Books

EYE FOR AN EYE by William Ian Miller is a look at the concept of blood vengeance and honor that concludes, unsurprisingly, it’s more complicated than we think. Miller discusses to what extent “eye for an eye” should be taken literally, and the burdens it generated (“Claiming an insult is too trifling to care about avenging is one way to avoid getting into more trouble than you can handle.”) and the often complex relationship between blood and money in the Icelandic sagas (taking weregild is okay up to a point, after which it looks like moneygrubbing). He also looks at the difference between justice as retribution and justice as balancing the scales (by taking from your foe what he took from you) and how to do it (the Hammurabic code takes it literally—if you kill someone’s son, he gets to kill yours). I’m not sure there’s a real thesis here, but the ideas are all interesting.
THE GAME OF PIRATE by Ed Wicke is a fantasy riff on TREASURE ISLAND in which a young boy who’s the only able to translate a cunning pirate’s cryptic clues is shanghaid for a McGuffin hunt that exposes him to ruthless brigands, conniving women and a roguish sea cook. Not my sort of thing (too much straight piracy) but nicely executed.
MADMAN Vol 1 by Michael Allred starts off well as the protagonist tries to figure why he’s wearing a costume, why he can’t remember his real name, why there’s a dying scientist in cryo in his freezer—but once it gets past the origin arc, it comes off like a tamer version of the Flaming Carrot series. Not quite a winner for me.
SPOKEN HERE: Travels Among Threatened Languages by Mark Abley looks at a variety of tongues on the brink of extinction, including Aborigine languages, Mohawk, Provencal, Manx and Yiddish—plus minority languages that have turned back from the brink such as Hebrew and Welsh. The causes of decline include the widespread influence of English in both business and pop culture, the desire of many colonials to stamp out “inferior” tongues and occasional infighting (Provencal advocate lock horns with related languages in the Occitan group). Abley also looks at why various language groups keep clinging to their tongues, for reasons ranging from mysticism to national pride, and what it means if we lose them. A good job.
THE COURT OF THE AIR by Simon Hunt is a lively fantasy set in a somewhat steampunk alt.Europe where two orphans find themselves embroiled in the kingdom of Jackal’s battle against the combined forces of Aztec cultists and French Revolutionaries, with the players including psychics, fae, loa-worshipping robots and an alt.Karl Marx. Hunt’s choice of alt.names is often poor (Jackals for England?) but overall this is a lot of fun.
THE BROKEN KINGDOMS is NK Jemisin’s excellent follow-up to Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, set 10 years later as the godlings freed in the first book are now mingling with the world and both divine and mortal protagonists are dealing with the fall-out. The protagonist is a blind, psychic artist who discovers her relationships with a couple of godlings have made her a magnet for fanatic cultists. A satisfactory sequel.