Elitist Book Reviews

I met Max Gladstone at WorldCon in San Antonio. We were both waiting to be taken through or rehearsal of the Hugo Awards Ceremony, and I struck up a conversation when I realized who he was (that's why we wear name badges, folks!). We'd given a positive review of his first novel, THREE PARTS DEAD, here at EBR which made things much better, of course. As it turned out, we got along extraordinarily well. Max is, without a doubt, one of the most genuine authors I've ever met. And (thank goodness) he is a terrific author, too. Max was nominated for the Campbell Award for Best New Author this last year, and I'm pretty sure he'll be nominated again this coming year for WorldCon in London.

So, without further ado, here is our interview with Max Gladstone; author, Eldredge Knot wearer, and all-around awesome guy.

Elitist Book Reviews: It's the Max Gladstone show! Introduce yourself to the readers and talk yourself up a bit. Why should everyone be reading your novels?

Max Gladstone: Hi! I write books and fence and occasionally get myself in trouble. I grew up reading Zelazny and Michael Crichton and Robin McKinley and and Terry Pratchett and Dorothy Dunnett and Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes, which left me with a very weird sense of humor, as well as a taste for brisk, tight plots and sharp characters.

Do you like books with zombie gods, boardroom necromancy, shapeshifting gargoyles, hive-mind police forces, human sacrifice, love, soul poker, giant lava serpents, and tense filial relationships? Of course you do! And that's why you should be reading mine.

EBR: Your novels are an inspiring mix of genres, but I have to ask what is your favorite genre to read and why? OR which genre inspires you most?

MG: Hard question! I read widely, and I love surprises. Recently I've been on a science fiction / space opera kick, as a break from writing so much fantasy. But I just finished the new Scott Lynch book, which is awesome of course. I started Pynchon's latest last night and that's great so far. In terms of inspiration, New Wave SF has had the biggest influence on me, especially Zelazny, but that's all amalgamated with historical adventure fiction and techno-thrillers and Sherlock Holmes to the point where I'm not sure you can say where anything starts with a certainty.

EBR: In your novels the cities--Alt Coulumb in THREE PARTS DEAD and Dresediel Lex in TWO SERPENTS RISE--play a large part of the story and you bring them alive to readers. Are either based on any city in particular?

MG: Alt Coulumb isn't based on anywhere in particular, though I think it inhaled a lot of Northeastern Metropolis—Boston and New York especially—in its childhood. I wanted Dresediel Lex to feel different, so I reached out for cities that didn't feel as if they belonged in New England. Los Angeles was the logical extreme, so I drew heavily off LA for TWO SERPENTS RISE.

EBR: Before your novels we haven't seen many fantasy novels use the legal thriller genre's elements as such an integral part of its storytelling. How did the idea for Craft and its legal aspects evolve?

MG: Magic and law are natural twins. Rules, principles, and precedent govern both, but will's involved too, and raw force of personality. Much detailed magic in fantasy novels ultimately comes down to a question of who can phrase the most compelling argument as to why they should win. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final confrontation is basically an argument about a fine point of property law. Modern U.S. law features legally immortal immaterial persons, and if that's not magic I have no idea what is.

EBR: Themes of sacrifice and religious belief are explored in detail in TWO SERPENTS RISE. Why were these themes important for you to write about?

MG: The modern world's obviously out of balance, right? We have an enormous plastic island growing in the Pacific, the Aral Sea's dried up, trans-Arctic ocean shipping has gone from science fiction to big business in about ten years. One natural reaction to that lack of balance is to embrace roots—turn back to the Good Old Days, the way things used to be. Problem is, whatever their advantages, the Good Old Days weren't really that good. My nephew was born premature—he probably wouldn't have survived a century ago, which is horrible to think. And that's just talking medicine. The Good Old Days had shorter lifespans, rampant misogyny and anti-Semitism (and other forms of racism depending on which Days you choose), crippling global poverty, etc. etc. etc. I met a lot of small farmers when I lived in China, and not one that I spoke with wanted their children to follow in their footsteps. But rejecting the Good Old Days alternative, well, you're back with the evaporated oceans and the dying forests and the diminishing fresh water supply, the world where they haven't been able to make Inniskillin ice wine in five years because vinyard temperatures aren't low enough. I wanted to tell a story about this conflict without giving anyone an easy answer.

