Seth Wilson – Page 5

Review of Daemon by Daniel Suarez

SFFaudio Review

Daemon by Daniel Suarez Daemon
By Daniel Suarez; Read by Jeff Gurner
Audible Download – approx. 16 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Audiobooks
Published: 2009
Themes: / Science Fiction / Cyberpunk / Techno-Thriller / Virtual Reality / Online Gaming / Politics /

Daemon‘s success as a self-published novel that crossed over to attain mainstream success is a testament to its cultural relevance, especially among the technorati. Suarez, who moonlights (sunlights?) as a systems analyst, promoted the novel to the movers and shakers in the technology community, Its positive reception even among this tech-savvy elite suggests that Daemon has its finger on the pulse of technological developments and their implications for politics and culture.

Daemon opens with the death of game developer Matthew Sobol, acclaimed developer of multiplayer games such as first-person shooter Over the Rhine and RPG The Gate, which bears a strong resemblance to World Of Warcraft. Some successful entrepreneurs leave money to their kids when they die, others give it all away to charity. Not Sobol. His legacy is the book’s eponymous daemon, a background process which through distributed computing has spread itself across the net and continues to carry out the developer’s will through a series of intricate commands. The capabilities of this daemon, and Sobol’s talent as a developer of artificial intelligence, become apparent when the police raid Sobol’s mansion in Thousand Oaks, California, and find themselves outclassed by a network of elaborate automated booby-traps, including an almost-sentient Humvee.

The novel pans cinematically between several characters who, in one way or another, become embroiled in the daemon’s plot, which ultimately proves to be global in scale. Dramatis personae include police detectives, government agents, a gamer, a laid-off fashion reporter, a white-hat hacker, ad a convict. It’s not clear from the outset whether these characters will become heroes or villains as the story progresses, and even when battle lines are more firmly drawn most of them still defy simple caricature, exhibiting complex motives and emotions.

The real show-stopper, of course, is the daemon itself, who possesses a high degree of intelligence and resourcefulness despite residing in lines of code. The novel’s conceit still demands the willing suspension of disbelief, but the concept and the technical specifics are so finely conceived and executed that the reader is left with a small but nagging suspicion that somewhere, sometime in a future that may be all too near, Daemon could become a reality. Suarez achieves this feat by investigating the wider political, economic, and social implications of a self-aware autonomous computer system.

The living Matthew Sobol embedded many elements of his daemon into his multiplayer games, and several characters venture into these online worlds in search of clues. These scenes are among the strongest in the book, and they carry favorable resonances with both the Metaverse in Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash and the simulator in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. Like the virtual reality elements in these novels, the online gaming sequences in Daemon succeed because they maintain a strong causal relationship to events in the “real” world.

The action battle sequences in Daemon are high-octane, and like all good action sequences they manage to incorporate the book’s themes rather than standing as mere set pieces. For the most part, the protagonists are fighting against computer-controlled contraptions. Nevertheless, I felt that these ultimately visceral and superficial scenes occupy too much space in the novel, and detract from the book’s otherwise deep and intellectually stimulating themes. Paramount Pictures has optioned the movie rights for Daemon, and I shudder to think that the cultural significance of this novel may be boiled away, leaving only two hours of car chases.

The pacing of Daemon also leaves something to be desired. Suarez has revealed that a sequel is in the works, and the book’s cliffhanger ending promises an exciting continuation to the story. Lots of loose ends also remain dangling free, mostly in the arc of character development. The novel’s ending was certainly climactic, but it somehow failed to provide satisfactory closure. As I’ve said in other reviews, even books in a multi-volume series need to retain a high level of internal cohesion.

Jef Gurner’s narration for Daemon is spot-on. His performance is varied enough that each character’s unique identity extends into the aural sphere. Through some tricks of distortion, Penguin Audio has turned the dialogue of the daemon itself into a performance worthy of classic cinematic computerized villains.

