Book Review: The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djeli Clarke

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Book, Book Review, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Mythology, P. Djeli Clark, Reading

Now I’m really getting back into the reading spirit!  This 2018 novella is my second story from author P. Djeli Clarke and one that I had been looking forward to for some time now.  This book seemed to be showing up everywhere where it first came out and after really enjoying my last work from this author I knew I had to get it off of my TBR list. 

The magic of the Afrikin gods is part of this city, ma maman used to say, buried in its bones and roots with the slaves that built it…

The story is set in the mid-1880s in an alternate history New Orleans.  Serving as a neutral port between the United States and the Confederacy, the city is a hub of intrigue, trade, and entertainment for people from both sides of the conflict.  It is also a popular destination for citizens of the newly independent Haiti and the Free Islands of the Carribean who won their independence from the colonial powers through the use of superior technology and a powerful, weather altering weapon dubbed the Black God’s Drums that drastically altered the balance of power in the region.  It is here that we are introduced to a teenage street urchin named Creeper who lives in a secluded part of an airship dock. Resourceful and street-smart, Creeper has been touched by Oya, the African Orisha goddess of wind and storms, and often is the beneficiary of her powers in times of need. One day while watching the city, Creeper happens to overhear a conversation between a Creole man and a group of Confederate officers.  It seems a Haitian scientist is conspiring to sell weapons technology to the Confederacy, a potentially deadly development for all involved given it catastrophic side effects. Feeling the need to act, Creeper seeks to enlist the help of the Midnight Robber, an airship under the command of the famed pirate Captain Ann-Marie and a pair of Sisters of the Holy Family to prevent a tragic loss of life.

I loved this!  The story hit so many of the right notes for me I’m not sure where to even start singing its praises.  New Orleans is a fantastic, magical place in our real world, but this book succeeded in making it even moreso in a way that felt authentic to the city.  I really enjoyed the way the author mixed in the essential parts of the city’s experience, everything from the local culture, dangerous storms, and revelry, with the more supernatural elements and African mythology.  The aesthetics of this story were also quite engaging, offering a mesmerizing balance of cool and terrifying devices and imagery. Right from the start the author invoked a steampunk vibe with descriptions of a dock teeming with gas lamps and airships before moving into the darker territory of weapons of mass destruction and the gas masks used in the Confederate States to create docile slaves.  On this note, I really liked how the technology fit seamlessly into the historical and cultural context of the story, making it feel all the more real.

What brought these ideas to life, however, were the fantastic characters.  The two mains, Creeper and Captain Ann-Marie were real standouts for me. Creeper was a fun and resourceful person to follow, and the ways in which she was guided by and interacted with the piece of Oya within her gave her a depth that went well beyond her years.  Ann-Marie was likewise fascinating, fully capable of all the carousing and fighting one might expect from a pirate captain, but also with an unexpected depth that made her really memorable as well. Although they had a relatively minor part in terms of page time, I can’t leave the two nuns out of this review.  Curiously well connected and supplied, they offered some formidable aid to Creeper and Ann-Marie in their quest.

Put them all together and these elements made for one fascinating story that every bit lived up to my expectations.  The ideas, world building, and characters were all top notch and I could easily have spent another 300-400 pages more in this world.  That the author wove in an exciting blend of history, mythology, and steampunk imagery made it all the better for me. I am definitely adding more of his works to my priority reading queue and I recommend you all consider doing the same.

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Halloween Double Feature: The Damned Highway: Fear and Loathing in Arkham, by Nick Mamatas and Brian Keene

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Blogoween, Blogtober, Book, Book Review, Brian Keene, Cthulhu, Fear and Loathing, H.P. Lovecraft, Halloween, Horror, Hunter S. Thompson, Nick Mamatas, Politics, Reading

