1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unique Fantasy Novel not to be missed!, September 25, 2010
This review is from: Servant of the Underworld (Paperback)
I have never written a book review before, but I was moved to do so with Aliette De Bodard's novel: 'The Servant of the Underworld' as I feared that some would miss out of this terrific and engaging novel .
First a bit of background - I have always been intrigued by the Aztec Empire but have been frustrated by the lack of books, both fictional and scholarly, on the Pre-Columbian era. Most novels deal with the Aztec as they are being conquered or have already been conquered by the Spanish. It was for that reason that I never got into the 'Aztec' series by Gary Jennings (though many people seem to have enjoyed it, so don't let me dissuade you if you are so inclined to give it a read).
A few years ago I stumbled across a four book series of detective novels set a year or so before the arrival of the Spanish. The first book, ' The Demon of the Air' written by Simon Levack is a murder mystery with the erstwhile detective being an ex-priest and now slave, Yaotl. While the research was top-notch and the painting of the world was engaging, the writing and plotting, I'm sorry to say, was not the greatest. Now, that doesn't mean that its total dreck, but I did have to force myself to read through to the end - something that makes me leery of continuing to read the series.
Luckily, I stumbled across Aliette De Bodard's novel: 'The Servant of the Underworld' while surfing through Amazon.co.uk. And yes - this is how I was able to read and review the book before it is available here in the US. It cost me a bit more due to the exchange rate and the shipping, but it was well-worth the expense.
'The Servant of the Underworld' is a masterful novel that is at once a mystery novel as well as a fantasy that rivals any of the fantasy epics now in print. Mlle. De Bodard has, through obvious love and exacting research crafted a story that immerses one into a strange and alien world hat is all the more enthralling because it actually did exist upon our planet. Granted, being a fantasy novel, she does have her priests and sorcerers cast spells, but these are a far cry from "fire balls erupting from your finger tips" type of spells. This magic blends seamlessly with the setting that you don't blink when the High Priest of Death calls upon the energy of his God, and is infused with the power of the lands of the dead, Mictlan.
The protagonist of the novel is the High Priest of Mictlantecuhtli (God of the Dead), Acatl. No lowly slave here - but a man who at first sees himself as no hero as his brother, the Jaguar Knight, is, but who is slowly propelled by events into heroic deeds that would make any Jaguar Knight proud. Acatl is summoned in the middle of the night by the head of the Guardians - agents of the Duality (the Supreme Being in the Aztec pantheon) - to investigate the disappearance of a high ranking priestess. To make matters worse, the prime suspect in her disappearance is Acatl's brother.
I am hesitant to reveal more of the plot for fear of ruining this interesting mystery, but I will say that what appears as a simple abduction and perhaps murder, turns into something that threatens the very existence of the Fifth World - what the Aztec's call the current incarnation of our world. You know - the one that's suppose to end on December 21st, 2012.
Mlle. De Bodard does a great job of making the Pre-Columbian Aztec Empire (the story is set in 1480, some 39 years before Cortez arrives) at once alien yet accessible to the reader. True, she does steadfastly stick to the naming conventions used by the Aztec's, but luckily there are very few overlaps of names with the same first sequence of letters. Hence when I saw 'Cey', I knew it was the elderly and wizened Guardian of the Sacred Temple and not really have to battle through trying to mentally pronounce 'Ceyaxochitl'.
Another touch that Mlle. De Bodard deftly does to immerse one into the story and make it come alive is that she just doesn't say that Acatl casts a spell to track down a creature from the Underworld, she actually crafts Acatl's prayer to the Lord of the Hunt -
'In darkness they dwell
In darkness they feast
They eat, they consume their prey
All save one...'
It's these small touches spread throughout the book that makes the world seem "real" to me. As a bonus, the book also includes the author's notes detailing the historical setting and her research, along with an extensive bibliography.
Now, all that I've said should not suggest that the book is perfect. One needs to be a bit patient as the story takes about 100 pages or so to really get going. By this I mean that Mlle. De Bodard first needs to paint the scene and establish the "world rules" by which this sordid little story plays out. I for one am glad that she didn't rush cramming it all in 40 pages and took her time setting the proper tone and atmosphere. But once the Wind of Knives shows up, it's just about non-stop action until the end.