Sacrifice was a good focal point for the conflict between these world systems, since it refuses easy answers. Human sacrifice seems repulsive to most folk with modern sensibilities, but within its traditional context human sacrifice was often the highest sacrament, and an honor to the one sacrificed, a way of elevating them to godhood. Then again, I doubt every prospective sacrifice appreciated the theological significance of their role as the knife was chestward-bound. (And of course, human sacrifice—or divine sacrifice, I suppose—is still celebrated and commemorated in the Christian tradition, especially if you're into the ransom theory of atonement!)

EBR: We're fairly confident you'll win next year's Campbell Award for best new author (alas not this year, despite a well-deserved nomination). Are you concerned about any specific competition?

MG: Thank you! It was an honor to be nominated last year, and I'd be honored for the same to happen again. Of course, it'd also be nice to win.

At this year's Hugo Losers' Party, Wes Chu said he was coming for me, so if I disappear in a bizarre ninja-related accident sometime around August 2014, drop him a line maybe.

EBR: You're in a book store, and you notice some poor, lost soul trying to find something to read. What do you recommend? Obviously they've already read your own novels, so you can't recommend those.

MG: Do they like science fiction? Lord of Light.

Do they like fantasy? Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown. Or Good Omens.

Do they like litfic? East of Eden.

Do they like science fiction or litfic, and do they have a LOT of time on their hands? Infinite Jest.

EBR: What do we have to do to get our likeness's killed off in your next novel? Bribes? Promises? Threats...not that we would ever do that...probably.

MG: Ask nicely. Also, I'm partial to whiskey. And cookies. Not at the same time. And no cookie-flavored whiskey, please. Gods. The very idea.

Sadly for this purpose, my next two books in the Craft Sequence are basically done. Though there is some proper mass murder in Book 4, so there's room…

EBR: Any last words for the readers? And what can we expect next from you?

MG: The very next thing you'll see from me: Choice of the Deathless, a choose-your-own-path type adventure game set in the world of the Craft Sequence. Be the necromantic lawyer you've always wanted to be! Alternate subtitle: business can be murder. More sorcery, more boardroom politics, more pinstriped suits, more demons, and more billable hours. Coming in December!

Beyond that, we have Full Fathom Five, the next book in the Craft Sequence, due out in July 2014. Offshore banking, artificial "gods", slam poetry, golems, and the return of some familiar faces from Three Parts Dead and Two Serpents Rise. It'll be fun. Also a bit heartwrenching.

Later in 2014 (at least that's the plan!), I have a non-Craft Sequence sort of crazy space opera-like thing, and after that, well, let me hold some surprises for the future!


Here are your links to Max's novels:

THREE PARTS DEAD

TWO SERPENTS RISE

Dresediel Lex--desert city of 16 million--is dependent on reservoirs to provide its citizens with water, so when a demon infests a crucial supply it's Caleb who's sent to solve the problem. While there Caleb stumbles across the wild Mal, a cliff runner in the wrong place at the wrong time who escapes before he can question her. Could she have witnessed the arrival of the demon or was her presence more nefarious?

When Caleb reports his findings to his boss, the King in Red (skeletal Craftsman, owner of  Red King Consolidated, de facto ruler of the city Dresediel Lex), he's also tasked with figuring out the cause of the infestation. Was it a mistake or was it intentional? Fingers point to none other than Caleb's father, the last priest of the city's old gods and leader of the True Quechal terrorists. Despite his estrangement from his father, Caleb isn't convinced it was him and decides to go looking for the missing cliff runner to find out what she saw--a task easier said than done.

What follows those dense beginning chapters of set-up reminds me of the big black pyramid that's the heart of the city of Dresediel Lex: brick by brick Gladstone's story builds in intensity until you're left gasping for air by the time you reach the top.

Gladstone's first novel, THREE PARTS DEAD (EBR review), introduced us to this fascinating world of gods, Craftsmen, and even the cities themselves--these books are urban fantasy, legal thrillers, steampunk, and epic fantasy all rolled into one novel.  TWO SERPENTS RISE isn't a sequel to the first novel, but since it is set in the same world there is a sense of continuity. You don't have to have read TPD to understand TSR, but it wouldn't hurt and TPD is a novel worth reading.

TPD was a debut novel, and had hardly anything for me to complain about it was so well written. Gladstone's second novel is even better. My main complaint in TPD was the PoV issues arising from the omniscient-style narrative, but since TPR is told almost exclusively from Caleb's viewpoint it's a non-issue here. Also, the main character of TPD didn't have much of a character arc, but here Caleb is a very fascinating character who struggles with the choices he's made. He may not be a Craftsman, but his father hasn't left him powerless; he's full of contradictions and yet his actions make sense. I particularly enjoyed reading his conversations with his friend Teo--they're snappy and she really makes Caleb look at himself more objectively.

