Well, it’s been a while, but I have a new full-length book coming out. This is my first novel-length fantasy book for adults and it’s out on May 28th, 2020. In other words, less than a month!
What’s it about? Read on and find out…
Shadow of a Dead God
Agatos, the White City. Wealthy, diverse, rich in history, and lousy with the power of dead gods.
It was only supposed to be one little job – a simple curse-breaking for Mennik Thorn to pay back a favor to his oldest friend. But then it all blew up in his face. Now he’s been framed for a murder he didn’t commit.
So how is a second-rate mage, broke, traumatized, and with a habit of annoying the wrong people supposed to prove his innocence when everyone believes he’s guilty?
Mennik only has one choice: to throw himself back into the corrupt world of the city’s high mages, a world he fled years ago. Faced by supernatural beasts, the mage-killing Ash Guard, and a ruthless, unknown adversary, it’s going to take every trick Mennik can summon just to keep him and his friend alive.
But a new, dark power in rising in Agatos, and all that stands in its way is one damaged mage…
How would I describe this book? Suppose you took Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files or Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London and put them in an epic fantasy world full of gods, mages, and monsters. Then you might have Shadow of a Dead God.
This books has the myths. All the myths. Seriously. You might even say there are no myths … mything (no, I’m not sorry for that; Robert Aspirin made a career from that pun.)
Incidentally, I’ve been writing book reviews on this blog for quite a while, on and off, but I’ve decided that I’m going to call them “book recommendations” from now on. Partly because I’m not going to fill good blog space (they charge by the pixel, you know) telling you about books I don’t like, but mainly because my brain is weird and when I call something a review I get all hung up about it having to be formal and serious, and really, who wants that?
So, back to Paternus.
I’m going to be honest. I tried this book maybe a year ago, and I only got a couple of chapters in before putting it aside. But I kept hearing great things about it, so I figured I would give it another go, and I am very glad I did. In fact, this is one of the best books I’ve read this year, if not the best.
I’m kind of finding it hard to describe the book. It’s a contemporary fantasy, but quite unlike almost anything else. The only book that really came to mind for me was American Gods, but I enjoyed this a lot more than American Gods, which slightly missed the mark for me, even though I normally like Gaiman’s stuff. Here’s the description of the Paternus: Rise of the Gods on Goodreads:
Even myths have legends. And not all legends are myth.
When a local hospital is attacked by strange and frightening men, Fiona Patterson and Zeke Prisco save a catatonic old man named Peter–and find themselves running for their lives with creatures beyond imagination hounding their every step.
With nowhere else to turn, they seek out Fi’s enigmatic Uncle Edgar. But the more their questions are answered, the more they discover that nothing is what it seems–not Peter, not Edgar, perhaps not even themselves.
The gods and monsters, heroes and villains of lore–they’re real. And now they’ve come out of hiding to hunt their own. In order to survive, Fi and Zeke must join up with powerful allies against an ancient evil that’s been known by many names and feared by all. The final battle of the world’s oldest war has begun.
Ashton doesn’t make this book easy for himself. The first four, five, six – can’t remember exactly – chapters each follow different, at-first-unrelated characters. They are also told in an omniscient voice in present tense. In other words, it’s pretty far out of the normal for fantasy, which tends to either be third person or, occasionally, first person and told in the past tense. It was enough to throw me at first.
But the story is incredibly compelling once you get used to the way it’s told. There are so many original, great ideas, plenty of action, really good characters, and a plot that emerges slowly and satisfyingly over the course of the story. I found both it and its sequel (Paternus: Wrath of the Gods) enormously absorbing.
It’s not perfect, of course. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book that is. Where Paternus dipped slightly for me was when What Is Going On is explained to Fi and Zeke. The story loses a little momentum, and there is a bit of Forrest Gump-ism going on when certain characters turn out to have been involved in pretty much every major historical and mythological event you can think of. But that only lasts for a chapter or so, and then the story gets going again.
When you’re a writer yourself, there are two types of good books. The books where you think, “That was great. Maybe I’ll write a book like that.” And then sometimes you do. And there are the books where you think, “Yeah, no, I could never write that.” This definitely one of the latter books for me.
This book got third place in the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off competition in 2016 , which unless it was up against The Lord of the Rings and War and Peace that year is kind of astonishing to me. Well, perhaps not. Any book that’s written in such a non-standard way for fantasy isn’t going to please everyone.
As I said, this is one of the best books I’ve read this year. If you decide to give it a go, don’t be put off by the less-than-usual style. Go with it. It will be rewarding.
Folks, I am sad. I have run out of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London books, and the next one isn’t due until November.
