'Flects on Gladstone's Five

"On the island of Kavekana, priestess Kai builds gods to order–sort of.  Sub-sentient idols, Kai's creations are perfect vehicles for Craftsmen and Craftswomen who want to protect their wealth and power while operating in the Old World.  For beyond the ocean, true desires still thrive, untouched by the God Wars that transformed the city-states of Alt Coulumb and Dresediel Lex.

When Kai tries to save a friend's dying idol, she's gravely injured–then sidelined from the business, her near-suicidal rescue attempt seen as proof of her instability.  But when Kai tires of hearing her boss, her coworkers, and her ex-boyfriend call her crazy, and digs into the cause of the idol's death, she uncovers a conspiracy of silence and fear that will break her if she can't break it first."

~ Full fathom Five

It took me seventeen days to finally finish reading Max Gladstone‘s Full Fathom Five; therefore, in the famous words of Bernadette Cooper (from the 80s band Klymaxx), I’m “much, much unhappy about that.” However, that’s probably not relevant when, really, I was preoccupied with sweet diversions. Even so, in a way, my taking forever to finish the book had to do with its pacing, which appeared a lot slower than the previous two books in the series. And that’s okay. Slower pacing isn't a bad thing at all.  Every reading experience shouldn't feel like an emergency. Besides, I understood the world-building and magical laws a little better in this particular Craft Sequence book because of its steady dishing.  The problem was that it became one of those books I could guiltlessly put down and pick back up later. 

In retrospect, either I didn't feel the hook of the premise, or it just took me forever and a day to be totally immersed and interested in it. Furthermore, once I finally understood the occurring plot (stimulating themes reflecting economics and gods) did I find how most of the fussing led to a sort of weak finale. I was hoping for that stopping-the-bad-guy rush I found in the previous two books, whereas Five ended a little more on the conversational debate side.  At least from where I stood.  Though it was light years better than this poor example, Five's ending kind of reminded me of those dull J. D. Robb moments where Eve Dallas spends the entire book chasing a killer only to corner him safely in an interrogation room after a casual pick-up.  Where's the fun in that!?  Battle that ish out on paper! 

For some areas surrounding the narrative–which switches mainly between Kai [see synopsis] and a teenage thief name Izza–I'm still kind of questioning some information in relation to the unfolding story. Okay, I’ll be specific in stating those areas filled with esoteric discussions about gods speaking to humans kind of lost me. Just a little. And really, it wouldn't have been so hard to follow if I had a little more explanation in the beginning concerning just who these gods were and represented.  That... was a little on the enigmatic side to me.  The Blue Lady, the Eagle, the Squid.  Help me out just a little bit here, because I obviously missed something.  Especially when I think about the god in Three Parts Dead who was supposedly dead, but hid right under everyone's nose as the fire to Abelard's cigarette.  Or the god caged and used underneath a water treatment plant in Two Serpents Rise.  In comparison, those gods seemed real and tangible in a sense.  The gods in Full Fathom Five seemed... well... like totems and tulpas.

Now, I know. I know. It sounds like I didn't like the book. Even so, the truth is that I did–and for several reasons. The first being that Kai is a transgender woman. My mouth split into a grin as page 31’s dialogue read:

Ms. Kavarian: “How did you remake yourself?”
Kai: “I was born in a body that didn't fit.”
Ms. Kavarian: “Didn't fit in what way?”
Kai: “It was a man’s…”

That… was exciting. However, while I was happy her being transgender wasn't the bedrock to her overall story, there was nothing else interesting nor... dexterous... produced from it. Okay, so thankfully it didn't take over the plot, but I kind of wanted her to talk about it just a smidget or two more.  Especially because I know individuals who identify as transgender. So my question was how this is implicated in a fantasy novel, given how she achieved this change in ways wondrous and unlike anything anyone could imagine. Maybe that’s just my curiosity speaking. Nonetheless, considering each book in the Craft Sequence series is mostly a standalone, I’m going to be sad if I don’t see Kai again. I can say that while it took me forever and a day to read Full Fathom Five, I thoroughly enjoyed Kai’s company the entire way. In many respects, I liked her degrees more than Tara from the first book.

So with that being said, the second lead, Izza, was rather hit-or-miss with me.  I never quite connected with her and her purpose.  She seemed really B-plot motivated in some areas, despite having a bigger role in the book.  I think I would've liked it better if she and Kai partnered sooner.  It just would've seemed right if some commitments and pledges were made earlier in the story between the two.  But with each (Kai and Izza) finding herself preoccupied with returning characters from Gladstone's previous two books, I can see why this didn't happen.

