What Lev Grossman attempts to do in The Magicians is both bring this shared love of childhood fantasy adventures into a more adult-like world but also ask the question: “What if something like Narnia really existed?”  These two concepts make up the bulk of the book but they do not always work together.

The just released sequel, The Magician King, picks up where this left off and ads the question: “What if you found the fantasy land of your dreams but eventually got bored and restless? “What if it wasn’t enough?”

Quentin and his friends are now the kings and queens of Fillory, but the days and nights of royal luxury are starting to pall. After a morning hunt takes a sinister turn, Quentin and his old friend Julia charter a magical sailing ship and set out on an errand to the wild outer reaches of their kingdom. Their pleasure cruise becomes an adventure when the two are unceremoniously dumped back into the last place Quentin ever wants to see: his parent’s house in Chesterton, Massachusetts. And only the black, twisted magic that Julia learned on the streets can save them.

Magician King is still a dark, adult modern version of the young adult or childhood fantasy adventure and it still contemplates the question what if magic, and the fantasy land of your childhood, was real. But then it takes this background and foundation and forces the characters to wrestle with the complexity and difficulty of adulthood that remain even if magic exists. What does it mean to be a hero? What does it mean to be willing to really give of yourself to something or someone larger than your own selfish interests. Does the happy ending still result?

Along the way Grossman also explores what the architecture or building blocks of magic might look like and how human interaction with that – past, present and future – might work or not work.

More after the jump …

As with the first book, there are really two seperate threads to the story. In this case, the two threads follow Quentin and his quest for adventure and psychological/spiritual growth and Julia’s path from Brakebill’s reject to master of magic – albeit a darker more black market version.

The Quentin thread follows closely on the style of the first book: equal parts serious and silly; hipster irony and casual vulgarity with classic fantasy aspects; genre and philosophical. I think this element – while still disjointed at times – works better because there is a narrative pull unifying it: Quentin wants to be in Fillory but is willing to risk that for his quest – to get to the bottom of certain relationships including the underlying connection of magic to earth and Fillory.

As the story develops, in classic quest fashion, Quentin begins to understand a lot more about himself and the impact of his actions.  But there are times where the persona wears thin. At times he seems just a self-interested jerk. At times he seems more than that – more aware more mature. But the flippancy, vulgarity and seeming innate selfishness ebb and flow making it hard to get a read on Quentin.

In contrast, the alternating chapters focused on Julia seem only loosely connected to epic fantasy as a genre. This is more magical realism or realistic fiction that happens to contain a fantastical element. It is the gritty story of someone who sacrifices everything at her disposal to gain the one thing she believes she wants only to find that this sacrifice has not only fundamentally changed her but has set off a series of unintended consequences – personal, physical, magical, spiritual, etc.

The two threads eventually intertwine, and this connection plays a role in the stories climax and conclusion, but they do not always sit easily together.  Julia’s story in fact has a great deal more power and drive than does Quentin’s. It has a cleanness and a hardness that makes it powerful and even gripping. Julia is a story obviously going somewhere and the tension builds and grows. Quentin’s ebs and flows, twists and turns, starts and stops. It just doesn’t have the oomph.

Despite all of this, The Magician King is an entertaining and enjoyable story. Even as you note the disjointed nature and wonder about this or that plot point and too easy resolution, or get a little lost as the genres and styles mix and meld, you want to keep reading. You want to keep reading both to enjoy the language and the story – to find out what happens but also how Grossman chooses to work it all out.

It could be that some of this is the nature of bringing the style and structure of fantasy into an adult world.  Adults are often not afforded the luxury of clean lines and choices; of heroism and friendship unsullied by conflict and complexity. Part of what Gossman is trying to do, I think, is say things just are not that easy – life is complex and messy and full of gray even as we seek simplicity and stability and moral clarity.

I am sure fans of the first book are even now devouring this sequel if they haven’t already finished.  But I would encourage anyone interested in the style, structure or themes of fantasy to check out the series. Even if you don’t think he quite pulls it off I think he will keep you entertained and intrigued about the process; make you think about your expectations and conceptions of genre and story. Of course, anyone who just enjoys an interesting story will get a kick out of it too.

Related articles

• Lev Grossman’s The Magician King: fantasy sequel, the banality of magic and the magic of banality (boingboing.net)
• ‘Magician King’: A Hauntingly Fantastic Follow-Up (npr.org)

Queen of Kings

It did – sorta.

