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White Crow Sequence #1
Rats and Gargoyles
It is a nameless city somewhere between past and future, a mythic realm at the "heart of the world," where wicked Rat Lords have reduced all humankind to slaves, and god-daemons make the decision to end all existence. This energizes a compelling quest for survival, and prompts the powerful White Crow to order an uprising against this chaotic strike that threatens them all. Among those who respond to her are the defiant Prince Lucas of Candover, a student at the University of Crime, and no man's slave; and Zara, the young Katayan woman who is destined to become the living Memory of all that follows. And others rally to join them in one final desperate revolt, hoping to create a magic powerful enough to reshape the very nature of how they live.
477 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1990
28 people are currently reading
1197 people want to read
About the author
Mary Gentle
44 books204 followersThis author also writes under the pseudonym of Roxanne Morgan
Excerpted from Wikipedia:
Mary Gentle's first published novel was Hawk in Silver (1977), a young-adult fantasy. She came to prominence with the Orthe duology, which consists of Golden Witchbreed (1983) and Ancient Light (1987).
The novels Rats and Gargoyles (1990), The Architecture of Desire (1991), and Left to His Own Devices (1994), together with several short stories, form a loosely linked series (collected in White Crow in 2003). As with Michael Moorcock's series about his anti-heroic Jerry Cornelius, Gentle's sequence retains some basic facts about her two protagonists Valentine (also known as the White Crow) and Casaubon while changing much else about them, including what world they inhabit. Several take place in an alternate-history version of 17th century and later England, where a form of Renaissance Hermetic magic has taken over the role of science. Another, Left To His Own Devices, takes place in a cyberpunk-tinged version of our own near future. The sequence is informed by historically existing ideas about esotericism and alchemy and is rife with obscure allusions to real history and literature.
Grunts! (1992) is a grand guignol parody of mass-market high fantasy novels, with orcs as heroes, murderous halflings, and racist elves.
Excerpted from Wikipedia:
Mary Gentle's first published novel was Hawk in Silver (1977), a young-adult fantasy. She came to prominence with the Orthe duology, which consists of Golden Witchbreed (1983) and Ancient Light (1987).
The novels Rats and Gargoyles (1990), The Architecture of Desire (1991), and Left to His Own Devices (1994), together with several short stories, form a loosely linked series (collected in White Crow in 2003). As with Michael Moorcock's series about his anti-heroic Jerry Cornelius, Gentle's sequence retains some basic facts about her two protagonists Valentine (also known as the White Crow) and Casaubon while changing much else about them, including what world they inhabit. Several take place in an alternate-history version of 17th century and later England, where a form of Renaissance Hermetic magic has taken over the role of science. Another, Left To His Own Devices, takes place in a cyberpunk-tinged version of our own near future. The sequence is informed by historically existing ideas about esotericism and alchemy and is rife with obscure allusions to real history and literature.
Grunts! (1992) is a grand guignol parody of mass-market high fantasy novels, with orcs as heroes, murderous halflings, and racist elves.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
June 24, 2007
I read this book back in 1994 when it first came out and I fell in love with it. I remember not really understanding what went on in the second half of the novel. Now that I have with me only the books I love the mostest, I've reread it, mostly because I have nothing else to read! I wondered if being older would let me understand the ending any better.
Nop.
I believe this is one of Mary Gentle's first. Shes a great and gritty author, but I think she 'gets better' in her later books. The plot of this is as labyrintine as the city that it's set in. The setting is intriguing. A mix of renaessance and hermetic magic, where Rat Lords live among humans, and all serve and build for the Decans, gods who live among their followers, within a massive building known as the Fane.
Plots and intrigues abound though, something is afoot in the Heart of the World. The pacing of the first half of the novel is great, the second half takes place over the stretch of half a day, and a lot of it felt a little drossy to me. In terms of the remark about Mary Gentle getting better, I feel her later novels are far better described. I often found the lack of description made it even harder to work out what was going on.
All in all, I still hold this book dear. It does what my favourite books do, imerses you in a strange and alien world, and lets you just breath it all in. Excellent reading.
Nop.
I believe this is one of Mary Gentle's first. Shes a great and gritty author, but I think she 'gets better' in her later books. The plot of this is as labyrintine as the city that it's set in. The setting is intriguing. A mix of renaessance and hermetic magic, where Rat Lords live among humans, and all serve and build for the Decans, gods who live among their followers, within a massive building known as the Fane.
Plots and intrigues abound though, something is afoot in the Heart of the World. The pacing of the first half of the novel is great, the second half takes place over the stretch of half a day, and a lot of it felt a little drossy to me. In terms of the remark about Mary Gentle getting better, I feel her later novels are far better described. I often found the lack of description made it even harder to work out what was going on.
