Escape into the dark
CF Iggulden’s sword-fighting debut is one of the best fantasies of the year.
Those wanting to think about wealth inequality ahead of the general election – as well as magic and sword fights – should look no further: CF Iggulden, the master of historical fiction, has produced his first and hopefully not his last fantasy. DARIEN: Empire of Salt (Penguin Random House, $30) is set in a horse-and-cart time where bullets exist, yet many trust only sword fighting.
Doctors can make the dead rise and dance, but an empire must also be judged on its villagers’ health – and most of them have rotted away.
We meet a hunter dying of plague, a disgraced swordsman embroiling a mute lad in petty vengeance, a mage who thinks himself powerful and a woman with the ability to ruin them all.
This has to be one of the best fantasies of the year, with magic so sparsely placed that you wonder if it’s make-believe. One niggle is the distracting lack of logic shown by the story’s female characters. But on the whole, a deeply enjoyable, dark piece of escapism.
“A god is whatever can’t be reached.” BRIGHT AIR BLACK
(Text Publishing, $29.99) is David Vann’s version of Jason and the Argonauts’ escape from Colchis. It is a feminist take on the famous mythology from the perspective of the sorceress Medea, but knowledge of this Greek myth is necessary, as Bright Air Black’s prose is so lyrical it can disorient.
The story opens with Medea and her lover, Jason, escaping her father by boat with a crew of foreigners. She is dropping segments of her brother’s body into the ocean to delay her father’s wrath, licking blood off flesh to horrify the Argonauts. Medea is trying to become a god – safe and untouched. These men she travels with kill competitively; Medea kills for safety and to hide all weakness.
The danger of living as a woman among men must be written about, but be warned that the gore in this tale can be hard to stomach. For those who feel Game of Thrones isn’t savage enough, this may be the adventure for you.
Female researchers saving the world from supernatural forces should be its own genre – THE RISE AND FALL OF D.O.D.O.
(Harper-Collins, $36.99), by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, picks up this reassuring trope and runs with it.
Melisande is a polyglot working for a shadowy organisation with the charming Tristan. Her work is confidential, even to her, yet every historical text she translates refers to magic.
She can’t think why the organisation D.O.D.O. needs this information or why it has that stupid acronym.
The coexistence of science fiction and supernaturalism in this novel is linked to Schrödinger’s cat paradox. Although convoluted, this results in an enjoyably unique take on time travel – with hopefully no cats harmed.
Historical elements are well handled, but the pseudoscience is cumbersome. The slipstream genre and characters’ wit are reminiscent of Jasper Fforde’s work.
It’s an intimidating book size-wise, but its pace will cause you to forget that entirely as you sit back and enjoy the ride.