"Thera" by Zeruya Shalev (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Zeruya Shalev at the Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature
Order "Thera" HERE

INTRODUCTION: "Thera" is a book that I picked up from the B&N bookshelves because of the title and cover without knowing anything about the author or subject, only to discover a blurb that was not quite what generally interests me. But I opened it at random and the moment I read the first sentence I was just hooked and I knew I had to read it "now". On finishing it, I was so impressed by its extraordinary voice that I had to talk about it as soon as possible...

A November 2010 translation from Hebrew by H. Sachs and Mitch Ginsburg, the novel has been published originally in Israel in 2005, being the fourth novel of the author and the third translated into multiple languages and getting widespread acclaim.

"A woman, who suddenly decides to forsake her husband for brilliant fantasies of freedom and independence, confronts a complicated reality: unexpected isolation, awakening doubts, guilt, sorrow, and the troubles of her small son trying to adapt to a new situation.

Unexpectedly and paradoxically, the family Ella Miller destroys becomes a radiant fantasy in itself, and she sinks into an agonizing longing for the sheltering secure framework of her previous life, even when a new love, both promising and happy, finally comes her way. It goes on even when she tries to build a united family with her new love and his children. The new life turns out to be an unbelievably complicated learning process, a path paved with upsets that at times demand more of her than she ever thought she could give."

ANALYSIS: "Thera" is narrated in first person by 36 year old Ella Fisher, an archaeologist with slightly unorthodox theories about how the famous ancient volcanic explosion on the Mediterranean Island of Thera - Santorini - led to the freedom of the Jewish people in Egypt and the biblical exodus under Moses.

The novel is set in Jerusalem of the present day - as of original publication 2005 more or less - and follows Ella's increasingly complicated life over a relatively short span of time at least as narration goes. Despite seemingly being contently married with a colleague and former mentor and having a son she dotes on who is just starting school, one day Ella decides to kick out her husband Ammon for various reasons that are slowly revealed in the book.

"Thera" is a deceptively fast read despite its 400+ pages - the first person narrative and relative short time frame of the action essentially make it so - and the book is superbly written and translated. The storyline of the novel is less important than the way it is told and the portrait of Ella, her son Gili, the men in her life and the other two children of her "second family" and their relationship with Gili and herself make Thera work beautifully. The story alternates moods very well and the ending is also excellent capping a truly unexpected hit for me.

There are lots of poignant moments: when Ella essentially forces her way in Ammon's new apartment to see how her son copes there in her absence on one of the days when his father has custody - after more or less inveigling the address from Gili - and overwhelmed by the domestic feeling she experiences, she tries to get Ammon back after kicking him out not long ago, or when she has to cope with her son's school friends all having "full families" and has musings crudely put as where are the divorce statistics when you need them?

Later when she falls together with another "shipwrecked soul" partly by chance, partly with a little manipulation on her part, the story goes back to a more content semi-domestic mood though again not without its problems, not least the 3 children thrown together who have to sort of cope with the new arrangements - another poignant scene is when she buys six card packs for Gili and his new 'step brother' to share and Gili alternates between being happy to get them and suspicion that were not the other boy there he would have got all six for himself...

The above may seem a little banal in some ways, but the way the book flows is just impressive and Thera was a real pleasure to read end to end, so I truly urge you to try the available sample on Amazon and see if it instantly hooks you the way it happened with me.

As the setting goes, everything reads as normal for a modern Western prosperous city while the sometimes unusual facts of modern life in Jerusalem - eg schools have guards, men are often away on army duty... - are just presented matter of fact as are the various aspects of Jewish belief and culture inserted masterfully by the author.

Overall, Thera (A++) is just a superb piece of literary fiction that flows so well that is more of a page turner than most action oriented novels.

