New Book Alert: Merchants of Knowledge and Magic (The Pentagonal Dominion) by Erika McCorkle; Unique World Building Is The Highlight of This Odd Unforgettable Epic Fantasy

 

New Book Alert: Merchants of Knowledge and Magic (The Pentagonal Dominion) by Erika McCorkle; Unique World Building Is The Highlight of This Odd Unforgettable Epic Fantasy 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Of the various worlds in Epic Fantasy that I visited this year (and there were many), among the most evocative, unique, and intriguing is The Pentagonal Dominion in Erika McCorkle's Merchants of Knowledge and Magic.

It is the strangest, most bizarre, most fantastic world that I have come across in some time.

The plot, or rather plots, are mostly slight. They involve a pair of merchants hired by various people throughout the book to find someone or retrieve something for some greater purpose. The missions aren't fully connected and they don't really seem to add up to anything important, at least not in this volume anyway.

 The book's structure is in loose anthology form as each mission is introduced separately and equal time is given for the characters to resolve that mission. Then that assignment usually leads them head (or heads) first into the next assignment or adventure.

Instead, Merchants of Knowledge and Magic's strongest virtues are in character, setting, and world building. In fact the main purpose of the various missions is to introduce the Readers to this strange new world. Since it is a world that captures the imagination and is impossible to forget,  I would say "Mission Accomplished."

 Every character and setting seems to come from someone's weirdest fever dreams or nightmares. Boy, is it ever a crazy oddball fever dream that we stumbled into.

The two Merchants in question are Calinthe Erytrichos and Zakuro "Pom" Rathmusen, the eponymous Merchants of Knowledge and Magic respectively. They are a very fascinating pair. 

Calinthe is half-Ulese and half-Odonata, species that many believe can't reproduce until they meet her. She has green skin, wings, and is intersex (though prefers she/her pronouns). Calinthe is a Mind volkhv which means that she can obtain knowledge. She often interrogates suspects with a game of Eight Questions in which they have to tell the truth (though they aren't above using certain points of view or telling half-truths to cover up information). 

 Zakuro has four arms, dark skin, and is  a Godblood, which means that she is descended from gods. She is practiced in various magical abilities such as making herself invisible or shape shifting. She was isolated by her abusive mother and had barely encountered non-deities until she met and fell in love with Calinthe.

The two travel together to do various assignments as Calinthe obtains information while Zakuro serves as a bodyguard and protector using her magic to help or hide them if things go badly. They earn money by trading magic and knowledge as currency.

Already this book stands out from many other Epic Fantasies and Science Fiction because of the lack of humanoid characters. Many times authors insert characters who are human in appearance as though their imaginations couldn't conceive of a world where humans, or species resembling humans, don't exist. With neither of her two leads being human, McCorkle stretches the imagination by looking through the perspectives and lifestyles of different creatures and species that are different from those who are reading it.

Calinthe and Zakuro aren't the only unique characters that this book encounters. We first encounter the duo as they walk into a bar which has a Kraken bartender and a Werewolf suspect that they have to interview. (Sounds like a bad joke from another dimension). Things go awry when the Kraken gets stabbed by the nervous Wolf.

One of the characters that they meet in the bar is Paivi Valkoinen, who may be a spy or a deserter from the powerful Aloutian military. One of Paivi's unique traits is that her belly is hollow and can be used to store objects which are chilled or warmed by her body temperature. So yes she is in fact a walking cooler (which excites Zakuro since they can have an ongoing supply of ale). 

That's nothing however. Calinthe's father is so large that her mother and sometimes she can travel inside his abdomen. (Take from that what you will).

Many of the settings are also unique. People can travel from dimension to dimension and gravity is different on each one. A person who is considered thin in one place can be weighed down by the gravity in another one.

One of those places is Ophidia, a misandrist society in which women are considered superior and men, intersex, neuter, and non-binary species are looked down upon. Calinthe hates the place and has to hide her intersex qualities whenever they visit (including a newly growing appendage which is synonymous with a penis). 

