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What I Just Finished Reading
The Armored Saint – Myke Cole
Cole’s acknowledgments and “about the author” were so humble and genuine I want to have nicer things to say about this book, but it really stumbled in its final third. To wit: everything in the narrative up to that point emphasized over and over how sadistic and cruel the religious order that governs Cole’s world is, responsible as they are for intimidating the populace with arbitrary torture and arbitrary execution, and mass slaughter of innocents, all in the name of “protecting” the governed from the infernal forces that would be released if any among them practiced magic.
Predictably, a peasant wizard ultimately steps forward to save the young protagonist from torture and execution at the hands of said fanatical religious order. And then...it turns out the fanatical religious order was right. The wizard’s use of magic does open a portal to the pits of hell, out of which emerges a demon that cripples the protagonist and eviscerates her love interest before her eyes, before they're able to reconcile, before said beast is subdued. In other words, the torturing, mass murdering, fanatical religious order was right all along. The intimidation and torture and execution actually is protecting everyone from a fate worse than death.
It’s a jarring narrative dislocation—I won’t say “twist,” because there was precisely zero indication before it happened that this was even a possibility—and it ultimately torpedoes everything that was good about the story leading up to that point. Librarything tells me The Armored Saint is the first volume in a planned series, but I just don’t see how Cole can correct course in future books.
The Devourers – Indra Das
What a powerhouse of a book. This novel gets off to a slow start and Part Two is a slog, but it is worth the effort to trudge through the dross to get to the latter sections. The ending is transcendent. Indra Das, why haven't you published another novel?
The Light Between Worlds – Laura E. Weymouth
Oh boy, did this one go belly up. This novel had so much potential, but Weymouth squandered it by stubbornly refusing to answer any of the intriguing questions at which the plot hints, such as “What is it like to be thrust back into your 11-year-old self after you’ve grown from an 11-year-old girl to a 16-year-old woman while serving on the front lines of a bloody war in a fantasy land you can’t tell anyone—not your parents, not your friends, not the boy you like—about?”
Instead readers get a grab bag of all the go-to YA tropes: self-harm, improbably inept authority figures, half-assed magical elements that never deliver on their promise, and a clumsy ending that’s meant to be poignant but only succeeds in being stunningly callous. Weymouth gives us unexplained magical signals that Evelyn drowns herself when she realizes she can never return to the Woodlands. We get a body--identical to hers save the scars she inflicted through self harm. We get an enigmatic gift given to her sister before her disappearance that mysteriously returns to said sister when she tries to rid herself of it. We get a memorial ceremony at her school when a criminal investigation comes up short, her family gives up hope, and her school decides everyone needs closure.
We get a deus ex machina that brings Evelyn's heartbroken and guilty sister to Weymouth's version of Narnia to learn that lo and behold! Evelyn has found a way back, and she's staying put. "Do what you can to make things easier" for everyone, Evelyn orders her sister, who agrees and then peace-outs. The end.
What a cruel, cruel thing to do to your grieving parents. Your grieving brother. Your grieving boyfriend, your grieving friends, your grieving classmates, your grieving teachers, the police inspectors who tried to bring closure by learning what happened to you...
Sorry, Weymouth, your handwaving can't excuse this crap and Lev Grossman’s The Magicians is a far, far better examination of how clinical depression manifests in a fantasy setting.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Power – Naomi Alderman
Because I needed a palette cleanser after Cole and Weymouth.
What I'm Reading Next
A favorite local bookstore had a Summer ReadingPromotion Program where customers received a $25 cafe voucher with every $50 of books purchased, so I finally purchased a copy of John Crowley's Little, Big and Bridget Collins' The Binding, which I'd first spotted in London. I also snagged (the apparently last copy of) Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns as part of this year’s Banned Book Week scavenger hunt, and I am eager to dig in.
これで以上です。
The Armored Saint – Myke Cole
Cole’s acknowledgments and “about the author” were so humble and genuine I want to have nicer things to say about this book, but it really stumbled in its final third. To wit: everything in the narrative up to that point emphasized over and over how sadistic and cruel the religious order that governs Cole’s world is, responsible as they are for intimidating the populace with arbitrary torture and arbitrary execution, and mass slaughter of innocents, all in the name of “protecting” the governed from the infernal forces that would be released if any among them practiced magic.
Predictably, a peasant wizard ultimately steps forward to save the young protagonist from torture and execution at the hands of said fanatical religious order. And then...it turns out the fanatical religious order was right. The wizard’s use of magic does open a portal to the pits of hell, out of which emerges a demon that cripples the protagonist and eviscerates her love interest before her eyes, before they're able to reconcile, before said beast is subdued. In other words, the torturing, mass murdering, fanatical religious order was right all along. The intimidation and torture and execution actually is protecting everyone from a fate worse than death.
It’s a jarring narrative dislocation—I won’t say “twist,” because there was precisely zero indication before it happened that this was even a possibility—and it ultimately torpedoes everything that was good about the story leading up to that point. Librarything tells me The Armored Saint is the first volume in a planned series, but I just don’t see how Cole can correct course in future books.
The Devourers – Indra Das
What a powerhouse of a book. This novel gets off to a slow start and Part Two is a slog, but it is worth the effort to trudge through the dross to get to the latter sections. The ending is transcendent. Indra Das, why haven't you published another novel?
The Light Between Worlds – Laura E. Weymouth
Oh boy, did this one go belly up. This novel had so much potential, but Weymouth squandered it by stubbornly refusing to answer any of the intriguing questions at which the plot hints, such as “What is it like to be thrust back into your 11-year-old self after you’ve grown from an 11-year-old girl to a 16-year-old woman while serving on the front lines of a bloody war in a fantasy land you can’t tell anyone—not your parents, not your friends, not the boy you like—about?”
Instead readers get a grab bag of all the go-to YA tropes: self-harm, improbably inept authority figures, half-assed magical elements that never deliver on their promise, and a clumsy ending that’s meant to be poignant but only succeeds in being stunningly callous. Weymouth gives us unexplained magical signals that Evelyn drowns herself when she realizes she can never return to the Woodlands. We get a body--identical to hers save the scars she inflicted through self harm. We get an enigmatic gift given to her sister before her disappearance that mysteriously returns to said sister when she tries to rid herself of it. We get a memorial ceremony at her school when a criminal investigation comes up short, her family gives up hope, and her school decides everyone needs closure.
We get a deus ex machina that brings Evelyn's heartbroken and guilty sister to Weymouth's version of Narnia to learn that lo and behold! Evelyn has found a way back, and she's staying put. "Do what you can to make things easier" for everyone, Evelyn orders her sister, who agrees and then peace-outs. The end.
What a cruel, cruel thing to do to your grieving parents. Your grieving brother. Your grieving boyfriend, your grieving friends, your grieving classmates, your grieving teachers, the police inspectors who tried to bring closure by learning what happened to you...
Sorry, Weymouth, your handwaving can't excuse this crap and Lev Grossman’s The Magicians is a far, far better examination of how clinical depression manifests in a fantasy setting.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Power – Naomi Alderman
Because I needed a palette cleanser after Cole and Weymouth.
What I'm Reading Next
A favorite local bookstore had a Summer Reading
これで以上です。
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Do tell! I have that book on my To-Read list; if it is a Banned Book I can read it during Banned Books week, coming up.
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My book club was vaguely talking about The Devourers months ago, but it never really made it into serious consideration land. I’ll have to take a closer look.
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I also discovered this book through the library, and it was one of my better finds in recent years.