“Hidden Cities” by Daniel Fox (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Official Daniel Fox Website
Order “Hidden Cities” HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Reviews of “Dragon In Chains” + “Jade Man’s Skin”

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Daniel Fox is a pseudonym for an award-winning British author of several novels including The Books of Outremer. He’s also written children’s books, poetry, plays, and hundreds of short stories.

PLOT SUMMARY: Whatever they thought, this was always where they were going: to the belly of the dragon, or the belly of the sea.

More by chance than good judgment, the young emperor has won his first battle. The rebels have retreated from the coastal city of Santung—but they’ll be back. Distracted by his pregnant concubine, the emperor sends a distrusted aide, Ping Wen, to govern Santung in his place. There, the treacherous general will discover the healer Tien, who is obsessed with a library of sacred mage texts and the secrets concealed within—secrets upon which, Ping Wen quickly realizes, the fate of the whole war may turn.

As all sides of this seething conflict prepare for more butchery, a miner of magical jade, himself invulnerable, desperately tries to save his beautiful and yet brutally scarred clan cousin; a priestess loses her children, who are taken as pawns in a contest beyond her comprehension; and a fierce and powerful woman commits an act of violence that will entwine her, body and soul, with the spirit of jade itself. Amid a horde of soldiers, torturers, and runaways, these people will test both their human and mystical powers against a violent world. But one force trumps all: the huge, hungry, wrathful dragon...

CLASSIFICATION: Moshui: The Books of Stone and Water trilogy is a character-driven, Asian-influenced fantasy in the vein of Daniel Abraham’s The Long Price Quartet and Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori, while also containing elements of Kate Elliott’s Crossroads series and the Psalms of Isaak by Ken Scholes.

FORMAT/INFO: Hidden Cities is 432 pages long divided over six titled parts with each part divided into numbered chapters. Narration is in the third-person via several POVs including the slave-boy Han, the fishergirl-turned-emperor’s mistress Mei Feng, Mei Feng’s grandfather Old Yen, the young jade miner Yu Shan, an imperial messenger named Chung, the doctor’s daughter Tien, the bandit woman Jiao, the mother Ma Lin, the rebel leader Tunghai Wang, the imperial general Ping Wen, etc. March 22, 2011 marks the North American Trade Paperback publication of Hidden Cities via Del Rey.

ANALYSIS: Hidden Cities is the concluding volume in the Moshui: The Books of Stone and Water trilogy after Dragon In Chains and Jade Man’s Skin. Like its predecessors, Hidden Cities is highlighted by Daniel Fox’s elegant prose and a strong cast of characters. I’ve already gushed in length about the lyrical prose in my reviews of Dragon In Chains and Jade Man’s Skin, but it bears repeating, especially considering how much the prose adds to the reading experience. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Daniel Fox’s poetic writing style, the author’s trilogy would have been just another run-of-the-mill fantasy series, one I probably would have given up on after the first book.

Characters meanwhile, remain richly drawn, sympathetic and diverse led by Han, Mei Feng, Jiao, Old Yen and Yu Shan who have all been there from the beginning. Supporting roles include Ma Lin, Tunghai Wang, Tien, Ping Wen, Chung and Shen with each getting a chance to add their mark in the book, while minor characters like the fake doctor Biao, Mei Feng’s friend Dandan, the rebel General Ma and the deckhand boy Pao are given pivotal parts to play in the trilogy’s conclusion. Unfortunately, while the characters are a strength in the novel, there are just too many of them with narratives. Fifteen to be exact compared to the seven that the trilogy started with. In short, there’s just not enough pages to accommodate all of the different viewpoints, and as a result, a number of characters are given the short end of the stick including Yu Shan, Han, Ma Lin, Tien and the dragon.

