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480 pages, Paperback
First published March 7, 2017
Gotfrid’s hobby was an obsessive determination to crossbreed different species and thus produce a unique new pelt. He had no scientific skills and a very shabby understanding of natural history, still less of basic genetics. But he did have persistence, no moral code, and an abnormal interest in sexual organs. His little workshop was well worth avoiding. The odours and sounds that emanated from it were spectacular.
That is why the small set of rooms above it was so very cheap.
The smoke rose in the still khaki air and he saw her scars arabesque with her fine long hair and wondered why he was in this forsaken forest rather than her bed. Outside, the reptiles and amphibians began to call to the stars as the shadows squeezed out from the trees and the overpowering darkness pulled the infinite through the intimate with ease.
I do have to say, too, that there was a much heavier undertone of misogyny than even the first book (which... definitely had its moments) especially re: Ishmael's relationships. Where before the female characters around Ishmael felt like their own characters, with their own motivations and personalities, it got to a point where they only moved in relation to Ishmael, and even new characters like Sholeh existed solely to affect (and have sex with) him. I understand that I get uniquely and sometimes unfairly frustrated with a heavy or persistent focus on (het) sex, especially when I feel it does nothing for the plot, but there were scenes here that crossed that line and felt self-indulgent on behalf of the author. And Sholeh - oh, man. A mysterious, beautiful, 'exotic' dancer who seduces Ishmael and hides the scars on her face, which do nothing to counter her beauty or her sexual attractiveness of course, and who is then tortured and brutalized off-screen, only reappearing from Ishmael's perspective as a disgusting unidentified creature in the dark which he runs from, and then dies off-screen? Really?? I get that you have to have Ishamel tried and executed, and though the symbolism is a brick to the face I absolutely love the idea of an intricate tree guillotine, but really? Must we watch Ishmael die not for the betrayal of his fellows in pursuit of power in the Vorrh, but for being falsely accused of murdering a woman who everyone calls a whore? And even at the end, we see Cyrena still completely within Ishmael's circle of influence, sitting practically on a throne and to watch him die. This would give her agency were it not for the fact that she is existing as the witness to his murder on behalf of the reader, and that she calls out his name at the very end. The only women who were remotely spared from this final scene were Gertrude and Meta, and arguably only Meta (and maybe the girl-prophet) really managed to be a character remotely independent of Ishmael and his personal story.
Ultimately, I feel this book did not personally astound me or even, at times, hold my interest mostly because the direction of focusing so much on Ishmael's story (and the rather heavy-handed purely-Biblical metaphors going on at the end) left me behind. I'll recommend this book to anyone who wants more of the city plots and anyone who wants to follow all that symbolism to the end, but for anyone like me - who was always more interested in the creation of culture and mythos around and in relation to the Vorrh, and the interesting faux-blending of European and non-Western cultural ideas, and the more delicate and transformed religious undertones, and more of the mystery of the first book - I would caution to lower your expectations. There are moments to applaud - the two lines about the tree of knowledge ultimately being for the trees struck me like poetry and justified, for me, quite a lot of the journey - but be prepared for a lot of pyrite among the gold.