Fans of cyberpunk in particular should consider Daemon essential reading, but any science fiction fan looking for an intriguing and visionary techno-thriller should add this audiobook to their summer reading list. The novel’s fascinating themes make it worth slogging through some scenes of gratuitous violence and tugging in vein on a few loose plot threads. Daemon is an impressive debut novel by Daniel Suarez, hopefully presaging an illustrious writing career.

Posted by Seth Wilson

Review of Academ’s Fury by Jim Butcher

SFFaudio Review

Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher Academ’s Fury
By Jim Butcher; Read by Kate Reading
17 CDs – 21 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 0143143772
Themes: / Fantasy / High Fantasy / Elementals / Battle / Primitive Culture / Rome /

Having been a fan of Jim Butcher’s urban fantasy Dresden Files series for some time, as well as a consummate reader of traditional fantasy, I recently decided to delve into the author’s Codex Alera series. I found the series opener, Furies of Calderon, to be a solid entry for Butcher into the epic fantasy genre, but my recent review also pointed to some room for improvement. After devouring its sequel, Academ’s Fury, I’m happy to report that Butcher has found his voice and set the tone for the series.

A brief refresher: the Codex Alera series takes place in the land of, you guessed it, Alera, whose inhabitants possess the ability to control elemental powers called furies. The lone exception is the series’s prime protagonist, Tavi, who has come of age without developing any apparent skill in furycrafting.

Academ’s Fury skips ahead two years from the conclusion of the previous book, and finds Tavi studying at the Academy of Alera Imperia, the land’s capitol city. The novel thus adopts many tropes of the “school novel”: bullies, arrogant teachers, and mischievous rule-breaking. Tavi also gains a window into the realm’s politics by serving as page to First Lord Gaius Sextus. Further raising the stakes, an isolated adventure in Furies of Calderon turns out to have disastrous implications both for the valley of Calderon and for the imperial city itself. The result is a novel that weaves these plot treads together into a rich, satisfying tapestry.

Like its predecessor, Academ’s Fury follows the viewpoints of several characters, although Tavi is clearly the linchpin. The Cursor Amara, siblings Bernard and Isana, and the treacherous Fidelias all reprise their roles, and all these develop in significant and sometimes surprising ways. The Marat wolf tribe, which played a pivotal part in Furies of Calderon, also returns under the capable leadership of Chieftain Doroga. The chieftain’s spirited daughter Kitai also figures heavily in the story. Several new characters join these veterans in the tale’s events. The only notable standout from among them, for me, is Antillar Maximus, Tavi’s fiercely loyal friend at the Academy.

More importantly, Academ’s Fury expands the scope of the world of Codex Alera by introducing two new races: the wolf-like canim and the insectile Vord. Both races possess serious martial prowess and present a serious threat to Alera. Unlike the Canim, however, the cold, calculating Vord cannot be reasoned with. By means of worm-like parasitic scouts, the Vord take possession of humans, preserving their physical stature and mental abilities but blotting out their souls. This dynamic makes for a few horrific scenes of which Stephen King might be proud, and the Vord warriors and queens ooze vileness and evil both literally and metaphorically. The battle scenes in Academ’s Fury resemble those of R. A. Salvatore or early Terry Brooks in their invention and frenetic pace.

Jim Butcher utilizes the novel’s setting in the Academy at Alera Imperia to disseminate information about the world without resorting to mere “info-dump” modalities. Through Tavi’s readings, dialogues, and examinations, the book takes a deeper look into the history of Alera, including its tenuous connections to the Rome of our world. We also get a brief glimpse under the hood at the mechanics of furycrafting.

The novel’s greater breadth of scope and its focus on Romanesque political intrigues address the major complaints I had with the first book, but Academ’s Fury still isn’t perfect. For one thing, the pacing flags somewhat near the end. A bigger defect, to my mind, has to do with the character development. Most of the characters do develop in interesting and believable ways, but a few of them come off as flat. Sadly, this is true in some ways of Tavi, who always seems to get the better of his rage, his fear, or his other negative traits. He’s a fascinating character, but his lack of internal conflict and teenage angst diminishes his believability. Similarly Doroga, the Marat chieftain, fits too perfectly the archetype of the “noble savage”. He’s a lovable character, but he exists in a hundred other variations in a hundred other fantasy books.

