Short Book Reviews: Romance, Magic, and Impossible Choices

The Midnight Bargain, by C. L. Polk (Erewhon Books)

Settling into a new C. L. Polk novel is akin to wrapping myself in a plushy robe, hot chocolate in hand, and then fastening my seat belt. And just after I wrote this, I learned that The Midnight Bargain has been named a Finalist for the Nebula Award. I’m delighted but not in the least surprised.

The Midnight Bargain is set is a culture with many of the same technology levels and romantic sensibilities as Polk’s previous Witchmark and Stormsong, sort-of-Western-European settings in which magic is both prized and limited. In the world of The Midnight Bargain, boys master their magic through rigorous training, but girls are all but forbidden the same knowledge, no matter how strong their talents. Their value lies in the marriage alliances they will bring to their families, through the “bargaining season” of formal, organized courtship, and the magically gifted sons they will bear. Upon marriage, a bride is locked into a magic-nullifying collar, akin to rendering her half-blind, half-deaf, and half-alive, to prevent her from carrying a child whose soul can then be stolen by a demon. Only after she has passed her child-bearing years, when it is too late to achieve any degree of mastery, will her husband, the keeper of the keys, release her.

Into this world comes Beatrice Clayton, powerfully magical and even more powerfully determined to practice her talents to the fullest. Her impoverished but genteel family counts on her to make a brilliant (meaning wealthy) match. Her only hope is to find a grimoire that will teach her how to bind a lesser, and then a greater, demon, thus qualifying her as a Magus, beyond the usual expectations of marriage.

The Midnight Bargain has so many story elements I adore: a strong woman protagonist with a gift for friendship and a determination to live her own life on her own terms; impossible situations requiring unexpected, creative solutions; the enduring value of friendships; and self-worth valued above romance. As with Polk’s previous novels, the story swept me up, turning pages late into the night, in love with Beatrice and the other characters (well, not the loathsome toad ones). My particular favorite was Nadi, minor demon of luck, desperately hungry for human sensory experiences, at times childish and mischievous but always amusing.

At turns romantic, dramatic, and humorous, The Midnight Bargain is highly recommended.

 

Short Book Reviews: The Seven Kennings, Continued

A Blight of Blackwings, by Kevin Hearne (Del Rey)

This sequel to A Plague of Giants is as detailed and complex and just plain entrancing as the first volume. The war with the Bone Giants may be over, but the giants are anything but vanquished; their spies, invading forces, and menaces of various sorts, natural and magical, seek to weaken the surviving kingdoms. As before, magical gifts called “kennings” arise in certain people by way of life-threatening ordeals; once the kennings were thought to be only five, now a sixth (the ability to speak to animals, including insects, with predictably hilarious and dreadful results) has arisen – could there be more?

As before, the story is told primarily through a Bard, whose kenning allows him to adopt the appearance, voice, and verbatim tales of his subjects as he relates these songs and stories to the refugees from the Bone Giants war, gathered on Survivors Field. Each character knows only a small portion of the whole; each has his or her agenda, cultural context, affiliations, and personal biases. The effect is a bit like the classic movie, Rashomon, in which each character’s telling of the same events produces a radically different interpretation.

I loved the chance to spend more time with characters from very different cultures (and the utterly delightful portrait sketches). As before, with the first volume, I had favorites and in this installment was coaxed into widening the field.

The story ended on a cliff hanger, so I assume – no, I demand that there will be more.