Their arrival attracts two sisters, The Ryuugas: Requiem, a white skinned purple haired biped-bibranch and  Sayuri,a reptilian Orochijan, with thin vertical pupils and a forked tongue. Oh yeah and they travel with horses who can change their shapes into bipedal forms. The Ryuugas  want to leave Ophidia even though they are members of the ruling class because it's a "f$#@d up country that treats men like mud and sludge." So they tag along with and befriend Calinthe and Zakuro.

The strangeness in character and setting is only augmented by the Pentagonal Dominion's pantheon of demons and gods. While most Earth pantheons acknowledge their deities' offbeat qualities (like Zeus' womanizing, Loki's tricks, or The Morrigan's association with death), the gods in these worlds come right out and admit their infallibility with their titles. They are rich with names like Lord Selfishness and the Lord of Ignorance. 

Lord Williford, the Lord of Ignorance, is a particularly memorable deity in that he acts less like a god and more like the lovable storytelling drunk at the bar. He uses Welsh slang terms like "ditty" for little and "tidy" for nice. He also uses profanity and is more interested in carnal pleasures and being sarcastic than in being a positive vessel for his mortal followers. He is hilarious and fits right in with the rest of the Pentagonal Dominions' weirdness. 

Despite or maybe because of the strange world building embedded in Merchants of Knowledge and Magic, the book surprisingly has a lot of emotions and heart.

In one chapter while they are in Ophidia, Zakuro and Paivi try to end slavery by killing slavers and slaves much to Calinthe's chagrin. The decisions that the three are faced with are ethical ones in which the characters debate whether they should put their personal experiences and safety over the greater good and whether using violence to prevent injustice causes more problems than helps.

Zakuro and Calinthe also show strong love and devotion towards each other particularly when they encounter their families. After a heartbreaking conversation with her abusive mother, Zakuro is cut off, feeling like she doesn't have a family. Calinthe takes her on a detour from their current assignment to visit Calinthe's loving parents so Zakuro could feel loved and accepted and they could adopt her as a second daughter.

In one of the most traumatic sections, Calinthe is forced into slavery for several chapters. Her narration reveals the pain and anguish, particularly when she goes from referring to her masters by name to the title of "Master" in her narration. She goes from a free spirited, independent, intelligent, intersex Merchant of Knowledge with lovers and friends to a passive, dependent, traumatized victim who isn't sure if she ever had anyone love her. It is a striking heart wrenching transformation that suggests that it will take some time in the next volume for her to recover, if she ever does.

Merchants of Knowledge and Magic is a masterful novel of world building which offers unique characters and settings that are strange but also believable. Because of that, this is one of the Best Books of 2022.

New Book Alert: Ela Green and The Kingdom of Abud by Sylvia Greif; Slow Start To YA Fantasy But Magical Kingdom Shines And Leaves Readers Wanting More

 

New Book Alert: Ela Green and The Kingdom of Abud by Sylvia Greif; Slow Start To YA Fantasy But Magical Kingdom Shines And Leaves Readers Wanting More

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Could this year's frequent theme/genre be YA Fantasy? Maybe, between Bekah Harris's The Thorn Princess and now Sylvia Greif has Ela Green and The Kingdom of Abud, it's entirely possible. They are similar in many ways. Both deal with high school age boarding school girls who come upon unique powers that are revealed by older relatives. Both take trips into beautiful magical lands that are feasts for the eyes to read and the mind to imagine. Both no sooner have their young protagonists get their feet wet in the new worlds than the books end on a cliffhanger to prepare the Reader for Part Two.