Still, there were plenty of other elements I really enjoyed in Full Fathom Five. One of those being this sort of policing creature called Penitents. Imagine having your body sucked into a giant, humanoid size piece of amethyst rock.  Then suddenly your mind is tased and controlled to direct the will of a giant stone creature that holds you prisoner. Scary stuff.  As for the image on the right, that's what Penitents make me think of for some reason. 

As always, mystery and corporate politics collide with fantasy and imagination in a Gladstone book.  Furthering my love of his work!

Gladstone's Serpents

Feels like I just read something that’s a cross between the video game Mirror’s Edge, the early 90s cartoon Pirates of Dark Water, and Mel Gibson's Apocalypto.  Interestingly strange blend, but somehow those three seem to linger like an aftertaste.  I can only hope that you're familiar with either of the three as I attempt to shed a little on how I came to that conclusion.  For starters, Two Serpents Rise is the second book in Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence series, but it’s not an immediate sequel to the first book, Three Parts Dead.  Therefore, Tara isn't present here.  Which was probably one of my initial disappointments and reasons for hesitating to even pick up the book.  Eventually I got over it; and if you've read the first book, don't let this realization stop you either.  Each book takes place in the same world, with at least the same magic system and engaging sense of corporate politics in an unknown fantasy world (sometimes I envision a steampunk setting).  And guess what, it’s all good still!

So the God Wars has ended some decades now (as noted in Three Parts Dead) and a new fiscal and governing system has been in order over the city of Dresediel Lex.  An immortal skeleton known as The Red King fought in the God Wars, won, and has basically taken over the economic and governing obligations that the old gods once upheld in the city.  The Red King supports Dresediel Lex's many utilities through his corporation, Red King Consolidated.  And while many of Dresediel Lex’s citizen has moved away from celebrating and worshiping gods in favor of The Red King's support, a small minority has not.  That would include a few willing to destroy Dresediel Lex by reviving some of the old, slumbering gods to full power.  Not only would this knock out The Red King's sovereignty, but it would also forward the politicking for the gods' revival. 

Bright Mirror Reservoir provides Dresediel Lex’s water supply, and is monitored/treated by Red King Consolidated.  One evening a batch of mysterious water demons are released into the reservoir, polluting the city’s water supply.  For any individual who finds him or herself reaching for a faucet, they risk the release of the Tizmet demon, a carnivorous flesh eater that can split and rearrange itself into multiples.  However, Red King Consolidated quickly manages to close off the polluted segment of the reservoir, trapping the Tizmet... for now...  

In enters Red King Consolidated’s risk manager, Caleb Altemoc, to investigate the scene.  Before the night is over, his investigation leads him to a potential witness to the reservoir's contamination.  The witness's name is Mal, and she’s a cliff runner–a dare devil of sorts.  Fascinating at her best, Mal hands Caleb a slew of surprises as he unravels his investigation; however, the biggest surprise comes in the form of the love (or lust) Mal awakens in him.  Meanwhile, a few anti-Red King citizens are plotting to dethrone The Red King and awaken the destructive power of the old gods.  It appears that the beginning of their agenda started with the release of the Tizmet demon, a possible means of frightening Dresediel Lex citzens into supplication of old gods' graces.  

With a case suddenly in his hands, can Caleb stay focused enough to find the culprit behind the reservoir’s pollution?  And as if Mal’s tugging at Caleb’s emotions weren't enough to deal with, can he deal with encounters with his terrorist father’s conflicting desires to power up Dresediel Lex’s old system of honoring gods through the use of human sacrifices?  Which is certainly an additional complication to Caleb's investigation. Nevertheless, that’s where Two Serpents Rise takes off as a tangling fantasy featuring old gods, disclosures, sorcery, corporate fraud, and… love (?).


Two Serpents Rise has this sort of Mesoamerican flavor to it. This makes it slightly different from the previous book, Three Parts Dead. So while Two Serpents Rise is fantasy, the majority of its world-building comes dressed around what I thought of as pre-Columbian Maya or Aztec Empire-like culture. It doesn’t reference this period specifically (maybe because its fantasy); however, you gather as much in characters with names such as Kopil, Alaxic, Kekapania and Teo. Furthermore, you have sea gods named Qet and so on and so forth.  Still, it's the use of ancient sacrificial pyramids reformed into establishments for commerce that really brings color to context of the book.  Nonetheless, with all that said, I came to the conclusion that Caleb is Mexican (for all intents and purposes).  This made me appreciate his story even more because it seems like a rarity to find an ethnic protagonist such as Caleb driving a fantasy. 

