The arrogant and haughty Deegan Gaunt makes for great comic relief and constant source of frustration. The bookish monk Myron, blessed with eidetic memory, makes for some of his own rather comical moments (his encounter with his sister in particular) while also serving as a surprisingly apt spiritual guide for those questing for the horn. Wintertide saw Modina finally come out of her shell and Percepliquis sees that trend continue as she proves that she is not just playing the part of the Empress. Even some of the less than noble knights glimpsed in Wintertide get some redemptive moments in Perceliquis.

There are some elements with characters that didn’t work as well as I would have liked. The growing romance between Arista and Hadrian could have used more time. It works well enough as is but I would have liked to see more groundwork laid earlier in the series; it would have made for a slightly more believable pairing. I was also disappointed with Nimbus at the end of the novel. I don’t want to spoil things but I sort of wish that part was left more open to conjecture and interpretation rather than outright explanation. I think there were enough hints dropped to draw the proper conclusion.

Percepliquis provides an appropriately thrilling conclusion to the grand adventure that began in The Crown Conspiracy. The climax of the novel offers several expected and unexpected twists and includes some moving character moments (particularly Magnus). There are some truly great moments over the course of novel (Royce’s “escape plan” from Percepliquis, everything with Myron, and Hadrian’s fight come to mind) that will have readers shouting for joy, cursing in anger, and maybe even shedding a tear. Moreso than in Wintertide, Percepliquis brings a certain joyousness back to the series and the more humorous elements seen in earlier novels definitely return to the fore here. While the novel’s denouement may tie things up a bit to prettily for some readers it leaves room for exploration in future volumes (maybe with future generations). An excellent conclusion to an entertaining series.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
Crown, 2011

Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One is an adrenaline fueled, high-octane, non-stop thrill ride through nostalgia-land. It is a novel that takes its inspiration from various sectors of the geek world borrowing as much from classic 80s films, movies, and games as much as it extrapolates from today’s contemporary media. For better or for for worse Ready Player One wears its geeky heart openly on its sleeve. If the novel has a message it is only as a vague background noise to the technicolor adventure at its core. Ready Player One isn’t art via the Louvre, it’s art via Gallery88.

In the bleak future of 2044 the world isn’t a happy place. Poverty and famine run rampant with people more or less unwilling to do anything to save the world. Like most of the world the orphaned Wade Watts (his father was a comic book fan) escapes the misery of everyday existence by plugging into OASIS and real-time, virtual world where anything and everything is possible. On his death bed the creator of OASIS, James Halliday, left users with a challenge: a series of hidden puzzles and tests leading to the ultimate prize. Countless people in OASIS have tried to track down the start of this quest to no avail. Years later it is Wade Watts stumbles across the first test and starts a battle with the fate of OASIS as its ultimate reward.

The opening section of Ready Player One, say about the first 100 pages, sets up the way the world works. It explains and shows the abject poverty and dire straits that Wade is faced with on a daily basis. It summarizes the nature of OASIS and explains the quest set forth by James Halliday. Truth be told it drags and is by far the most difficult part of the book. Only once Wade truly begins his quest to things really kick up into an almost montage-like frenzy of action. When this novel is on, firing on all 12 cylinders flux capacitor charged and ready, it is a frantic edge-of-your seat page-turner that you don’t want to end.

Ready Player One uses the notions of power fantasy and wish fulfillment as the foundation of its world. OASIS is a place where your every wish can come true. There is a certain joyousness to its freeing nature and a believable and well-reasoned structure to the culture governing its use. At the same time beneath the gloss there is a certain uneasiness to OASIS. Cline lays down a not-so-subtle yet surprisingly easy to overlook metaphor between OASIS and a drug. OASIS, not religion, is the new opiate of the masses and none exemplify this more than Wade (seriously take the original Marx quote and replace every instance of religion with OASIS and tell me that doesn’t work). Our glimpses of the real world, like Wade’s tenement home or the indentured servitude glimpsed late in the novel, reveal a society teetering on the brink of collapse. Even Wade, when discussing what he would do if he wins Halliday’s competition, has written the world off as too far gone to save. What is particularly odd about the dire situation of the world in Ready Player One is precisely how little it weighs upon the plot. The novel is so grounded in its unreality that the situation of the world outside OASIS fades to a barely audible hum; it is a minor obstacle to overcome or endured in order for Halliday’s quest to proceed.