What is different about the two worlds is tone and inspiration. The Thorn Princess is a modern fairy tale that takes its roots from Celtic and Teutonic fairy lore. Ela Green's source is more reminiscent of 19th century Adventure novels. While magic is a central feature of Ela Green, the focus seems to be more on exploring this new landscape and investigating it for magical treasure than learning about the monarchy and political structure and ruling over it. Ivy Hawthorne, The Thorn Princess, is a part of her magical landscape, ultimately the heart of it. Ela Green is just visiting for now but also has a huge part to play in this alternate world and maybe the physical world as well.

The book begins in media res on the night of the full moon when Eleanor "Ela" Green is enchanted by a bracelet that she found. She recites the words of a spell on a scroll included with the bracelet. She suddenly finds herself no longer in her boarding school room but instead in a mysterious forest and standing face to uh, bark with a giant evergreen that reaches the sky. 

Most of the book takes place before and after this strange trip. Before Ela was an over imaginative girl arguing with her mother, becoming the bane of the existence of the headmistress, and bonding with her Uncle Archie whose adventurous and imaginative spirit rivals hers. Then she finds the bracelet and travels to the Enchanted Kingdom of Abud where the giant tree, Yggdrasill tells her that because of her "magical miraculousheart" she might be the Unikone. As the Unikone, she must find The Book of Names. Meanwhile, her Uncle Archie has a family tie to this weirdness and there is the scheming Count Sigismund who just bought Ela's school and also has his sights set on her bracelet and its power.

The book is clearly the start of the series and because of that, it only takes two trips into Abud, one where Ela goes alone and then a subsequent one that she takes with Archie once everything is explained. That's rather unfortunate because the book cuts off right when it's getting good. I know I know cliffhangers, Authors want to leave the Reader hanging. But Abud is such a beautiful setting that it is a shame to not read more of it.

There are wonderful little touches like talking trees that hang upside down and crystals that change color and play musical notes as a visitor steps on them. Of course there are portions of the landscape that will defend itself from the selfish, greedy, and sometimes overly curious, which is why it's very important that it is able to share an empathetic connection with Ela and sees her good heart. She is able to be welcome when others with harmful intentions would not. 

These chapters set in Abud are the highlight of the book as they make the Reader want to see more of this world and the unique characters that inhabit it. The Abud portions should definitely be longer.

It's not that the rest of the book is bad, it just takes a long time to really get invested in the Abud setting before the book abruptly cuts off. 

There is a long expository section where Archie explains the family's link to this magical kingdom. It's an interesting story and it captures how avarice and greed can destroy one's soul and make one lose sight of their real purpose.

It definitely takes its cue from old Adventure novels like the works of Jules Verne, H. Rider Haggard, and Robert Louis Stevenson where there is treasure to be found and a strange land to explore it. The backstory also reveals what's in the heart of the explorers and what compels them to go on this journey, both in the past and present.

It also shows why Abud waited so long for the Unikone to arrive and why many were found wanting. The journey is a test and when the visitors reveal their selfishness and avarice, the way is closed to them.

 I'm also glad that the back story is in the first volume instead of potentially inserted into later books and interrupts the flow of action once Ela and Archie are in Abud. It's always good to get exposition out of the way. However, the build up to Abud itself with this exposition only makes the Reader want to see more of it. It's not asking too much to include a couple more chapters to explore this landscape that has had such a build up.

There are some issues with the pacing of this book as well. An important character is introduced as a potential antagonist only to reach a very anticlimactic ending. Also other characters' motives are somewhat unclear but I suppose need more time for them to be revealed. 

Ela seems like a decent enough protagonist, kind to all living things with just a bit of a sardonic bite so she can stand up for herself. At times, she can be a bit flat in characterization but that could be attributed to this being her first adventure. We may get more nuances to her character in subsequent volumes. 

Archie seems to be an alright character, adventurous, intelligent, understanding towards Ela which her mother is not. There are a couple of times where this Reader wonders if his journeys to Abud are just to protect Ela or to fill some greedy or curious desire himself. Again it will be interesting to see how his character develops in multiple volumes.

