Audiobook Review: Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone

Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone

Genre: (Urban) Fantasy
Series:  The Craft Sequence #2
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: October 29, 2013
Author Info: www.maxgladstone.com

Wendy's Rating: 4 of 5 stars: I never thought I'd love books where lawyers and big corporations are the (sort of) good guys.

The god wars effected Max Gladstone's incredibly rich world in many ways. In the first book in The Craft Sequence, Three Parts Dead, we learned about the death of a warrior goddess and what the hollow form that remained after her resurrection meant to those who loved and worshiped her in Alt Coloumb. Two Serpents Rise takes us over to the desert city of Dresediel Lex, where the storm god was defeated, and water is now supplied by Red King Consolidated.

Caleb Altemoc works for RKC. His first task in the book is to investigate the poisoning of that water supply. And by poisoning, I mean someone infested it with sharp, pointy demons. Aside from that inconvenience, he has to deal with the fact that the number one suspect is his own father, a former high priest of the deposed gods, now a terrorist. And Mal, an enigmatic and beautiful cliff runner who is almost impossible for Caleb to catch. Oh and the giant hungry serpent gods who are threatening to wake up.

You don't necessarily have to read 3PD, but it does help establish the world and the way gods and worship work, which is what I fell in love with about this series. Gladstone's gods serve an actual purpose, as in, a storm god keeps the reservoirs filled, while a god of fire heats a city and a goddess of war defends it. Their power is not limitless, though. They require worship and faith, and in the case of the old gods of DL, they required sacrifice. RKC brought an end to this, but if you're going to depose a god that waters the desert, then you better know how to bring the rain.

I never thought I'd love books where lawyers and big corporations are the (sort of) good guys. 3PD followed a lawyer's investigations into the death of a god, while Caleb is a risk assessment manager with a penchant for gambling. I love the way Gladstone works in the intricate details of business plans, mergers and contracts literally signed in blood, combining it all with his unique form of magic, the Craft. The use of Craft takes an interesting twist through Caleb, who is no Craftsman, but thanks to his dear old dad, is not without ways to defend himself.

I love the world of the Craft Sequence. It is so thrilling and unique that I simply refuse to try to categorize it into the many fantasy sub-genres others try to poke it into. I love that, thus far, the stories are separate enough from each other than I can hope for many more adventures from different aspects of this world, including points of view from the gods themselves.

On the downside, I listened to this as a very disappointing audiobook. I love the Craft Sequence enough to tolerate it, but the narrator was not particularly good with pacing and inflection at the right times. He often sounded like he was whining when the character just wanted to make a point. And worst of all, many of the characters, particularly the females with whom Caleb often had lengthy conversations, sounded much like Caleb, making things very confusing. For this reason, the characters weren't as compelling and endearing as they should have been.

Story: 4 of 5 stars

Narration: 1.5 of 5 stars

Waiting on Wednesday 10/09/13

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can't wait to get our hands on!

Mogsy's Pick

Heartwood by Freya Robertson: October 29, 2013 (Angry Robot) 

Angry Robot has a lot of upcoming titles that interest me, and this is just one of many. And what's pretty cool, is I just found out on Freya Robertson's website that she loves Guild Wars 2, one of my favorite MMOs! Looking forward to checking out her epic fantasy!

"A dying tree, a desperate quest, a love story, a last stand.

Chonrad, Lord of Barle, comes to the fortified temple of Heartwood for the Congressus peace talks, which Heartwood’s holy knights have called in an attempt to stave off war in Anguis. But the Arbor, Heartwood’s holy tree, is failing, and because the land and its people are one, it is imperative the nations try to make peace.

After the Veriditas, or annual Greening Ceremony, the Congressus takes place. The talks do not go well and tempers are rising when an army of warriors emerges from the river. After a fierce battle, the Heartwood knights discover that the water warriors have stolen the Arbor’s heart. For the first time in history, its leaves begin to fall...

The knights divide into seven groups and begin an epic quest to retrieve the Arbor, and save the land."

Wendy's Pick

Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone: October 24, 2013 (Tor)

I recently read the first book in Gladstone's Craft Sequence series, Three Parts Dead, and was so fascinated by the world of Craft, law and religion that he created. I can't wait to see what else goes on in this unique realm.

Shadow demons plague the city reservoir, and Red King Consolidated has sent in Caleb Altemoc — casual gambler and professional risk manager — to cleanse the water for the sixteen million people of Dresediel Lex. At the scene of the crime, Caleb finds an alluring and clever cliff runner, crazy Mal, who easily outpaces him.

But Caleb has more than the demon infestation, Mal, or job security to worry about when he discovers that his father — the last priest of the old gods and leader of the True Quechal terrorists — has broken into his home and is wanted in connection to the attacks on the water supply.

From the beginning, Caleb and Mal are bound by lust, Craft, and chance, as both play a dangerous game where gods and people are pawns. They sleep on water, they dance in fire... and all the while the Twin Serpents slumbering beneath the earth are stirring, and they are hungry.

Book Review: Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone

Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone

Genre: Magic, Fantasy
Series: Craft Sequence #1
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: October 2012
Author Info: maxgladstone.com

Think of a law firm like Angel’s Wolfram and Hart, only with far more history and a solid framework and magical processes and fantastic depositions that take place on the astral plane.