There are moments, those in the real world, that are quite noteworthy over the course of the novel. In fact I would argue that the elements that occur when Wade is (mostly) unplugged have a more tangible heft to them when compared to hyperkinetic sensory overload of OASIS. Wade’s meeting with Aech, the corporate espionage, and the novel’s early daring escape have a greater sense of accomplishment to them and do a lot to blur the line between Wade’s online persona and his flesh and blood self. While the nostalgia factor is cranked up way past 11 there are some surprisingly meaty bits buried beneath the bright colors.

Ready Player One is probably the shortest 384 page novel I’ve read. When the action heats up the pages fly by and the novel comes to a close far faster than expected. The almost frightening speed at which the novel moves, particularly in the last third, left me feeling a bit deprived. There are some interesting social questions raised over the course of the novel but they are questions that are never directly addressed. Ready Player One is such a tantalizing step away from being great, from providing something truly amazing. It never quite makes it there though. It sticks to its guns veering close to social commentary before flooring back out to lighthearted entertainment again. With perhaps one notable exception (Wade has a sort of extended Bella Swan-eqsue “Woe is me” mopey emo section) Ready Player One is consistently entertaining and never less than fun. It is a novel that the young, and the young at hear, the geek and the reformed geek, can enjoy equally. It isn’t perfect, but is remarkably accomplished first novel (it should be noted that Ernest Cline shares writing credits on Fanboys, perhaps one the best examinations on Star Wars fandom ever) leaving me excited to see what Ernest Cline has lined up next.

The Coldest War

Coldest War the sequel to Bitter Seeds, one of my favorite novels of 2010, is available in audiobook form today from the fine folks at Audible! You won’t see the Coldest War in print for until July so if you’re as anxious as I am for more from Ian Tregillis hit up audible.com today!

Halo: Glasslands by Karen Traviss

Halo: Glasslands
Karen Traviss (read by Euon Morton)
Tor, 2011 (audio version available from MacMillan or on Audible.com)

Halo: Glasslands is billed, or was when I first came across it, as a bridge between Halo 3 and the upcoming Halo 4. It is also a sequel Eric Nylund’s Ghosts of Onyx (a fact I didn’t know). As a result there are some pretty steep prerequisites for Glasslands name you have played Halo 3 (not unlikely if you are reading a Halo novel) and have read Ghosts of Onyx. A working knowledge of Halo: Reach might also be beneficial. All that being said if you don’t have a strong working knowledge of the Halo universe, past and present, Glasslands is going to be an impenetrable nightmare. I barely match these requirements so this novel was close to a stretch for me.

Penned by Karen Traviss, best known for her work over in the Star Wars Universe, Glasslands follows several apparently disparate plot threads that seem to have little to no connection. Opening after the majority of the events of Halo 3 (the novel actually overlaps with the end cutscene at one point) the novel follows the aftermath of the Covenant war and the battle against the Flood. The Covenant government is in shambles with hardline traditionalists balking against the control of the Arbiter. As things move towards peace it is these traditionalists and the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) that seek to keep things off balance. To that end ONI has set up Kilo-Five, a team of ODST troops, a Spartan, and a crafty AI to keep the Covenant government off balance. Meanwhile Catherine Halsey and another team of Spartans are trapped in a “slipspace bubble” (bigger on the inside) crammed with Forerunner technology.