Negatively, world-building is still a weak spot in Hidden Cities. I had hoped the book would finally provide some answers regarding the dragon and the Li-goddess and the Empire, but despite ample opportunities, very little information is offered, somewhat wasting the potential of the trilogy’s Asian-influenced setting. The biggest problem with Hidden Cities though is with the story. After Dragon In Chains and Jade Man’s Skin, I wasn’t surprised by the slow-developing plot or lethargic pacing in Hidden Cities. What surprised me was the novel’s lack of payoff. With any trilogy, I expect the third book to resolve storylines and provide a sense of closure. What Hidden Cities offers instead is cliffhangers and even more unanswered questions than what the trilogy started out with. In fact, Hidden Cities felt more like reading a middle volume than the conclusion to a trilogy, which is not what I had signed up for when I started the series.

CONCLUSION: As much as I love the prose and the characters in the series, it wasn’t enough to overshadow the bloated number of viewpoints in Hidden Cities or the novel’s lack of closure, which is especially disappointing since the book was supposed to conclude the Moshui: The Books of Stone and Water trilogy. Of course, it will be even more disappointing if there isn’t a sequel to tie up all of the loose ends left at the end of Hidden Cities...

"City of Hope and Despair" by Ian Whates (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Ian Whates Website
Order City of Hope and Despair
Read FBC Review of City of Dreams and Nightmare

INTRODUCTION: City of Hope & Despair is the second book in the series about Thaiburley, the famed City of a Hundred Rows that has started last year in City of Dreams and Nightmares.

I was a little surprised by some aspects of it; most notably the fact that it is a *middle book* in a trilogy - not a 2nd part of a duology as I expected, so it has the typical structure of such where things advance, some threads get solved but nothing essentially stands on its own.

The blurb below provided the other new aspect, namely the expansion of the story beyond Thaiburley though the city features strongly in the second main thread of the novel.

"A SECOND VISIT TO THAIBURLEY: THE CITY OF DREAMS, THE FABLED CITY OF A HUNDRED ROWS.
Dark forces are gathering in the shadowy depths, and the whole city is under threat. The former street-nick, Tom, embarks on a journey to discover the source of the great river Thair, said to be the ultimate power behind all of Thaiburley. Accompanying him are the assassin Dewar and the young Thaistess Mildra. It soon becomes evident that their journey has more significance than any of them realize, as past secrets catch up with them and unknown adversaries hunt them... to the death! "

According to the information inside the copy I have, the concluding series book will be called City of Lights and Shadows and there is an excerpt that gives a hint where it goes.

ANALYSIS: City of Hope & Despair essentially starts where City Dreams and Nightmare ends, though it takes a little to get there since the first pages of the book are a sort of extended prologue that seems disconnected from what came before.

Inside Thaiburley nasty things stir and bad things happen, most notably a creature called The Soul Thief - who does precisely what its name says and steals the souls especially of the people with a little "talent" - is on one of its occasional rampages. To add to uncertainty, the city's underground is in flux after the events of the first book and new gangs appear to take place of the decimated older ones

Kat whom we last have seen locked into mortal duel with her sister for the mastery of the Tattooed Men and the Arena is the main protagonist here with her sister - their battle gets postponed due to the Soul Thief of course - and a various cast, mostly familiar from the first book; this part is a little weaker than the first book mostly because it brings little new and reads not unlike typical UF stuff, but Kat makes it worth reading.

In the second thread we get to see the world outside Thaiburley and learn some backstory and some of the big picture issues, when Tom is sent by the First Minister on a crucial mission with DeWar as a "bodyguard" as well as two other companions. Of course there are people/entities that do not want the mission to succeed and they command a skilled assassin with a personal grudge against DeWar to stop them at any cost. This part alternates the expected - fights, ambushes,...- with a lot of world building expansion and it is pretty good.

So the content of the book is comparable with book one with the large advantage in originality City of Dreams and Nightmares had by simply being the first book in the milieu, being only partly compensated by the expansion of the universe here.

