Catchup 2023

[mtvessel]

I'm way behind again, so here's a roundup of the lighter books from last year.


Mar 2023
The Apocalypse Codex – Charles Stross – Orbit, 2012
* * *
A good outing in the Laundry series, this one involves an American preacher who is brainwashing the British prime minister for nefarious purposes. I'd like to say that it's satire, but it seems so plausible. Our hero Bob Howard is sent to the USA to stop him, accompanied by Persephone Hazard, a witch, and her sidekick McTavish. The usual world-ending Lovecraftian monstrosities are present, but by far the most horrific thing is the week of management training that Bob is subjected to before he goes. I would have resigned on the spot.

Mar 2023
Black Sun - Rebecca Roanhorse– Solaris, 2020
* * *
I might have liked this one better if it had had a map. It's a serviceable fantasy about a holy city about to experience a solar eclipse at the winter solstice, a conjunction which the ruling sun-priests have declared will be significant. The cultural referents were meso-American rather than standard European pseudo-medieval, and the main characters - Naranpa, a harrassed priestess, Xiala, a sailor from a despised race, and Serapio, a young man brought up to be a prophet, were well-delineated, but the plot was mostly concerned with religious politicking (my least favourite sort) and with getting the protagonists together in time for the foretold event (and the inevitable sequels). There was rather too much grimdarkness, too.

Apr 2023
The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley - Sean Lusk – Penguin, 2022
* * *
This is a perfectly respectable eighteenth century historical novel starring Abel Cloudesley, a maker of clockwork automata, and his son Zachary, who has visions of the future and can divine people's thoughts by touching them. It has some strong secondary characters and LGBTQ representation, but there are pacing issues, the fantastical elements are inconsequential, and the present tense prose style, while perfectly adequate, doesn't hold a candle to Hilary Mantell's.

Apr 2023
Shorefall - Robert Jackson Bennett – Jo Fletcher Books, 2020
* *
A disappointing follow-up to Foundryside, this book makes the cardinal error of upping the ante rather too much. The magical elements spiral off into god games in which powerful heirophants duke it out for control of the city of Tevanne, with our hapless heroes Sancia, Gregor, Orso and Berenice caught in the middle. It's good to spend more time with them, but things get apocalyptically epic far too soon.

May 2023
Master of Djinn - P. Djeli Clark - Orbit, 2021
* * * *
A welcome return to the world of A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 015 this book shows the benefits of the novel's longer form in giving the plot, setting and people space to breathe. There is some proper character development, particularly for protagonist Fatma, and the 1920s post-colonial steampunk Egyptian setting (in which the British have been thrown out by the powers of the djinn) is nicely elaborated. The plot, which starts with the massacre of a secret society of white supremacists by an ifrit under the control of someone claiming to be al-Jahiz, the legendary opener of the way that allowed the djinn to enter this world, is perhaps not the most original, but it's all good fun.

July 2023
The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman – Penguin, 2021
* * * *
If you watch TV at all, it is quite likely that you will have seen the author, who has been a ubiquitous presence on quizzes and panel shows over the last few years (and now co-presents one of my favourite podcasts, The Rest is Entertainment). He comes across as clever, urbane and amusing so it is perhaps not surprising that this book is as well. While I don't think it will be on anyone's list of great literature, as novels written by moderately famous celebrities go, it is far better than it has any right to be.

The setting is Coopers Chase, an idyllic retirement park in rural Suffolk where four people - Joyce, an ex-nurse, trade union leader Ron, psychiatrist Ibrahim, and Elizabeth, whose former career is hush-hush - have formed the Thursday Murder Club in which they talk about cold cases from the files of Elizabeth's friend Penny, a policewoman. When a local builder is murdered, the four do their own investigations. Much to the annoyance of PC Donna De Freitas and her boss, the portly DCI Chris Hudson.

As you might expect there is plenty of humour derived from wily older people getting the better of villains and authority figures, and the economics of care homes and the many troubles of old age are touched on, but lightly. The plot proceeds by repeatedly setting up a suspect but then revealing evidence that incriminates someone else, so there is not a lot for the reader to puzzle out, but the witty dialogue and allusive descriptions make it a surprisingly satisfying read. Osman is a man of many talents and it appears that comic crime writing is one of them.

Sep 2023
The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue - V.E. Schwab - Titan Books, 2020
* *
Somewhat disappointing. It has an interesting basic idea - a feminist variation on Faust in which an eighteenth century French peasant girl, fleeing an arranged marriage, makes a deal with one of "the gods that answer after dark" that she can be free to make her own choices for as long as she wants in return for her soul when she has finally had enough. As with all Mephistophelean pacts, there is a catch - Addie finds that no-one can remember her for more than a day, and anything that she tries to do magically undoes itself, leaving her with all the freedom she could desire but no way of leaving a mark on the world. After 300 years, she is considering finally giving the devil his due, but then she meets Henry, who can remember her. However the being with which Addie made the pact, whom she calls Luc, is still checking up on her, and will not let her get away so easily.

This is all fine and good, but the book is way too long given that the basic setup requires the protagonist to be essentially agentless, ensnared in a set of magical rules over which she has no control. The only possible plot developments revolve around Addie's interactions with the two people, Henry and Luc, who can remember her, making it a Bechdel test fail. Also Addie's relationship with Luc has more than a whiff of Stockholm Syndrome to it and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Sep 2023
The Twyford Code – Janice Hallett – Serpent's Tail, 2022
* * *
I thought that the title of this book would relate to the village of Twyford in Buckinghamshire where a friend of mine grew up, but in fact it's the name of a fictional wartime children's author whose books allegedly have hidden meanings. The story is told as a series of voice recordings by a small time crook called Steven, recently released after a long stint in prison, who has reading difficulties and still struggles with writing. He is obsessed with a traumatic incident that occurred when he was a teenager, when his remedial English teacher, Miss Isles, disappeared during a school trip to Edith Twyford's home, and about which his ex-classmates seem curiously close-mouthed.

The puzzle is ingeniously twisty (let's just say that the author has clearly read Umberto Eco) and has a satisfying ending, but takes a little long to get there. The repeated mis-transliterations by the automated transcription software (Miss Isles is referred to as "missiles" throughout) become tiresome, acting as they do as a constant reminder that this is a constructed novel with characters with whom it is difficult to sympathise since you cannot really know what they are thinking. That said, this is not quite like any other mystery that I have read before, so full marks for originality. I'll probably try another book by the author if one comes along.

Nov 2023
Three Parts Dead – Max Gladstone – Tor Books, 2012
* * *
The first book in the Craft sequence, the chief draw is the magic system which takes the idea of power arising from contracts with gods and runs with it. A disgraced student called Tara is taken under the wing of Elayne Kavarian, a Craftswoman, and investigates the mysterious death of Kos, a fire god who powered the city of Alt Coulumb. With the help of Abelard, a priest of Kos, and Catherine, a servant of Justice (another god), they discover nefarious goings on while facing opposition from Tara's ex-tutor Denovo, who is representing Kos' creditors. The female characters are good and the parallels with company contract law are nicely done, giving the case a fantasy John Grisham feel. However the gods didn't come across as very godly and the setting is a somewhat generic steampunk creation.