Unfortunately none of these plots really gel together in a meaningful way. While the interruption of one perspective often stymies interest generated by another. In terms of action and excitement the sections featuring Kilo-five are the best. ONI, not the most honorable of institutions, plays some mean tricks to so discord amongst the Covenant while stumbling across the growing disloyalty of the colony world Venezia. In truth this section, when combined with the sections taking place on the Covenent homeworld could, and likely, should have formed an entire novel on its own. The counter perspectives of the ONI team and the Covenent makes for tense reading and some twisty plotting that, at its best, head me on the edge of my seat. Unfortunately the impact, and forward progress, of these sections is torpedoed by the sections featuring Halsey and company trapped on Onyx.

If you had told me that the exploration of a new world full of ancient and mysterious technology could be boring I’d have probably laughed at you. Not so much anymore. This section of the novel drags. Nothing happens for pages and pages while the to leading character bicker over past mistakes. The exploration of the shield world doesn’t intersect with the other part of the novel until late and, in what I think is a boneheaded move, completely derails everything that was happening in those sections of the novel. What could have been an interesting and exciting novel of politics and espionage is instead rendered impotent by what feels like an editorial fiat.

That being said this is the first novel of trilogy that from my understanding will lead into Halo 4. Assuming I’m correct (Halo 4 will supposedly be released sometime this year) I’ll likely be back for the remainder. I grew quite attached to Kilo-five and I still hold out that we will see a return to to their actions early in the novel. Thankfully, on audio this is a bit smoother thanks to Euon Morton’s splendid reading of the novel.  Is it weird that I often judge a male narrator by his ability to handle female voices?  Well I have no qualms when I say, and I mean it as a heartfelt compliment, that Euon Morton easily sells his ability to sound like a woman…or at least a female character.  In particularly both Morton and Traviss’s work with the folks of Kilo-five that comes off as the most distinct and the most endearing to me as a reader.  Glassalnds feels like two novels (or a novel and a short story) jammed together for no apparent reason. Hardcore Halo fans are the only people I can really recommend this novel this novel. Here’s hoping for a more consistent quality improves in future novels.

Here is a sample from the audio version graciously provided by the folks over at MacMillan Audio, it is available on CD and via Audible.com:

The Cold Commands by Richard K. Morgan

The Cold Commands
Richard K. Morgan
Del Rey, 2011

After just about three years Richard Morgan’s The Cold Commands has been released. Picking up more or less where The Steel Remains leaves this dark fantasy (I almost want to say science fantasy) novel is a bit slower than the previous volume, forgoing major strides in plot advancement in favor of maneuvering characters and events so as they are positioned for further adventures, and likely more action, in the next volume(s). While this makes for a more intense study of our three main leads; Ringil, Arceth, and Egar; it does lend the novel a more meandering feel.

As the novel opens Ringil is working to disrupt the slave, more as an act vengeance for a lost relative rather than any sense of true altruism on his part. This early plot point offers one of the more troubling scenes of the novel in which Ringil allows for the gang rape of a slaver (Poppy Snarl) as an act of vengeance in an effort to break her spirit. I raise that point, and minor spoiler, here to remind you that Morgan’s fantasy novel is not one for the squeamish. There is no flinching away from violence at all. It should also be noted that while Ringil allows for that rape to occur there is no sense of victory in it, no sense of fulfillment on his part. Furthermore, once the rape is stopped Poppy goes on to explain to Ringil something about the reality of growing up as a poor female on the streets revealing that he couldn’t take from her what has already been taken. It is an uncomfortable scene and one that continues to unveil the troubling sexual politics of fantasy world that Morgan has created. That being said this scene was almost enough to make me stop reading.

