The Duke in His Castle & Dead to Me
I'm not a fast reader, but I seem to be an even slower reviewer. I'm going to try a twofer and see if that works. So let's chat about two very different books, The Duke in His Castle [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] by Vera Nazarian (norilana) and Dead to Me [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] by Anton Strout (antonstrout).
The Duke in His Castle [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] is a fairly short (118 pages) book about Rossain, the Duke of Violet. Like the other dukes in this land, Rossain has been cursed to never leave his castle ... but there is one hope for escape. When the dukes were cursed, each was said to also receive a secret power. If any one duke learns the powers of all the others, he or she will be free. While the others plot and scheme, sending messengers to try to pry secrets from their counterparts, Rossain seems uninterested in playing. He simply wanes away, his life empty and relatively meaningless until a messenger from the Duchess of White arrives at his palace bearing a box of bones and asking him to restore them to life.
Like most of Nazarian's work, this is a richly written world of depth and complexity. The references to various colors (White, Violet, etc.) made me wonder if this story tied into her book Lords of Rainbow, but they seem to be separate. Indeed, there are hints that this is set in some version of our own world: a reference to the lost library of Alexandria, for example. I'm afraid those lines bumped me out of the story. This doesn't feel at all like our world, but there were just enough hints to make me wonder how it could possibly be our own. Hints, but no answers.
That's a minor complaint, probably more from Jim the writer than Jim the reader. The larger problem I had was that I simply didn't like Rossain. In the beginning, he's essentially given up. He's rude, lost in self-pity, and not someone I want to read about. That changes somewhat as Lady Izelle arrives -- their game of magical hide-and-seek is wonderful. But as the story moves on, one of Rossain's later actions undoes any sympathy I've developed, and then some. (No spoilers in the review, but ask me in the comments if you're curious.)
The story itself is a complex one, with several unexpected twists. Izelle herself is a marvelously deep and tormented character. Her story is easily the most engaging, and the most tragic. I've yet to read one of Nazarian's stories that settled into the typical fantasy mold. This is another very original tale, and at times very powerful. I will admit that I didn't completely understand the ending, where we discover the nature of Rossain's power (oh, right -- like that's a spoiler). But that might be me being a little slow.
In some ways, Strout's book is the flip side of Nazarian's. Dead to Me [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] is a light urban fantasy about Simon Canderous, psychometric newbie in New York City's secret Department of Extraordinary Affairs. Simon meets (and develops a bit of a crush on) a beautiful ghost, which leads him into a mystery involving cultists, a wooden fish, a killer bookcase, zombies, and all sorts of fun.
In case you can't tell, this is a book that doesn't take itself too seriously. Turning to a random page gives this line: "All undead are subject to a $10.00 cleaning fee after using the Reference Room." If you follow Strout's LJ, you know he's an entertaining person, and that comes through in the book. Simon's a likeable fellow, a former petty thief trying to make good while wading through the (somewhat exaggerated ... but only somewhat) bureaucracy of government agencies. If there's a problem with this one, it's that the humor keeps me from taking the stakes as seriously as I might have. Balancing humor and conflict is hard (and I don't claim to always get it right myself, either). In this case, I think the humor keeps the tension from rising as high as it might have otherwise.
I think one of the most powerful aspects of the book was the way Strout examined the effects of Simon's power on his personal life. Psychometry means Simon can touch an object and see into the minds of those who have owned or used that object ... which tends to play havoc with relationships, among other things. The use of his power leaves him with a blood sugar crash, so we go through a lot of Life Savers in this book. (Side note -- the night I started reading the book, I had just come back from karate where my own blood sugar dipped low (damn diabetes), and was replenished by half a roll of Life Savers. So I had a lot of sympathy for poor Simon.)
All in all, it's a fun book and a good first novel. I'm always up for more fun SF/F, and I'll be curious to see what happens to Simon in book number two.
What I'd really like to see is a collaboration between Nazarian and Strout. (Maybe something involving were-jaguars.) Both are skilled authors. Nazarian brings beautiful language and amazing world-building depth. Strout brings a fun character and more humor. Combine these two writers and their strengths, and you'd get ... okay, I don't have a clue what you'd end up with. But I'd pay to read it!
