Cook, Matthew: Blood Magic
Blood Magic
Writer: Matthew Cook
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 264
I know, I know. I said my next review would be Elizabeth Bear's Blood and Iron. I'm not quite halfway though, and I'm enjoying it, but for the weekend, I wanted something a little different, and something a little faster to read.
Blood Magic is another Juno title, but it wasn't one that had caught my eye. Oh, the cover certainly caught my eye, but every time I looked at the blurb, I found myself putting the book back. Couple that with the fact that Juno promotes books with strong female protags in some kind of romantic sub-plot (which I'm fine with), I just kept looking at the fact that the author is a GUY and just not believing he could pull it off.
So what changed my mind? For some reason, Juno titles are burning a hole in my brain (and now, my wallet). When I posted my review for Amberlight, zhai commented to tell me that she'd read a sample of both it and Blood Magic, and it was the sample of Cook's book that sent her straight to the dealer room to pick it up. That she spoke this highly of a book made me curious, because I know her, I know her writing, and I know I can trust her taste.
I picked it up on Friday. Finished it today. Could've read it faster, but I had stuff to do this weekend.
Spoilers ahead.
I was amused to see this book is written in present tense. But it gave me an interesting comparison, since this is written in first person present versus Amberlight's third-person present. And I must say, I didn't notice the verb tense once I got into the groove of the book, which took all of the first page thanks to Cook's rolling, rhythmic prose. And an interesting thing he does is flip-flop the chapters between present and past, in both storytelling and verb tense. One chapter is current action, present tense, and then the next chapter is backstory, past tense. Then the pattern repeats. At first, I wondered at the choice: why not just start the tale from the beginning and go from there?
But that, I think, would ruin some of the magic of the book. Plus, the start of the backstory is rather boring, whereas the start of the present action isn't, and the way the backstory is coupled with current action just works in a way I can't put my finger on. And for a debut novel, that's quite a gamble on Cook's part, but I applaud him for it.
And he handles the female POV pretty darn well. Kirin is an interesting character, and I'm glad we got to see her present story coupled with her backstory. At her core, she truly wants to help people. It's almost a compulsion. She can't leave people behind when she knows she has the talent and skill to help them or protect them, and that's admirable. Her magic is what casts a shade of question to her character, in that even though we're TOLD that her use of rising the dead is BAD, I never got the perception that it was so. Maybe I'm demented. ;) Don't get me wrong, her killing of Marcus was horrifying, but it was also awesome, because let's face it, Marcus deserved to die. And her killing of every being since through the blood-magic method was also really interesting to read, though it did teeter over-the-top at times when she would laugh with delight in her power, as such a reaction borders on evil-villain laugh, or whatever.
But it's her use of her sweetlings that's fascinating, deemed abominations by everyone around her, and yet, I don't see it as so. Part of my reticence to be horrified by this deed of pulling the souls back into their dead bodies for a final chance at life--at revenge--comes from the fact that I understand very little about 1) the overall "good" religion of this world, even though it's referred to many times and 2) I don't know where this power comes from (it's not the same as the literal blood magic, which is sucking one's lifeblood into her body), nor do I understand why her sweetlings are twisted and grotesque, whereas Edena's, her mentor's, weren't. I think the difference may be because Kirin didn't create a sweetling until she first performed blood magic, and the sweetlings were somehow reflections of her soul, of her character. That works, though I'd kind of like to have that spelled out.
If I have any problem with the book, it's the treatment of religion and evil in this world. It borders on generalizations, how good religions butt heads with the natural ways (herb women, who are often fingered as witches), as well as how priests and religious people react to anything they don't understand. Granted, in this kind of society that Cook seems to be building, what Kirin does is pretty horrifying, and like I said, I could just be demented. But I found her sudden abandonment of her sweetlings troubling. I get that part of her devotion to them was the idea that they were her surrogate children, and that once she found out she could have one herself, she could see them in a new light. But I didn't buy it, not completely. Nor did I buy her need for forgiveness, for giving herself to the "good" gods of the world during her pregnancy. I can't finger WHY this bothered me, other than the religions not being detailed enough to seem unique to the world and I therefore kept substituting existing religions instead. But I am glad that by the end, Kirin has turned her back on the "good" religions. I'm not sure how much I want her to embrace her "evil" ways, because I thought the conflict of deciding what to do with her dead son's soul was great, and she was right to send him on rather than bring him back. Yet, she's got this power that I think must be used to the fullest extent at the climax of this overall story, however many books that may be. I don't want her powers to be completely "evil," nor do I want her to be completely justified in her actions. Wherever Cook takes this, I'm interested in finding out.
The use of the twin sister was a good one. Gollum-esque, and it's interesting that in the end, we get the idea from Lia that perhaps the sister is merely a figment of Kirin's mind, that she didn't eat her sister's soul after all, but I doubt that. I think that's what Kirin WANTS to believe, and I think that there's something larger at play before Kirin can let her sister go and her sister will be willing to leave. What, I don't know.
And is it such a bad thing that I want there to be a connection between Kirin's actions with the blood magic and the appearance of the Mor? I really, really want there to be a connection. I don't want it to be a random blight upon the land that just happened to come at this time when this particular character is exercising this particular kind of power. But I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens.
Lia and Kirin's relationship is interesting. At its core, Lia can see Kirin for who she is, a woman who means to do well, who wants to help people, to do good. I like that aspect of their relationship, this belief in one another, but I'm curious just what exactly this relationship is growing into. Friendship, absolutely. Sisterhood? Seems that way. Perhaps lovers? There's a hint in the language to this development, and I don't know if I'm reading too much into it or if I'm being hopeful or if I'm right. Again, we'll see.
For a debut, it's pretty darn good. Fast-paced and interesting, and the title pretty much tells you this is no typical fantasy novel in terms of magic. The narrative at times tells a little TOO much instead of showing, but that's one of the weaknesses of first-person, and therefore forgivable since the voice is solid, the character complex, and the telling isn't TOO overpowering. It's an easy book to recommend, and I'm glad I gave it a shot, because now I'm looking forward to the sequel, which will be published later this year.
Next up: Blood and Iron: A Novel of the Promethean Age by Elizabeth Bear