Kate Reading’s performance once again brings the Codex Alera series to life. Each character receives full articulation, so that even without dialogue tags it’s clear who’s doing the talking. The Latin scholar in me occasionally winces at her non-classical pronunciation of certain words (she renders princeps “prin-SEPS” instead of “prin-KEPS”), most listeners probably won’t take issue with such minor details.

Minor qualms aside, Academ’s Fury improves on the first novel of the Codex Alera and continues to promise great things for the series.

Posted by Seth Wilson

Review of Blood Noir by Laurell K. Hamilton

SFFaudio Review

Blood Noir by Laurell K. Hamilton Blood Noir
By Laurell K. Hamilton; Read by Cynthia Holloway
11 CDs – 13 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
ISBN: 1-59737-895-6
Published: 2008
Themes: / paranormal romance / vampires / shapeshifters / mystery / sex / BDSM / urban fantasy

Blood Noir is the sixteenth installment in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. Thats an impressive track record for any writer–and somehow Hamilton has found time to work on several other series as well. This particular Anita Blake novel is heavy on the romance and emotional development of its characters. It’s fairly light on the “paranormal” or “supernatural” element until it nears its conclusion. While a fun emotional and sexual romp, Blood Noir lacks the intellectual teeth to be called “fantasy” in any meaningful sense of the word.

The book opens with a bang of the Jenna Jameson variety, as Anita Blake comforts her grieving werewolf friend Jason in the most intimate way possible, while her more regular lover Nathaniel looks on and later joins in. Libido calmed, for the moment at least, the story then commences in earnest, and Blood Noir actually presents an intriguing premise. Jason’s estranged father is dying of cancer, and Jason wants to patch up the relationship while he still can. Jason’s father, despite much evidence to the contrary, labors under the delusion that Jason is gay. To dispel this misperception, Jason brings Anita to his home in North Carolina to present as his girlfriend, a front that is only half a lie. The plot thickens further when Jason is mistaken by hometown residents for the son of the state governor.

You might be wondering how the supernatural fits into all this. So was I. While the story is well-told and the characters are emotionally complex, the fantastic elements of Anita Blake’s world don’t really manifest themselves for the first two-thirds of the novel. Sure, we’re told that Jason is a werewolf and that Nathaniel her lover is a were-leopard, and we witness several telephone conversations between Anita and her protector Jean-Claude, one of the vampire masters of St. Louis. But Hamilton is breaking the writer’s axiom of “show, don’t tell.” The early parts of the novel play out like any romance-cum-mystery, with only the barest of supernatural trappings.

Once “the metaphysical shit”, as Blake utters several times, does finally hit the fan, the action ramps up and Blood Noir becomes a thriller on par with other urban fantasy, replete with shapeshifting, vampire charms, and a bit of old-fashioned gun play. The payoff is worth waiting for. The novel draws its title from Marmee Noir, an ancient vampire who, despite slumbering somewhere in Europe, manages to wreak havoc in the lives of characters halfway around the world. The book advances the larger Vampire Hunter story arc, and promises an intriguing direction for future books in the series.

There’s no getting around it, Blood Noir is about sex. Anita Blake is possessed by the ardeur, an urge that requires her to “feed” periodically through sexual acts. Yes, Anita’s come a long way since her celibate days of the first few novels. She openly maintains several serious sexual partners, and she engages in sadomasochism and other “non-standard” sexual practices. The emphasis on eroticism feels mostly in line with the plot, and seldom ranges into the realm of over-indulgence. What saves Blood Noir from devolving into a wholly superficial sexual dog pile is Anita’s self-awareness. Anita is mostly comfortable with her open lifestyle, but she occasionally expresses misgivings about its potential negative impact on herself and others. Her external sensual and erotic lust is also complimented by a fine-tuned emotional sensitivity.