While Ringil’s homosexuality in The Cold Commands is often shown in a much more positive light than Arceth’s homosexuality. Ringil’s sexual encounters are perhaps the only times we get to see him for who he really is rather than the mask he is constantly forced to wear. Meanwhile Arceth’s position as an inhuman, female, outsider places her in a more precarious position than Ringil. There is a palpable loneliness to her not just because she is last member of a vanished race constantly surrounded by the relics of her kind whose longevity dooms her to watch the people around her age and die, but also because she is a gay female in a society that places both women and homosexuality on the very bottom of the social rung. She walks a delicate line between her need to honor the legacy of her people, the Empire they helped create, while being constantly close to being rejected (and sometimes despising) that same creation. There is a tragic quality to her characterization that is powerful and difficult to ignore.

Egar the Dragonbane, the last of our major characters, is a sort of middle-of-the-road character. In one way he is a relic of the past growing nostalgic as he advances in years. He remembers with perhaps misplaced fondness the social ties of the Steppes where he comes from while at the same time struggling to navigate through apparently civilized society. Egar’s role in the story is one that helps illuminate the thin, nigh non-existing, line between civilized and uncivilized society. Like Arceth’s story it illuminates some of the difficulties women face in namely the fact that a husband with a mistress is an acceptable part of society but a woman having sex outside the marriage bed is an offense punishable by death. There is a bit a disparity there.

All three characters follow separate threads of the plot only converging towards the conclusion of the novel. In many ways Ringil, who for all intents and purposes is our “hero” character struggles against stepping into the role. His “square peg round hole” characterization reminds me of the willfully divergent character from Peter David’s Sir Appropos of Nothing (though certainly with less humor). Through Arceth and the Kirith Morgan introduces a strong “science fantatsy” vibe to the story that was definitely present in the last novel but comes far more to forefront here. The sort of divergent roles both Arceth and Ringil play leaves Egar as sort of foil to both characters as his characterization follows more along the line traditional barbarian trope (think Logen Ninefingers rather than Conan).

Ultimately while there was some strong character work throughout The Cold Commands I still felt a bit disappointed by the novel. It is a both the novel’s blessing and bane that I really just want more. More action, more detail, and more of the fascinating and often disturbing world that Richard Morgan has created. A Land Fit For Heroes is not a series for the faint of heart. It may not scratch your itch for classic epic fantasy. It is a series painted in shades of gray with a liberal spray of crimson further diluting the lines between good, bad, right, and wrong. If you liked The Steel Remains you’re going to like The Cold Commands but those on the fence after the first novel are going to have a difficult time with what felt like a increase in violence and sex across the novel.

WordPress has a new fangled and pretty neat Annual Report feature that I’ve included below.

Some other things to note:

Goodreads tells me I read 65 books this year (down from 74 the previous year).

2011 saw a 25% increase in total pageviews with an average of 153 page views per day.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 56,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 21 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Wildwood by Colin Meloy

Wildwood
Colin Meloy
Balzer and Bray, 2011

Wildwood is the debut novel of Colin Meloy, better known as the singer/songwriter of The Decemberists. Aimed at older children Wildwood is similar in many ways to C. S. Lewis’ Narnia books but with several twists all its own. Prue McKeel lives in Portland where the maps mark an Impassable Wilderness at the edge of the city. This is fact Prue has come to live with, and mostly ignore, until the day the crows come a snatch her baby brother. With that act Prue sets forth into that Impassable Wilderness, called The Wildwood by its inhabitants, to find her baby brother and rescue him by any means necessary.

I should start by saying that I’m a bit outside the 8-12 demographic for Wildwood. I also feel that every time I start a review with such a caveat it doesn’t bode well for what follows. Truth of the matter I wasn’t a very big fan of this book. There are a number of issues I had with the title and while the book wasn’t, as a whole, bad it failed to live up to expectations. I suppose my disappointment might be expected as the kind of person that prefers the overtones of epic cheesiness of Dragonforce and Manowar over the more considered lyricism of Meloy’s own Decemberists. In truth my main problem with Wildwood is that it feels like far too much is borrowed from its predecessors.

