The Copper Promise, Jen Williams

The Copper Promise is a fun, relatively traditional fantasy — you step into the world and it’s like a well-worn shirt: you know more or less the shape of the continents, the kind of creatures that live on and beneath the earth, the kind of relationships people have to their rulers. It’s somewhat medieval, feudal; there are knights (who will kick out gay members of their number, of course), ancient gods, magic just coming back into the world… And it’s fun because of that feeling. You can just relax into it and enjoy the characters: the somewhat grim knight, the scarred and vengeful mage, the quick and lithe thief. (And also enjoy the fact that the latter is a woman, Wydrin, and she’s very good at what she does.)

There are a couple of hiccups in the structure; it was originally written in a serialised format, in four sections, and sometimes the joins show a little too much. Mostly, though, I just found it well paced and fun. I mean, it starts with raiding an ancient temple structure. Awesome.

At the same time, it’s not hidebound. One of the main characters is gay, and not in some obvious flouncy way, but just because that happens to be part of who he is. Wydrin is a woman, and yet never trivialised in battle or in planning or indeed anything else I can think of; she’s as much of a character as the others, and often brings refreshing snark.

It could be a little predictable at times, but again, that felt like part of the point — it felt like pretty pure escapism in a traditional fantasy world, and I’m all for that.

Rating: 4/5

The Door into Shadow, Diane Duane

While The Door into Shadow continues the overarching plot of getting Freelorn to his throne, the focus turns from Herewiss to Segnbora. Segnbora is a great character, her relationship with the dragons is fascinating, and the overall thrust of the story — of overcoming old trauma to really come into your power, even embracing the old trauma because it made you who you are — chimes with me quite well.

The only problem is, Segnbora’s character is built on that trauma, around her inability to open up — to magic, to people, to anything. The whole thing relies on her overcoming her trauma. Which, because she’s a female character, you can probably guess the origin of. There is something powerful here about acceptance and healing, but I could wish her story didn’t just reach for that convenient storyline. Particularly when it’s otherwise good about people living and loving outside the box, and at making that a totally natural part of the world.

I didn’t love any of the characters as much as Herewiss and Sunspark, and something about the structure of the plot didn’t work that well for me either. It felt like a series of pre-ordained episodes, taking Segnbora inexorably toward something she didn’t want to face, “for her own good”. I guess that fits with the way this world works, but it didn’t work for me.

Also, some of the language about the Goddess sometimes tips into being ‘too much’ for me, somehow. The Glasscastle section, however, is brilliant; atmospheric, urgent.

Rating: 3/5

Bitterblue, Kristin Cashore

Bitterblue is a difficult and powerful read. It follows the character of Bitterblue as she grows into her power as the queen of Monsea, and it also follows the healing process of her fractured realm, dealing with all kinds of trauma inflicted by Bitterblue’s father, Leck. There’s a lot going on here, and while there are lighter moments like Katsa’s relationship with Po, there’s a lot of serious things going on. Bitterblue has her own trauma to recover from, related to the way her father treated her mother, and she finds that the people around her — people she thought she could trust — are damaged, and are willing to do anything to smooth over the terrible things that they did under King Leck’s rule.

Seriously: trauma. Of all kinds. A lot of it deals with issues of consent and control; Leck was capable of making people believe anything he told them to believe, so he came up with narratives that made people do terrible things. He got what he wanted, and what he wanted was dark and monstrous, and that’s what he made people.

It ties in with Graceling, of course, but also with Fire; it turns out that some of Leck’s motivations are to be found in the events and characters of Fire, and we see the main character of Fire herself come to speak to Bitterblue and ally with her. There’s a lot of interaction between all the three books — more than were apparent between Graceling and Fire, I think — and that means a major theme of Graceling is also explored: Po’s abuse of the trust of people around him because he is to some degree a mindreader. Giddon’s character is developed more, and honestly, I love him.

It’s not an easy read, and I haven’t covered the half of it — Bitterblue also has a sort of romance with Saf, a Lienid thief, and again there’s all kinds of issues of truth and trust there. There’s also the same respect for the female characters’ decisions as regards — well, everything, but including their decisions about sex and relationships. Bitterblue is a queen, but in this world she is not expected to be pure and chaste and sell herself off to the highest bidder. It’s kind of refreshing to find that in fantasy, along with the discussion of contraception used, etc.

I do recommend it, but tread gently if you have triggers; I think some of the descriptions of trauma are very on point.

Rating: 4/5

The Sleeping Prince, Melinda Salisbury

I think I enjoyed The Sleeping Prince more than the first book; Errin interests me more than Twylla because instead of being used, being a symbol, being lied to, she is a woman with skills. She’s not in the same privileged position as Twylla (who for the first book is practically a princess), and she really has to work for everything. I’m not sure I’d call her a more likeable character, but maybe more relateable.

The pacing of this book is also, I think, a bit faster; I found myself racing through it after the first 50-100 pages. Suddenly Errin has to go, go, go, whereas Twylla doesn’t manage to overcome her inertia and leave the castle until the end of the book.

That said, I’m still not absolutely in love with the book. It’s enjoyable enough, but I thought the plot twists were predictable — and the ones in this book didn’t get me by surprise like the one at the end of The Sin Eater’s Daughter. I do like a well developed twist — where you can look back and things fall into place — but predictability sucks.

If you’re interested in the world and characters from the first book, I’m sure it will be for you; the writing is the same quality or better, throughout, and though the character POV switches for this book, you will see characters you know from the previous book. I’m curious enough to read the third, when it’s out, but not curious enough to rush for it.

Rating: 3/5

A Fall of Moondust, Arthur C. Clarke

Before there was The Martian (and indeed, before Apollo 13), there was A Fall of Moondust. I don’t know if the one influenced the other, but the feel is very much the same: people are stranded in a situation in space in which there are problems of communication, air, sanity, etc. (The exact same situations don’t come up, but the same basic problems apply, as of course they would.) I’m not sure how feasible the science of the Sea of Thirst is, but Clarke makes it work within the story, and as far as I can tell follows all his conclusions through logically — x causes y in the way it should, etc.

Unlike The Martian, a whole group of people are trapped and so it goes into the psychology of that kind of situation; the sniping, the attempts to keep harmony, the struggles for control. For the most part it all feels fairly mild — somehow I never really doubted that they would survive and be saved — but the steps of problem solving are interesting, and the glimpses of character and the way people come together for an issue like this. And the atmosphere of the moon, the eeriness of the dusty expanses and the vastness of space, that is all brought across well too.

It’s quite a short book, and maybe there’s not as much character engagement as in a modern work like The Martian, but I enjoyed it.

Rating: 4/5