Phew. And a Good Book!

Well, well, well. We made it. Since Labour Day, I've seen Edmonton for the first time, played so much with my nephew that he now recognizes me as someone good to play with, landed a job, met my niece for the first time as she was born but two days ago, and read two and a half rather good books. As much as I like talking about the littlest people in my life (that being Nevin and Nora, aka nephew and niece), this is a media blog, so let's talk about Shadowplay.

Shadowplay is the midsection of Tad (The Dragonbone Chair) Williams' newest high fantasy trilogy, and I feel quite confident in saying that there is no English-language author, at least in this genre, who understands the trilogy better than he. With Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn more than a decade behind him, he's done something far better than bring us a new tale: he's brought us a new tale, and done it even better than he did before. With a knack for plots-within-plots so smooth you don't realize they're upon you, and a very apt hand at characterization, Shadowplay is an immensely satisfying read, and, I think, stronger than its predecessor. The politics are stronger yet still readable, the fantastical is both more and less plausible, and characters who didn't get much of a shake in Shadowmarch come out to play in a nicely well-fleshed manner. Particularly, guard captain Vansen, who has clearly emerged as Williams' favourite character in this tale. I can't say I mind. Ferras Vansen is his universe's version of Babylon 5's Marcus Cole, and who didn't love Marcus? Didn't he almost completely steal seasons 3 and 4 from G'Kar and Londo? Yes, he did!

What really struck me about this book, though, is the challenge Williams seems to have set before himself. It's quite common for artists, especially ones who have known success, to begin to doubt their abilities, or seek to challenge themselves, or both, and I get a strong sense that's what's happened here. What started out as a fairly standard (though superbly executed) man-vs.-fairy war in Shadowmarch has grown into a full-blown war of the gods...and what makes me feel that Williams has set himself a challenge is the fact that, in a story that begs for and fully justifies copious use of deus ex machina, it is only used twice, and in ways that make full sense in the context of the genre and this particular tale.

I'm going to harp on this again: I haven't read anyone with a better grasp of how to write a three-part story since the first time I picked up The Lord of the Rings thirteen years ago. I'm perfectly itchy for the end of the story, and kind of hoping it takes a turn like the absolutely brilliant (and rather darkly funny) refutation of fantasy tropes regarding heroes and prophecy that came at the end of To Green Angel Tower.

Go on...take that trip to the bookstore...no, not the library, the bookstore. You should own this one.