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Jan. 31st, 2016 05:44 pmThe Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
So I wasn't originally going to read this, because it didn't quite sound up my alley, but then I read Dickinson's "Morrigan in Shadow" in Clarkesworld and was blown away by it, so I decided I'd better see what all the fuss was about in his novel.
The fuss, it turns out, is about how great The Traitor Baru Cormorant is.
The Traitor Baru Cormorant is that odd thing that we who are lunatics about genre begrudgingly call a secondary world fantasy even though it has no magic, because it literally complies with the title of the genre and there is no better name for these works. In any case, despite its failure to comply with genre conventions, Dickinson's fantasy world is fully realized, with a complex geopolitics driven by culture and history as well as geography. Each of the cultures Dickinson imagines- the dominant Empire of the Masks, the subordinate cultures of Taranoke and Aurdwynn, and others- makes sense as a fully realized creation unto itself and also in relation to the nations it borders. The economics that drives the story is not plot-driven and handwavy, it feels like Dickinson has actually sat down and done the math. If you're a nerd about that sort of stuff, that element of the book will be so delightful to you. This is particularly highlighted by the book's map, which may be my favorite secondary world fantasy map ever- the map is overlaid with Baru's notes about each of the regions, notes that highlight the economic and political strengths and weaknesses of each region, but also feature Baru's very, very funny personal addendums.
But what makes the book so great is Baru Cormorant, the eponymous traitor. Torn from her family by colonializing oppressors who rule by economic might and careful anthropological and political study of their conquests' weaknesses, she becomes an Imperial Accountant (a role as powerful, in its way, as the Imperial Auditors of the Vorkosigan series) herself and attempts to harness the master's tools to take down the master's house. The result is earthshaking and painful. Oh so painful. (Unlike "Morrigan in Shadow", which I happily spoilered for![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sanguinity as "not ending in tragic dead lesbians", Baru Cormorant ends in tragic dead lesbians. Also tragic dead lots and lots and lots of other people.) Even after the end of the book, I confess I'm not entirely sure who Baru betrayed and who she didn't. Her loyalties aren't just ambiguous, they're absent. She has had her sense of loyalty burned out of her, so that the only thing that drives her is revenge and she will inflict any amount of pain on herself and others to get it. It makes her an utterly compelling character.
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
Probably wouldn't have read this, but Chaos Horizon had pegged it as a dark horse awards candidate because of its success on goodreads, and then my library had it on display so I grabbed it.
It's a London fantasy in a world where there are several interconnected parallel Londons who severed most of their connections to each other several centuries earlier because the magic interconnections were causing damage to some or all of the worlds. The protagonists are two of the rare people who still feel the ancient magics and still think there is something- adventure, power, hope- that is lost by locking these Londons off from each other. They get embroiled in a pretty thrilling and dangerous adventure, waging war against two rogue mages and their powerful allies to try to keep all of the Londons safe.
It's a pretty imaginative world and the two protagonists are great, but it's one of those utterly annoying books where the stuff described in the inside cover blurb doesn't happen until 200 pages into the book. Those first two hundred pages are a real slog, where very little of importance happens, and the book would've been much more enjoyable if Schwab had been more economical with her introduction. As it was, the book ended quite well, but I'm not inclined to recommend it because there's a lot of flab.
So I wasn't originally going to read this, because it didn't quite sound up my alley, but then I read Dickinson's "Morrigan in Shadow" in Clarkesworld and was blown away by it, so I decided I'd better see what all the fuss was about in his novel.
The fuss, it turns out, is about how great The Traitor Baru Cormorant is.
The Traitor Baru Cormorant is that odd thing that we who are lunatics about genre begrudgingly call a secondary world fantasy even though it has no magic, because it literally complies with the title of the genre and there is no better name for these works. In any case, despite its failure to comply with genre conventions, Dickinson's fantasy world is fully realized, with a complex geopolitics driven by culture and history as well as geography. Each of the cultures Dickinson imagines- the dominant Empire of the Masks, the subordinate cultures of Taranoke and Aurdwynn, and others- makes sense as a fully realized creation unto itself and also in relation to the nations it borders. The economics that drives the story is not plot-driven and handwavy, it feels like Dickinson has actually sat down and done the math. If you're a nerd about that sort of stuff, that element of the book will be so delightful to you. This is particularly highlighted by the book's map, which may be my favorite secondary world fantasy map ever- the map is overlaid with Baru's notes about each of the regions, notes that highlight the economic and political strengths and weaknesses of each region, but also feature Baru's very, very funny personal addendums.
But what makes the book so great is Baru Cormorant, the eponymous traitor. Torn from her family by colonializing oppressors who rule by economic might and careful anthropological and political study of their conquests' weaknesses, she becomes an Imperial Accountant (a role as powerful, in its way, as the Imperial Auditors of the Vorkosigan series) herself and attempts to harness the master's tools to take down the master's house. The result is earthshaking and painful. Oh so painful. (Unlike "Morrigan in Shadow", which I happily spoilered for
sanguinity as "not ending in tragic dead lesbians", Baru Cormorant ends in tragic dead lesbians. Also tragic dead lots and lots and lots of other people.) Even after the end of the book, I confess I'm not entirely sure who Baru betrayed and who she didn't. Her loyalties aren't just ambiguous, they're absent. She has had her sense of loyalty burned out of her, so that the only thing that drives her is revenge and she will inflict any amount of pain on herself and others to get it. It makes her an utterly compelling character.A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
Probably wouldn't have read this, but Chaos Horizon had pegged it as a dark horse awards candidate because of its success on goodreads, and then my library had it on display so I grabbed it.
It's a London fantasy in a world where there are several interconnected parallel Londons who severed most of their connections to each other several centuries earlier because the magic interconnections were causing damage to some or all of the worlds. The protagonists are two of the rare people who still feel the ancient magics and still think there is something- adventure, power, hope- that is lost by locking these Londons off from each other. They get embroiled in a pretty thrilling and dangerous adventure, waging war against two rogue mages and their powerful allies to try to keep all of the Londons safe.
It's a pretty imaginative world and the two protagonists are great, but it's one of those utterly annoying books where the stuff described in the inside cover blurb doesn't happen until 200 pages into the book. Those first two hundred pages are a real slog, where very little of importance happens, and the book would've been much more enjoyable if Schwab had been more economical with her introduction. As it was, the book ended quite well, but I'm not inclined to recommend it because there's a lot of flab.