Brilliance Audio has made a modest effort to put some production shine on its audio version of Blood Noir, with some minimal distortion effects when characters speak on the phone or overhear a television news report. Cynthia Holloway’s narration tackles the novel’s sexuality head-on; she doesn’t flinch at even the most graphic scenes. Holloway especially succeeds in capturing Anita Blake’s wide expressive range, from her angry outbursts to her few moments of vulnerability.

Long-time readers of the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series will doubtless wish to follow the heroine’s latest adventures, and fans of paranormal romance who have somehow missed Hamilton’s work will probably want to jump into the series as well. Other readers of fantasy, even of urban fantasy, should approach Blood Noir with caution. The book provides a solid plot and well-rounded characters, but Hamilton’s hit-and-miss writing fails to conjure up the magic that fantasy, even dark fantasy, should.

DISCLAIMER: Any sexual puns or double-entendres contained in this review were purely inadvertent.

Posted by Seth Wilson

Review of White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison

SFFaudio Review

White Witch, Black Curse
By Kim Harrison; Read by Marguerite Gavin
15 CDs – Approx. 18 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 1433270314
Themes: / Fantasy / Urban Fantasy / demons / vampires / banshees / pixies / memory / detective / romance /

White Witch, Black Curse is the seventh entry in Kim Harrison’s Hollows series, also called the Rachel Morgan series after its protagonist. For the sake of full disclosure, I should state that I haven’t read the previous books in the series. It’s a testament to Harrison’s storytlling that I was still able to jump into the tale with only a minimal perusing of Wikipedia for character background. That said, purists will probably want to start with the first book in the series, Dead Witch Walking, as indeed I intend to do.

Rachel Morgan is a witch who, along with her vampire companion Ivy Tamwood, runs a supernatural investigative agency called Vampiric Charms. She’s the supernatural equivalent of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum. Modern Cincinatti, in Harrison’s alternate history world, knows of the existence of supernatural beings, collectively dubbed inderlanders. Two federal agencies, the human-staffed Federal Inderlander Bureau and the otherworldly Inderlander Services security agency, maintain relations between the human world and that of the “ever-after” whence all other races came. Vampires, pixies, witches, and other strange beings walk the streets of Cincinatti, and not once in White Witch, Black Curse does their presence pass for comment among the book’s human characters. This marks a refreshing departure from other urban fantasy I’ve read, in which supernatural beings live underground, beyond the awareness of most everyday people.

As the novel opens, Rachel is attempting to solve the murder of her vampire boyfriend Kisten. In theory, this shouldn’t pose a problem, since she was present when the crime took place. But someone, somehow, has wiped her memory of that night’s events, and as she examines the crime scene she experiences only brief flashes of recollection and insight. A recent string of attacks apparently connected to a banshee also calls for her attention. As in most mysteries, these seemingly separate plotlines inevitably intersect at certain points as the novel progresses. The narrative hits several satisfying crescendos and climaxes throughout the book, but on the whole the plot plods along without any clear impetus to drive it forward.

The depth and dynamism of protagonist Rachel Morgan, however, redeems the novel from its mediocre plot. Like many heroines of urban fantasy and paranormal romance, she’s a badass. Unlike many other heroines, her character is balanced by a believable measure of insecurity, self-doubt, and even a hint of self-loathing. As a witch, she’s mostly confident in her magical abilities, but even in this realm she sometimes expresses hesitance. In the sphere of romance, she questions her suitability as a partner, calling herself an “albatross” who brings ruin upon those upon whom she bestows her love. No doubt this has something to do with the death of her former lover Kisten, and events in earlier novels might well bear this belief out as well. She also exhibits the tendency to rush bullheadedly into situations without considering the implications for herself or her circle of friends.