In particular Wildwood’s fantastical otherland setting, talking animals, and evil queen bear far too much similarity to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Maybe I was just hoping that Meloy would really go out on a limb with something truly unique, maybe it’s just the jaded post-modern fantasy reader in me, but the slavish dedication to form and format was a huge let down for me. Of course it didn’t help that I found the plot far too obscured by the supposed wonderment of Wildwood to really grip me. Indeed I often felt that the best stories in Wildwood were the ones that were told in passing; I was especially interested in reading about the Dowager Governess’ descent into madness and sorcery.

There are none-the-less moments when the wonder shines through. The prison beneath the coyote warren, the great tree at the heart of the south woods, the story about Prue’s parents, and the ruins scattered about the landscape during the final scenes being the big ones that stand out for me. The Rifftrax for the Chamber of Secrets has a running joke wherein the explanation behind many a magical device is simply “whimsy.” Wildwood has the same problem. The true moments of wonder are far too often eclipsed by what is to my ears unnecessary and overdrawn whimsy.

Ok, I’ll also admit that I’m not a huge fan of talking animals. Well, some talking animals. Talking animals that act like humans always kind of bugged me. Talking animals that act like animals, like Nighteyes from Assassin’s Apprentice or Oberon from Hounded, are far more my style. Coyotes dressed in soldier’s uniforms, using muskets strains even my admittedly thin credulity. Furthermore Wildwood continues the vilification of the genus Corvus. Poor crows and ravens always seem to draw the short straw when it comes to fantasy and Wildwood is certainly no help in improving their image.

When all is said and done Wildwood isn’t a bad book. It is a fairly traditional secondary world fantasy that moves at a rather sedate pace. When the action does kick up it is often violent and not for younger readers. I certainly wish it was more than was but it remains a strong debut from a new author. There is certainly room for improvement and Meloy drops enough hints in Wildwood to leave things open for further exploration. Disappointment asside I’ll be back next time around to see what is on offer.

Wintertide by Michael J. Sullivan

Wintertide
Michael J. Sullivan
Ridan Publishing, 2010 (to be republished in The Heir of Novron by Orbit Books in 2012)

Wintertide is the penultimate volume of Michael J. Sullivan’s The Riyria Revelations, out of print as a single volume (thankfully provided to me for review by Robin Sullivan) it will be available alongside Percepliquis as The Heir of Novron next month. The events of Wintertide spawn directly out of The Emerald Storm with Royce and Hadrian having finally tracked down Degan Gaunt, the supposed Heir of Novron (I remain a sceptic) to the capital city of the Novron Empire where he has been captured and is awaiting trial. Also in the city, the damaged Empress is awaiting her marriage and the Princess of Melengar, Arista is also awaiting execution. To make matters worse it turns out that Melengar is under seige by the Imperial army and isn’t doing so well. It is this revelation that prompts one of the greatest mistakes any group of heroes can make: they split the party. Royce heads back to Melengar to check on his lover Gwen leaving Hadrian to extract Gaunt on his own.

As far as I know Wintertide marks the first time that Royce and Hadrian are really separated for any length of time (at least while “on screen”). It is a curious thing to see them operate in absence of one another. It was a refreshing change to see the often calculating and reserved Royce display some emotion and his near reckless decision to hare off after Gwen was directly in line with how his character has changed over the course of these five novels. It was also fun seeing Hadrian get to play the role of “mastermind” in the prison break of Gaunt; a venture that has predictably awful results.

Wintertide offers a more complete glimpse at noble society. Seeing Hadrian forced to rub shoulders with knights is an excellent way to highlight his rough nobility, humility, and subtle confidence (or sometimes not-so subtle as when he calmly informs an entire room that he knows how to kill them all) when he his contrasted so starkly against the arrogance and entitlement of the Imperial Knights. I absolutely loved the way Hadrian, by just being Hadrian, earned the respect not only of some of those same knights but of the working class servants as well. Hadrian’s conflict with the betrayal he has been forced into making comes closer to the surface the more people seem to adore him and yet with stakes so high I still found myself wondering if he would go through with it.