In execution, I would say the books are also comparable so City of Hope & Despair moves fast and is a page turner with everything that made City Dreams and Nightmare entertaining. The action takes place in a fairly limited amount of time so the main characters do not change much, but we find out crucial information about their background and that adds to their depth as well as offering a better understanding of their motivations and actions from the first book. These "back story nuggets" scattered throughout City of Hope & Despair were very well done and I found them a major new strength of the series.

City of Hope & Despair (A) ends like the first one with a semi-cliffhanger in one of the two main storylines and with a clear to be continued in the other, so the trilogy ending which I plan to read asap of course will determine how the series stands for me.

“Sea of Ghosts” by Alan Campbell (Reviewed by Robert Thompson and Liviu Suciu)

Official Alan Campbell Blog
Order “Sea of Ghosts” HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Review of The Deepgate Codex HERE, HERE + HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: After graduating from Edinburgh University, Alan Campbell worked for DMA Design, Visual Sciences and Rockstar, designing such video games as Body Harvest, Formula One 2000, and Grand Theft Auto. After completing Vice City, Alan left to pursue a career in photography and writing. His bibliography includes The Deepgate Codex and the novella “Lye Street”.

PLOT SUMMARY: When the last of the Gravediggers, an elite imperial infiltration unit, are disbanded and hunted down by the emperor they once served, Colonel Thomas Granger takes refuge in the unlikeliest of places. He becomes a jailer in Ethugra—a prison city of poison-flooded streets and gaols in which enemies of the Empire are held captive. But when Granger takes possession of two new prisoners, he realizes that he can’t escape his past so easily.

Ianthe is a young girl with an extraordinary psychic talent. A gift that makes her unique in a world held ransom by the powerful Haurstaf—a sisterhood of telepaths who are all that stand between mankind and the threat of the Unmer, a powerful civilization of entropic sorcerers and dragon-mounted warriors. In this war-torn land, Ianthe promises to make Granger an extremely wealthy man, if he can only keep her safe from harm.

This is what Granger is best at. But when other factions learn about Ianthe's unique ability, even Granger's skills of warfare are tested to their limits. While Ianthe struggles to control the powers that are growing in ways no one thought possible, another threat is surfacing—one who, if not stopped, will drown the world and all of humanity with it...

CLASSIFICATION: Sea of Ghosts is a nautical-themed epic fantasy that reminded me a of cross between Robert V.S. Redick’s accessible Chathrand Voyage series and the grittier works of Glen Cook, James Clemens and Alan Campbell’s very own Deepgate Codex, while the book’s magic system brought to mind Mark Charan Newton and Ken Scholes. Recommended for fans of Brandon Sanderson, Robert V.S. Redick, Chris Wooding, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and the like...

FORMAT/INFO: Sea of Ghosts is 500 pages long divided over eighteen titled chapters and a Prologue & Epilogue. Narration is in the third person via Colonel Thomas Granger, Ianthe, Ethan Maskelyne the metaphysicist and Unmer expert, and Sister Briana Marks of the Haurstaf. Sea of Ghosts is the opening volume in The Gravedigger Chronicles with the book ending on a couple of minor cliffhangers. April 1, 2011 marks the UK Hardcover publication of Sea of Ghosts via Tor UK. Cover art provided by Larry Rostant.

ANALYSIS: Despite its shortcomings, I was a huge fan of Alan Campbell’s debut series, The Deepgate Codex, and ever since the trilogy’s conclusion, I’ve been anxiously awaiting for news regarding the author's next book. So when Sea of Ghosts was finally announced, it instantly became one of my most anticipated releases of 2011...

Looking back on The Deepgate Codex, what I loved most about the trilogy was Alan Campbell’s creative and vivid imagination, which included bringing to life an ancient Gormenghastian-influenced city suspended by giant chains over a cavernous abyss that was the home of a god, and a Hell that would give Dante and John Milton nightmares. That same inventive imagination is on full display in the author’s new book, Sea of Ghosts, which introduces readers to a world slowly drowning in brine, a toxic substance unleashed by the Unmer that also changes humans into the Drowned. Add in the telepathic Haurstaf, dragons that were once human, and a wild variety of Unmer sorcery and artefacts—void flies, skybarques, an alchemist’s pin, deadships, a Replicating Sword, seeing knives, spectacles that allow the wearer to see the past, et cetera—and it’s obvious that Alan Campbell has created another stunning fantasy world.