And Rachel is blessed with fast friends, family, and other acquaintances who don’t comfortably fit into a single category. The unlikely highlight among the cast of supporting characters is the pixie Jenx, who often accompanies Rachel on her adventures. The foul-mouthed, irreverent little guy at first appears to serve as nothing more than comic relief, flitting around on a trail of pixie dust and spouting clever obscenities. Yet he stands–flutters?–by her when the going gets tough and many others have abandoned her.

The emotional textures of White Witch, Black Curse further offset the deficit of the novel’s mediocre plot. Rachel’s relationships seldom develop in predictable ways. Her friendships with her partner Ivy, FIB agent Captain Edden, and even the pixie Jenks, all come under occasional strain. The Morgan family dynamics are alo fraught with tension. And then there’s the romance. Rachel seldom devolves into the weak-kneed, crooning damsel of other romance novels. For the most part, she’s remarkably intellectual and circumspect in approaching relationships.

The book’s emotional power even extends to its magic. While not particularly organized or systematic in any “scientific” sense, the magic of the Hollows also hinges on feelings. FIB psychologist Ford has the empathic gift of reading emotional states of those around him. Auras also figure heavily into the plot as an external representation of a character’s internal state. Even a character of sound physical health might be in danger if their aura has been weakened by a recent traumatic experience.

Marguerite Gavin’s performance of White Witch, Black Curse isn’t the best audio rendition of urban fantasy I’ve heard, but it certainly does Harrison’s writing justice. Again, Jenx the pixie is the standout; she lends a nasal, sing-song voice to the spry winged creature which sparkles nearly as much as he does. On the whole, though, the best I can really say about Gavin’s performance is that it’s unobtrusive.

Fans of Kim Harrison’s Hollows series will find White Witch, Black Curse a satisfying continuation to the series. Urban fantasy and paranormal romance enthusiasts will also likely find much to like in Harrison’s unique world. Hardcore fantasy readers, on the other hand, might find themselves put off by a hit-and-miss plot and a lack of any real intellectual depth. Still, the book’s strong characters and emotional power make it a good candidate for some fun summertime reading.

Posted by Seth Wilson

Review of Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

SFFaudio Review

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher Furies of Calderon
By Jim Butcher; Read by Kate Reading
Audible Download – 20 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Audiobooks
Published: 2008
Themes: / high fantasy / Roman / elementals / barbarians / farm boy

Best-known for his urban fantasy Dresden Files series, Jim Butcher has also penned a relatively unsung series of high fantasy novels called the Codex Alera, of which Furies of Calderon is the first. In several interviews, Jim Butcher has stated that his Codex Alera series grew out of a writing challenge–to take bad or cringeworthy themes and transform them into a good story. Brave soul that he is, Butcher chose to tackle the banal trope of the Lost Roman Legion and, of all things, Pokémon. Before you run for the hills screaming, let me assure you that he has succeeded in his task, crafting a rousing adventure that sets the tone for what promises to be an exciting series.

First, let’s deal with the elephant, er, Pokémon, in the room. Rather than the cute furry monsters that emerge from pocket-sized balls tossed into the air, as in the Japanese juggernaut, Butcher’s interpretation of Pokémon takes the form of elemental beings called furies, which humans can summon at need to perform various magical tasks, including combat, flight, scrying, and healing. Furies feel so natural to the world of the Codex Alera that if I hadn’t mentioned the Pokémon allusion you probably wouldn’t have noticed it.

The other defining feature of the Codex Alera is its Romanesque setting. The land of Alera, a rough equivalent to the Roman Empire, is populated by folks with Latinate names like Gaius, Fidelius, and Amara, and terms like princeps and cursor will be familiar to even a casual student of Classical history.