Caleb's father is known not only as a fugitive for his beliefs in aged traditions, such as human sacrifices to appease old gods, but he is also a Quechal high priest. Seeing that Caleb works for Red King Consolidated, he doesn't hold the same traditional beliefs as his father.  However, he's familiar with them enough to disagree. This father-son relationship adds a purposeful and tense element.  It also fits perfectly when the conflicting theme of Two Serpents Rise is the revolutionary shift from old methods of survival to contemporary forms of economic profusion. As well as questions regarding the price each method requires to keep a civilization running smoothly, and the risk some are willing to take to forward their personal vision for the old.

I found all of this plus more to be a complete and utter win. And while it wasn't as compound and thick on the mystery side as I'd hoped, I have to say that I did enjoy speculating which character was up to no good in Gladstone’s cast. In that sense, it read slightly like a mystery with the small exception of that fantasy-pulsing prose that I sometimes found distracting. You know, prose where a character is doing something active such as running, but it’s laid out in a narrative decked with analogies related to… I don't know… stars and tumbling through space. Not that that’s bad, but for someone who likes to puzzle over and solve mysteries as they unfold, sometimes I just need the scene and not an overload of "vision sequences" and spinning rooms. Though, respectfully, is perfect for the genre Two Serpents Rise is written in.

And incidentally, I want to put aside P. D. James's Mind of Murder to step into the third book in Gladstone's series. (^_^)

Guest Post: The Hirelings by Greg Strandberg

The Hirelings by Greg Strandberg

It’s been six months since the horrendous incident atop Mount Misery, the incident that broke Beldar Thunder Hammer’s band of adventurers apart.

Now Beldar’s putting the band back together with the aim of heading back up Mount Misery to end the Kingdom’s Hireling system for good.

Of course that would upend the whole socio-economic balance of The Kingdom and usher in a time of peace and plenty for all.  The powers-that-be can’t have that, and they’ll do everything in their power to thwart Beldar and his band of Hirelings from bringing that about.

Author Bio

Greg Strandberg was born and raised in Helena, Montana, and graduated from the University of Montana in 2008 with a BA in History. He lived and worked in China following the collapse of the American economy. After five years he moved back to Montana where he now lives with his wife and young son.

Links

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More on The Hirelings

If you’re tired of formulaic fantasy plots and tired tropes than look no further, this novel has none of that trash!  Here’s what you will find:

• Characters struggling economically;

• Graphic violence that’s not for the weary;

• A view of what really happens with battlefield spoils;

• The untold plight of monsters and the causes they care for;

• What becomes of the battlefield wounded;

• Sinister systems, not stupid villains;

• Characters that don’t suck up to you;

• Happy endings going out the window.

If any of those things appeals to your warped senses then I urge you to check out The Hirelings today.  

What are you waiting for?  These characters could be kicking back a cold tankard of ale at the tavern right now, but instead they’re waiting on you!

Yes, that’s right – they have better things to do.  See, there are many creatures in the Kingdom that need to be skewered on the end of their axes, swords, halberds, pikes, daggers, longbows, and helmets.

What are these terrible creatures that need to be done away with?  Why, none other than the following:

• Goblins
• Kobolds
• Stone Giants
• Giant worms
• Crawlers
• Man-eating Insects
• Slimes
• Oozes
• Harpies
• Pixies
• Nixies
• Unicorns
• Shambling Heaps
• Night Shades
• Waffle Tops
• and Blobs.

For fantasy with an attitude, read The Hirelings!  Or don’t – these characters have been waiting for an excuse to join the Kingdom’s growing bread lines, after all.

Manga Realness: "Ultra Maniac" by Wataru Yoshizumi

The last series in my favorite completed manga set is Ultra Maniac, by Wataru Yoshizumi.  This is quite possibly my favorite between the four I've recently written about, and for serveral reason.  Besides the franatic storyline underneath a schoolhouse backdrop, the artwork (or line work) is clean beyond belief.  Taken with an artistic eye (not that I'm a professional of any sort), the drawings are very clear.  Even clearer and cleaner than Naoko Takeuchi's work.  Maybe it has a lot to do with the different time periods the two series were released, but I noticed Ultra Maniac was very much on par with Absolute Boyfriend's line work.  Perhaps, a smidget cleaner and more meticulous.  Never mind, they both are nicely done.  I just notice it much more in Ultra Maniac.

Yet another manga series I followed through each English adaptation's release, Ultra Maniac also brought me comfort during some frustratingly lonely times.  Also as a note, this one of the few manga series where I own the anime version also--which is just as clean and wonderfully put together.