The Duke in His Castle [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] is a fairly short (118 pages) book about Rossain, the Duke of Violet. Like the other dukes in this land, Rossain has been cursed to never leave his castle ... but there is one hope for escape. When the dukes were cursed, each was said to also receive a secret power. If any one duke learns the powers of all the others, he or she will be free. While the others plot and scheme, sending messengers to try to pry secrets from their counterparts, Rossain seems uninterested in playing. He simply wanes away, his life empty and relatively meaningless until a messenger from the Duchess of White arrives at his palace bearing a box of bones and asking him to restore them to life.
Like most of Nazarian's work, this is a richly written world of depth and complexity. The references to various colors (White, Violet, etc.) made me wonder if this story tied into her book Lords of Rainbow, but they seem to be separate. Indeed, there are hints that this is set in some version of our own world: a reference to the lost library of Alexandria, for example. I'm afraid those lines bumped me out of the story. This doesn't feel at all like our world, but there were just enough hints to make me wonder how it could possibly be our own. Hints, but no answers.
That's a minor complaint, probably more from Jim the writer than Jim the reader. The larger problem I had was that I simply didn't like Rossain. In the beginning, he's essentially given up. He's rude, lost in self-pity, and not someone I want to read about. That changes somewhat as Lady Izelle arrives -- their game of magical hide-and-seek is wonderful. But as the story moves on, one of Rossain's later actions undoes any sympathy I've developed, and then some. (No spoilers in the review, but ask me in the comments if you're curious.)
The story itself is a complex one, with several unexpected twists. Izelle herself is a marvelously deep and tormented character. Her story is easily the most engaging, and the most tragic. I've yet to read one of Nazarian's stories that settled into the typical fantasy mold. This is another very original tale, and at times very powerful. I will admit that I didn't completely understand the ending, where we discover the nature of Rossain's power (oh, right -- like that's a spoiler). But that might be me being a little slow.
In some ways, Strout's book is the flip side of Nazarian's. Dead to Me [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] is a light urban fantasy about Simon Canderous, psychometric newbie in New York City's secret Department of Extraordinary Affairs. Simon meets (and develops a bit of a crush on) a beautiful ghost, which leads him into a mystery involving cultists, a wooden fish, a killer bookcase, zombies, and all sorts of fun.
In case you can't tell, this is a book that doesn't take itself too seriously. Turning to a random page gives this line: "All undead are subject to a $10.00 cleaning fee after using the Reference Room." If you follow Strout's LJ, you know he's an entertaining person, and that comes through in the book. Simon's a likeable fellow, a former petty thief trying to make good while wading through the (somewhat exaggerated ... but only somewhat) bureaucracy of government agencies. If there's a problem with this one, it's that the humor keeps me from taking the stakes as seriously as I might have. Balancing humor and conflict is hard (and I don't claim to always get it right myself, either). In this case, I think the humor keeps the tension from rising as high as it might have otherwise.
I think one of the most powerful aspects of the book was the way Strout examined the effects of Simon's power on his personal life. Psychometry means Simon can touch an object and see into the minds of those who have owned or used that object ... which tends to play havoc with relationships, among other things. The use of his power leaves him with a blood sugar crash, so we go through a lot of Life Savers in this book. (Side note -- the night I started reading the book, I had just come back from karate where my own blood sugar dipped low (damn diabetes), and was replenished by half a roll of Life Savers. So I had a lot of sympathy for poor Simon.)
All in all, it's a fun book and a good first novel. I'm always up for more fun SF/F, and I'll be curious to see what happens to Simon in book number two.
What I'd really like to see is a collaboration between Nazarian and Strout. (Maybe something involving were-jaguars.) Both are skilled authors. Nazarian brings beautiful language and amazing world-building depth. Strout brings a fun character and more humor. Combine these two writers and their strengths, and you'd get ... okay, I don't have a clue what you'd end up with. But I'd pay to read it!