Book Catch Up 4

A few more books I read in 2023. Is this all of them? No, for one thing the year's not over, for another I've not written them all up yet.

1. Last Act In Palmyra

Falco is out beyond the edge of the Roman Empire, in independent Nabatea. With control of the important eastern caravan routes, it’s of interest to the Empire and he’s been sent out there to make reports. But two unfortunate events occur. Firstly his cover is blown. Someone has leaked his mission to the Nabateans who don’t appreciate spies. Secondly he comes to their attention when a man is killed and Falco finds the body. He’s hustled quickly out of town – the magnificent cut stone city of Petra.

Also hustled out of town are the group the murdered man was with. They’re a travelling theatre group, putting on plays out here in Hellenised Judea and Syria, trying their luck. The dead man was the playwright – not so much a creator, but an adaptor, turning the written play into something possible to perform with the stage, cast and scenery on offer. Wanting to find out who did it, and short on cash, Falco joins the troupe, hoping to find the killer, and also maybe write a play on his own.

It's an interesting setting, one on the move, but also stable, constantly shifting location while learning about how the theatre troupe works – and who might want to kill someone. The vast and amusing backstage tales, held together by a murder mystery – plus Falco’s own concerns, make this an excellent historical crime story.

Read This: Roman historical mystery in an out of the way corner of history
Don’t Read This: The only thing less interesting than a whodunnit are ancient Roman and Greek plays

2. Queen Of Demons

Following the events of Lord Of The Isles, the six characters from that novel are in the port city of Erdin. They encounter the body of a Scaled Man (a humanoid reptile) preserved in a barrel of spirits. They’re supposed to be extinct, and Tenoctris determines that there’s magic afoot.

Ilna stays in Erdin, wanting to make amends for what she did when she was in hell (as she describes her time sort-of possessed by an evil creature). She knows she can’t put things right (she’s wrecked lives) but her previously extraordinary weaving skill is now supernatural, so she can make things better (her hangings make people feel better about themselves, take pride in their neighbourhood etc).

The others head for Valles, capital of the Isles, but on the way a magical lens causes the ship to wreck. Garric, Tenoctris and Liane find themselves in another world inhabited by humans and a sheep-like people. They manage to escape and find themselves in Valles, where the King Of The Isles, in desperation at the magic and malice of the Queen, has allied with a magician who is sacrificing people to a creature called The Beast.

Cashel saves his sister Sharina from the shipwreck and they find themselves on an island where the king seems very struck by Sharina. There’s a pair of wizards, one young, unschooled and immensely powerful, the other old, knowledgeable, but lost his legs to a magical accident. With them is a talking ape. Things go wrong, and a spell they try to cast is altered by another, evil wizard. Cashel is sent to an alternative version of the island; Sharina is tricked aboard a ship. She sends the two wizards to Ilna, to try and find Cashel (her brother), bringing Ilna back to the main plot.

Main plot may be a misnomer. At each stop the characters find themselves either deeply or peripherally involved with local affairs, which they must either untangle themselves or resolve in some way to move on. Sharina escapes the ship, falls in with a hunter sailing to the island of Bight, which is inhabited only by “Hairy Men,” which are perhaps some sort of hominid. Magic responds to them as though they are human; on arrival there they discover that the Queen has enchanted them so they have built a great raft of felled trees and are being sent to Valles to attack the place. The Queen captures Sharina, still believing (incorrectly) she’s an heir to Lorcan the first King Of The Isles, and so able to find the Throne Of Malkar.

The Beast, the Scaled Men and the Queen, and the wizard who got rid of Cashel, they are all connected either through alliances or enmities. So at the end of their adventures they all find themselves in Valles, where the magical threats shade inevitably into the political scheming. A wizard has told the king that Garric is the heir to the old kingdom, and this spurs into action the nobles who are being sidelined by the Queen’s men. They plot a coup, to restore the kingdom under their control. But Garric has the ghost of King Carus to guide him, and only he and his friends can defeat the Queen’s otherworldy magic. He will not be a figurehead.

The picaresque adventures of Lord Of The Isles continue, though here the political machinations that lurked in the background of the first novel come to the fore, joining the magical ones. Though all four viewpoint characters have similar goals, and unyielding courage, each also has their own unique character. Garric’s latent ambition is unleashed under the guidance of his ancestor. Cashel’s simple and direct good nature continually tested. Ilna, uncompromising, has to keep reminding herself that it’s not her place to interfere, and so keeps finding herself pushed to where she must. Sharina is perhaps the most normal of them, seeking to support her brother and her beau, Cashel, continually being used by others against her will.