According to Amazon, 'Servant of the Underworld' will be available in the US on October 26, 2010 followed by its sequel, 'Harbinger of the Storm' on January 25, 2011. Amazon lists the books are Book One and Book Two, respectively, of the Obsidian and Blood Trilogy - so one assumes that we'll have a total of three books to enjoy, but if the other two are as good as the first, I for one hope that Mlle. De Bodard is inclined to give us further adventures of the High Priest of the Dead!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good idea that stumbles a bit..., July 8, 2010
This review is from: Servant of the Underworld (Paperback)
Well I know that one of my big complaints about a large chunk of the fantasy genre has to do with how Eurocentric it seems to be most of the time. Sometimes one gets tired of elves, pixies and trolls, and especially vampires and lycanthropes in places like the Americas, which have their own set of supernatural creepy crawlies... that hardly ever get mentioned and the very few times I've seen it, it was as a footnote. So when I was told that Servant of the Underworld is set in the Aztec Empire, of course I had to go read it.
The story begins with the narrator, Acatl, high priest serving the god of the dead being asked to solve the disappearance of a priestess named Eluia. His bother, Numatoc is involved somehow and was arrested in the missing priestess's chambers (which have been recently drenched in blood) soon after she goes missing. Then there are the politics and Acatl's family life pressing in on the events as they go. Stuff happens. There is an unsurprisingly large body count by the end of the book.
I'm not sure how to describe the voice of the narration. It seemed simultaneously too detailed and too bland. I was not familiar enough with some of the terminology to get a really good picture of the locations. This was a little confusing when Acatl would set wards around Numatoc's house, since I had no real idea what the house of a middle ranking Jaguar Knight would look like on the outside or how much space that would entail. There would be plenty of description of paintings inside and Acatl's emotional conflicts but for some reason it wasn't near immersive enough for this reader to start to lose myself in the story. It was rather like finding a radio station playing something that I think I want to listen to, but never managing to get it dialed in enough to hear it clearly. This was made doubly annoying by my own ignorance of Aztec culture (which is considerable). First person narration when from the viewpoint of someone who is native to a strange culture has no graceful way to explain differences to an outsider unless there is an outsider present in the narrative. Otherwise there are cultural assumptions that get lost in the narrator/reader interface and never get detailed. One moment of "of course she ran to the storm god's temple to volunteer as a sacrifice to avoid a messy death by supernatural enforcer" stood out in particular as a rather abrupt shift to an outsider.
All that ranting aside, Acatl wasn't a bad character overall. Over the course of the book, he goes from reclusive grouch with a lot of guilt issues centered around his family to starting to act like his title of High Priest. I mentioned before that his emotional state was frequently described and in some places it seemed that his character journey was better told than the events happening around him. The result was that half the time the narrative had a distinctly alien feel to it, teetering between guy who cares about what happens to his siblings and nieces and nephews and the priest who pulls thorny vines through his ear lobes every day to make the blood offerings in his devotions to the god of the dead. It was a little jarring at times.
The plot is ok for the most part. Acatl is pretty diligent about pursuing leads up, down and sideways. Magic functions as a tool for seeing things that would otherwise be hidden and he was pretty careful about using it (as anyone would be if a ritual requires large quantities of one's blood as a part of it). Then the dreaded deities began to play a more active role in the narrative and everything went down the tubes from there. Seriously, just because you have gods that get blood sacrifices more or less daily does not mean that one should use them as a "free villain with purchase of pantheon." Especially when the culture in question uses human sacrifice on a regular basis and everyone in the narrative is completely nonchalant about it. I'm sorry, but when that plot device cropped up my interest in it got up and left. I also really don't like how in supernatural mystery novels (for lack of a better term) always seem to gravitate towards immortal supernatural baddies. It gets somewhat tiresome the fifth or sixth time around. Fortunately, when the plot starts to spiral down like used dishwater, Acatl starts growing a backbone and becoming a more interesting character, thus giving me a reason to continue reading.
In a few side notes, I did approve of how the accidental encounter with Mictlantecuhtli, the lord of the dead, was conducted and the "Meh, why should I care what everyone else does? I'll still have to do my job" attitude that the god had. It was rather refreshing. Teomitl had the potential to be a far more interesting foil to Acatl than he was. I would have appreciated more discourse about how different social strata worked in the narrative, but what was there was enough to make me want more of it. Lastly, in spite of my problems with the narrative voice, I do appreciate the level of research that went into the book and the bibliography and glossary in the back pages.
I suppose I would recommend this as an ok read since I'm handing it off to someone else when I finish typing this review. :)
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