Welcome to my second annual BeerRantsAndBooks Halloween Double Feature!  I had so much fun with this last year that I decided to do it again. Just like last time, my first post of the day is a book review and later on this evening I’ll share a beer with you.  I don’t recall exactly how I came across this title, but once I saw it I knew I found my Halloween book. Written by Nick Mamatas and Brian Keene, described in-world as an “avowed communist” and “vicious libertarian,” respectively, the story is an occult homage to Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas that drops everyone’s favorite Doctor of Journalism into the universe of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Set in the early months of 1972, the book opens with our fictional Hunter Thompson holed up in his Colorado compound furiously typing away into the night and cursing the fame and attention drawn to him by that “Las Vegas book” and “comic strip” (Doonesbury) that borrowed his likeness.  Inspired by strange noises outside his door and the realization that the American Dream has died, he assumes the alias Uncle Lono and sets off on a new journey in search of the great American Nightmare.  Among the forces standing in his way are nothing less the the cults of Moloch and Cthulhu, the Nixon youth, mutant townies, J. Edgar Hoover, the Deep Ones themselves, and some really powerful hallucinogenic mushrooms from Yuggoth.  And then things get weird.

I had a fantastic time reading this!  A big part of this experience was surely based on the authors doing an excellent job channeling Hunter’s voice and running monologue.  They were clearly familiar with his works and heavily referenced a wide range of things he had written by the time the story takes place.  My one criticism here is that they were maybe a bit over reliant on a few of his sayings throughout the book, but on the whole I’d say they nailed it.  The book was packed full of amazing quotes and rants, almost all of which were unfortunately too long to suitably excerpt here. Another highlight of this story for me was seeing Lono’s infamous attorney burst into the scene right as the Lovecraftian references started to really pick up.  He brought with him an entirely other level of energy and intensity to a book that, despite some really dark and bizarre moments, was a hilariously wild ride that more successfully merged these two worlds than one might think possible.

Again, I can’t say enough just what an incredibly entertaining read this was and don’t think I could have asked for a better book to review on Halloween!  I would definitely recommend it to any Hunter Thompson fan looking for a bit of a twist.

Book Review: Everfair, by Nisi Shawl

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Africa, Book, Book Review, Congo, Everfair, Historical Fiction, History, Nisi Shawl, Reading, Steampunk

This next book was written in 2016 by Nisi Shawl, an African-American writer whose literary focus centers upon science fiction and fantasy works that examine issues involving race, gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status.  Her first full length novel, what we have here is a steampunk inspired historical fiction about the Belgian Congo.

For anyone unfamiliar with this part of history, the real-life events that inspired this book occurred between 1885 and 1908 in a Central African colony called the Congo Free State.  Under the direct rule of Belgian King Leopold II, the colony was the scene of some of the worst atrocities of the day as the local population was brutally subjugated (even by contemporary standards) to maximize profits from the area’s abundant supply of natural rubber.  Reports of widespread killings and mutilation within the colony led to international outrage, forcing Leopold to ultimately turn control of the colony over to the Belgian Parliament in 1908. Spanning the years 1889 through 1919, Everfair looks at what might have happened if outside forces played an earlier and more direct role in opposing Leopold’s actions.  In this world, an alliance of wealthy Fabian Socialists from England and black Christian missionaries from the United States have joined forces to purchase territory in the Congo where they establish the nation of Everfair upon shared egalitarian principles.  The country’s position is tenuous, however, as war quickly breaks out with Leopold’s remaining forces and the new nation is pushed into an alliance with King Mwenda, a powerful local ruler intent on reclaiming his land from European invaders. Although their combined forces may have superior numbers and technology, the real test of Everfair’s endurance will be its ability to overcome internal divisions caused by the differing world views of its three main factions.

I found the premise and scale of this novel absolutely fascinating.  It offered an intriguing look at a particularly horrible part of history and did so in a manner that seamlessly fit Everfair into the real-world historical context.  I particularly liked how the author crossed the globe to look at how events in other countries affected decisions made in Everfair and how she incorporated other contemporary issues into the story, most notably the build-up to WWI and the spread of pandemic disease across trade routes.  Complementing this were a variety of steampunk elements and aesthetics that really enhanced the story in ways that felt quite natural.  Everything from the motorbikes and airships that gave Everfair an early military advantage to the mechanical prosthetics used by mutilated former slaves had a clear place and purpose in setting the tone of the book.  Finally, I found the theme of people with good intentions and common interests becoming divided when they don’t take the time to understand each other’s perspectives particularly interesting and relevant to today’s world.