Ayu Tateishi.  Rei Hino, anyone?

Rei with her secret crush, Tetsushi

So those who are unfamiliar with the short series, Ultra Maniac, let me first summarize what it’s about before why I like it.  For starters, the series combines comedy, romance, and fantasy.  It’s magical, with extended emphasis on celebrating our uniqueness and the friends we gather from doing so.  The story revolves around Ayu Tateishi (who I’ve attributed has an attitude and likeness similar to Rei Hino in Sailor Moon).  As a middle-school girl, Ayu is somewhat of an inspiration to her classmates.  She has a maturity about her that many of her peers admire.  She isn’t one to let loose her emotions or super-express her feelings in concerns to school crushes and chasing idols.  Also, she firmly states that she isn’t one to believe in magic and fantasies.  Ayu has a smooth and practical personality, which I identified with from the jump on some levels.  Nevertheless, Ayu hides a lot of her feelings behind this demeanor--through a personification built mostly because of her interest in a certain student named, Tetsushi Kaji.  Much of her development comes from accepting and projecting her inner desires, trusting that she can believe in the impossible becoming possible.  And this is where Nina Sakura--the teen witch--comes in.  

Nina Sakura and her little spell-tool box

Tetsushi Kaji, the popular boy

From the beginning, Nina comes across as somewhat of a scatterbrain.  Yet, that's a part of her cute, spunky, and likeable charm.  She is like the antithetic to Ayu, or the Pippi Longstockings to Ayu's calm personality.  Nina has just about the same level of energy and gusto as Pippi Longstockings, as well as the unwavering passion for believing in the unbelievable.  However, just like Ayu, Nina hides many of her insecurities behind her jubilant personality.  Somehow attracted to Ayu’s resonablities, Nina is in distress after losing a personal item related to her witching.  It’s a big issue because Nina is in this “world” to prove she is capable of becoming an outstanding witch, considering the people from her world don’t seem to trust that aspect of her.  Once Ayu finds and returns Nina’s magic tool, Nina sees Ayu as the perfect individual to divulge her secrets to.  This includes confessing her desires to be an outstanding witch.  I suppose Nina felt she could share this with Ayu because of Ayu's smooth personality, but now thoroughly attached, Nina does anything she can to make Ayu happy.  To her, they are friends now.  However, Nina's magical antics doesn’t always turn out in Ayu’s favor.  And this is where the adventures begin.

Opposites attract, leading the girls down exciting paths encouraged by one another’s differences and inner similarities as they develop a close friendship filled with trust and adventure.  Between the two secondary male roles expanding onto the friendship, and friends from Nina’s witch world entering many chapters, Ultra Maniac makes for a comedic five-volume series. 

Tetsushi's best friend, Hiroki

As I outline Ayu and Nina’s characteristics and differences, I want to make it known that those elements are what made me love the series.  Particular because I spent my middle school years in somewhat of the same circumstances where I had to cover up myself just to survive the experience.  The funny thing is that in middle school I was more like Ayu, calm and collected.  It wasn't until the second year of high school that I became out going like Nina.  It balanced out eventually.   And necessarily so. 

Nevertheless, that's only half of my identification with the manga series.  While I wasn’t the most popular in middle school I had enough “credence” to associate myself with a few of the more popular students.  I suppose in many respects I was that in-between kid.  Nevertheless, my best friend was one of the students who was forever looked over and bullied by others.  He was the kid I would have to defend from ignorant tormentors.  It had a lot to do with him coming from a family in economic straits (like who wasn't?).  Straits that showed in his tattered shoes and daily repeating outfits.  On top of this, his family weren't that nice to him.  I remember a time when I had extra money and got us both Snicker bars out of the school vending machine.  He took his home.  The next day I asked did he enjoy it.  Sadly, his dad took it away from him and told him that he didn't deserve it.  What kid doesn't deserve candy?  I was angered of course.  Months later I bought two copies of a collection of ghost stories.  Nobody took that from him.  

Nina flagging down Ayu

Maybe because I've always tried to remain receptive to people, but I see no other way to find acceptance in yourself but through the accepting of others.  Nothing is more bonding than being genuinely emphatic and sympathetic to another.  What he and I shared was a love of Stephen King (which may say a lot) and the imagination.  Not Air Jordans or Mustangs.  Just books and some creative thinking.  We could be ourselves while everyone else was shooting to be relevant to others.  Therefore, I enjoyed his company and considered him a friend.  I needed one just as he did.  

Now, while there is much, much else to speak about in Ultra Maniac, the story of two girls who seem to support and compliment each other inspires me to remain open to people.  Have you been open to people lately?