Imperial Purple

Terry Pratchett
Nation
Doubleday 2008

Terry Pratchett has achieved such a reputation now that his latest book - Nation - does not even have any blurb. It is assumed that you will buy it just because it is by Pratchett, never mind what it is about.

Well, it worked for me. I bought it and did not regret doing so. It is one of Pratchett’s best books to date.

The setting is, more or less, our world during the Victorian era on a small Pacific island. Its inhabitants refer to it simply as The Nation. Their idyllic existence is brought to an abrupt conclusion by the arrival of an enormous tidal wave. The only survivor is Mau, a boy on the edge of manhood, who is at sea when the wave arrives.

A European ship, the Sweet Judy, is wrecked on the island at the same time and here too there is only one survivor - a young girl named Ermintrude who prefers, quite reasonably, to be known as Daphne. She is also 139th in line to the throne of England. As her ghastly grandmother once informed her "it only needs one hundred and thirty-eight people to die and your father will be King!"

What we have is a wise and charming coming-of-age story. Mau and Daphne must learn to cope with language, a steady trickle of refugees from other islands, and the distant but worrying threat of the Raiders. Mau must come to terms with the failure of his gods - what good were they when they let the entire population be wiped out? His struggle with belief is one of the strong elements of the book.

The point of view of the book switches between Mau and Daphne but very smoothly, without the need for specific chapters for each. We get a different world view in each case and can see the same events from two completely different perspectives. It is the work of a clever and mature writer.

I’m not going to say any more about the story elements. You will find them out for yourself when you read the book and I don’t want to ruin it for you.

If, by some chance, you fail to read Nation you are missing out on something very special.

Robin McKinley
Chalice
Putnam 2008

I have been a great fan of Robin McKinley since discovering the Damar books (The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown) more than twenty years ago. A new book by her is always a reason for celebration.

McKinley has two levels of writing - slightly fey fantasy (such as the Damar books) and frankly coruscating works such as Deerskin. The latter is a wonderful book but it left me feeling scoured and wrung out. So I was (perhaps because of some character flaw) hoping for Chalice to be one of the fey fantasies and was happy to find it so.

Chalice goes straight for the classic fantasy trope of "the health of the king is the health of the land". It is good to see the theme addressed directly rather than floating nebulously in the background. The ‘King’ in this case is called ‘Master’ and he has a circle or court of whom the Chalice is the most important. The Chalice is the person responsible for maintaining harmony both of the court and of the land itself.

The book is told from the point of view of Mirasol, the newly appointed but completely untrained Chalice. Her actual training is as a beekeeper and bees and honey are interwoven throughout the story.

The previous Master (a ‘bad King’ - unresponsive to the needs of the land) and his Chalice have both perished in a fire. The old Master’s brother is appointed in his place but this brother has been training as a Fire priest. Fire priests work directly with elemental fire and, as their training progresses, slowly lose their humanity. The new Master has not completed his training but is nevertheless only borderline human.

The new Master and Chalice must work together and find, despite their ignorance of their proper roles, a way to heal the land, Fire, honey and love must all work their magic before this healing can happen and the way is not easy.

I loved this book. It captures for me the wonderful feeling of otherness that first drew me into Damar. The central character, Mirasol, is uncertain of what she needs to do but has the courage to try anyway. She is a warm and very human character and the interplay between her, the new Master and the old Seneschal make for a great story. Four and a half stars.

Pamela Freeman
Deep Water
Orbit. 2008

Disclaimer: same as for Blood Ties

Deep Water is the second volume of Freeman’s Castings Trilogy following Blood Ties. I gave Blood Ties four stars and Deep Water is better. The Australian edition is available now - the rest of the world must wait until September.

It continues the stories of the four main protagonists - Ash, Bramble, Leof and Saker - but their paths have diverged and each follows his or her own destiny. Clearly their paths will converge again but it will be in the third volume (Full Circle) for which we will have to wait another year.

Saker, the enchanter, continues to bring back the ghosts of the original inhabitants who were massacred by the invaders. As he gains in strength, purpose and knowledge the attacks become more dangerous and the major town of Carlion is invaded and many of its terrified citizens killed. As for book one, most of Saker’s actions occur off stage but his influence on the stories of the others is even stronger in this one.

This is the book in which we learn about Acton, the man who led the invaders through Death Pass a thousand years earlier, causing the formation of the eleven domains and the system of warlords which has controlled the domains every since. In Deep Water he is no longer the shadowy, larger-than-life legend of Blood Ties. Bramble is forced to re-live parts of his life seeing him always out of the eyes of his companions. She sits uncomfortably inside the minds of others, unable to communicate but seeing and feeling all that they see and feel. As more of Acton’s life unfolds she is forced to confront that fact that one-thousand-year-old legends are not a reliable guide to what really happened.

The first book ended with Ash and Bramble about to see Safred, the Well of Secrets. It is Safred, to whom the gods regularly speak, who informs them the key to dealing with the enchanter lies with Acton whose ghost must make reparations to the ancient dead. They reluctantly agree that they must do something and Bramble agrees to try and find Acton’s bones. Safred believes that Ash knows the songs that can raise Acton’s ghost but he has never heard of them. Ash sets of to find his father and discover why he was never taught them.

Leof, meanwhile, struggles with his conscience as he continues to serve the rapacious warlord, Thegan. Thegan is planning to become warlord of the entire eleven domains and doesn’t much care what he has to do to get there. Saker’s army of the dead throws his plans awry but, with the cunning of a true opportunist, he tries to turn it to his own advantage. By the end of the book he discovers that defeating the dead is harder work than defeating the living.

Unlike many epic fantasies we have not left world-building behind with the first installment. We continually learn new things about the world and the unseen forces which hold it together. The local gods are not, we find, all-powerful and all-knowing. There are greater powers that barely acknowledge their existence.

Enriching the world are more of the short stories of the common people, interspersed with the main narrative. These were one of the main strengths of Blood Ties and once again give the sense of a larger world around the main narrative - a world inhabited by real people, not just a backdrop of trees, villages and a cast of extras.

Deep Water ends on more of a “cliff-hanger” than Blood Ties. Major issues are left tantalisingly on the edge of resolution leaving the reader impatient for the final volume. It should be a cracker but we will have to wait until next year to find out. Four and a half stars.

Shaun Tan
The Arrival
Lothian 2006

I cannot find enough good things to say about this book but I’ll give it a try. Shaun Tan’s book is a masterpiece. It is the only book for a long time where, having finished it, I went straight back to the beginning and read it again.

There are no words in this book. The story is told through a series of pictures, each of which is a work of art in its own right.

It is the story of one man’s arrival in a foreign country. He has left the hardships of his own country and gone ahead to build a new life so that he can send for his wife and child. Although the artist says the book reflects his own parents’ arrival in Australia, he has cleverly made the main character a westerner. The new world has strange customs, language, culture, animals and flowers. Everything is alien.

And yet this world contains people too and the hero discovers kindness and compassion from those who have made the journey before him. He is adopted by a pet - a beautiful and alien creature who comes up to him like a stray cat and decides he needs a companion.

Words are just not adequate to describe this book without words. Buy, beg or steal a copy or, if all else fails, borrow one and refuse to give it back.

A genuine five star work of art.