Basic Plot (short version): Cleopatra in death reborn as world threatening vampire.

Basic Plot (longer version): As the Romans prepare to conquer Egypt, and trick her husband Marc Antony into suicide, Cleopatra desperately seeks the help of an ancient goddess. But insted of simply adding a powerful ally to her side she inadvertently unleashes a monster she can’t control, loses her soul and turns a traditional war into a supernatural one.

Sounds interesting, no?

The book gets off to something of a slow start as we are introduced to Cleopatra and the cast of characters: The Roman Emperor Octavian (Augustus); Marcus Agrippa – general and friend of the emperor; former Roman general and husband to the queen Marc Antony, Nicolaus the Damascene – historian and tutor to the queen’s children, etc.

What makes the book awkward at times is its position between literary and genre fiction. Without getting into that age old debate, the book doesn’t seem sure which conventions it wants to utilize. This type of genre-bending, and mixing of history and fantasy, can be well done, and entertaining, but it takes some skill not to have it turn out choppy and confusing. Headly holds it together in stretches but it has fits and starts where things are less than smooth.

She wants to both tell an epic tale and a thriller all while describing things in detail and exploring the internal worlds of her characters. This is a lot too take on in one book.

There is a long section which basically sets up the battle that underlies the entire story: Octavian’s paranoia about Cleopatra and his resulting gathering of witches and warriors and Cleopatra’s search for vengeance.

This section drags in spots but the action really picks up once Octavian has his supernatural allies and Cleopatra beings to hunt him in Rome. What slows the story down in the middle section is the complexity of the plot and the multiplicity of characters. Headly clearly wanted to jam in as much mythology and characters/subplots as she could. Some are clever and interesting while others seem less so.

Once all the characters have been in a sense brought on stage and their mythological background told and motives explored the last battle is ready to start. And it is quite the battle!

This is one of those books that is hard to get a handle on.  In many ways all this messiness really got in the way of what is a good story. And at times you are asking yourself: where is all of this going? And the sort of Gothic romance aspect frequently seemed corny.  But despite all of this there is just enough interesting myth and action to make it entertaining.

If you are interested in mythology played out in fantasy, or like stories that blend styles and genres, this would make for good beach reading this summer.

Related articles

• Book Notes – Maria Dahvana Headley (“Queen of Kings”) (largeheartedboy.com)
• Video: Queen of Kings Trailer (collectedmiscellany.com)

In this epic and stunningly imaginative blend of history, fantasy, romance, and the supernatural, Queen of Kings entwines the true and timeless story of Antony and Cleopatra with a supernatural narrative in which the Queen of Egypt sacrifices her soul to save her fallen husband and in return is transformed into a vampiric shape-shifter bent on vengeance against the Roman Empire.

I wouldn’t say I am quite as taken with him as some (there is an almost cultish aspect to many of his fans within evangelicalism) but I am a big fan of the Narnia series.

So when I heard about Planet Narnia by Michael Ward I was intrigued. Was there really a hidden code behind this famous series?  But the book was academic in nature not to mention long and expensive – so I never got around to reading it.

But the folks at Tyndale publishers had the bright idea to bring out a sort of slimed down introductory version called The Narnia Code: C. S. Lewis and the Secret of the Seven Heavens.  I figured this was my chance to see what all the fuss was about.

Here are the basics:

Millions of readers have been captivated by C. S. Lewis’s famed Chronicles of Narnia, but why? What is it about these seven books that makes them so appealing? For more than half a century, scholars have attempted to find the organizing key—the “secret code”—to the beloved series, but it has remained a mystery. Until now.

In The Narnia Code, Michael Ward takes the reader through each of the seven Narnia books and reveals how each story embodies and expresses the characteristics of one of the seven planets of medieval cosmology—Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus and Saturn—planets which Lewis described as “spiritual symbols of permanent value.”

How does medieval cosmology relate to the Christian underpinnings of the series? How did it impact Lewis’s depiction of Aslan, the Christlike character at the heart of the books? And why did Lewis keep this planetary inspiration a secret? Originally a ground-breaking scholarly work called Planet Narnia, this more accessible adaptation will answer all the questions.