Where I wish the story offered a bit more, however, was in how the reader was able to relate to its characters.  Given the expansive scope of the novel, I couldn’t help but feel that perhaps it was a bit too ambitious for a single 380 page book.  It often skipped months if not years between alternating POV chapters and at times I found it difficult to keep track of when and where the action was without skipping back to the chapter header.  Also, with so much jumping around I wasn’t sure at first which people to get most invested in and even when I did, it was hard to get too personally involved with them. While I really enjoyed the main arcs involving the relationship between Lisette Toutournier and her lover Daisy Albin and the politics of King Mwenda’s tensions with Everfair’s settlers, having spent such an irregular amount of time with these characters it was hard to get invested in their stories beyond just reading the facts of what happened at a particular snapshot in time.

Having said all that, I don’t want to end this review on a negative note since, criticisms aside, I enjoyed the book. I liked where the author was coming from with this story and thought she offered up some truly interesting and thought-provoking perspectives.  If anything, I wish I had more of an immersion into this world beyond the glimpses we were given.

Book Review: Children of Earth and Sky, by Guy Gavriel Kay

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Book Review, Books, Fantasy, Guy Gavriel Kay, Historical Fiction, History, Reading

This book had been on my library wait list for so long I forgot exactly how I came across it.  What I do know is that I had really been looking forward to it; I’d been wanting to get into another historical fiction and I had heard a lot of great things about this author.

Set in a fictional world based on Renaissance-era Europe roughly 25 years after the conquest of Constantinople, the events of the novel are shaped by two particular conflicts.  The larger and most influential of these conflicts is the ongoing religious strife between the Jad-worshipping countries of the west and the Osmanli empire in the east.  Looming over the events of the book is a large Osmanli army marching westward with the intent to capture key fortresses from a powerful Jaddite emperor.  The secondary conflict is that the prosperous merchant city of Seressa is trying to gain support in wiping out the Senjans, a formidable band of raiders preying upon ships bound for Seressini ports.  These conflicts unfold and are explored through the lives and adventures of four main point of view characters; Pero Villani, a struggling artist from Seressa, Danica Gradek, a Senjan raider, Damaz, a young Osmanli foot soldier, and Merin Djivo, a merchant from Dubrava, a smaller trade-based city and semi-rival to Seressa.  As their lives and work thrust them into these great events, each character is taken on an adventure that will forever change their lives.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and thought it was well worth the wait.  The world depicted within was beautifully complex, believable, and populated by a host of interesting characters.  There was a lot of warmth, adventure, and mysticism relayed through the telling of this story that really drew me in.  I also had fun piecing together the real-world locations fictionalized in this narrative.  I will admit though that I’d never heard of the uskoks, Croatian raiders that operated in the Adriatic Sea, who served as the inspiration for the Senjans, nor did I realize that the Jaddite emperor’s domain was based on a Prussian court (thank you author’s notes).  You didn’t really need to know any of this to enjoy the story, but I appreciated having a mental map and additional context to work with even though the name changes freed me from worrying too much about how events fit into the actual historical record.  For these kinds of books I like to do outside research either during or after my reading, and certain types of inconsistencies can bother me and detract from the experience.  This fictionalized world also allowed the author to introduce a few fantasy elements into the story without them seeming out-of-place or forced.  I thought these were a nice touch as they added an extra element of wonder and mystery to the world and were applied quite sparingly so as not to drastically reshape or alter the larger narrative.

Having completed this book I am now quite interested in reading more from Guy Gavriel Kay.  While it might not fit snugly in either the fantasy or historical fiction genres, I enjoyed the writing style, subject matter, characters, and most of all, the story.

Book Review: The Pride of Carthage, by David Anthony Durham

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Book Review, Carthage, David Anthony Durham, History, Pride of Carthage, Roman Empire

I am on a bit of a reading spree and have another book to share.  I was looking for something to pass the time until some library holds came through and happened upon The Pride of Carthage, by David Anthony Durham.  Published in 2005, this is a historical fiction written about Hannibal Barca and the events of the Second Punic War, fought between Carthage and Rome from 218 to 201 BC.  I really don’t need to worry about spoilers do I?