Because of the extended build up, Ela Green and The Kingdom of Abud has a very slow start. Once it reaches Abud, it is truly enchanting and leaves the Reader breathless with its description and in fervent anticipation.

New Book Alert: Hour of Shadows (Book 2 of New Dawn's Light) by Jordan Frost; Characters' Reunion Brims With Engaging Plot But Dims With Repetitive Love Square

 

New Book Alert: Hour of Shadow (Book 2 of New Dawn's Light) by Jordan Frost; Characters' Reunion Brims With Engaging Plot But Dims With Repetitive Love Square

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: I am really excited to write this review because things have come full circle for the blog. The first New Book Alert in which the authors themselves requested a review was Whisper in the Dark, the first book in Jordan Frost's New Dawn's Light series. Now here I am, three years later, reviewing the second book, Hour of Shadow.

The first volume featured various characters opposing the tyrannical Lord Kane who, among his worst qualities, every year demands a sacrifice from the world of Midori's best mages. In other words, he wants to eat them and absorb their magic. The only thing that can stop him is a prophecy in which the illegitimate son of the deceased royal family takes the throne. When that happens, Kane's tyranny will be at an end.

 Various characters such as a roguish thief, a kindly barbarian, a pair of mage twins, a former guard, and a pirate captain use different means to fight against Kane's Reign of Terror. In true first volume manner, the book ends with the main villain having yet to be defeated, some characters are killed, and some characters hook up. Namely Solana, a haughty mage and Jensen, an ex-guard get together as well as Miriana, Solana's twin sister who is also a mage, and Garrett, the pirate captain. We also discover a potential identity to the missing heir.

The story continues with Hour of Shadow. At times it is a worthy successor to Whisper in the Dark. There is some pretty sharp characterization and some humor sprinkled with the action, particularly involving how the characters interact with each other and some really suspenseful moments as characters move from one death defying encounter to another. However, this second book goes the way many second books in fantasies go. We have already been introduced to the character and world in the first one. We know the climactic battle and pay off will be in part three at the earliest. So in the second volume, we are left with a lot of filler in which characters just go from one place to another and form a love triangle, in this case a love square.

We find that our heroes Miriana, Garrett, Solana, and Jensen have finally encountered each other. Solana and Jensen hire Garrett to take them and Miriana, if she wants to go, to a safe haven for mages called Watcher's Nest. Of course in true Epic Fantasy fashion, the path is paved with new characters both good and bad, various challenges and conflicts, a trial in which they are told to follow various tasks and face their greatest fears, and the quartet's romantic feelings towards each other.

Plot and characterization are pretty sharp in this book. There isn't so much emphasis on setting and world building because it is assumed that the Reader is familiar already with Midori and the way that world works. Most of the setting is confined within ships, inns, on open roads, or in caverns. In fact, the majority focuses on the character's personal thoughts and interactions making things more intimate than the larger scope associated with the previous volume. 

This intimacy makes the more adventurous moments more intriguing. Some of the best chapters focus on the team coming upon a mysterious death cult. The horror in these passages are greatly felt and even more so when they are forced to participate in a grueling series of tests. One test features them being haunted by deceased friends, lovers, and family members.

The closed intimacy among the characters also plays in their interactions with each other, particularly how the romantic pairings are tested. At the end of Whispers in the Dark, Miriana and Garrett have fallen in love and while Solana and Jensen begin a romance, revelations in the book complicate things.

Now that the brace of couples have joined together, there are romantic complications. Solana can't stop flirting with the handsome captain much to Miriana and Jensen's annoyance. However, their sardonic dialogue seems to imply that Garrett doesn't mind so much. Garrett feels inadequate compared to Miriana's dream hero of her romance novels in which Garrett was the inspiration. Jensen's family ties make him question not only whether he is worthy as a suitor but also whether he can fulfill his destiny. Personally, this Reader saw enough sweet moments between Miriana and Jensen that they should be a couple and thought Solana and Garrett had a cute argumentative saucy relationship that could evolve as a real romance.

