The main protagonist is pretty sympathetic to a nerdy pedant like me, with many other interesting characters; the worldbuilding is fascinating in its gradually broadening revelations; and the plot engages attention along multiple axes.
It starts off as a novel interested in worker’s rights…and changes into a novel about anarchy and communes with the equivalent of a pirate town, as we watch Marney grow into who and what she is. It’s a novel that explores Marney’s power and disability, her toxic ability to manipulate Ichorite, that both poisons her and yet is also malleable to her magical power.
Don’t Sleep with the Dead … delivers some prose that make me sigh with delight and envy, as well as some passages that are harrowing with their intensity and dread.
Jones gives each of the three main characters of the novel an exceptionally personalized voice. A large part of what captivated me through the pages was his remarkable ability with the flow of words through a diversity of styles, a variation in ways that stories can be told.
I found the focused self-control and resilience of the protagonist inspiring, and I was rewarded with a very satisfying conclusion. This is a novella with a compelling character and some really interesting ideas, and I will definitely be looking for more from Thompson.
It’s not that surprising to me that this perspective has been uncommon in fantasy, because the shininess of students learning magic is just so iconic and emblematic. But Tesh shows us that the space of teachers, adults, in a “magical school”, as front and center characters, is intensely interesting.
