Book Review: Three Parts Dead
I want to write a more detailed review than usual of Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone. It was a very different book, and I want to persuade people to check it out.
Three Parts Dead is primarily the story of Tara Abernathy. Tara was an ambitious young woman who left her family farm to study magic in the Hidden Schools, a floating city that trains the best and brightest upcoming sorcerers. Tara graduated early, but due to some discipline issues was promptly tossed off the side of the Schools. Her prospects improve dramatically, though, when she's sought out by Elayne Kevarian, a partner in a prestigious necromantic firm. Elayne apparently followed Tara's mercurial academic career and hires her as an intern. They travel to Alt Coulumb, a large city whose prosperity is mainly due to its benevolent patron god, Kos Everburning. Despite His name, Kos has suddenly dropped dead leaving the city in freefall. Within a month, the complex web of spells and machines that make the city work will begin to break down, and Kos's church has contracted Elayne's firm to see if He can be restored. But what starts out as a straightforward - if high level - resurrection job gets tricky when Tara begins to suspect that Kos's death may have been murder.
Obviously, this is a fantasy novel, but it's like very few others I've read. For starters, this is high civilization fantasy. You can tell that Elayne and Tara are wearing suits as they stalk around the city. If you want to meet with the animated skeleton who represents the neighboring country, you go to his office and have some tea while his secretary sees if he can fit you in. And while the contracts regulating transfers of godly power might well be written in blood, they're also on file at the courthouse. Put it all together, and it's perhaps more worthy of the term "urban fantasy" than anything else I've ever read.
I'll warn you, the start is a little wobbly. Gladstone isn't one to stop for a lot of backstory or exposition, and this is generally a good thing. It did leave me unsure of the tone for a while, though, and I briefly worried it was going to turn out like Perdido Street Station, another "civilized fantasy", but one which I couldn't stand. I'd urge you to stick with it given it's a short book and a fairly quick read. I feel it found its stride fairly quickly, and the ending was simply magnificent.
It's also kind of subtle, particularly in the middle section. Elayne and Tara pursue their investigations, meet with Kos's creditors, attend court hearings, and it's all pretty normal seeming. It's not dull, but sometimes it feels like business as usual. Tara wants to impress her boss and advance her career. Elayne wants to complete an emotionally charged contract quickly and well. The junior priest assigned to assist them is more passionate, but it's largely in a self-centered "What's it mean to be a priest if my god's dead?" way. In fact, it's all so normal that you can start to forget that this is a story about supreme sorcerers and murdered gods, international conspiracies and terrible secrets, the fate of millions and the limits of power.
Can you tell I liked it a lot?
Oh, and I'll throw this in because I know it would matter to some people. Tara is without question Black. Amazingly, the cover artist apparently noticed and drew her so on the cover. In a lot of ways this doesn't matter. This isn't Earth, after all. It's not our culture, and it doesn't have our racial politics. But the point has been made to me that when the protagonist of every single book, movie, and show is the same race, sex, or whatever, it can make it rough on people who don't share those qualities. Tara's not a saint, but you could do a lot worse for a role model.
Total for the year: thirteen.
This entry was originally posted at http://squidminion.dreamwidth.org/365600.html.
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Three Parts Dead is primarily the story of Tara Abernathy. Tara was an ambitious young woman who left her family farm to study magic in the Hidden Schools, a floating city that trains the best and brightest upcoming sorcerers. Tara graduated early, but due to some discipline issues was promptly tossed off the side of the Schools. Her prospects improve dramatically, though, when she's sought out by Elayne Kevarian, a partner in a prestigious necromantic firm. Elayne apparently followed Tara's mercurial academic career and hires her as an intern. They travel to Alt Coulumb, a large city whose prosperity is mainly due to its benevolent patron god, Kos Everburning. Despite His name, Kos has suddenly dropped dead leaving the city in freefall. Within a month, the complex web of spells and machines that make the city work will begin to break down, and Kos's church has contracted Elayne's firm to see if He can be restored. But what starts out as a straightforward - if high level - resurrection job gets tricky when Tara begins to suspect that Kos's death may have been murder.
Obviously, this is a fantasy novel, but it's like very few others I've read. For starters, this is high civilization fantasy. You can tell that Elayne and Tara are wearing suits as they stalk around the city. If you want to meet with the animated skeleton who represents the neighboring country, you go to his office and have some tea while his secretary sees if he can fit you in. And while the contracts regulating transfers of godly power might well be written in blood, they're also on file at the courthouse. Put it all together, and it's perhaps more worthy of the term "urban fantasy" than anything else I've ever read.
I'll warn you, the start is a little wobbly. Gladstone isn't one to stop for a lot of backstory or exposition, and this is generally a good thing. It did leave me unsure of the tone for a while, though, and I briefly worried it was going to turn out like Perdido Street Station, another "civilized fantasy", but one which I couldn't stand. I'd urge you to stick with it given it's a short book and a fairly quick read. I feel it found its stride fairly quickly, and the ending was simply magnificent.
It's also kind of subtle, particularly in the middle section. Elayne and Tara pursue their investigations, meet with Kos's creditors, attend court hearings, and it's all pretty normal seeming. It's not dull, but sometimes it feels like business as usual. Tara wants to impress her boss and advance her career. Elayne wants to complete an emotionally charged contract quickly and well. The junior priest assigned to assist them is more passionate, but it's largely in a self-centered "What's it mean to be a priest if my god's dead?" way. In fact, it's all so normal that you can start to forget that this is a story about supreme sorcerers and murdered gods, international conspiracies and terrible secrets, the fate of millions and the limits of power.
Can you tell I liked it a lot?
Oh, and I'll throw this in because I know it would matter to some people. Tara is without question Black. Amazingly, the cover artist apparently noticed and drew her so on the cover. In a lot of ways this doesn't matter. This isn't Earth, after all. It's not our culture, and it doesn't have our racial politics. But the point has been made to me that when the protagonist of every single book, movie, and show is the same race, sex, or whatever, it can make it rough on people who don't share those qualities. Tara's not a saint, but you could do a lot worse for a role model.
Total for the year: thirteen.
This entry was originally posted at http://squidminion.dreamwidth.org/365600.html.
There are
comments there. You could add one via OpenID.
Or you can comment here if you'd rather; it's okay.