Essord's Endeavors

Great was the surprise of many fans of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King when he published a new novel 8 years after he completed it. As I am a great fan of the series myself, I could stop myself from being thrilled. The new novel, The Wind Through The Keyhole (2012), does not continue the story. Instead King uses an opening between the events of the fourth novel, Wizard And Glass, and the fifth novel, Wolves Of The Calla, to tell a three-leveled story. In fact, the story is a story within a story within a story.

The first level provides the connection with the Dark Tower cycle. As it should not conflict with anything happening in the later story it is of a very minor substance. Even so it is great to meet the central characters of the series again and with only some limited scenes he provides the reader with the familiar touch that defines each character.

In the second level King once again, after Wizard And Glass, goes into the background and history of the main character of which the reader had mainly seen glimpses. I have to say I much anticipated this return and I simply drank in the words. The story itself is not that complex. With several different stories in one novel the space is limited. The story is actually pretty much a canvas unto which King adds new insights and answers to old mysteries, making them part of something else instead of giving them straightforwardly.

The third level is supposed to be an old tale of the Dark Tower universe. Instead King could not control himself. There is a lot of detail in the story and certain elements are clearly connected to the Dark Tower cycle instead of the tale itself. There were certain things the narrator of the story could not know or some things that would provide insights which he should have been using. Some things don’t even seem to belong in the tale. It is a peculiar story. More one that King would tell on the Dark Tower universe than that a native would or could tell about his own. The details also conflict with the idea that it is a children’s story. It is certainly not the right way to have told it. Nevertheless, because of those details and insights, it makes a highly interesting read. The story itself starts fairly cliché and it takes some time before it starts to blossom and become something far more.

Personally I enjoyed the second level tale the most, although it is less complete than the third level story. The Wind Through The Keyhole is certainly a great addition to the series and it holds up to the same quality. As there are more untold background stories I can only say that I hope King will be inspired to write some more. Highly recommended.

Normally the back cover of a book usually either says too little or too much about it, giving away too much of the plot. Only in some cases they publisher manages to put in sufficient information without giving any details away. With The Crown Of The Blood (2010) by Gav Thorpe it turned out to be neither of those cases. In fact, while I progressed through the novel I could only conclude that the book cover seemed to written about some other book. True, there were some points that did agree, but whoever wrote that cover either didn’t really know what it was about or just glanced through it.

The Crown Of The Blood is a high fantasy novel with a very low fantastic element in it. Thorpe follows some typical military tropes to tell his story although he puts it in an original setting. The pacing is moderate although the plot development is fairly fast. Military affairs take up the brunt of the story, but Thorpe does not spend much time on battles, sticking mainly to the top command, which also is taken by the main character of the novel. The plot itself is entertaining enough although it is not much that out of the ordinary. There are some nice twists, but Thorpe has a destination to reach that in the end does get where it intended to be. That does take out some of the anticipation, although there the road taken and the way Thorpe tells his story prevents the reader from getting bored or the story becoming a drag.

Besides following the main character Thorpe has two other major narratives that provide some extra insight in events. One of the narratives is actually not that well chosen, although it does contain the most dramatic storyline, so the character was chosen for that reason and not for the perspective. There are also some minor points of view. Thorpe only uses those were he we wants to add something extra and they don’t get much extra.

The character development is rather minor. Only one character undergoes several changes. Most of the others, including the central character, don’t seem much shaken by the turn of events they come across. The main character himself is rather strange. For an important military commander he seems to think and behave more like a soldier than a general and throughout the novel he remains rather straightforward and naive in his actions. There is nothing special about him and it is more the weakness of the opposition and his unwillingness to show his strength that allow him to move events.

Despite the mundane nature of the story and the peculiar central character, the plot does contain a hidden secret, a mystery that held my interest throughout the novel. On the background something was going on and Thorpe barely gave anything away about it. I am still intrigued about it and it is this which want me to read the next novel as the story is far from done. Thorpe also set the story in an original setting that is different from the usual fantasy fare, creating a society and culture that may not be particularly complex, but is at least different and something else. I really like it when authors take that step and it certainly is a stimulant for my ongoing interest.

I usually don’t pick up novels that have the word “necromancy” on them as I associate the word with undead characters or beings, something which I am not particularly interested in. In many cases it is a horror novel, which is a genre I usually avoid as I read to enjoy myself, not to get anxious, scared or feel disgusted. Not that an undead character popping into a story is a bad thing. As long as it remains a minor element it does not bother me. It is only when it is possibly a dominating theme in the story that I am dissuaded. So when I saw a novel with the subtitle The Necromancer Chronicles I quickly started doubting. However, this was one of the rare occasions that an excerpt of the novel at the end of one of an earlier novel I had read, had given me a different appraisal of the novel.  Of course that is the intention of the publisher, so even one of many being successful into persuading me to try the novel is already a win.

