Mistworld is a planet under siege. The only thing
preventing them falling to utter destruction at the hands of the empire is a
psychic shield and some rusting, cobbled together technology. But the empire is
patient and resourceful and is constantly looking at ways round Mistworld’s
defences – and sometimes, one of their weapons gets through.
The inhabitants of Mistworld already have a hard time
surviving on the chaotic world, with little law, few resources, bleak
conditions and technology that dwindles with every harsh year, life is already
a struggle. The empire’s machinations could drive them over the edge.
My first note has to be on the genre of this book. When I
was emailed and asked to review this it was heavily implied that the book was
dark fantasy… I had my doubts but I’ve read and liked the author before so didn’t
need much convincing. It’s not an accurate genre description – this leans more
sci-fi than anything else: with strong dystopian elements and a dash of the
mystical in the form of psychics (or espers).
I think this book is a perfect example of “gritty”.
Actual gritty – not Grimdark. So this means that we have some very real
characters, they’re not perfect or shiny or super special, but they’re very
human. And they’ve been put in a very hard situation, it’s not a fluffy story,
it’s not a friendly world setting, life is hard and they know it and act
accordingly. But it doesn’t cross the line to throwing in endless gore and rape
and random horrors just to convince us how DARK AND HORRIBLE it all is.
So we have Mistworld. A world that is independent from the huge and dictatorial empire, though the empire is not very happy about the fact and does have a pretty extreme response to anyone who makes them unhappy. Mistworld maintains its independence in part by having a large number espers – people with special powers – who have flocked to Mistworld because the empire isn’t very accepting of them.
Of course, they’re under permanent blockade and Mistworld
itself isn’t exactly hospital or brimming with resources and what little they
have requires smugglers to bring it in; their technology is obsolete and held
together with duct tape and chewing gum. This is all shown very well – there’s
some telling, but it’s more their daily experiences and views, like being
unable to afford to pave roads any more, to plastic being seen as an incredible
luxury, to characters being unused to the glare of electric lights
This alone would create a fascinating setting, but on top
of that we have a large cast of characters that are very real and very realised
– all of these characters bringing extremely different viewpoint from the
different structures of the society. We have the aging hero who helped build
the society from its independence, we have the corrupt – but not TOO corrupt –
councillor working hard to do his best (though a little lining his pocket). The
on-the-edge fence who just wants to get by and all these life-or-death-the-planet-is-at-risk
are a little beyond her. Or there’s the dedicated and lethal Inquisitor
suffering a major identity crisis and beset with pressures of the past while
still trying to do her very best in the present.
This all comes together in amazing complexity – we have
some excellent class analysis that permeates the story. Those at the top of the
ladder are battling over things like whether to rely on the degrading
technology or more on the espers (and their own factions growing in influence
consequently) and just how to marshal their resources to face the ongoing
threats from the Empire. Meanwhile we have a number of other characters at the
bottom rung of society who just want to survive. Sure the fate of the planet is
important and all – but if they don’t have money to eat tomorrow, or they’re
hunted down by their loan sharks then it doesn’t mean all that much to them in
the long run. They don’t have the luxury of bigger-picture stories or the
ability to be involved in them because their own straits are so pushed to the
edge. At the same time, their stories are given a place and a prominence
because they are personally important. With inhabitants of the city dying in
droves it should seem petty to be focusing on Cyder’s ruined pub – but her life
is every bit as destroy and under threat: it is vitally important to her.
That’s the gem of this book, even when covering epic
battles for the whole planet, the stories are personal. We’re not just seeing
the city rallying its dwindling resources against attack, we’re seeing
councillor Steel do his best to try and hold things together in face of
desperate odds and endless fatigue. We’re not just seeing the hunt for a
dangerous person stalking the streets, we’re seeing Investigator Topaz, newly
bereaved and highly conflicted inquisitor, torn between her past and so many
goals – does she support the planet or
pursue personal revenge, does she follow the rules or go off the rails, does
she revert to the person she was, or maintain who she wants to be – and to have
all those conflicts linked wonderfully.
Because all of these characters are very real – even the most
vile of villains, resorting to any crime if it will maintain his own level of
comfort on a world where there’s little comfort to be had. In fact, his criminally
achieved level of comfort may be something we’d take for granted. And while we
judge him for that, we also see this is a world where the poor starve and freezes
in the streets and other characters make deeply immoral – even evil – decisions
albeit for far loftier motives than maintaining their own comfort.
This all comes together to be a truly excellent way to
tell a story – but, yes, that many characters, that many fleshed out stories,
that many different, if related, storylines does lead to a level of bloat. But
it’s well handled bloat – because it’s interesting bloat, because the
characters are meaningful and fascinating and real so their presence – even if
unnecessary – isn’t resented. But, yes, it’s still bloat.
Another glaring issue with this vast cast of characters is the paucity of POC (despite vivid descriptions of many characters, I cannot remember identified as a POC) and the complete absence of any GBLT people. This kind of erasure is really exacerbated by huge casts of characters.
We do have a disabled character – Cat, a burglar, is
death and his disability is instrumental in saving himself and the planet while,
at the same time, not detracting from him as a character. We also have a large number
of female characters who are both diverse and capable, from Darkstrom,
blacksmith and Councillor, to Topaz the lethal investigator to Madelline, shrewd
and streetwise and an excellent partner to the noble and heroic Royal and
through to Cyder cynical fence and bartender. There are more but these are the
ones who stood out – all capable, all competent, all with their own lives and
agendas. A lot of them do have love interests that do intrude on their stories –
but not in conventional means. Topaz and Madelline are fighting to avenge their
lost loves – a role that we see over and over from men but rarely women, Cyder
is a partner – a dominant partner – to her lover Cat. Darkstrom is definitely a
peer to her partner. Their love interests are present but in ways that are
different from the usual fodder we see.
This isn’t my usual genre and part of me wants to be a
little annoyed at the whole “dark fantasy” thing. But I liked the book, I liked
it a whole lot and, yeah, I’ll probably read the sequel. Can I still be
annoyed in those circumstances? Probably not. Bah, I have to sacrifice my annoyedness
for a little good-book-happy dance. It has issues – certainly with inclusion,
but so long as the bloat remains good-bloat then I am following this series and
seeing what’s next for the people of Mistworld.
