Sympathy for the Devil: Banewreaker by Jacqueline Carey

 

I think I like the concept more than the execution of Jacqueline Carey's Banewreaker, but overall it's an interesting read.

The idea of reworking Tolkien from the point of the "bad guys" is something I've been thinking about for 20 years (I read a fun op-ed by David Brin on the topic when the Peter Jackson movies came out), but I never would have thought to do it, much less in the detail Carey has. 

But there's the rub: it's all a bit more (often confusing) detail than you probably need to do this sort of thing (although some of the details are cool, like some sort of magical transit system... I think?). I really needed a glossary and dramatis personae for this one (thankfully it looks like the second book has at least the dramatis personae). 

I think a lot of the issue here is that Carey is riffing a lot more on the Silmarillion than Lord of the Rings. She starts with a somewhat elaborate mythology of seven Shapers and a brotherly squabble that starts a millennia-long war, and a lot of the novel keeps one foot in Silmarillion-level mythology. There's nothing like lovable, whimsical hobbits to ground the narrative, although I really enjoyed the Fjell (basically orcs) who were treated like real people (as opposed to an entire race of mindlessly evil beings... which is an aspect of Tolkien that never sat right with me).

The somewhat epic/tragic mode made it hard to really feel like I got to know many of the characters, aside from Tanaros, who is sort of the main character as an immortal general for the rogue god, er, Shaper. I would have liked more on the Fjell, dragons, dwarves, and some of the other minor characters, but as it was I could barely remember who any of them were or what side they were on (there was a whole subplot about a human boy "Bearer" that was almost completely lost on me aside from some sort of nod to Frodo). Maybe I just didn't click with Carey's style. I'm not sure.

I did really appreciate that Carey wrote a tragic version of an epic fantasy. Why wouldn't a huge war for stupid reasons be tragic, as all wars are in real life? There's a sadness to the whole thing that, weird though it may sound, is a satisfying tone, even if I'd, all things considered, prefer a nice Tolkienesque joke now and then. I may get to the sequel soon, although I don't have much hope for happy endings for any of these characters.

See also my Goodreads review.