The Devil’s West trilogy comes to its concluding volume in Laura Anne Gilman’s Red Waters Rising, sequel to Silver on the Road and The Cold Eye. The novel finishes, at least in this trilogy the stories of Izzy and Gabriel, bringing their adventures to the furthermost southeastern portion of the Devil’s Territory, and a glimpse at the limits of the future of the entirety of the Territory, as well.
The plotting of the novel follows a similar pattern to the first two volumes in this concluding volume, in the broadest of senses. Izzy and Gabriel head toward the town of Red Branch (in our world’s position and location of Baton Rouge), along the way getting intimations that this region of the boundary of the the Territory is under some sort of unknown, vague threat. Izzy and Gabriel have been on the Road for a while now, Izzy growing into her role as the Devil’s Hand. They come to the Red Branch area to find that the local Native residents and the town’s residents alike are uneasy, tensions are high, and the Americans on the other side of the river loom as a threat. The Americans have threatened the Territory before, and perhaps they are game for another try. The Red Waters may indeed, rise, whether Izzy and Gabriel will or no.
The overarching themes and ideas of the trilogy come into full flower and expression here. This is a North America, a West that never was, never will be, and yet a West that perhaps should have been. And even for that, for the Devil’s attempts to get those to come into his land to make a bargain, an arrangement, a recognition of the power and importance of the land, that effort is doomed to finally come to a conclusion. That conclusion does not happen in this book, even in the denouement of the issue and problem Gabriel and Izzy deal with here, but the mortality, the inevitable passing of the Devil’s Territory is clearly seen, here. I am reminded of Felix Gilman’s novels of a half-formed west, The Half-Made World and The Rise of Ransom City. The West that is to come in Laura Anne Gilman’s novel may, perhaps, in the end not come out the way that ours did, that part of the point of what the Devil has done is to prevent that, and help create a better world where those coming into the West respect the land.
This theme dovetails and ties into the twin themes and strands for the two main characters. For Izzy, as the Devil’s Hand, those themes and character growth, coming fully mature here, are responsibility, coming of age, learning one’s capabilities and growing into a role. Especially in this third book, the mentoring role that Gabriel has been giving to Izzy for the first two books takes a back seat as Gabriel, modeling what a mentor should be, gives Izzy the chance to take the front seat, to truly grow into her position, and become the driver for the team as they deal with the issues in this corner of the Devil’s West.
Gabriel himself, too, has an arc. Back at the beginning of Silver on the Road, his bargain with the Devil to mentor Izzy on the road did not truly capture who and what he was. His relationship with water pokes up and becomes important now and again throughout the series, but it is here, in Red Waters Rising, that it comes to full fruition. In the two previous volumes, Izzy and Gabriel have headed west and north out of Flood, curved down to the south, and now in this volume, have reached east to the Mississippi River, and the border of the Territory. Facing the River, facing a strong manifestation of his Element, the element that he is tied to, brings forward a lot of Gabriel’s story and long arc into focus. We’ve learned that he tried running from the river, from the West, before the first novel, and was drawn back. It is here in this book that Gabriel comes face to face with who and what he is, and his own truths and nature. He can’t escape being a child of Water when the mighty River is nearby.
Although the trilogy of novels ends with Red Waters Rising, the stories of the Devil’s West are not complete. A short story collection is set for the fall, and it seems that even as the inevitable end of the Devil’s West is visible, the form of that ending, and the story of that ending, is not yet to be found here, and I am glad. The Devil’s West is every inch the equal of Laura Anne Gilman’s Vineart War Trilogy, and in some ways exceeds it in skill, writing and ambition. It sticks the landing.
