Ernest, an old wizard, dies in mysterious circumstances.
And no-one seems to care, certainly none of the wizards – except Maureen. An 82
year old woman who has long been a gatekeeper for the wizards, she’s determined
that her long term companion’s death won’t be ignored and brushed aside and,
stifling worries about her future as her waystation becomes less and less used,
she sets off into Vanefasia to find answers. Who killed Ernest, what was he
involved in and why doesn’t the Abbot care.
Darwin is a half-vampire and is struggling to live a life
without killing with his friend Cassidy. It’s not going well to say the least –
and doesn’t get easier when they find Ernest’s notebook. A discovery that leads
forces to almost annihilate vampire kind. Darwin sees this as a final chance to
gain acceptance among the vampires who have so shunned him, a chance to be
their saviour, to rally the broken survivors and restore their culture and
people. But it’s never that easy – and Mr. West still wants the book
And there’s Mr. West arriving on Earth because his people
need a new homeland and, as part of that, he needs Ernest’s notebook. But in
trying to learn more, Mr. West is exposed to the chaotic ways of human thought
with heresies like “choice” and “probabilities” and soon finds himself using… unorthodox
methods.
There is a lot here. In fact, even for a world building
fan like me, I think I have to say there’s too much there. And that is a leap
for me – I love huge worlds, I love a vast diversity of monsters and creatures.
I love all the world’s mythologies together. I love to have different realms
and dimensions each with their own rules and denizens and realities. I love
this huge mix of vast numbers of creatures.
There are limits though. And once you get to a score of
obscure, single mention monsters, leprechauns, gnomes, elves, dwarfs, angels, werewolves,
hell realms, magic realms, wizards, vampires and then throw in aliens as well –
and you do all of that in the first book? It’s almost too much, certainly to
digest at once.
But I think a lot of this is down to personal taste of
how the story was written. This book had 2 protagonists Maureen and Darwin.
They’re not major powers. They’re not movers and shakers. They’re not really
concerned with the wider world or politics or the fate of nations. They don’t
care what’s at stake, the bigger picture is not only hidden from them but it’s
also something they’re not particularly interested in. They’re both involved in
very very personal stories with very personal goals. To me this can get
frustrating because the world is so huge – and there are major important things
happening in that world that the protagonists just don’t care about. Part of me
is frustrated to be so on the periphery of such major happenings, to be only
getting part of the story and to be only seeing this vast amazing world through
the lenses of relatively insular people. It’s like taking a tour through a
vast, beautiful landscape, and spending the whole time reading a book and only
occasionally glancing up – the book is good, excellent in fact – but look at
the landscape!
The personal stories are very good, though, extremely
realistic and impactful. Darwin’s desperate need for acceptance among the
vampires is really well portrayed, him being torn between Cassidy’s morality
and what he feels a vampire should be.
There’s a lot of complexity – like him blaming Cassidy for his own failures to
not be a “perfect” vampire, perhaps even his own conscience that rebels at what
he feels a vampire should be. There’s his reverence for vampire culture and
history which the other vampires don’t even share, an attempt to put the lost
vampires on a pedestal to make them this glowing thing he wants to be part of.
And his idealised version of what vampire society is like which even the other
vampires are clear doesn’t really exist and they’re not remotely interested in
joining. Despite numerous set-backs he constantly tries to do that one more
thing that will make them accept him, let him into the fold even though it’s
obvious that he will never be considered one of them.
Maureen has a similar complex story. Her determination to
find out what happened to Ernest, the man she loved, when the wizards seem to
be doing nothing (and even if they were doing something they wouldn’t tell her
because her relationship is secret) is really well done, her motivation learn
and believable. Alongside that we have her worries about being pointless, about
not having a future any more because she’s old and in many ways how it doesn’t
matter if she takes a risk because she has nothing further to live for. Despite
this almost fatalistic feeling that her future wouldn’t be worth living she
also worries about the future, what will happen to her; she may feel her future
may be pointless but she also frets about how she will survive and get by as a
woman in her 80s with no home. Then there’s her finding herself as effective in
the magical realm, being able to do something, being active and powerful which
is so unlike the life she normally lives, conflicted with the idea that, in the
face of such massive happenings, what can an old woman actually do? It goes on
to cover a lot of the issues faced with the elderly – trying to get by on their
own, maintaining independence when sometimes needing help. Being patronised and
having people force their way into her life in the name of help, not being
taken seriously and not being considered capable or sensible.