Seems outrageous and interesting, right? Well, it is sort of both. I found the book interesting in concept but less successful in practice.

More thoughts below.

I have struggled with writing this review for weeks. I will fully admit that it could be that when I was reading The Narnia Code I was distracted or rushing to finish the book. But for whatever reason, it just didn’t grab me.

Ward sets up his thesis by describing how parts of the Narnia series just don’t seem to make sense. Why is Santa Claus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for example? Why is Bacchus even a character? If Aslan is a Jesus figure why is Alsan absent from many of the books for long stretches (and sometimes altogether)?  Is this really just a hodge-podge collection of whatever struck Lewis’s fancy as some would contend?

Ward says no. Just because Narnia lacks the intricate world building of Middle Earth and Tolkien doesn’t mean there is not underlying structure or unifying themes. Using Lewis’s academic writing, and his poetry, Ward reveals what he thinks is the structure that holds it altogether: the pre-Copernican system of planets “The Seven Heavens”.

Here is the list with the corresponding Narnia book:

1. Moon –> The Silver Chair
2. Mercury –> The Horse and His Boy
3. Venus –> The Magicians Nephew
4. Sun –> The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
5. Mars –> Prince Caspian
6. Jupiter –> The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
7. Saturn –> The Last Battle

Once Ward outlines his thesis he then lays out chapter by chapter how each book connects with and corresponds to a planet in that medieval system.

So, do I buy it? I am not sure. Ward does an excellent job of explain how much Lewis loved this medieval system and how the symbolism was a way of seeing the world that Lewis valued a great deal.  And ward certainly relates a number of links between the books and the planets in language, symbols, emotions, etc.

Cover via Amazon

But for some reason the whole was less than the parts for me. Maybe the “Planet Narnia for Idiots” style and length undermined the case (and Ward seems pedantic at times). Or again, maybe I was in too much of a hurry. But for whatever reason, while I enjoyed the background that led up to the chapters on each book I don’t feel like I have any deeper insight into the Narnia series as a result of Ward’s theory.

There was never an “Aha!” moment or a particular insight that stuck with me. Instead, I was left with the lingering sense of “Yeah, I suppose that could be true.” The sections discussing the impact of the planetary world view and our language and culture was fascinating however.

In the end, I think The Narnia Code is a well intentioned attempt to take a detailed academic literary thesis and bring it down to a popular level. For a variety of reasons I am not sure I am best able to judge its success.

But it is an interesting subject and will be of great interest to Lewis and Narnia fans.

Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

Description

Here is the synopsis from the publisher:

There is a land of two kingdoms, but only one true King. A living land, where foundations grow in trees and rivers sing and breathe. A dying land, where the darkness of a false prince threatens to swallow everything in its shadow.

Enter Between Two Kingdoms with Tommy, an eternally seven-year-old child of the Great King, as he and his friends accept the challenge of the Good Prince to live as grown men and women in the Lower Kingdom—where hope is hidden, vision is clouded, and pride twists truth into a beautiful yet deadly deception.

As the synopsis eludes to above, the basic story line follows Tommy as he accepts a mission into the lower kingdom. Setting out he knows very little about what lies ahead. Once there, however, it is revealed that the assignment involves stopping a plot to cover the entire lower kingdom in darkness and smoke in order to control and enslave the frightened  population. Tommy and his friends must protect as many people as they can and then find a way to destroy the machine that is creating the smog like smoke that begins to cover the kingdom.

You can get an idea of what the author was trying to portray and flush out in this short video.

To me the book felt either too simple or incomplete. It had the feel of a story you might write to experiment with ideas and symbols (and characters) – a sort of thought experiment in the form of a novella. And in this way it had some interesting aspects.

But as a work of literature taken as a whole it fell flat for me.

The story has some elements that are interesting: the basic concept of the two kingdoms; the river as a living interactive force; the phantom messengers who can’t bear to see themselves in a mirror.  These elements are interesting ways to express ideas about our spiritual lives and interactions. (The Kingdom of Heaven and the kingdoms of earth; the role of the Holy Spirit; and the way our souls can be corrupted by evil or neglect.)

But other elements made little sense to me either as part of the story or as elements in the allegory. Why would everybody be seven years old? Why did they seemingly eat only cookies and ice cream in the upper kingdom? Why tree houses? You could attempt to come up with spiritual ideas behind these concepts (the faith of children, etc.) but the story didn’t really present them in such a way as to propmt that sort of thinking. Rather it was difficult to understand what was fantastical background and what was meant as something deeper – at least outside of the obvious elements.

