Number 16- Waterblack- Alex Pheby

 

The long awaited final part of trilogy was finally released earlier this year.  here's my handsome GBP black edition, although I am tempted to buy the set in hardback too since they have beautifully illustrated covers.

I'm every glad the first thing in this book is a summary of the first two as this would have been impossible to understand in places.

In this book, we pick up on the tale of Nathan Treeves, now taking his place as Master of Waterblack, the third city of the Weft. We also catch up on his assorted friends, the ghosts of the two magical dogs, and an assassin who we've met briefly in the past, but whose backstory takes up nearly the first half of the book at least.

There is the usual luscious prose that I've come to expect from Alex Pheby, and the imagination on display is immense. However this is the least satisfying of the trilogy.

There are pros and cons to characters who are basically gods and can do anything.  On the one hand, it means there are no limits to what they can do. The imagination can fly anywhere.  On the other hand, there are no limits on what they can do. It means the stakes seem trivial. Death becomes immaterial. Time and space, causality and all that wibbly wobbly stuff don't seem to matter any more.

This book does seem to fall victim to that. Plus, there seems to be less story and more musing and asking questions directly to the reader than there was in the other volumes.  The 60 page interlude with the ghost dogs was particularly flawed. I found myself skim reading a couple of the appendices for similar reasons.

I'd love to say that this was a magnificent conclusion to the series but I will have to stop short of that.  It's still a very good book indeed, Once everything hits the fan in the closing stages of the book (prior to the appendices) it's almost unputdownable.  The section with Sharli's backstory was similarly brilliant. There are just a couple of lulls in the narrative, where style rules over substance and that's a real shame. 

Number 15- Little Monsters- Charles Lambert

I wonder if you can spot the theme with the previous read...

I read a couple of Lambert's books last year and was impressed enough to buy more, including this one.

Carol Foxe's mother was murdered by her father when she was only 13.  She was sent to live with her aunt and uncle (and cousin Nicholas) above a pub in a small village, much against her aunt's wishes.  Her uncle Joszef is much nicer though and her relationship with her cousin, though it starts on shaky ground, solidifies into a real friendship.

The novel operates on two timelines, one in her painful childhood, and the other in a more current day setting.  She is now living with Joszef and working in a refugee camp on the Italian coast. When she pulls a young teenage girl from the sea, she forms an obsession, and her carefully structured life starts to crumble around her again, just like it did in her teens.

This is the first real contender this year for my book of the year. Lambert's prose is cool and sparse, telling us just enough that we can guess the rest. There are subtly disturbing undertones throughout.  

The slow build of her damaging obsession with saving the girl is masterfully done. The reveal of the secrets of her past is just as good. 

I'm struggling to think of any negative points about this book. Some may find her relationship with Joey in the modern segments to be uncomfortable, but that's deliberately so. Despite this not being a horror novel, there's a definite sense of unease that oozes from the pages.

This is certainly the best book of the year so far.  I recommend it unreservedly.

Number 14- Little Monsters Vol 2- Lemire & Nguyen

 

The first book in a mini themed read.  See if you can guess the theme on the next book.

The second and final part of this Lemire scripted post apoc is every bit as weird and wonderful as the first.

The explanations are satisfying, and whilst the conclusion isn't exactly balls to the wall excitement, it left this particular reader deeply satisfied. 

This mini series is well worth your time. For basic storyline, see my review of volume 1. the situation has moved on but the basic facts I would give are exactly the same.

The artwork is similarly just as brilliant for all the same reasons.

Number 13- the Memory Police- Yoko Ogawa

This was last months' choice for a book group read.  I'd never heard of it before despite it being the sort of thing that I seek out.  One of the very good reasons for being in a book group.

This is one of the more original ideas for a dystopian societies that I know of.  In this world, things are forgotten by decree.  Roses, birds, hats, ribbons, basically objects at random, one morning, you wake up and they mean nothing.  Any that you own are taken out and destroyed.  The memory police will visit to deal with those who remember.

I remember reading a quote from Ray Bradbury where he said that in his books rocket ships go to the stars. that's what they do.  You don't need to know how they work, just that they do. What fuels them is not relevant. 

That frame of mind is essential for this book.  The mechanics of the situation are unexplainable, especially from a POV of one of those who does forget. This is a book where you just need to go along with it.

Our narrator is a novelist. When she realises her editor is one who can remember, she decides to protect him from the Memory Police who are on a hunt. For the rest of the book their relationship forms the emotional heart of the story whilst more and more items are forgotten.

This is beautifully translated into English by Stephen Snyder. The storyline is intriguing, sad and genuinely emotional.  This is an excellent book on most metrics.

However, the internal logic is inconsistent. As much as I wanted to just go with the flow, if all birds are forgotten, why are they always eating chicken? Is that not a bird? if all fruit has been forgotten and destroyed, tomatoes would no longer be on the menu (they eat tomatoes on a regular basis along with the chickens) and she would not mourn the loss of strawberries to make a cake several months later. these are minor points but enough to pull me out of the story. 

I can't bring myself to add this to my own personal pantheon of dystopian greats on that basis. If you're going for such a high fantasy base for your concept, it needs to keep its internal logic intact. 

It really is a good book, it's beautiful and well worth the read.  I just wish the copy editor had ironed out the flaws.

Number 12- Phantom Road Vol 2- Lemire et al

I thought this was a two part series of graphic novels.  It isn't. That's a good and a bad thing.  Good because it means that this intriguing story is going to get more in depth and intriguinger.  Bad because it's ongoing and the next volume isn't out for a long while yet so I've got ages to wait.

The more answers we get to the questions thrown up in volume one, the more new questions sprang up in their place.

This trip down the mysterious Phantom Road is one that fans of the graphic form should be rushing to take. Lemire's usual quality writing is matched by Walta's distinctive artwork.

I can't wait for book 3