It sounds like the setup to a bad joke. A guy sits alone in a bar in Vegas, waiting for his next poker game to start. He flirts with the waitress, has a drink, thinks about the fact that his ex-girlfriend recently committed suicide; nothing really to set him apart from the sludge of humanity around him. But underneath his baseball cap sits a mind that's been reincarnated through dozens of bodies over the course of many centuries-- a mind that remembers every era of history and every time he used his magic to change things for the better. And the best part is, our wizard isn't alone. He's got 200 friends just like him-- a secret society who's been magically nudging people toward working for the greater good, operating between the lines since the dawn of time. This is the premise of Steven Brust and Skyler White's The Incrementalists-- the foundation for a story that is simultaneously fantastical and everyday, mixing magic both wondrous and mundane.
Renee, called Ren, is one of the book's
narrators, acting as that new motherboard for the incumbent
personality of Celeste, a recently dead Incrementalist. Celeste's
ex-lover Phil is our other narrator, and he's the one tasked with
recruiting a new body for Celeste after she dies (by committing
suicide, which makes Phil even more eager to bring her back, so he
can ask her why).
But the implant process goes awry in a
way nobody understands-- Ren ends up with Celeste's powers, but not
her memories. Where did they go? How did they go astray? Was it an
accident, or done with intent? How does it link to her suicide? A few
other Incrementalists gather with Phil and Ren in Vegas to unravel
the mystery, and slowly they discover that the tempestuous wild woman
Phil has loved for centuries has been manipulating all of them for
longer than they enjoy admitting.
The premise of the book intrigued me,
and knowing what I know of Brust and White's past work, I was ready
for something grand and exciting. But what the book actually is, is
far subtler and, frankly, much more unique. Instead of starting at a
small point and working out to a grandiose large-scale event, the
book stays small. We meet a handful of the Incrementalists, and while
it's true that they are the sort of governmental force of the group,
none of them have supreme powers or anything that creates a huge
power imbalance. I kept waiting for the 'change the world' stuff to
get epic, for them to have to use their powers in a bigger way, but I
liked that it didn't go there.
I kept being surprised by the turn of
the plot-- it's rare, especially in urban fantasy, I think, for the
stakes to be nominally low this way. But it drew an interesting
point: that eve personal stuff like finding out your longtime lover
never really loved you at all can be big-- falling in love can be
huge-- and when you're dealing with magic, those personal struggles
have the capacity to have a huge effect on others.
The book's strongest points were its
language and characterization-- the narrative style was easy to read,
the dialogue was realistic, and the Incrementalists all felt like
people. I really liked their group dynamic-- their little personality
quirks, how they all knew each other so well. It was easy to believe
they'd known each other for centuries. I also enjoyed the con-man
aspect of the magic, isolating people's “switches” and flipping
them to influence their subconscious. I liked the obvious thought the
authors had put into the structure of the magic-- how it worked, the
rules that governed it, and how its practitioners kept tabs on those
rules being observed.
Also, I enjoyed the women in the book.
There were a few in the mix, all interesting and complex characters,
none of them serving as plot devices. I would say my favorite female
character was Irina, but I liked how Celeste was sort of a virus, a
really good villain, larger than life. I liked how they portrayed her
decline and talked frankly about her being a bitch and a little bit
evil without making her one-note. I haven't been impressed with the
way Brust writes women in the past, so I was pleasantly surprised. Despite the love story (which was cute, even if it didn't pack an emotional punch) I really felt like this was Celeste's story, and kind of liked it better because of it.
There were soft spots in the structure
of the book, though they didn't take away from my enjoyment of it too
much. Sometimes it moved so fast that aspects of the characters'
personalities seemed glossed over-- Ren's especially-- it felt
sometimes like I was expected to take her motivations and behaviors
on good faith that they were for a good reason, and the leaps when
her mind changed about something or she figured something out were
sometimes a bit of a stretch. Also, breaking the 4th wall at the end
was tongue in cheek and a little heavy handed, but funny nonetheless.
I rated this one three and a half
stars, which I rounded up to four because I enjoyed the experience of
reading it, and its weak spots are smoothed over for me by the
uniqueness of the premise. While I doubt I'll find myself ever driven
to reread it, I'd recommend it to anyone who, like me, enjoys books
about wizards who aren't the kinds of wizards you'd expect. Reading
it, I sort of felt like the first time I'd read So You Want To Be A
Wizard, discovering a whole new system of magic instead of something
that plays by the magical rules I'm used to. If you're into the idea
of urban fantasy that's not gritty but thought-provoking and
character driven, then definitely pick up The Incrementalists.
Steven Brust's website is here, Skyler
White's is here. You can read more about The Incrementalists on Goodreads, and you can buy it on Amazon.
No comments:
Post a Comment