The novel opened on the Iberian peninsula with Hannibal and his army preparing to take the city of Saguntum, a Roman ally isolated in Carthaginian controlled territory.  After a prolonged siege, Hannibal’s forces prevail and in short order Rome issues its formal declaration of war.  From here on out the book is the story of that war, largely from Hannibal’s perspective.  It covered Hannibal’s famed overland march from Iberia to Italy; a journey in which his army of 100,000 soldiers marched over the Pyrenees, through territory held by war-like tribes of Gauls, and finally up and over the Alps to wage war on Roman soil.  We are then given accounts of some of the key battles in Italy before concluding the story with Hannibal’s defeat.

Rather than present only the historical record, the book also sought to portray the thoughts and feelings of the people involved in the conflict.  While Hannibal was the main focus of the book, it also spent a significant amount of time on the military campaigns of his brothers and the lives of his sister and wife through whom we get a glimpse of how the war is perceived back in Carthage.  Later on, we are given more of the Roman perspective as Publius Scipio becomes a point of view character as well.  Woven into the larger narrative there was also a storyline involving the lives of a rank and file soldier named Imco Vacca and a camp follower named Aradna.

While on the whole I liked the book, I do think it had a few flaws.  Perhaps the biggest thing for me was that it was difficult to get a sense of the timeline or scope of the story.  I do not recall any specific dates being mentioned, and often more minor points would get just as much page time as major events.  I also found myself wishing that visual aids had been included.  There were times a map of the local region or a depiction of battle formations would have enhanced the experience for the reader.  I really get into stuff like that and was minorly disappointed to not have any of that in the book.  

To supplement for this, I started looking up information about certain events, locations, and battles from other sources.  In doing so I uncovered a number of (not entirely unexpected) historical inaccuracies in the book.  To be clear, I understand this is a necessity in telling a story like this and the author makes it explicitly clear in his acknowledgments at the end that some things are purposefully done for the sake of clarity and brevity in the story.  However,the decision to take certain liberties with the Barca family tree and some other historical figures did throw me off a bit once I became aware of them, mostly due to my interest in getting further into the actual events.

I was also not entirely sold on the development and depth of the book’s cast.  While the author did a good enough job describing people and locations, he didn’t quite do enough to give the reader a chance to get into characters’ heads.  I felt that they came across as fairly one-dimensional and many references were made too much with a modern reader in mind, making it harder to get a real sense of the historic context.  Also, while I did appreciate the idea of including the perspective of everyday characters, the story of Aradna and Imco Vacca never developed in a way that added anything interesting or meaningful to the overall narrative.  It felt like filler for space that could have been put to better use, like a point of view section from one of Hannibal’s political opponents in the Carthaginian government.

Fairly or not I couldn’t help but compare the book in my mind to different historical fiction that I think skewed my view of this one.  Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series, a seven book masterpiece spanning the years 110 – 27 BC, provided in abundance the things I wish had been included in this novel.  It offered numerous maps, battle diagrams, and an extensive reference section complete with a huge glossary and footnotes to explain terms, concepts, and mention how certain sections were compiled based upon her research.  Taking advantage of all these extras, McCullough also incorporated a lot of Roman terms and phrases in ways that really helped the reader jump into the world through her expertly crafted and fully fleshed-out characters.  This made for a much denser and more in depth read, but also one that I found significantly more satisfying.

My criticisms aside, I did have fun reading this book and was able to enjoy it for what it was.  That I have an interest in the subject matter was surely a key part of that, but I did appreciate the light and easy to read style in which it was written.  While I wasn’t blown away, the novel was interesting and I had no problems getting through the nearly 600 pages in short order.  While I can’t wholeheartedly recommend this in light of my criticisms above, I wouldn’t warn anyone to stay away either; it really depends on what you’re looking for in the genre.  If you prefer to keep things light, keep this book in mind.  If you prefer something a bit more dense and detailed, I’d say skip this and go check out that Colleen McCullough series.