They’re both very real characters with some very
believable, solid issues and I like them a lot. It’s just with such vastness
happening around them, the very real, very important, tangible personal issues
of Darwin and Maureen seem insular. It’s a matter of taste more than anything.
Mr. West is also a fascinating character with how he
develops – starting from studying humanity, to imitating them for greater
understanding, to steadily challenging the orthodoxy of his people to
eventually transforming entirely how he thinks making him alien to his people –
and almost addicted to the new thought patterns he adopted. I loved this
excellent depiction of culture shock while at the same time giving an insight
into the truly, well, alien culture of the aliens as well as their needs and
motives without clumsy info dumping
It’s characteristic of the world building in this story –
there’s clearly a lot there and there’s obviously a lot of dept. The world
building we see explains a lot about the past of the various facions – the vampires,
the church history of the wizards, the elf vs dwarf war, the aliens without
actually resorting to much in the way of info dumping. Information is presented
in an appropriate and balanced manner, not just handed out in convoluted
monologues and more is alluded to than is actually shown while still conveying
the full message. It’s really well written and presented allowing the pacing to
keep going forward at a decent rate. The writing is also extremely evocative
and has some excellent imagery. Darwin’s struggle with his blood lust and
conflict about his dual nature is powerfully presented without it being overly
whiny or annoying (yes he is whining but we understand why he is and the
natural feel of it). Maureen’s difficulties and conflicts are really well
written, again showing her problems and issues without sinking into angst.
Where the book falls down is on inclusion, even with the rare and interesting character of Maureen an elderly woman. Darwin has no sexual attraction at all to men or women – but still uses sex with men to kill men for blood – we have far too many memes of gay sex as predatory for this not to be seen as problematic. The other gay character in the book is a camp elven prostitute who is also a spy – who is intimidated into giving up his employer by Maureen glaring at him. He is a full checklist of stereotypes and is repeatedly referred to by anti-gay slurs. In fact, the book as a lot of anti-gay slurs that rubbed against my nerves reading it.
The POC are similarly troublesome to say the least. We
have Nanny Voodoo (yes. Nanny Voodoo. The name alone tells you no good will
follow) who acted as Darwin’s nanny when he was a child (even the vampires got
themselves a Black nanny). Darwin talks up her power – but we don’t see any of
it. There’s also Tom – Tom the centuries old Black servant who is treated as –
and acts like – a servant to the rest of the vampires.
Those vampires are Nazis, by the way. Organised and
created by Hitler who then fled when Hitler turned on them leaving the leaders
with Nazi “sensibilities”. Still, their death and the survivors having nothing
to do with the philosophy helps – but there isn’t much challenge or revulsion
directed at them (in fact, these are the people Darwin was seeking approval
from).
We do have some interesting female characters with
Maureen – and potentially interesting with Cassidy but so far she has acted as
little more than a servant and helper for Darwin. Throughout the book she takes
moments of grief from him as he lashes out at her, blaming her for his human
sensibilities. I thought we had a sexist magic system, for reasons unknown only
men could use magic. This is usually something that annoys me, by creating a
fictional “biological necessity” for sexism (or other ism) the characters claim
not to be prejudiced – they’re just reacting to the world that makes certain
people inherently inferior! But that world is created by the author and they’re
responsible for deciding it needs to back a prejudice. However, this is being
questioned in this book – I’m not sure how much it’s being challenged; whether
we have a one off of a woman using magic or whether we may be on the path of
women exposing the misogyny of a male establishment that has lied to disguise
their prejudice. There’s a lot of potential with both characters but it’s
something that needs developing further.
It’s always a shame when a book I really enjoy has these
little bombs of fail in the middle of it – because it’s so unnecessary and it
would be such an excellent read without them.
This book was huge – truly, immensely huge. It has a huge
world, it has a huge story, is has a huge cast of characters, it has huge
issues. We didn’t embrace the hugeness with this first instalment – and yes, I
want more and part of my disappointment is not getting more – but despite that
it also doesn’t forget the people in the hugeness. In this vast vast vast world
with a storyline clearly touching on epic forces, we’re not losing sight of the
actual people that drive it who, consequently, are very strong, very grounded,
very real and very human characters. It also gives us chance to digest the
hugeness of the world without being overwhelmed. An excellent start to a series
and a very good book as well.
