BOOK REVIEWS: Wright, Gallagher, Datlow & Windling, Wolfe, Cook

EDITOR'S NOTE: Fantasy Magazine book reviewers include Stefan Dziemianowicz, Paula Guran, Rich Horton, Stuart Jaffee, and Victoria Strauss.

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Fugitives of Chaos
John C. Wright
Tor, $25.95
(320p)

In Orphans of Chaos (2005), Amelia, Vanity, Colin, Quentin, and Victor -- supposedly students at an assumed British boarding school -- discovered a great deal about who and what they were and attempted an escape, only to be captured and again wiped clean of memory by their teacher-keepers. Fugitives of Chaos takes up where the first book left off and narrator Amelia, helped by a creature in her bloodstream, recalls who they are (Amelia is a Greek goddess from hyperspace, Quentin from the underworld, Colin from dreamland, Victor from outer space, and Vanity from Homer -- all immortal beings), who their keepers really are, that each orphan has supernatural (or extreme scientific) power that checks one of their keepers, and that they are in dire danger and must escape again. Although the orphans are not truly teenagers or human, they generally react and interact as such. They are not only living a tense high adventure, they are also coming of age both metaphorically and in terms of their true identities. Even though the main characters are more-or-less adolescents, the Chaos books are written for adults (and probably most enjoyed by adults with some knowledge of classic mythology and a smattering of physics) and only the most precocious of young adults are likely to find them of interest. While Wright is undeniably original, he is obviously doing an adroit turn on Roger Zelazny and his literary allusions are akin to those of Jack Vance. Wright's intelligently enjoyable tale of the highly unusual orphans will continue in Titans of Chaos.

The Painted Bride
Stephen Gallagher
Subterranean Press, $40

Horror stories have become a big game of roulette lately. Sometimes you win, often times you lose. In The Painted Bride, Gallagher delivers a handsome win. Lean and taut, the story follows Frank Tanner, a devoted father who may have murdered his wife, as he navigates courts, police, and his own children while trying to keep his family together. Part of the tale concerns whether or not Frank committed the crime, but more so, the novella focuses on how we often destroy the things we care about the most. In his unyielding attempt to hold onto his daughter and son, Frank shows how blinded we can all become. Gallagher writes clearly and concisely with a straightforward style that rarely breaks from a scene and always keeps the pressure on -- like Jack Ketchum minus the gore. Though the climactic conclusion does deliver, it is predictable. It lacks the same punch as the rest of tale, as if the author tried to hurry it up and be done. The story still works, but the reader is left wishing for a more detailed, more satisfying ending. The rest of the tale, however, more than makes up for this deficiency. With solid main characters who are complicated and intriguing, one wonders how Gallagher managed to fit so much into so little space. The minor characters serve their purpose and do little more. In a longer work, they might have been beefed up a bit, but there is no loss to the tale’s impact. The fear and intensity brought on as the story unfolds is also impressive. The Painted Bride, once opened, refuses to be closed.

Salon Fantastique: Fifteen Original Tales of Fantasy
Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling
Thunder's Mouth, $16.95

Salon Fantastique's unthemed stories are so diverse it is difficult to read them one after another. The jump from one realm of the fantastique (like Greer Gilman's nonlinear Cloudish dialect story "Down the Wall") to another entirely different (like Paul DiFilippo's straightforward story of disaster survivors in "Femaville 29") is so jarring you may feel queasy. Both are fine stories, but they are not particularly complementary. Not only must the reader allow each story its own space, its pace must also be individually accommodated. Delia Sherman sets a leisurely opening tempo with the captivating "La Fée Verte," a story of mid-nineteenth century Parisian demimonde love and prophecy. Richard Bowes's "Dust Devil on a Quiet Street" then strolls through the recent history of a modern New York artsy set to uncover foul play. Marly Youmans' "Concealment Shoes", a charming chiller of children who defend their new home from a supernatural onslaught, trips along briskly while "The Guardian of the Egg" by Christopher Barzak goes mid-speed as a bright teenage girl metamorphoses into a triumph of nature. Gavin J. Grant's "Yours, Etc.", an unusual ghost story about a haunted couple, and the poignant but amusing "The Mask of ’67" by David Prill, in which a small-town girl who became a star turns up for a reunion, both run on surrealistic rhythms of their own. Jeffrey Ford's splendid "The Night Whiskey" can't be gulped down too quickly and Lucius Shepard's "The Lepidopterist" is told in a tall-tale Latin drawl. (There are also stories by Jedediah Berry, Catherynne M. Valente, Lavie Tidhar, Peter Beagle, and Gregory Maguire.) Salon Fantastique is a commendable compilation of literate fantasy, but enjoy its components discretely.