Royce as at his most human in Wintertide. Over the course of four novels we have watched as he slowly admitted his need for other people in his life and watch how doing what’s right (and only occasionally benefiting from it) has helped him become, if not a better person at least a more complete one. Gwen is no small part of that fact and his concern for her, over and above the potentially dire threat to Heir of Novron, speaks to that fact. Of course there is a moment towards the novel’s end where the old Royce, the pre-Hadrian Royce, reappears and well he isn’t someone you’d want to know.

Wintertide constantly offers scene after scene that have magic and memorable touches. From Royce and Merrick’s tete-a-tete (surprisingly more civil than one might expect given their past), to Hadrian taking on knights with only a towel, even Modina gets a moment to shine, and the novel’s climax is so full of awesome I can barely describe it. Wintertide moves at lightning pace and does with an air of portent and doom that never quite dissipates even after the book is over and done. At Wintertide’s end there are still a number of big looming questions that I don’t know how Sullivan will wrap them up in one more book.

The Riyria Revelations is decidedly old school sword and sorcery fantasy done right. It is a refreshing change of pace, or rather perhaps a nice accompaniment to, the grim and gritty fantasy that is so in vogue these days. Wintertide is the first book in a while that had me up and reading up far later that I should have been. Wintertide is a major turning point for many characters both big and small, shaking the status quot to its foundations. How Percepliquis will follow the changes initiated here is anybody’s guess but I absolutely cannot wait to find out. Wintertide will be available as part of The Heir of Novron late in January.

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

Rosemary and Rue (October Day #1)
Seanan McGuire
DAW, 2009

I have a soft spot for urban fantasy. Plucky heroines, luckless detectives, murder, magic, and mayhem. When an urban fantasy is done right, when an author manages to blend our own mundane reality with other realities both strange and magical it is a wonderful experience that, long after the book is closed, will leave you looking askance at your everyday life. So yeah, I might scoff at the tramp-stamp be-speckled covers, I might groan at the paranormal romance plots that suffuse the genre but at the end of the day I’m still going to read the book and, even if I wouldn’t want to admit it, I’ll probably enjoy it. So when I heard good things about Seanan McGuire’s October Day novels I decided that it was worth a shot and nabbed a copy of the Rosemary and Rue via Audible.com with bonus benefit being that it was read by Mary Robinette Kowal (an accomplished editor and author in her own right).

October “Toby” Daye is a changeling, born of a human and a fae parent. She works as an investigator for a faerie lord though she has a “normal” life with her own human husband and a daughter. In the novel’s opening things go horribly wrong for Toby and her happy life is ripped away when she is trapped by a spell for 14 years. In the world again her husband and daughter will have nothing to do with her and, while she tries to lead a normal life, finds herself inexorably drawn back into the world of the faerie when her close friend, the Countess Evening Winterrose, is murdered. Compelled by her friend’s dying wish Toby is thrust back into her old life.

The first thing to note about Rosemary and Rue is the wonderfully rich and detailed world building McGuire uses. She seamlessly integrates and insinuates the world of faerie into our own. The city of San Francsico and its environs is carefully broken up into various fairy duchies with bolt holes and passages into the land of faerie scattered across the city. One of the aspects of the story that is central to Toby’s character is the notion that she is a changeling, a half-human half-fairy. In McGuire’s setting those changeling children who manifest power must choose between the human world and the fairy world. In truth this is a catch-22 choice as it will end in tragedy either way. As we learn the difficulty Toby faces as a changeling it really makes one question why she even considered having a child of her own. Its a decision that I suspect may come back to haunt her in the future; but that is abject speculation.