What’s interesting about this world, particularly Unmer sorcery, is that it possesses a science fiction element, as explained by the metaphysicist, Ethan Maskelyne:

“What we perceive as sorcery is merely a method of juggling entropy. The Unmer transmit energy and matter from one place to another, most likely from one universe to another, through some sort of aspacial conduit. The Unmers’ strength lies in their ability to plunder what I have chosen to call cosmic remnants.

Our present universe is merely the latest configuration of energy and matter formed within a never-ending cycle of cosmic inflation. Like the ripples formed beneath a dripping tap—as the outer circle fades they are replaced by new ones. If my theory is correct, it means that certain aspects of Unmer sorcery are not only detrimental to our universe, but completely impossible without assistance from beyond our universe.”

On the flipside, world-building was a disappointment with the author providing very little background information on the Unmer, their war with the Haurstaf, the famous Unmer traitor Argusto Conquillas, dragons, and so on. It’s a shame too, because as imaginative as the novel is, Sea of Ghosts could have been even better if Alan Campbell had done more to flesh out the setting and his creative ideas.

Plot-wise, the story in Sea of Ghosts is a fairly simple one, centered around Ianthe and her unique ability, and the three sides fighting over her: Ethan Maskelyne for her Unmer treasure hunting talent, Sister Briana Marks for her Haurstaf potential, and Colonel Thomas Granger for personal reasons. Despite the story’s simplicity, played out tropes—trial by combat, a school where the new student has to deal with bullies, the youthful protagonist with godlike powers—and the occasional deus ex machina, Sea of Ghosts is a highly entertaining novel highlighted by cinematic pacing, exhilarating action sequences, and unexpected moments of dark violence—the brutal execution of a Drowned, rape and torture—which lends a sense of gravity to the book. At least it’s this way for most of the novel. When the story shifts to Awl about 350 pages in, Sea of Ghosts starts becoming more derivative and over-the-top, and less engaging. The climax in particular—which felt rushed and underwhelming, especially compared to the first fourteen chapters in the novel—was disappointing. Thankfully, many matters introduced in Sea of Ghosts remain unresolved—the source of the Unmer’s power, the purpose of the brine and where it came from, the beach of keys, Argusto Conquillas, Ianthe’s ability, et cetera—and because of this, I have a strong feeling that the sequel will be even bigger and better than its predecessor, much the way Iron Angel was a significant improvement over Scar Night.

Alan Campbell’s characterization meanwhile, has improved since he wrote The Deepgate Codex, but is still a work-in-progress if the lack of depth and similar narrative voices suffered by Briana Marks and Ianthe are any indication. While both Briana and Ianthe add little of worth to Sea of Ghosts as POVs, Ianthe at least possesses the potential to develop into one of the most important characters in the series if handled correctly. On the other hand, Colonel Thomas Granger and Ethan Maskelyne were a joy to read. Granger in particular, was easy to root for and care about, even if the veteran soldier shares many of the same qualities—pragmatism, wits, luck—as The Black Company’s Croaker, Malazan’s Whiskeyjack and Piper Hecht from The Instrumentalities Of The Night, while the Gravedigger’s reasons for pursuing Ianthe are not very convincing. Ethan Maskelyne in the meantime, is a complex villain endowed with a brilliant intellect, charming arrogance, and homicidal insanity. He believes he is trying to save the world for his family—a wife and infant son—and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. As far as the supporting cast, expect the characters to be one-dimensional and forgettable.

