Guest Post by Aliette de Bodard: Beyond the Cliché Shelf: Making Characters Vibrant and Unexpected
Today instead of a review from me, we have a guest post by Aliette de Bodard. Her second Dominion of the Fallen novel, The House of Binding Thorns, is now out, and you will see a review of it from me here soon. In the meantime, Aliette has some words to say about Characters: I used to struggle a lot with characters. My natural strength is worldbuilding: I can quite happily spend weeks and months reading non-fiction books on anything from the history of food in Vietnam to the role of servants in 19th-Century Paris, and slowly and painstakingly creating a universe from these inspirations. With characters… my earliest ones were correctly created as part of the setting, but I struggled with giving them individuality and personality beyond that. When I created memorable characters they almost always were by accident rather than by design — while the discovery process was wonderful, it was rather annoying to not be able to repeat that when I needed this!
Book Review: CONGRESS OF SECRETS by Stephanie Burgis
Known for her Regency-era fantasy series for middle-grade readers that began with A Most Improper Magick (published as Kat, Incorrigible in the US), Stephanie Burgis’ debut novel for adults, Masks and Shadows, similarly combined romanticism with the fantastic. Her sophomore novel, released at the end of 2016 by Pyr, continues this formula. Well paced and passionately infused with historical details and characters, Congress of Secrets will appeal to readers who enjoy a touch of magical darkness balancing Austenesque romance and historical intrigue. The story is set in 1814 at the start of the Congress of Vienna, a conference held by European powers to settle pressing geopolitical issues after the initial defeat of Napoleon. Clandestinely among the throngs arriving into the city are two former citizens who have spent years in exile, separated from Vienna and from one another after a traumatic night that ended in flames and escape from the secret police. Karolina Vogl, daughter of a printer who published pamphlets critical of the Holy Roman Emperor, is now a wealthy English widow named Lady Caroline Wyndham. With the passage of time and her new identity, Caroline plans to take advantage of the Congress to locate and rescue her imprisoned father. But Michael Steinhüller, an opportunistic con man who had been her father’s former apprentice, also uses the Congress as an opportunity to re-enter Vienna, posing as one “Prince Kalishnikoff” and looking for a score of a lifetime. Amid the diplomatic aristocracy Caroline and Michael each maneuver towards their goals, trying to avoid discovery. However, the greatest threat to their plans may be a chance, volatile reunion with one another, and reignited emotions of friendship and betrayal in their shared past.
Book Review: Brother’s Ruin by Emma Newman
In an alternate 1850s era, the British Empire is flourishing as vitally as it did in our timeline, but from different base causes. Instead of the power of the Industrial Revolution providing the motive power for Monarch and country, the Royal Society of Esoteric Arts provides the competitive advantage for Great Britain to stand astride the world. But this society of magicians is a merciless one, taking every person with magical talent, whether they like it or not. Charlotte Gunn seeks to aid her family from financial disaster that her father is in by making sure that her brother’s talents are seen and compensated for. Oh, and in so doing, hiding her own deep, dark secret from the Royal Society: Charlotte, you see, is a mage too. Charlotte, and her world, come to life in the Tor.com novella Brother’s Ruin by Emma Newman.
Book Review: The Mountain of Kept Memory by Rachel Neumeier
A Princess seeking to escape the circumscribed nature of her life and the path set out for her. A Prince who strives to protect his land against an invasion and threat his small country has no capacity to stop. A tyrannical King whose plots and plans overwhelm them all. And a mysterious mountain of knowledge and power that is the key to all of them. It sounds on the face to be a standard fantasy setup with characters out of stock central fantasy casting that could be listed in Diana Wynne Jones’ THE TOUGH GUIDE TO FANTASYLAND. You can probably even predict how this sort of set up will go, on the old straight track. Prince saves the day, Princess is plucky, Father dies heroically and repents and recants on his deathbed, paving way for Prince to be the better successor. Simple and straightforward character beats and maybe if one is lucky, some character growth for Prince and Princess too. However, The Mountain of Kept Memory by Rachel Neumeier avoids those well trod paths that might go with that sort of fantasy setup, and has a focus, tone and through line that is rather different and rather special.
Retro Childhood Review: Firebrat
“It will only be for a month, Molly.” “Why me?” she wailed, forgetting her vow of silence. “Why not Betty? She’s older.” “Because I think you’ll do a better job than Betty. You’re the reader in this family. The storyteller… Your grandma’s getting awfully forgetful, Molly. Ever since Grandpa died, she’s been living in the past — she tells the same stories over and over. She needs someone who’ll talk to her and help her organize the shop. You know — keep her in touch with the present.” Silence. “Molly, you’re the one who doesn’t mind a little mess.” He waved his hand at her room. “You’re the lover of mysteries.” “What’s the big mystery about taking care of Grandma?” “Making people well is always a mystery,” said her father sadly. I will forever be indebted to a family that both placed an importance on reading and not only understood how much I loved science fiction and fantasy, but encouraged it with gifts. For my eleventh birthday, my aunt and uncle sent me Firebrat, by Nancy Willard, with illustrations by David Wiesner. I don’t know how they decided on this particular book, but the whimsical cover of fish flying through a forest, showing a young girl and a young boy, with the girl in the lead probably had something to do with it. And where I have read and discarded a hundred other fantastical children’s books, Firebrat has kept its place firmly ensconced on every bookshelf that I have ever owned.
Book Review: The Masked City, By Genevieve Cogman
Universe-traversing Librarian Irene Adler and her assistant the dragon prince Kai return in The Masked City, second in The Invisible Library series following the titular volume in the series. After settling themselves in the Quasi Victorian world of airships, Fey nobles and derring-do, Irene’s life is, if not precisely stable and uneventful, at least predictable. Find rare books for the library in this alternate London, dodge machinations of local villains, spar with her bête noire, and get into adventure after adventure. Routine, right? Second novels, especially following on high-concept hot ideas like the interdimensional traveling library and librarians of Cogman’s series, are tricky. How do you keep the material fresh? How do you avoid the temptation to “do bigger, and more” as a easier substitution for the harder tricks of building on worldbuilding without making it unstable or unpalatable, and developing characters and their arcs in interesting and meaningful ways? The second novel in such writing is harder than the first, and for me as a reader, with the baseline established, I am looking for that growth and development, and read for it.