Despite these two gimmicks, however, Furies of Calderon is fairly standard high fantasy fare. Several characters and storylines play out, but the book’s real protagonist and character of interest is Tavi, a fifteen-year-old farm boy in the valley of Calderon which, because of its strategic geographical location, becomes the site for an impending battle between the lords of Alera and the neighboring barbarian Marat tribes. Tavi lives with his aunt and uncle on their steadholt, the basic administrative unit in the fertile valley, but dreams of joining the Academy in the empire’s capitol city. Say it with me, people, Star Wars. The fascinating thing about Tavi, though, is that, unlike all other Alerans we meet, he lacks even the slightest furycrafting abilities. His uncle Bernard and aunt Isana are no Owen and Beru, and when the threat of invasion looms they both take decisive action to defend their beloved valley of Calderon. Meanwhile the cursor Amara speeds to the valley to try to warn its citizens of their impending fate, pursued by her traitorous ex-tutor Fidelias, whose name ironically stems from the Latin root fides, meaning “faith”.

These adventures are fun and engaging, to be sure, but the real strength of Furies of Calderon rests with its character interaction and development. Tavi is an archetypical hero in the sense described by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, but he’s also a fifteen-year-old boy with raging hormones and conflicting loyalties. Tavi’s lack of furycrafting remains a mystery throughout the novel, as does the question of his parentage, leaving plenty of room for further development in future novels. Bernard and Isana both possess a fierce integrity and loyalty to land and family. In some ways, the stand-out characters are the villains. Fidelius is crafty and treacherous, true, but like any good fictional villain he believes he’s fighting for the good of the land of Alera. The motives of the enigmatic Odiana, a water-crafter in the service of Fidelius, defy easy articulation. Al the characters in Furies of Calderon whether “good” or “bad”, act according to their own personal compass of principles. The one exception is the bloodthirsty and barbarous Kord, a farmer in the valley who dabbles in the slave trade. He alone seems to be one of those cardboard villains whose sole purpose is to be knocked down.

Because its events are mostly centered around the valley of Calderon, which feels more like an early medieval territory than a Roman province, Furies of Calderon will largely disappoint readers expecting the political intrigues and machinations of TV dramas about the Classical world like Robert Graves’s I, Claudius or HBO’s Rome. If anything, the setting most closely resembles the late Roman Empire, when Europe was in transition from Roman rule into the tumultuous Medieval period. Calderon is ruled by a count, and there’s even a province called Aquitaine, which is a clear allusion to Roman Gaul. Some pivotal scenes in the book’s opening and closing pages hint that the series will move in this direction, though, so Classicists should not lose heart.

Given that my only exposure to Butcher’s writing thus far had been his gritty, cynical depiction of modern-day Chicago through the eyes of wizard Harry Dresden, I harbored fears that he wouldn’t be able to write in the more elevated style required by High Fantasy. My fears were unfounded. Butcher’s writing is competent throughout, and easily matches the style of other authors in the genre, although it lacks the lyricism and resonance of the genre’s best.

For some reason, dramatic portrayals of the Roman world in English always employ British actors, with Emperors and Senators speaking the Queen’s English and slaves speaking a Cockney dialect. Because of this trend, the British accent Kate Reading adopts for her reading of Furies of Calderon feels right and natural. She conveys particularly well the emotional depth of the teenage Tavi as he battles with internal and external forces throughout the novel, and she also brings the complex Odiana to vivid life.

Furies of Calderon is an imperfect novel laden with fantasy clichés, but it holds enough originality and depth to warrant a thorough listen. Those who happen to enjoy those fantasy clichés, as I do, will find it a rewarding experience. Furthermore, the novel holds promise that the rest of the Codex Alera series will capitolize on the underplayed features that make Furies of Calderon so noteworthy.

Posted by Seth Wilson

Review of Od Magic by Patricia A. McKillip

SFFaudio Review

Od Magic by Patricia A. McKillip Od Magic
By Patricia A. McKillip; Read by Gabrielle de Cuir
Audible Download – 11 hours 33 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2009
Themes: / fantasy / wizard school / monarchy / herbalism

I know you can’t judge a book by its cover, but Od Magic is one of those books I was immediately drawn to solely based on its whimsical cover art of bright pastels and its equally playful blurb.