The aforementioned novel is called The Drowning City (2009) by Amanda Downum. The first thing that gave me a better perspective of the story was that it put a setting in a location that was similar to somewhere in southeast Asia. Such a setting is rather unusual in fantasy, so that made me interested in how Downum would present it. She did so quite well. It gave me the right vibe and she managed to keep it nondescript, making it hard to determine familiar elements that I might recognize. For one part this was also caused by a lack of description. The main character only visits a limited number of places so the reader only gets a limited view of those. Downum keeps the point of view narrow. If the character doesn’t pay attention to it, then she doesn’t tell more. Personally I don’t mind that as my own imagination fills in the details where I want them to be, although there could have been a bit more. The picture I could create of the setting remained incomplete.

Although there is a main character, there are some story threads involving minor characters. Although Downum tries to she did not entirely succeed in fleshing them out the extent that I got to care about them. This worked better with the main character, although as a heroine she did move around rather ineffectually, while she claims to be one of the best.

One thing I should not forget to mention is that the term “necromancer” is a bit too heavy as a word. In the story it is just someone who works sorcery through spirits in a wide range of ways. There is no real undead element which once again confirmed my right guess to pick this one up even though of the term. In fact the world the story takes place in has a strong spirit element, which makes it all relatively normal.

The story itself unfolds quickly. Downum wastes no time on introductions or foreplay. Nevertheless things are not rushed. Everything takes it time. Not that the story development is slow. Events run on every turn and plenty happens. The strange thing is that it doesn’t feel that way. Downum has a writing style that has a leisurely pace. In a way it expresses the warm humid climate the characters are in. The surprising thing is that it doesn’t take Downum many words to achieve this effect. It can easily be created by using many words to slow the reader down. Instead Downum uses very few words, allowing for a dual flow in the narrative.

The plot is not very complicated. Downum keeps things as down to earth as possible. Yes there is magic, but it does not dominate. It serves the story and most other things are not so different from normal situations. The characters may have abilities, they only give them an advantage in certain situations. In others they have to handle things no different than any other person.

I did not get particularly excited about The Drowning City. On the other hand it did not have real flaws either. I did enjoy the read. It is different from the usual fantasy fare although it does not take things on a weird or grand scale. It is a good novel, not exceptional although the usage of fantastical elements and the peculiar writing style in combination with the plot development do somewhat impress me. I certainly want to read more and although I have the next novel at hand, I have not felt inclined yet to start with it. Thus my mixed reaction. If it really had taken me, I would have continued reading the series. As I cannot really pinpoint real flaws or dislikes I can only conclude I was not entirely satisfied. The story did not grab me and I only really cared somewhat about the main character. All the others remained unsubstantial. Still I do would recommend this novel, but it would not be on top of any list.

If anyone had been searching for a sequel to The Malazan Book Of The Fallen then Orb Sceptre Throne (2012) by Ian C. Esslemont would be it. While Steven Erikson wrote the above mentioned series, Esslemont, his partner in creating the world of the Malazan Empire, has been tackling the so-called side-events taking place in the same universe and exploring parts of the world they created that were only heard of in the epic fantasy series.

This is the fourth book he has written and this one takes up a storyline that has been lingering since the first book of The Malazan Book Of The Fallen and remained unfinished after the eight book of the series, Toll The Hounds. In a way one can see Orb Sceptre Throne as a sequel to that novel. There are a few minor storylines from Esslemont’s earlier books that continue here as well, but most of the storylines in the novel are all related to the central story arc. In that Esslemont keeps up at staying onto fairly standalone  novels, although one needs to have read the books of the Fallen to appreciate them fully.

In more than one way Orb Sceptre Throne wraps up old storylines and brings them to, although perhaps temporary, a conclusion. Some mysteries are finally unraveled. The tragic element that was part of his and Erikson’s books is diminished much. So much has happened already that more would not leave much left. In that sense the ending is rather timid. I had expected a great clash, but it didn’t happen. Matters got resolved without reverting to them. In a way that was disappointing. Nevertheless it is good for a change to see that great destruction and violence is not always the answer so I did appreciate how Esslemont handled it.

The story was well crafted in the typical style we are used to, quickly switching between characters and scenes.  For a change there are less greater powers active which reduces the tone of the events to a more down to earth nature, although plenty of supernatural stuff keeps happening.

Esslemont’s writing style has always been very similar to that of Steven Erikson. Because his earlier novels followed characters that Erikson hadn’t touched it remained hard to really compare them. In Orb Sceptre Throne most of the characters used have been introduced and used much by Erikson. I was thus very interested in how well Esslemont could preserve their peculiar characteristics. I have to say he did so very well. I had only a feeling that there were minor differences, but I couldn’t point them out.  Should two authors be so similar in style? I don’t really mind. Esslemont does have a different voice and the similarity makes his and Erikson’s novels form a greater unity than it might have had.

I had great joy to read more stories taking place in the Malazan universe and Orb Sceptre Throne is a good addition to the series. It closes a number of old open ends which means that the next stories will contain more new things, about which I am in great anticipation. Recommended.