It is stated in the novel that Toby has earned a knighthood in the service of a fairy lord and, as a result, she is thought of rather highly by her lord and her friends (though changelings are still looked down upon by the “purebloods”). This is where my problems with the novel begin since I cannot understand what qualities could have merited Toby a knighthood. Over the course of the novel Toby seems to stumble from one scene to the next with very little direction and her method of finding a lead amounts to wandering around until someone or something tries to kill her. I mean the novel even opens with Toby failing miserably at her profession so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that the rest of the novel follows through with a commensurate level of detective skill. I’m being a bit harsh but I honestly didn’t have a lot of faith in Toby’s skills throughout the novel.

I don’t know if that same level of borderline incompetence on Toby’s part continues throughout the series but I certainly hope not; especially since the world McGuire has built is a fascinating one. Additionally McGuire has set up some interesting, long-term mysteries from Toby’s manic mother, to the disappearance and reappearance of the Duke’s wife and daughter, said daughter’s obvious insanity, and the Queen of Mist’s odd behavior there are some interesting revelations one hopes will be seen down the line. While Toby’s skills as a detective leave a lot to be desired the strength of the world around her, and the clever tension between the mundane world and the fey world, makes for an interesting read. Recommended for fans looking for an urban fantasy with a slightly different twist.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman
HarperFestival, 2008 (audiobook edition)

A children’s book for adults? An adult book for children? A children’s book with some mature themes? It is difficult to describe precisely where Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book falls with regards to audience. Truth is it is one of those rare volumes that defies any one particular label. It is one of those books I feel like parent and child should experience together. The Graveyard Book is a bildungsroman very much in the tradition of Dickens. The young boy whose family is murdered is adopted by the ghosts of a nearby graveyard, christened Nobody Owens (or Bod to his friends), and raised by this strange new family. Nobody is looked after by someone who may or may not be a vampire, taught by a werewolf (or Hound of God), and even dance with the Pale Lady herself.

The novel is in many ways an extended metaphor childhood. There is an innocence to Bod’s interactions with the world, his complete and utter trust in his fantasy is eroded slowly as he slowly realizes that he is different than they are. For the majority of the novel Bod exists in this sort of nether region between the living and the dead. A place where magic is real and the horrors and sharp definitions of the adult world are distant mysteries. It is a world built of the imagination, of constant play, that to my mind at least reflects the inner life of a child. It is also something of an incomplete life and as Bod’s interactions with the living world increases over time the inconsistencies and short falls of his graveyard existence become ever more apparent. There is an air of lament throughout the whole story, particularly as an adult reading the story, knowing that Nobody’s world will inevitably end; that he will move on. The Graveyard Book is an elegy for childhood.

There is a certain sadness to the novel’s ending. A curious and bittersweet blending of hope and despair. It is both a beginning and an ending; it is curiously perfect as such. I don’t need to know what happens next. Of course being a cynic in nature my outlook for Bod at the novel’s end isn’t very hopeful. However, I wouldn’t have it any other way. The ambiguity of the novel’s conclusion lets the expectations and imagination of the reader extrapolate further adventures. It is a launch pad for the imagination and I can’t really think of a better way to end a novel like this.

While novel mostly stays focused on Bod and his experience Gaiman also manages to hint at the larger world beyond the graveyard. Bod’s tutor Ms. Lupescu and Silas seem to be part of some larger organization while the Man Jack, who killed Bod’s family, is a member of a sinister if shadow organization (made entirely of Jacks). Then there is the netherworld of the Ghouls and their dark city Ghulheim or the mystery of the barrow beneath the graveyard and its hidden and strange occupant. There are layers to Bod’s world that are only briefly explored an internal consistency and level of detail that belies the deceptive simplicity of the tale’s overall structure.

I actually listened to the audiobook version of The Graveyard Book. It is read by Neil Gaiman and, if he ever decides he has had enough with writing he has a passable fall back career as a narrator. He may be the author but as he narrates you almost feel that he is as in the dark about what comes next as you are. There is a certain joyful, almost smirking, quality to his reading that really adds something special to the novel. It is a wonderful rendition of the tale and I recommend it to anyone who wants to give The Graveyard Book a shot.