Read This: Excellent heroic fantasy that expands and improves on the first volume
Don’t Read This: The episodic nature of the story has it tend to meander, with some side tracks grim and others whimsical

3. Dragon Haven

At the end of Dragon Keeper the expedition to take the dragon’s up river to find a place they can live had gone beyond previous explorations, but still not found anywhere suitable. As they progress tensions begin to rise. The keepers are mostly those who have been effected by the Rain Wilds, with scales and claws. As such they are forbidden to marry to have sex. Away from Rain Wild society this prohibition loosens. One of the girls becomes pregnant, there is pressure on Thymara to pick a male keeper as a mate.

Sedric, initially unable to hear the dragons, now can after he got dragon blood on himself trying to steal dragon parts. Eventually the truth of his affair with Hest, his employer and Alise’s husband comes out to Alise’s surprise and eventual acceptance that the marriage was a sham. Alise starts to tend to some of the dragons. They discover parasitical snakes, and by getting rid of them the dragon Sedric stole from starts to recover.

Jess, one of the hunters, is revealed to have been hired to harvest dragon parts. He attempts to blackmail the captain of Tarman, Captain Liftrin. Tarman had been improved with legs and a tail with a log of wizardwood, after it was forbidden, as they are dragon chrysalises. As this comes to a head the river suddenly floods.

In the aftermath several people die, some go missing. Later they start to find Elderling ruins, under water. And the river forks. They want to go one way but Tarman won’t.

In the end they find somewhere, the Dragon haven and it’s not quite what they hoped for but it might do. And the dragons are growing and maybe they’ll be able to be okay. And maybe the people will too.

As they travel upriver everyone is confronted with what they leave behind and what they have to take with them. Many of them pick a dragon or have a dragon picked. And who is in charge shifts.

Read This: With Dragon Keeper this makes a satisfying tale of exploration and companionship with non-humans
Don’t Read This: For all their strangeness the wilds are not that wild, and the dragons are understood by their pride and their hunger

4. Quest For Lost Heroes

We’re jumping into the middle of the Drenai saga if you care about that, but this mostly stands alone. Under their ruler Tenaka Khan, the Nadir horse warriors (fantasy Mongols) have conquered their rivals, the Drenai. The Drenai are Gemmell’s “normal” fantasy country, a little bit of Ancient Greece and Rome, a lot more medieval Europe and England, something of the American frontier as well. Sometimes it’s a kingdom, sometimes a republic (ruled by nobles). That doesn’t matter in this novel because Tenaka Khan, who has Drenai ancestry conquered them, and also most of Gothir too. Twenty years ago he was stopped in the north by the Gothir remnants, with a group of heroes emerging from the siege of Bel-Azar.

Chareos, a legendary swordsman, annoys the Earl when he refuses to tutor his son after the son evades an instruction he doesn’t like (being paired with the worst swordsman of the group). The Earl has him fight a demonstration duel; if Chareos is killed then he will forgive his champion, but if wins it’s murder. He manages to incapacitate his enemy, then leaves, but hired killers are after him.

He runs into Kiall, a young man whose village has been raided by slavers. Ravenna, a woman he loves though they were not promised, has been taken. He intends to get her back, but she’s gone into the Nadir lands. Along the way they come across other heroes from Bel-Azar. Beltzer, a drunkard and axeman driven by his bodily desires, and Finn and Magrigg, archers, now living as hunters*.

To find Ravenna they track down Okas, a magician from another world, going through a gate to that other world. This loses them several months due to time differences. In the meantime some politics happens. Jungir Khan, only surviving son of Tenaka Khan, has been unable to father any children until now (a daughter of Chiatze Emperor has died amongst others and in a subplot and ambassador is trying to find out and then take revenge for this while the Nadir try to deniably kill him). A new concubine, Ravenna, is pregnant. Also trying to take advantage of the situation is Asta-Khan, shaman supreme of the Nadir and a relative of some sort, and Tanaki Khan, Tenaka Khan’s daughter.

Our various heroes have to go through challenges, learning something new about themselves, except Beltzer. Beltzer never changes. There’s several twists and turns and a couple of good tricks in the closing section. A cliffhanger is left which, so far as I can tell, is never resolved. Probably better to read The King Beyond The Gate before this, to have some idea who Tenaka Khan is; his presence hangs over this book like a shadow.

Read This: Pacy heroic fantasy with enough going on underneath to make you pay attention
Don’t Read This: The weird magic seems to sidetrack everyone, and the Earl is a paper thin caricature of a nobleman obsessed with honour who immediately turns to dishonourable means when he’s thwarted

* Together in an isolated cabin. The closeness of their bond is commented on several times; the precise nature of their relationship remains unclear.