The characters of the King and Good Prince were clearly God and Christ (with the River as the Holy Spirit) but they too seemed rather one dimensional. All powerful, wise, loving, etc. This made them appear a little too sentimental – at least to my taste.

Allegories can sacrifice three dimensional characters in order to delve more into the philosophical questions they address – using characters and events as symbols to tell a story but to make an argument or illustrate ideas in more lively and persuasive way because of the artfulness involved.

If the insights offered or the emotional depth involved are not there, however, attempts at allegory can fall flat. I think this is what happened here. The ideas were not enough to fully bring the story alive and the story was too simple to stand on its own.

Between Two Kingdoms is a quick and easy read. And as I noted above, it has some interesting – creative and thought-provoking – visual and literary elements. But as a whole it just seems unfinished. Not quite polished enough nor deep enough to do more than just suggest symbols and concepts.

It struck me as an interesting experiment but, in the end, not a successful one.

The books I read were actually three separate books (as pictured throughout) but I figured I would review them all under this one combined volume:

This is the legendary story of Merlin–from his abandonment by his parents at the age of eight to the discovery of his powers at twelve. Together, these three novels reimagine the origins of the greatest wizard of all time, giving readers a Merlin at once more human and more magical than any that has appeared before.

I found them to be interesting chapter books that explore the childhood of Merlin in poetic and dream like prose. Despite their unique style and structure they are captivating and entertaining reads.

More below.

The first thing to note about the books are how short they are as separate books (100 pages or so). But again, I see them as chapter books even if the style and subject are somewhat non-traditional.

The individual books, or as parts withing a larger work, mimic the feel of myths and legends in that they sketch and describe characters and events but lack the completeness of traditional novels.

The concept is to explore what Merlin’s childhood might have been like. Yolen has studied the Arthurian myths and legends surrounding the famous wizard and come up with her take on what happened and how that might have felt from Merlin’s perspective.

Passager covers Merlin’s abandonment at age eight until he is found and taken in by a kindly bird tamer.  A Passager is “a falcon caught in the wild and tamed but that is not yet an adult bird.” Yolen uses this theme to explore the idea of being a wild child lost in the woods and what it would be like to come back to a home and a makeshift family.

This first volume introduces Merlin and sketches out his personality and perspective. It also uses Merlin as a lens with to view both the nature of the wilderness but also the contrast with domestication and homelife.

As noted above, it has a poetic and dream like quality to it as you watch Merlin survive in the harsh conditions and being to relax under the care of humans again. He tries to make sense of his identity in the contrasting places and dynamics.

A Hobby is a “small Old World falcon or hawk that has been trained and flown at small birds.” And this volume beings with tragedy. Merlin is forced to leave his adopted home and set out alone once again.  Along the way he hooks up with a traveling magician – or mage – and his beautiful wife. But after interpreting some dreams for a Duke and Duchess things go awry yet again and he is left to fend for himself alone.

The focus of Hobby is on the relationships Merlin develops and how his identity and perspective changes when part of a group and accepted as such (or at least appearing to be). Merlin also begins to try and sort out his dreams and what they might mean both for him and for those in the dreams and around him.

The final book deals with Merlin as he is coming to grips with his magical potential – not fully mastered but beginning to understand the outlines. He meets an entire village of wild folk but his dreams once again cause conflict and lead to tragedy.

The book puts Merlin, who is now fully his own person making his own decisions, in a society that is more like his wild/nature side but it is also clear that his dream set him apart and keep him from fitting in. They in fact lead to conflict and end in tragedy just as they have before.

But in a strange way, Merlin finds a friend and a way to face the future.

What is interesting about the stories is their episodic and provisional nature.  They don’t really tell a definitive story with clear cut beginning middle and end; although there are aspects of this involved. Rather they sort of sketch out a way of looking at the legend of Merlin; of trying to see how this character might have developed and how he came to be the wizard of such fame.

I am not a student of Arthurian legend so I can’t really comment of Yolen’s interpretation of Merlin’s youth. But I found the impressionistic stories interesting and evocative even if they did lack any resolution.

