Rhymer by Gregory Frost (A Review)

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Today, I'm posting a straightforward book review of a fantasy novel I admire a great deal... 

 

Rhymer by Gregory Frost (Tor Books)

 

GregoryFrost’s Rhymer is easily the best thing I’ve read in the past year. It’sa… and already I’m having trouble finding the right descriptors. Initially, itlooks to be a Celtic fantasy, with Thomas the Rhymer waging a one-man waragainst all Faerie. But the elves, it turns out, are an invading alien speciesfrom another dimension, so it’s actually science fiction. Oh, and because Frostkeeps the historical events consistent with those we know, it’s also a secrethistory. And the elves themselves are straight out of a horror novel. But itcould also be that it’s actually an alternate history.

 

Let mestart over again.

 

ThomasLindsay Rimor de Erceldoune is mad, to begin with. Mad and cursed with the giftof prophecy, he is clearly a precursor to or avatar of Tom O’Bedlam. One night,the Queen of Faerie comes hunting with her elf-troop and takes True Thomas’sbrother away with her as a sacrifice to the Teind. On a whim, she cures Tom ofhis madness (but not his visions, which take the form of epileptic seizures andprophesies he cannot understand). This, as it turns out, is the biggest mistakeshe will ever make.

 

Thenewly-rational protagonist learns of the elven/alien plot to firstreverse-terraform and then take over our planet. Being immortal, they can taketheir time. Being shape-shifters, they can assume powerful positions in humansociety. To oppose them, Tom must first learn how to use weapons. And beforethat, because even a hero must eat, he must learn a trade, that ofstone-cutter.  

 

Everyoneknows the pleasures we expect from an action-adventure novel and Frost deliversthem most ably. But he’s also too canny a writer to give you exactlywhat you’re expecting. Through all the many twists and turns of plot, hecarefully avoids those that have grown trite and predictable through overuse. Andthough True Thomas is the hero his world needs—experiences he’d much rather haveavoided have made him immortal and given him the elven power of glamour—he’salso a convincing human being in a world that is recognizably our own. He hasfriends and family and loyalties and, in the course of events, a wife.

 

This wifeis Janet of the green kirtle who, in the Child ballad “Tam Lin” (Thomas hasmany names in the course of his long life), saves her own true love from theFairy Queen, and she is one of the most engaging aspects of this novel. Notonly is she stalwart and capable enough to rescue Thomas from the darkest nightof his soul but she is convincing as his spouse as well. They two form aworking marriage, a union of peers whose support for each other strengthens themboth. And how often do you see that in a fantasy novel?

 

There isso much to praise about Rhymer! All the characters in it ring true. Thestonemasons sound like working class men. (When Thomas’ mentor, Alpin Waldroup,is asked in what battle he was injured, he replies, “Has it a name? I neverheard it.”) The elves are everything that’s wrong about aristocrats, and thensome.  The worldbuilding, both of Faerieand the Scottish Borders, is exemplary. I could go on and on. Suffice it to saythat Gregory Frost has done the hard work that is the making of a great bookand reimagined everything about it afresh. This is one hell of a satisfyingnovel.

 

Much morecould be said. But I will stop here, before I drown you in a sea ofsuperlatives.

 

In the wayof such fantasies, there are two more volumes on their way. Rhymer: Hoode,in which True Thomas assumes the guise of a certain bow-carrying outlaw,available now, and a third book, which I understand will be set in Elizabethantimes, will follow soon. As of this writing, I am midway through the second andavid to read number three.

 

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