Soldier of Sidon
Gene Wolfe
Tor, $24.95

Soldier of Sidon is the finest novel of ancient Egypt ever written and betters (in accessibility and even historicity) Wolfe's two previous related novels, Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete, which are considered by many as classics. In Soldier of Sidon we again meet up with Latro (Lewqys/Lucius), a former mercenary for the Persian Great King (Xerxes) whose memory has been impaired by a head wound. He must write down the day's events so he can read them the next morning. Although he has some long-term memory, without this written record Latro is not able to recall who he is, who anyone else is, or what he is about. But, as one character in Sidon says, this lack of memory is an ill thing, yes, but numinous: Latro can see and speak with gods, spirits, and other supernatural creatures. He finds himself in Egypt with Captain Muslak, a man who owes Latro his life (or at least his freedom). Latro had become convinced (although he later forgot) that the answer to the mystery of what happened to him lay in Egypt and Muslak, who trades there, has given him passage on his ship. The Persian Satrap commissions Muslak to journey up the Nile into nearly unknown territory and Latro accompanies him in command of a small band of soldiers. A scholar, a magician, a scribe, and two "river wives" (one for Muslak, one for Latro) go with them. Their mission is murky, but a long-lost scroll of wisdom is involved. Latro is both helped and hindered along the way by various beings from Egypt's rich religion/mythology. Wolfe's understated style and deceptively simple language combine with his unreliable narrator's ability to experience that which is beyond mortal knowledge to produce a haunting, magical novel in which the supernatural is as real as the flow of the Nile. Wolfe provides more than merely accurate historical detail; his prose allows the reader to briefly live in the ancient world. As with the earlier books, this one is open ended and Latro's story obviously continues. As it has been seventeen years since Soldier of Arete was first published, one can only hope the next installment comes much sooner.

Sung In Blood
Glen Cook
Night Shade Books, $23.95

Shassesrre, the Crossroad of the World, has enjoyed centuries of peace thanks to the great wizard Jerhke. That peace comes to an abrupt end when a mysterious attack kills him. Now his son, Rider, and trusted friends, must restore safety to Shassesrre, bring the killer to justice, and avoid the political maneuvers of a King tired of dealing with wizards. With a plot that sounds like the foundation for a doorstop trilogy, Glen Cook, best known for The Black Company series, deftly whittles away all the subplots and backstory to leave a true fantasy anomaly -- a lean, trim epic fantasy tale. In less than two hundred pages, Sung In Blood packs in more action and adventure than several never-ending epics combined. There’s even room for a bit of political intrigue. The downside, however, is that there is little room to offer anything else. Rider is an intriguing character -- potentially a great character -- but with such a frenzied pace, there little time to get to know him more deeply than as a wizard on a mission. Early on, when confronted with his father’s death, Rider acknowledges he lacks time to grieve as he must fight the coming evil. This sounds plausible and establishes Rider’s harder side, but it feels more like the author did not want to deal with the character’s emotions. Rider comes to many needed answers quickly. This works at times, but strains credulity at other times. Still, one can only expect so much from a novella trying to be an epic and Cook does a fantastic job delivering what he can. The reader is often left wanting more, but perhaps Cook has more planned for these characters in other volumes. We can only hope so. Until then, if you seek a fast-paced, exciting adventure that never strays from the path of expectation, then this one delivers.