CONCLUSION: Despite a disappointing finale and suffering from some of the same issues that plagued The Deepgate Codex, Alan Campbell’s Sea of Ghosts is a very impressive start to The Gravedigger Chronicles. I was particularly impressed by the significant improvement Alan Campbell has made as a writer, especially compared to his debut novel, Scar Night. In fact, for those yet to read anything by Alan Campbell, I would recommend Sea of Ghosts over The Deepgate Codex, mainly because the new series offers greater appeal than the author’s debut trilogy, while possessing the potential to be more rewarding. From a personal standpoint, I thought Sea of Ghosts was a step down from Alan Campbell’s best novel, Iron Angel, but the book was still a blast to read and I can’t wait to discover what the author has planned for the next volume in The Gravedigger Chronicles...

Liviu's take: As opposed to Robert I am not a fan of the first Alan Campbell series - The Deepgate Codex - despite that it sounded just what I enjoy a lot when announced. I bought the first book on publication but never cared enough to read beyond the first couple of chapters and then I got the second book hoping it will hook me into the series but it never did.

So Sea of Ghosts was a book far from my radar for 2011, but I received an unexpected advanced review copy from Tor.uk last fall and considering Robert's high praise for Mr. Campbell's writing I tried it and overall I liked it better than I expected - for once I read it carefully end to end which is more I could say for many books I open and for another I plan to read its sequel - but I still had some issues that stopped me from fully loving it. Ultimately I think it reduces to the author's style not being fully compatible with my taste, rather than anything so-called objective but here it is:

There were moments I thought the book would break out for me and become a big time favorite and then stuff like caricature villain Hu strutting around - that character is so cartoonish that he kills suspension of disbelief at any appearance - or main serious villain Maskelyne's 2 cents philosophizing and explaining how awesome a bad guy he is, would come and I would be, "not again, these things have been out of date in serious sff for ages now." Actually all the characters in Sea of Ghosts are pure stock with no depth - the frightened but very powerful girl, the "honor, duty, etc, etc" officer relegated by caricature emperor Hu to exile... In addition there were many over the top action sequences that happened because they needed to happen.

Where Sea Ghosts (B from me) shines and the reason I kept reading it, is in the ingenious world building and the unpredictable storyline that kept me curious to see where it goes. There are many goodies in the novel with lots of cool sfnal stuff: Brine Sea - well I will leave you to discover what that is - the Drowned, the whole idea of Multiverse exchange and when you think you get a grip where the author heads, there will come a twist that will make you reconsider, while the ending is excellent and promises a lot for the second volume which I plan to read for sure.

“Deathless” by Catherynne M. Valente (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Official Catherynne M. Valente Website
Order “Deathless” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Review of The Orphan’s Tales HERE (Pt. 1) + HERE (Pt. 2)
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Interview with Catherynne M. Valente

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Catherynne M. Valente is the author of over a dozen books of fiction and poetry including The Labyrinth, The Orphan’s Tales, Palimpsest, The Habitation of the Blessed and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. Her work has been awarded the James Tiptree, Jr., Mythopoeic, Andre Norton, and Lambda Literary Awards, and has also been nominated for a Hugo, World Fantasy, and Locus Award.

ABOUT DEATHLESS: Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne M. Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.

Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei’s beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation...

CLASSIFICATION: Weaving together fairy tales and history, Deathless is kind of like Pan's Labyrinth, if it was told by Hayao Miyazaki and Neil Gaiman. Highly recommended for fans of adult fairy tales, Russian folklore, and Catherynne M. Valente.

FORMAT/INFO: Deathless is 352 pages long divided over a Prologue, six Parts, and thirty numbered/titled chapters. Narration is in the third-person, mostly via the protagonist, Marya Morevna. Deathless is self-contained. March 29, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of Deathless via Tor. Cover artwork is provided by Beth White.

