2019-11-17 - Review: The Red Stained Wings
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O.K., going to try reviewing books I read again. Hoping this might
be a more bearable place to put them.
Title: The Red Stained Wings
Author: Elizabeth Bear
Genre: High Fantasy
This is the second book in Bear's "Lotus Kingdoms" series, itself
the second series set in her "Eternal Sky" universe. Disclaimer: I
utterly adore the Eternal Sky series.
I can't say that I feel the same way about the Lotus Kingdoms. The
first book - The Stone in the Skull - was fabulous, an epic return
to a world she had brought to life so vividly. Set in a different
location, it took me a while to realise that this was the same
world.
This second book is not fabulous. I know that there's a widely-held
belief that middle books of a trilogy are always poor, as they're
just marking time. I don't usually subscribe to this position, but
there's a definite sense that Bear is literally phoning this one in
for much of the novel's considerable heft.
Arcane political maneouverings are hard at the best of times. This
book is full of them, and none of it every works properly, it's all
a bit of a (to use the Irish phrase) "Dúirt bean liom go ndúirt
bean léi go ndúirt bean eile…" -- A woman told me that a woman
told her that another woman…
There are hints and flashes of Bear's usual brilliance here - the
Gage's adventures in the walking city, the destruction wrought by a
volcano and a sorceror - but nothing which is sustained for any
time to make it noteworthy. There are even hints of a deeper
tapestry, like something from Sanderson's "Cosmere" Universe - the
talking pen - but, again, this isn't an area which is explored in
any depth or with any purpose.
This is the second Bear novel I've read this year; the other one
was "Ancestral Night" an epic space opera that I found thoroughly
enjoyable and engaging. Maybe Bear spent all the shits she had to
give in that novel, because this one just isn't at the races.
All of this changes in the last third of the novel, when the
various limp threads suddenly weave together in a satisfying and,
yes, exciting, manner. I just wish that the same care had been
lavished on the rest of the book.