In fact, I ran out of the novels a few months back. This review is of a linked novella.
I do quite like the modern trend for publishing linked novellas or even series of novellas. Although I prefer full-length novels, there’s something to be said for a well-constructed, contained, and focused story, particularly if it bridges the wait for a new novel.
To briefly recap the Rivers of London series, which now has six novels and this novella (as well as some graphic novels that I haven’t read; more on that later): Peter Grant is a police constable in London who, having stumbled upon a supernatural murder, becomes part of a very small department of the Metropolitan Police which deals with all manner of supernatural occurrence. So far, so not out of the normal for urban fantasy. This department, the Folly, was once a large society of wizards, but has now been reduced down to a single remaining member, Nightingale, until Peter Grant comes along.
Throughout the series, Peter deals with supernatural creatures, gods and goddesses of the rivers, dark wizards, and so on, as well as carrying out his police work.
Where the Rivers of London series really steps up and what makes it, in my opinion, the best urban fantasy series out there, is in the way it lovingly and with detail incorporates its locations (mainly London). In fact, it’s arguable that London is the best and most important character in the stories. I’m not sure I’ve ever read another urban fantasy with such a rich sense of place. But the descriptions never become tedious, because they are all done with a slightly snarky humour. The books are witty, sharp, involving, and reflect the diversity of London society and culture.
It also doesn’t hurt that Peter is a geek, with a good line in science fiction and fantasy references, as well as an interest in architecture. (For example, in the last novel, The Hanging Tree, a building is described as looking “like two Star Destroyers have backed into each other during manoeuvres”.)
So, onto this particular novella, The Furthest Station. The good news is that, despite its much shorter length (maybe 1/3 – 1/4 of a full novel), Aaronovitch has kept the style and rich observations that make the other books so readable. We start the story with Peter investigating reports of a ghost harassing people on the underground. At this point in the series, we have a good cast of supporting characters to populate the stories. In The Furthest Station, Peter is joined by his teenage cousin Abigail and Jaget Kumar of the British Transport Police, both of whom have featured in earlier novels. Other series regulars, Nightingale (Peter’s boss) and Peter’s girlfriend Beverly Brook (minor river goddess), make brief appearances but aren’t significant players.
Because it is much shorter, the story is by necessity much more direct than the novels, although Aaronovitch does take time to take us on a few diversions. I don’t want to go too much into the plot, because it would give away too much of plot of the novella, but suffice to say that it proceeds neatly to a good conclusion.
If I do have a criticism it is that occasionally the story could have done with a little more explanation of how and why it got to certain places. I am not sure if that’s just down to length or because Aaronovitch is referencing and leading off events that occurred in the associated graphic novels, which, as I said, I haven’t read. He did this a little in The Hanging Tree, too. Others may have a different point of view, but I’m not a massive fan of requiring readers to have read loosely related other series to understand what is going on, and I feel requiring a knowledge of the graphic novels is a step too far.
Still, I enjoyed this novella immensely, and I just worked on the assumption that the stuff with the foxes, for instance, tied into another storyline.
I do have one more complaint, though, and this may be one that puts off more potential readers. It’s not a criticism of the author or the story, but of the publisher. The Furthest Station, as I said, is a novella and it’s not much more than a hundred pages. However, the publisher has chosen to price it at exactly the same price as the full length novels. Now, I know that many of the costs to the publisher are the same no matter what length a book is, but it’s very hard to justify such a high cost for such a short work.
I borrowed the copy I read from the library. If the cost drops in the future, I will probably buy myself a copy, but not at this price.
It looks like the publication date of SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB has been pushed back once again, this time until January 12th, 2016. Sometimes publishing feels like being Alice through the looking glass: no matter how fast your run, things never get any closer.
Image copyright to me (Patrick Samphire).
So, yeah, I can’t say I’m over thrilled by this development, but, you know, it gives me the incentive to just get on and write something else entirely. With so long until SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB comes out (and who knows for sure that it won’t get bounced again), I can probably write an entirely different novel between now and then. I’m thinking of having a go at an urban fantasy, because I’ve been reading a lot of urban fantasy and really enjoying it (and I have some ideas, which always helps…).
So, does anyone have any recommendations for good urban fantasy? I love Jim Butcher and Laurell Hamilton and I’ve enjoyed books by Patricia Briggs and other similar writers. I also love some of the more British urban fantasy writers (who often edge into horror) like Mike Carey and Ben Aaronovitch. Steph has recommended Ilona Andrews.
So, what else should I be reading in the genre?
Update: Over on twitter, C.G. Cameron recommended Tanya Huff, so that’s going on the list, if you’re looking for UF books yourself.
