Ernest, an old wizard, dies in mysterious circumstances.
And no-one seems to care, certainly none of the wizards – except Maureen. An 82
year old woman who has long been a gatekeeper for the wizards, she’s determined
that her long term companion’s death won’t be ignored and brushed aside and,
stifling worries about her future as her waystation becomes less and less used,
she sets off into Vanefasia to find answers. Who killed Ernest, what was he
involved in and why doesn’t the Abbot care.
Darwin is a half-vampire and is struggling to live a life
without killing with his friend Cassidy. It’s not going well to say the least –
and doesn’t get easier when they find Ernest’s notebook. A discovery that leads
forces to almost annihilate vampire kind. Darwin sees this as a final chance to
gain acceptance among the vampires who have so shunned him, a chance to be
their saviour, to rally the broken survivors and restore their culture and
people. But it’s never that easy – and Mr. West still wants the book
And there’s Mr. West arriving on Earth because his people
need a new homeland and, as part of that, he needs Ernest’s notebook. But in
trying to learn more, Mr. West is exposed to the chaotic ways of human thought
with heresies like “choice” and “probabilities” and soon finds himself using… unorthodox
methods.
There is a lot here. In fact, even for a world building
fan like me, I think I have to say there’s too much there. And that is a leap
for me – I love huge worlds, I love a vast diversity of monsters and creatures.
I love all the world’s mythologies together. I love to have different realms
and dimensions each with their own rules and denizens and realities. I love
this huge mix of vast numbers of creatures.
There are limits though. And once you get to a score of
obscure, single mention monsters, leprechauns, gnomes, elves, dwarfs, angels, werewolves,
hell realms, magic realms, wizards, vampires and then throw in aliens as well –
and you do all of that in the first book? It’s almost too much, certainly to
digest at once.
But I think a lot of this is down to personal taste of
how the story was written. This book had 2 protagonists Maureen and Darwin.
They’re not major powers. They’re not movers and shakers. They’re not really
concerned with the wider world or politics or the fate of nations. They don’t
care what’s at stake, the bigger picture is not only hidden from them but it’s
also something they’re not particularly interested in. They’re both involved in
very very personal stories with very personal goals. To me this can get
frustrating because the world is so huge – and there are major important things
happening in that world that the protagonists just don’t care about. Part of me
is frustrated to be so on the periphery of such major happenings, to be only
getting part of the story and to be only seeing this vast amazing world through
the lenses of relatively insular people. It’s like taking a tour through a
vast, beautiful landscape, and spending the whole time reading a book and only
occasionally glancing up – the book is good, excellent in fact – but look at
the landscape!
The personal stories are very good, though, extremely
realistic and impactful. Darwin’s desperate need for acceptance among the
vampires is really well portrayed, him being torn between Cassidy’s morality
and what he feels a vampire should be.
There’s a lot of complexity – like him blaming Cassidy for his own failures to
not be a “perfect” vampire, perhaps even his own conscience that rebels at what
he feels a vampire should be. There’s his reverence for vampire culture and
history which the other vampires don’t even share, an attempt to put the lost
vampires on a pedestal to make them this glowing thing he wants to be part of.
And his idealised version of what vampire society is like which even the other
vampires are clear doesn’t really exist and they’re not remotely interested in
joining. Despite numerous set-backs he constantly tries to do that one more
thing that will make them accept him, let him into the fold even though it’s
obvious that he will never be considered one of them.