You sort of have to set aside your expectations and just enjoy the writing and the unique story a they come. If you are looking for tight plots and lots of developed characters your will be disappointed.

But if you are interested in Arthurian legend and myth or just enjoy unique and imaginative storytelling then I think you will enjoy this trilogy.

I seem to be back on a fables, myths and legends type kick again (not that I ever got off it). And certainly Bill Willingham‘s Peter & Max fits right in to that theme.

As the subtitle notes (a Fables novel) this book is an outgrowth of Willingham’s popular Fables series of comics:

Fables is a unique series imagining that all of your favorite nursery rhyme, storybook, and fable characters are real and living in New York City.

The characters have all escaped from their own homelands and gathered in a small area of New York. Of course, this is only the human looking characters. All of the animals, Puss in Boots, the Three Little Pigs, Mother Goose, and more, live in an area of upstate New York Known as The Farm.

I have not read any of these comics but the hook was intriguing.  I immediately thought of the Sister’s Grimm series but with an adult perspective rather than YA. Since I love SG I wanted to check out this similar sounding take on fairy tales. The fact that it came with illustrations only added to my interest.

And those expectations were largely met. Peter & Max is a creative and interesting reworking of the Pied Piper story. It left me wondering if this is a one off building on the comics or whether we can expect more novel exploration of Fabletown.

There is always a choice involved in introducing a fantasy adventure of this sort. You either dive right into the adventure and fill in the background and unique facets of the world the characters inhabit as you go along or you try and set up the story first with some explanation right up front.

Willingham goes with the later. And the book starts a little slow as a result. It takes a while to set the scene, understand the concepts and get the characters introduced. But once you get that territory covered it becomes a compelling story.

As can often be the case, the bad guy really steals the show. Willingham flashes back to tell the story of the Pied Piper.  Peter is the younger brother in a traveling musical family. His older brother Max is melancholy bordering on angry. When his father gives the heirloom – and magical – flute to Peter a deep resentment is born.  And when his family (and the Peep family – including Bo – as well) is forced to flee into the heart of the Black Forest Max takes the opportunity to give in to his darker side in a rather gruesome way.

Peter and Max both end up in the town of Hamelin – of rats and children fame – but take very different paths to get there. Willingham alternates chapters telling their stories (as well as the modern day Peter).

Peter, who ends up part of a secret society in Hamelin, is far from the clear cut ethical hero, and his story has some interesting aspects, but Max is the strongest character by far.

He just has this sort of evil charisma that animates the story. He is lazy and ignorant in many ways but has a single minded determination to explore the depths of dark power.  This drive, and the magic flute he is inadvertently given, prove more than enough to give him power beyond what most can imagine. But he keeps a certain sarcastic and almost flippant attitude throughout. He is an incredibly powerful and dangerous person. He is a cruel and narcissistic jerk. But as a character he jumps of the page unlike any of the others.

Peter by contrast seems weighed down by the cares of life. And just when he might be able to put that behind him and start a new life with his wife Bo Peep tragedy strikes in the form of his brother.

The novel starts with Peter seeking to find his long lost brother who is loose on the world again. And the novel ends with their confrontation in this world. But the real heart of the story to my mind is Max’s development into the monster he became and the way Peter is ultimately called to attempt to destroy his brother.

Having read this book and none of the comics I have to wonder if a sequel is planned. In some ways you could see this as just a “novel as introduction” to the comics; hoping the book will convince non-comic readers to cross over.

On the other hand, there are some flaws that would be lessened by a sequel. All of that background and introduction for example would be wasted to some degree if there are no further books. As a stand alone it could have been much tighter in my opinion. You don’t have to explain as much if the only story you are going to tell is Peter & Max.

The sequel of sorts appended to the novel, in comic form, leads me to believe that this is just a stand along offering. The fact that this book takes place prior to the comics and leads into them strengthens that argument I would think.

Even so, Peter & Max is a creative and entertaining twist on the story of the Pied Piper and a nice introduction to the work of Bill Willingham. And Max is one of the better, and more unique, evil characters I have come across. It has a dry wit and manages to mix dark and adult topics with humor and adventure but without going over the top.

Obviously comic fans, and those already familiar with the Fables universe, will want to see what Willingham does in novel form.  But those who enjoy fantasy adventure and stories with myths, fables and legends as background will also enjoy Peter & Max.