|
25 May 2005
Staying Dead by Laura Anne Gilman
Paula Chaffee Scardamalia is a professional writer and weaver. In addition to writing a history column for Faery Magazine, she is also contributing editor for The Crafts Business Magazine, and writes book reviews for Foreword Magazine. She loves teaching creativity, writing, and dreamwork. A dream inspired her to write a fantasy novel, The Shadow Weaver, loosely structured on the fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty.
What do you do with someone who won't stay dead and insists on wreaking havoc with those who caused his early demise? This is the dilemma Wren Valere must solve along with her business partner, Sergei, in her role as professional Retriever: someone who specializes in finding missing objects. In this case the missing object is a cornerstone from a thirty-eight floor skyscraper containing a spell and a spirit looking for revenge. Gilman's exciting debut novel encompasses the best of mystery, romance, and fantasy and is an excellent example of the new line of fantasy/romance crossover novels from Harlequin Luna. Staying Dead is not your usual wizards-fighting-dragons fantasy. Wren does most of the fighting, but not with a magic wand. Instead, she uses her canniness and her ability to pull energy, electrical and otherwise, from sources around her to open locked doors, to trace elementals, to track missing items, to outwit her enemies, and to beat the bad guys, as when she saves a deer-antlered fatae (fairy) from being beaten by a group of thugs. "Drawing down the power was easy for her, siphoning off the energy from an external source to flow through her, as though she were running water through her hands." When her own skills and powers aren't enough, she turns to her business partner Sergei who may, in fact, have more on his mind than business; a mage who has lost his mind; and her friend P.B., short for Polar Bear, who is actually a demon who only resembles a polar bear. The book, once started, is hard to put down. In order to find out where the cornerstone has gone, Wren must also figure out who stole it and why, normally not a difficulty for this former thief, but this job is different. Wren's concerns about conspiracies, the unique and intriguing characters, and a sense of whimsy and humor (P.B. eats anything and everything in Wren's refrigerator) make the book a delight from beginning to end. Especially enjoyable is the relationship between Wren and Sergei. That old question of "does he love me and what if he does, won't it wreck everything?" creates a nice tension between the two. Also, Gilman does an effective job of creating her world of magic--its rules, its hierarchies, its good guys and bad guys (not so easy to distinguish), and its conflicts. An additional dimension, resonating with current political and social concerns, comes from the underlying themes of prejudice and power in a highly technological New York City where demons, fairies, and other fey folk live and interact with the human population but where magic is not a welcome element. Wren's encounters with a group intent on exterminating anyone not human is a chilling reminder of historical and contemporary struggles to understand, accept, and live with those who are different. Even Wren has to decide where her loyalties lie, when her friend P.B. is attacked. The Council, Wren's nemesis and the elite of magic who really control things in the city (even the government), use their power to decide what is "best" for everyone, and embody the theme of the ethics of power--who has it, who gets to decide how it is used, and how and why it can be used--a growing concern in our 21st century, dominated by government and corporate power. Fortunately for readers, these themes and the relationship between Wren and Sergei promise to be explored further in Gilman's new book in the series, Curse the Dark, out this summer. That means more magic adventures, more mysteries to be solved, and more romantic give and take in the city that never sleeps. Start reading Staying Dead at bedtime, and you won't either. |
||
|
|
||