Brenden Vetch has a gift. With an innate sense he cannot explain to himself or describe to others, he is able to connect to the agricultural world, nurturing gardens to flourish and instinctively knowing the healing properties each plant and herb has to offer. But Brenden’s gift isolates him from people and from becoming part of a community – until the day he receives a personal invitation from the Wizard Od. She needs a gardener for her school in the great city of Kelior, where every potential wizard must be trained to serve the Kingdom of Numis. For decades the rulers of Numis have controlled the school, believing they can contain the power within it, and have punished any wizard who dares defy the law. But unknown to the reigning monarchy is the power possessed by the school’s new gardener, a power that even Brenden isn’t fully aware of, and which is the true reason Od recruited him.

Od Magic shines brightest when it delivers on the promises of that introduction. Unfortunately, it’s also bogged down by lukewarm political intrigue and half-baked supporting characters.

Brenden Vetch has learned much from his plants. He’s even found a cure for the plague that swept through his village. Unfortunately, his discovery came too late to save his parents from the epidemic, and he has lived a lonely life in his childhood home with their ghosts ever since, refusing to leave even when his brother departs to seek brighter fortune elsewhere. Only when the giantess wizard Od invites him to tend the magical plants of her school in the royal city of Kelior does he pull up roots. Brenden’s story is emotionally potent, but sadly McKillip fails to capitalize on the possibilities for character development which it presents. Vetch’s grieving process is barely mentioned, and he develops very few meaningful relationships in Od’s school.

The cover summary is misleading in that it suggests that Brenden serves as the focal point of the novel. While he is indeed a pivotal character, the book’s focus widens to introduce other magical inhabitants of the city of Kelior. Contrary to the rigid belief of King Galen, Od’s school does not hold a monopoly on magic in the kingdom of Numis. Travelers from neighboring kingdoms, from commoners to nobles, have brought their own strains of magic into the land. Much of Od Magic deals with the resistence on the part of the king and on the part of Od’s school towards embracing these diverse magical traditions. In this sense, McKillip’s work provides an interesting anthropological examination of the exchange of cultural ideas, patriotism, and xenophobia.

Though part of Od Magic is set in a wizard school, the novel should not be seen as a Harry Potter or A Wizard of Earthsea imitator. The students remain at the periphery of the tale. There’s only one teaching scene reminiscent of the “student wizard” genre. In fact, only one, a brilliantly talented boy named Elver, appears regularly, and he’s an atypical sampling of the student body.

The novel’s stand-out performances are both suggested by its title. The giantess Od appears infrequently, as she takes a hands-off approach to running her school, preferring instead to roam the world offering aid to wounded beasts. Her enigmatic appearance and demeanor–she’s depicted with birds nesting in her hair and animals burrowing into her clothing–and her lyrical, poetic mode of speech elevate the few scenes in which she appears into high art. The magic itself as it manifests in the novel is similarly strange and delightful. Though characters allude to the dark potential of magical power, the magic in the book is playful, whimsical, and, yes, odd. In this sense, Od Magic presents a nice respite from the dark, gritty, and violent magic that populates many postmodern fantasy novels.

Gabrielle de Cuir’s narration of Od Magic captures the playful essence of the novel’s best passages. Her performance of Od’s dialogue chimes in the ears like a tinkling stream, and she carries the emotions and idiosyncracies of the other female characters comfortably as well. A male narrator might have better embodied the persona of Brenden Vetch, but since the magical gardener appears all too seldomly in the novel this is not a serious shortcoming.

As I said, the inviting cover image and tantalizing publisher’s summary really made me want to like Od Magic. I certainly enjoyed elements of it very much, enough to make me want to seek out some of Patricia A. McKillip’s other works. Overall, though, the novel’s lack of focus and cohesion leads me to endorse it only half-heartedly.

Posted by Seth Wilson