There are some missteps in the book mostly because of the filler nature of being a second volume waiting for the big stuff to happen next. (In fact the Fellowship breaks at the end to perform separate parts of the same tasks.) Once the love square between the protagonists is introduced, it gets repeated over and over ad nauseum, always reminding Readers why love conflicts are often the least favorite parts in speculative fiction. One great character is introduced only to be violently killed within a few chapters (similar to the previous volume when another great character was also graphically killed. Upsetting because he was one of my favorites.) Thankfully, a couple of others are introduced, one who has a mysterious backstory and could be more than he lets on.

There are also plenty of sections where characters just go from one place to another and not do very much. It's a lot more travel and less adventure. Sometimes, the intimacy is good but in certain types of fiction, it can drag the story. Also, in the end Miriana simply pulls out a motive which had never before been referred to. It might be a good lead in book three. But the way it is introduced is pretty clunky and seems more like an afterthought.

Despite its flaws, Hour of Shadow is a worthy second book. It continues an excellent adventure and guides the Reader to another one.

Weekly Reader: Song of All Songs: Earthcycles Book 1 by Donna Dechen Birdwell; Science Fiction Novel Has Beautiful Setting, Great Characterization, But Slow Moving Plot

 Weekly Reader: Song of All Songs: Earthcycles Book 1 by Donna Dechen Birdwell; Science Fiction Novel Has Beautiful Setting, Great Characterization, But Slow Moving Plot

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Song of All Songs by Donna Dechen Birdwell is a Science Fiction novel that has much to offer. It's set in a post Apocalyptic world but isn't focused on the gloom and doom. Instead it has a beautiful setting with a reverence to nature. It has brilliant characterization with protagonists who go through great struggles on their journeys. However, the plot meanders and there are long stretches where not a lot happens leaving the results of a book that visually is impressive to picture but verbally needs work.

The setting of Song of All Songs is not a unique one in Science Fiction. Post Apocalyptic Earths reduced to agrarian societies are nothing new. Since Mary Shelley's The Last Man, and even before that mythology and religious texts like The Epic of Gilgamesh, Ragnarok, The Mahabharata, The Ramayana and The Book of Revelation, have described in graphic details about a world devastated by war and environmental destruction with only a handful of courageous survivors  (if the world is lucky enough to have survivors.).

 One of my first experiences with the genre was reading Stephen Vincent Benet's 1937 short story,"By The Waters  of Babylon" in high school. Coming from a religious background and fully aware of the only recently ended Cold War, I was traumatized to the point of having nightmares reading in the story about the journey of John, son of the High Priest, to the Palace of the Gods by the Oudi-san River. When John gets there, he learns that the Palace of the Gods is the remnants of a decimated New York City after it had been destroyed by war. (Interesting fact about the story, since it was published in 1937, it predates public knowledge of atomic weaponry. However, Benet accurately described a world destroyed by such an event. He specifically mentioned a weapon causing much of the devastation. Some believe that Benet was referring to mustard gas, which affected much of the soldiers and civilians during WWI.)

The problem with books and stories in this genre is that if the events are set too far in the future or the world is left to complete ruins, the Reader not only is aware of it but is constantly on the lookout for signs. Reading the book almost becomes a code as they look for context and clues to interpret what the author is really referring to. For example when a character says that something is a magical portal and the Reader realizes that the character is looking at a computer or they are reading what they call a religious text and the author is describing a shopping list.  After a while, the Reader gets confused about discovering the clues of what the characters are referring to rather than what they are actually doing in the book. They lose sight of the setting and characters to search for the details for their intended meanings.