ANALYSIS: As a fan of fairy tales and mythology from around the world, I loved Catherynne M. Valente’s The Orphan’s Tales, which I consider a modern day classic. So when I heard the author was putting her unique stamp on Russian folklore in her latest novel, Deathless, I couldn’t wait to get a copy...

Presented mostly in the form of a fairy tale, Deathless is the story of Marya Morevna, the fourth oldest and fourth prettiest daughter who, at “sixteen years of age, with seventeen’s shadow hanging heavy on her every tear”, meets Koschei the Deathless, who whisks her away to his home in Buyan in the Country of Life. Now, I’m no expert on Russian folklore—in fact, apart from Baba Yaga, I have very little familiarity with Slavic mythology—but what I could gather from researching Koschei online, Deathless remains fairly true to the original tales including Koschei’s death hidden from his body, birds turning into men who marry Marya’s sisters, an Ivan who steals Marya away from Koschei, a role played by Baba Yaga, and Koschei’s fated demise.

Of course, there are plenty of deviations like Koschei depicted as a tragic hero rather than an evil villain; the historical setting, which includes Leningrad during World War II; Ivan and Marya not being brother and sister; and the war between the Tsar of Life and the Tsar of Death. Even with all of the changes made to the original tales however, Catherynne M. Valente manages to keep her novel firmly rooted in Slavic mythology as evidenced by the appearances of domovoi (house imps), leshy (forest imps), vila, rusalka, firebirds, Likho, Viy, Gamayun and more. At the same time, Catherynne M. Valente’s boundless imagination is on full display with a rifle imp and a factory where girls who never age weave lifeless cloth soldiers for battle against the Tsar of Death some of the more inventive material in the novel.

Personally, what I loved most about Deathless was the fairy tale aspect, specifically the author’s frequent use of the “rule of three”: the three birds who turn into men and marry Marya’s three older sisters; the three tasks that Marya must perform in order to gain Baba Yaga’s approval to marry Koschei; the three chyerti friends who aid Marya with her tasks; the three gifts Marya receives from her sisters when she and Ivan are fleeing the Country of Life; and so on. Even when Catherynne M. Valente is not employing the rule of three, most of Deathless still possesses a charming fairy tale-like quality that accounts for much of the novel’s irresistible appeal.

Unfortunately, from the moment the story shifts to Leningrad at the start of Part Four until the book’s conclusion, it felt like I was reading a different novel altogether. The subject matter became darker and more depressing, the pacing waned, and the fairy tale qualities were less enchanting. To top it off, the ambiguous ending was hardly the payoff that I was expecting. Now don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against fairy tales with dark themes, adult content or unhappy endings—on the contrary, I enjoy such tales very much—but in this case, the last three Parts of Deathless just didn’t fit with the rest of the book.

While I may have had issues with the direction and tone of the novel’s final three Parts, I have nothing but praise for Catherynne M. Valente’s writing. Between her evocative and melodic prose, vivid imagination, a genuine passion for the material and bold vision, Catherynne M. Valente’s performance in Deathless was a joy to experience, and one of the main reasons to read the novel:

“Chyerti—that’s us, demons and devils, small and big—are compulsive. We obsess. It’s our nature. We turn on a track, around and around; we march in step; we act out the same tales, over and over, the same sets of motions, while time piles up like yarn under a wheel. We like patterns. They’re comforting. Sometimes little things change—a car instead of a house, a girl not named Yelena. But it’s no different, not really. Not ever. That’s how you get deathless volchitsa. Walk the same tale over and over, until you wear a groove in the world, until even if you vanished, the tale would keep turning, keep playing, like a phonograph, and you’d have to get up again, even with a bullet through your eye, to play your part and say your lines.”

CONCLUSION: If not for faltering towards the end, Catherynne M. Valente’s Deathless could have been another masterpiece like The Orphan’s Tales. Even so, Deathless is still a special novel, one that will no doubt garner award recognition while continuing to expand Catherynne M. Valente’s audience and her reputation as a master storyteller...