Files, Gemma: A Book of Tongues
A Book of Tongues (2010)
Written by: Gemma Files
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 98/274 (Trade Paperback)
Series: Book One (ongoing)
I've always been on the fence with this book. I have a love/hate relationship with the cover, and I've heard mixed reviews. Book clubbers will note it was one of the selections for the November poll. The book obviously didn't win, but when I saw it in stores a couple of weeks ago, my old impulsive self took over and I picked it up.
The premise: ganked from BN.com: Two years after the Civil War, Pinkerton agent Ed Morrow has gone undercover with one of the weird West's most dangerous outlaw gangs - the troop led by "Reverend" Asher Rook, ex-Confederate chaplain turned "hexslinger," and his notorious lieutenant (and lover) Chess Pargeter. Morrow's task: get close enough to map the extent of Rook's power, then bring that knowledge back to help Professor Joachim Asbury unlock the secrets of magic itself. Caught between a passle of dead gods and monsters, hexes galore, Rook's witchery, and the ruthless calculations of his own masters, Morrow's only real hope of survival lies with the man without whom Rook cannot succeed: Chess Pargeter himself! But Morrow and Chess will have to literally ride through Hell before the truth of Chess's fate comes clear - the doom written for him, and the entire world, in A Book of Tongues.
My Rating
Did Not Finish: Here's the thing, if I was ever in the mood to read this book, it was now. My husband and I had just finished watching Deadwood on our DVR, and my brain was a little stuck in that type of setting and style of storytelling. Add to the mix gay cowboys, and I was really looking forward to it.
So why put it down?
The reviews on Amazon complain of graphic violence and graphic, gratuitous sex. That didn't bother me, at all. I think the sex scenes were my favorite parts of what I read, to be honest. Watching how Chess interacted with everyone, watching him seduce Rook, watching Rook get seduced, I was happy as a clam.
The problem, for me, boiled down to structure and style. Again, those reviews on Amazon: they praise Gemma Files for her writing and style. Me, I just don't get it, and I absolutely hate fingering style as a problem, especially when others call it literary. Am I too dense or stupid to get it? Then I remember I read, understand, and adore Catheryne M. Valente's work, and she's about as stylistic as you can get when it comes to literary fantasy, so I know I'm not too dumb to get it. Maybe the Gemma Files was purposefully imbuing her prose with the flavor of the West, and that's why I was getting lost, but then I remember Emma Bull's Territory and how I didn't have any trouble there, and then I remember that I was just fresh off of Deadwood, a show that is an argument against anyone who says that television does nothing but make your brain melt (I dare you to understand that show without paying full attention to the dialogue. DARE YOU). So it can't be that either.
But can be the problem I had with pronouns. You have a book that's 96% full of men (at least, in the pages I read), and I'll be damned if I could accurately pinpoint which pronoun belonged to which character. I think I'd have it right, and then I'd read a scene that I couldn't possibly visualize based on my previous understanding, and trust me when I say, when you're reading a sex scene and you're having trouble figuring out who's doing what to whom? That's an issue.
But it wasn't just sex scenes. There's too many "he's" in the book and not enough names the "he's" are referring to, or in some cases, I fear the "he's" aren't even referring to the right name. Could be wrong: I didn't take specific notes on this one.
Structure also gave me fits: I don't care for the formatting of the goddess's speech (it's a preference thing, an eyesore for me), and part two's flashback bummed me out for reasons I can't explain, despite enjoying some of the scenes I read there. Have you ever read a book that feels like a mix of structure and stream-of-conscious? That's what A Book of Tongues reminded me of in 98 pages. The author seemed to insert scenes when she wanted, but they had no real sense of order, no sense of forward motion, YET said scenes seemed to WANT to have a sense of order. But no, they were just there. Maybe to another reader, the author's style might feel more organic. Not so for me.
There were awkward moments too when I simply couldn't visualize what was happening (non-sex scenes) nor visualize how the characters got into the position they were in (again, non-sex scenes). I never felt grounded in the novel, and while there's some really interesting stuff happening in the book (I absolutely love Rook's magic), I realized I had no interest in continuing. I think it was the Mayan influence to the world-building. While original, it felt awkwardly used, though that may just be the words: anyone who's ever read any Mayan mythology knows the language has words that make your tongue cringe at the prospect of pronouncing them, and it sucks when my brain gets hung up on trying to pronounce something, even if I'm not reading the book aloud.
And sometimes, descriptions just didn't make sense: He looked up, looked down, looked back up; could not seem to stop himself. Saw the black moon swimming in the black-and-yellow sky. (41)
How does that even work? How can you see a black moon against a black sky? Oh, I know, the sky is black and YELLOW, but if the sky is BOTH, how do you know what you're seeing is moon instead of a patch of sky?
I think too hard about these things... :-/
So it's partially me, I'll admit that. Again, there seems to be a lot of originality packed into this book, but there was never any one thing that really had me hooked enough to keep going. But others have preferred this book more than me, so this sucker's going to the for-sale pile in hopes it finds a better home. :)
Cover Commentary: I love it but hate it. Love the coloring, the font, the smoke, and the simplicity. Not fond of the model on the cover, he looks like Ellsworth (and I keep thinking the model's hand and gun are in the wrong place for some reason), and I'd prefer Seth Bullock (the sheriff, front and center). At any rate, it's an eye-catching cover regardless, and I've got to give Chizine Publications kudos: they're doing a pretty good job with covers!
Next up: That depends. Blackout by Connie Willis is in the queue, but I want to review it and All Clear by Connie Willis back-to-back, and since I haven't started All Clear, I'm gonna say the next review you'll get will be Matched by Ally Condie. Which I need to finish. :)