This is book 5 is the Emperor's Edge series, and this review is going to
be full of spoilers for the first four books of the series. If you
don't want to know secrets, or the outcome of the cliffhanger ending of
book 4, look away now.
The end of book 4 left our heroes in a bit
of a pickle. Their dirigible was shot down by their enemies, leaving
Amaranthe to be captured by the evil Major Pike, while the survival of
the rest of the group was in doubt. Surprise! They made it more or less
unscathed, and since Sicarius sets off after Amaranthe, that leaves
Maldynado to take charge of the group, following the plan of rescued boy
emperor Sespian. Meanwhile, back in the capital, Sespian has been
declared dead and evil conspiracists Forge are making their move for
world domination.
The series has always taken a lighthearted
tone, with every madcap adventure ending with a lot of wrecked
machinery, a heap of accidentally dead enemies, a few scratches on the
gang and a metric tonne of entertaining banter along the way. Book 4
became slightly more serious, as Sicarius went on a cold assassin
killing spree, but nothing much was made of it apart from a bit of
internal angst by Amaranthe. Book 5 shifts into a different gear
altogether, as Amaranthe is subjected to sustained torture at the hands
of Major Pike.
I found this section uncomfortable to read, and
not because of the torture itself (I've read much worse). I have no
problem with a story that delves into difficult territory, but I found
the treatment of it here skirted round the issues raised. Amaranthe is
treated with appalling brutality (which I won't describe here), yet she
never cracks under the pressure, and is still able to joke. Some magical
salve is conveniently used to heal her injuries between sessions. She
is never raped, even though Major Pike, we're told, is famous for it.
When she eventually escapes, she manages to evade capture despite her
physical condition (she herself doubts she could have survived much
longer), and is soon sufficiently recovered to be quite happy to enter a
building alone to meet with an unknown male. The only long-term effect
of her experience is to make her more likely to jump with surprise when
Sicarius sneaks up on her. Oh, and she doesn't want to talk about it.
Obviously not every book needs to be grimdark, and I can see how it
might have been necessary, plotwise, to underline Sicarius's childhood
experiences, but to my mind torture is automatically a grimdark subject
and shouldn't be treated as just another violent experience, like being
bopped on the head or taking a few cuts and bruises. The author does
make some attempt to describe Amaranthe’s suffering, but there’s a fine
line to walk: too serious a tone clashes with the light-hearted nature
of the books, but too flippant would be wrong too. To my mind, it would
have been better to leave the torture out altogether.
The second
major problem is Maldynado. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Maldynado.
He's probably my favourite character (after Sicarius; what is it with
ice-cold assassins anyway that makes them so appealing?), and I'd vote
for his statue in a heartbeat. But he's essentially a shallow character,
the comic relief who can always be relied upon for an entirely
inappropriate comment of sexual innuendo or boasting about his triumphs
in the bedroom, usually while beating up random villains with practised
ease. Here he's the other point of view character (apart from
Amaranthe), and since she's tied up - hmm, unfortunate phrasing there -
being tortured, which we see only briefly at intervals, it means that
dear old no-brain Mal is carrying the first half of the book virtually
single-handed. Frankly, he's not a strong enough character for that.
There's a certain amount of backstory to be revealed, but it's not
wildly interesting and most of what we get is Mal whining internally
about being misunderstood. Honestly, much as I like him, there's only so
much of that I can take.
If this all sounds negative - actually,
it is negative. I just didn't enjoy the book as much as previous ones
in the series. There's an increasing reliance on sophisticated
technology for the hero-chomping machinery, too, which is too close to
deus-ex-machina for my taste. Not enough to have our heroes trapped
underground beneath a lake surrounded by armed villains? Let's have a
few mysterious black boxes lying around which can remain inert to start
with but will come to life and start shooting at everything at the most
difficult moment. Blech. However, there is one element which is worth
the price of admission all by itself. Sicarius chooses to leaves Sespian
to the rest of the gang in order to rescue Amaranthe, and regular
readers know exactly what a difficult decision that was for him. When
they do eventually meet up again, there are some truly wonderful
moments. Sicarius is never going to fall on Amaranthe's neck weeping,
but the tiny (and not so tiny) ways in which he opens himself up to her
and makes himself totally vulnerable are brilliantly written. Easily the
best thing in the series so far.
The ending is the usual
machinery-and-scenery-demolishing mayhem, where hordes of bad guys may
(or may not) die but our heroes improbably emerge injured but still
intact. There's a really cheesy moment right at the end, one of those
dramatic reveals that's abruptly cut off before anything crucial
actually is revealed, and some truly clunky exposition to explain the
villains' motives, but generally speaking things come to the usual end,
with everything more or less as before (a few plot developments but no
actual character progression, as such, beyond that infinitesmal
lightening of attitude by Sicarius). I already have the rest of the
series, so I'm committed for the long haul, but I have to be honest and
say that this book was a disappointment. Three stars.
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