4 of 5 stars

Three Parts Dead is a unique tale that combines religion, magic and law in a world so very different from our own. It begins with the murder of a judge, the death of a god and Tara Abernathy, a skilled young Craftswoman, unceremoniously graduated from the Hidden Schools and ejected from their skybound walls. With no other choice left to her, Tara returns to her quiet farming village, but in an effort to help the villagers after a brutal attack, reveals her Craft and incurs their wrath. What did she expect would happen when she raises the dead? Fortunately, she is saved by Ms. Kevarian, a senior lawyer at Kelethras, Albrecht and Ao who offers Tara a job as her associate.

Gladstone casually throws the reader into this strange world. Tara nonchalantly raising the dead, the inconvenience of a dead god within the walls of Alt Coloumb. Ms. Kevarian’s unusual interview process. The carefree rescue by vampire pirates. This makes it sound all very comedic, but in fact, the story is woven together and the mysteries teased out so intricately that it was hard not to keep reading straight through to unravel all there is to know about Alt Coloumb, Craft, the gods, The Hidden Schools and everything in between.

One of the most fascinating bits of lore building is the religion, and the gods themselves. The main god of interest is Kos Everburning, who happens to be dead. The religious aspect is extremely practical in this story in that prayer actually does serve a purpose. The gods are fuelled by worship and sacrifice, but they are not simply all powerful beings sitting on some Olympic throne. The ones in question actually are benevolent and willingly give of their power back to the people in pragmatic ways. From steam pipes heated with Kos’s own fire, to bolstering city defences. Though you never get to meet and know the gods, you do learn how much they love and care for their people.

Secondly, there is the Craft. Where the gods use their own magic, certain men and women are gifted with the ability to channel the power of the earth and stars. Tara and Ms. Kevarian use these abilities in their attempt to find out how Kos Everburning died, his connection to the judge and more.

Initially, Tara appears rather immature in her use of Craft, though not in her skills as a lawyer. She is just recently graduated from The Hidden Schools, though the circumstances of her graduation are unusual. For her to be taken on by such a renown law firm implies that there is far more to her and when placed in the right environment, her expertise becomes quite evident. While there are a lot of legalities to deal with, it is not overwhelming or confusing and I loved the way Craft was ingrained into the process. Think of a law firm like Angel’s Wolfram and Hart, only with far more history and a solid framework and magical processes and fantastic depositions that take place on the astral plane.

Tara is surrounded by several other interesting characters, including a junkie, a gargoyle and a pirate captain and the novice priest who was present when Kos died. Each character seems to be created to fit into a certain mould, but Gladstone subtly and pleasantly surprises. Similarly, the setting does not fall into anything that can be pinned down. The fashion, locations and language make Alt Coloumb seem like a city we might easily recognize, yet there is a grandiose and profound feel to the stone buildings, a Victorian element to the horse drawn carriages and travel by pirate ship. I am so very intrigued by this world and am looking forward to further adventures within it.

Wendy's Book Haul: Blame it on Mogsy

*Somebody* who may or may not have already been named in the post title gushed about Stormdancer and happened to mention that it was available at BookCloseOuts. Of course I can't just get one book from there - have to justify that shipping cost! BookCloseOuts kindly obliged by recommending Three Parts Dead, which I grabbed along with my favourite "parenting" book, NurtureShock.

But this (not) said person didn't stop there! Promise of Blood is on sale for only $1.99, she tweeted, and Amazon, with its sly, seductive ways, guided my cursor to the one-click buy button. But wait! There's more! Throne of Glass was a good price and you might as well get the sequel, Crown of Midnight, she said, and then there was all her gushing about the Riyria books, so I had to check out Theft of Swords...

Cover Lover: #DiversityinSFF

Today's cover lover is inspired by the hashtag #DiversityinSFF.

In Conversations with Octavia Butler, my favourite author explains to her various interviewers that, when she began writing science fiction, the genre was dominated by 30 year old white male protagonists. Initially, she attempted to follow suit, but decided her work was crap. When she embraced a more diverse world and universe, an inspirational award winning author was born.

As a person of colour myself, I don’t actively hunt down books by PoC authors or featuring PoC characters, but it certainly makes me happy when I do find them. A new favourite  author, N.K. Jemisin inspired me to pick up and subsequently love love love her book, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, largely thanks to this quote:

This [fantasy] genre is rooted in the epic — and the truth is that there are plenty of epics out there which feature people like me. [...] So given all these myths, all these examinations of the possible...how can I not imagine more? How can I not envision an epic set somewhere other than medieval England, about someone other than an awkward white boy? How can I not use every building-block of my history and heritage and imagination when I make shit up?

But sometimes, all it takes is a cover to immediately attract my attention. I’m a sucker for a beautiful, vibrant, stunning cover and I most recently fell for the beautiful, vibrant, stunning ladies on the covers of these books.

Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone is now high on my to-read list, and you may have already seen Ascension: A Tangled Axon Novel a few times here at BiblioSanctum. Ascension’s diversity goes far beyond skin deep and impressed me so much that I had to interview author Jacqueline Koyanagi to learn more.

There is a growing number of books about and being told by diverse people. These are merely the two that recently caught my eye. Science fiction and fantasy, of all genres, give us the opportunity to step so far away from our prejudices, and I'm really glad to see authors (and now publishers) finally realizing that there is more to our world and beyond than stories about 30 year old white guys.