Birdwell doesn't make her version of the world after the end any easier to interpret. She provides no context clues to imply what she is really referring to or what the characters are really seeing or experiencing. The protagonist, Meridia Einkorn, is on a mission to find various stones that sing. She can also see pictures and colors in the stones. What does that mean? Are they actually smart phones and she can access videos? (If they are, what are the odds that they would still work after centuries of not being used?) Are they instruments, or other devices, like music boxes, that make music? Is it possible that in the absence of technology and other barriers between humanity and nature, have humans evolved to the point that Nature has given them intuitive abilities? Can Meridia really hear stones sing?

We also learn that her love interest Damon photographs photons but is lately interested in what he dubs biophotons in which he can see light around living things. He is often looking for what he calls snails to help with the photos. Are snails film or batteries? When Damon says that he takes photographs is he using a camera or is he painting them and using the word photo because he doesn't know the other word and snails are paint? Like Meridia has he received intuitive abilities because of his connections to nature?

There is one moment that is obvious. Meridia, Damon, and their allies go to a place with many "mirrors" and see pictures of the history of their world including its end. While the mirrors are not specifically identified, more than likely, they are televisions or computers. It's the one moment of clarity in a book that is somewhat dense and unwieldy in its descriptions.

In this situation, the Reader is left with two options: 1) Continue looking for clues or 2) Take everything at face value. Either way is valid and it depends on what you are looking for when reading a Science Fiction novel. If you are looking for a more concrete interpretation for meaning, this book should be avoided. But if you want a Science Fiction novel that is more poetic and metaphorical and you want to get lost in the more spiritual connections that the characters have to nature then this book is definitely on your list.

The setting is striking and it explores the characters' interaction with their environment beautifully. Merdidia's connections to the stones are explored rather well and the idea of hearing sounds and seeing colors in them is evocative. In fact, this world's life cycle is arranged in stones like passages of time like "Amber'' or "Mica." Whatever the stones are meant to represent, they are clearly important to these people and the stones are representative of the community and if Meridia finds them, she restores the soul of the communities.

While the setting is left to interpretation, Birdwell clearly cares about her characters. Nowhere is this more evident than in how she writes Meridia. In one graphic chapter, Meridia is raped by a member of her community who is also related to her by blood. This encounter leaves her pregnant and emotionally scarred.

 Recently, I reviewed another book (to avoid spoilers I won't give the name), in which a woman unwillingly has a baby by questionable means.  For lack of a better word, she had been violated. However, the book does not go into how this experience should at least have left her emotionally wounded. There is no anger or sadness over what happened without her consent. She gets all googly eyes at the prospect of a baby and becomes instantly maternal. Her assailants are forgiven and we are led to believe that the end justifies the means. It is a wish fulfillment and a dangerous one at that, as though saying as long as it ends with a baby, then the parent's well being doesn't matter.

Birdwell handles this subplot much better. Meridia is left reasonably traumatized by the rape. Even though her assailant was close to her before, she doesn't feel the same way for him. She is troubled by the memory and it leaves her scarred through the rest of the book. In fact,her kinsman is exiled from the rest of the community because of his actions. While Meridia is given the suggestion to abort the pregnancy, she decides to carry it to term leaving the choice solely up to her. This book handles sexual assault in a strong way showing how it can leave the survivor pained, frightened, and broken. 

However, this book shows another side to abuse survivors. Meridia is a very active character and potential leader to her community. She leads friends and family through various locations and shows tremendous strength in retrieving the stones. She also becomes empathetic towards other's pain. She is at first wary but accepts Damon into her life when he proves to be a better person than her exiled kinsman. She also befriends a woman whose father had been exiled previously and understands the conflicts concerning her parents. She is able to persevere despite the trauma that had been inflicted upon her.

Plot is not a strong point with Song of All Songs. There are various plots such as the search for stones, an impending war between two villages, and the conflicting words of two prophets. The majority of the book features characters moving from one location to another. This is less a plot driven book than it is a means to introduce the Reader to this post Apocalyptic setting and the characters that inhabit it.