Like in TPD, here the city is an important element of the story and the King in Red holds Dresediel Lex together by the skin of his teeth (if he had skin). It has its slums, its former gods and their believers who won't give up, industries--and of course the great pyramid at the center where the King in Red does business, but where sixty years ago the priests of the city sacrificed people to satisfy their hungry gods. We follow Caleb as he goes to work, tracks Mal, and tries to do his job in a city that's wild, dangerous, and beautiful.

The story is a complicated one with twists and turns, the novel moving forward almost effortlessly despite the mountain of information Gladstone throws at you. There were a few things that still confused me, however, because they were left unexplained, and sometimes I had a hard time following his description of important events because they were less literal and more impressionistic. Fortunately, despite these glitches, TSR was very fun to read because of its creativity and imagery. By the end Gladstone doesn't disappoint, having spent the entire book building up to the moment when everything collides. I'm very interested in seeing Caleb's next story.

Recommended Age: 15+
Language: Not many, maybe 5 instances
Violence: Some blood and gore, but infrequent
Sex: One scene without detail

Find this book here:

TWO SERPENTS RISE

And the one that came before it (in case you missed it):

THREE PARTS DEAD

Magic lawyers. No, not lawyers who go to court over magic, but lawyers who have magic and use it to make contracts. Gods who are real. Gargoyles. Vampires. Necromancy. A murder mystery. Trying to explain everything this novel has and is just makes my head spin.

So...maybe I should start at the beginning.

Tara is a young Craftswoman (i.e., magic lawyer type) who since being kicked out of the Hidden Schools has floundered about purposeless. Until Elayne Kevarian hires her to help on a case her firm has taken on: to resurrect the dead god Kos. But before they can do that they have to figure out how and why it happened. And they must do this before His city falls into chaos.

Quite the first case for a young woman, no matter how promising and brilliant. While Ms. Kevarian is off on her own errands, Tara is assigned to the grunt work, her only help the young priest Abelard, whose faith is on the brink. Tara goes about her work with determination and finesse. She's in her early twenties, so it's sometimes hard to believe that she always knows what to do. Tara hasn't got much of a character arc, but the story is so plot/setting oriented that it would have been difficult to go very deep.

Abelard and his friend Cat have the most interesting stories and character development of the entire cast. Ms. Kevarian is cleverly drawn as the scary woman you'd want on your side and Professor Denovo is believable as the egocentric "scholar" working as counsel for the opposing clients. But I doubt you'll read this book for the characters, as integrated as they are to the story.

What shines in THREE PARTS DEAD is the city of Alt Coulumb and the magic. Gladstone reveals bit by bit the world that surrounds Tara as she traipses through the streets, interviews people, does her magic, and generally tries to figure out how Kos died. No silly infodumps here, we are whisked from page one right into Tara's story and the events surrounding the death of a god.

For example, Craftsmen: their magic is not unlike the powers that gods possess, but instead of having the magic be their divine body, humans fuel their magic from starlight. They can use it to create contracts, but also to find the loopholes and unravel them--often quite literally. Craftsmen magic is sometimes gruesome, as in the case of necromancy; sometimes it's beautiful as in the Hidden Schools itself which floats above the earth. Sure there's history and how-tos that aren't really explained, but there just isn't time. Here's hoping he includes those unanswered questions in a sequel. (Will there be one? Wish I could say.)

We jump into the story right from the beginning, and despite brief lulls as we learn about the case, the pace never really slows down. The conclusion is an amazing and cool, yet also tidy, wrap-up of what is an often convoluted twist of clues and revelations. Some of the revelations are a little frustrating because information is withheld from us, which doesn't make sense considering the novel's omniscient narrative style--it's kind of hard for a character to not show her hand if you were just in her head. I probably would have let it slide if Gladstone had been more strict about how he switched from PoVs. But it is his first novel after all, and he'll figure it out for next time. He seems pretty smart.

Gladstone's prose is fluid and descriptive, and easy to read despite the density of the different elements of the novel. I loved how weird it all was, the jiving of different ideas and even genres, mixing up urban fantasy with mystery, legal thriller with sword & sorcery, and a little steampunk thrown in for flavor. I would read it again just to see if I can pick out the clues I missed the first go-around, and to savor Gladstone's clever details.

Recommended Age: 15+ there isn't really any risque content
Language: Fewer than 5 instances
Violence: Some
Sex: A kiss and asking about lovers but that's it

You really need to read this fun debut novel. You can find it here:

THREE PARTS DEAD