All in all, I still hold this book dear. It does what my favourite books do, imerses you in a strange and alien world, and lets you just breath it all in. Excellent reading.
January 19, 2012
I think China Mieville must have read this when he was younger - there is much about this that screams "Perdido Street Station". Fairly Gothic, steampunky urban fantasy with mysterious deific figures, multiple races, scientist-mages and so on. A bit confusing as to what is going on a lot of the time, but books like this are about the journey not the destination. 3/5
September 29, 2013
I'd read the "companion" book to this one, 'The Architecture of Desire' quite some time ago, and wasn't aware that this story was linked!
It's a darkly inventive, complex but rewarding book... Gentle's prose is of the sort that you have to pay close attention to keep track of what's going on... it's dense, the plot is convoluted, and many things are merely hinted at or implied - Gentle took the old adage, "show, don't tell" seriously in writing class!
Lucas, a foreign prince, has arrived in the city at the heart of the world anonymously, to study at the College of Crime (a highly respected institution). He meets a fellow student, the strong-willed Katayan girl Zaribeth, who is in training as a King's Memory, an official recorder of events. By chance, they uncover a plot which may set the order of the city - and the world - on its head. That order currently is that thirty-six god-daemons rule the world, enforcing their wishes through their terrifying gargoyle/dragon acolytes. On a mortal level, the rat-lords and their grotesque king have precedence over mere humans, who chafe at their place at the bottom of the hierarchy...
The major players at this juncture of events may turn out to be the corpulent Lord-Architect Casaubon and the mysterious scholar-soldier/mage White Crow....
The city is very Renaissance, and Gentle borrows heavily from 16th/17th century magical philosophy, but is also informed by a steampunk aesthetic, with gear-and-cog-run computers, engines - mentions of underground trains, photography, etc..
I'd HIGHLY recommend this book to any fans of China Mieville... or anyone who appreciates literary fantasy.
___
A dark, vivid and complex alternative medieval world, a fantasy where highly intelligent rats rule subservient men under the direction of gods incarnate, the Thirty-Six, monumental Decans whose gargoyle acolytes terrorize the populace and maintain the holy rule. Into the menacing city, with its teeming masses and its Thirty-Six temples of the Fane, comes Lucas, prince of Candover, to study at the the University of Crime. He and a classmate, the tailed Katayan Zar-bettu-zekigal, training to be a King's Memory, stumble into a plot to destroy this world and its balance of power. While men stir up revolt against the Rat-Kings, Plessiez, a Rat priest, schemes to sow true death through plague and necromancy to unsettle the Decans and decimate the serfs. Other forces--other gods and an Invisible College--enter the fray. Gentle paints her mystical and occult world in the nightmare images of Hieronymus Bosch, drawing deeply on Rosicrucian and Hermetic lore, while at the same time creating idiosyncratic and believable characters.
It's a darkly inventive, complex but rewarding book... Gentle's prose is of the sort that you have to pay close attention to keep track of what's going on... it's dense, the plot is convoluted, and many things are merely hinted at or implied - Gentle took the old adage, "show, don't tell" seriously in writing class!
Lucas, a foreign prince, has arrived in the city at the heart of the world anonymously, to study at the College of Crime (a highly respected institution). He meets a fellow student, the strong-willed Katayan girl Zaribeth, who is in training as a King's Memory, an official recorder of events. By chance, they uncover a plot which may set the order of the city - and the world - on its head. That order currently is that thirty-six god-daemons rule the world, enforcing their wishes through their terrifying gargoyle/dragon acolytes. On a mortal level, the rat-lords and their grotesque king have precedence over mere humans, who chafe at their place at the bottom of the hierarchy...
The major players at this juncture of events may turn out to be the corpulent Lord-Architect Casaubon and the mysterious scholar-soldier/mage White Crow....
The city is very Renaissance, and Gentle borrows heavily from 16th/17th century magical philosophy, but is also informed by a steampunk aesthetic, with gear-and-cog-run computers, engines - mentions of underground trains, photography, etc..
I'd HIGHLY recommend this book to any fans of China Mieville... or anyone who appreciates literary fantasy.
___
A dark, vivid and complex alternative medieval world, a fantasy where highly intelligent rats rule subservient men under the direction of gods incarnate, the Thirty-Six, monumental Decans whose gargoyle acolytes terrorize the populace and maintain the holy rule. Into the menacing city, with its teeming masses and its Thirty-Six temples of the Fane, comes Lucas, prince of Candover, to study at the the University of Crime. He and a classmate, the tailed Katayan Zar-bettu-zekigal, training to be a King's Memory, stumble into a plot to destroy this world and its balance of power. While men stir up revolt against the Rat-Kings, Plessiez, a Rat priest, schemes to sow true death through plague and necromancy to unsettle the Decans and decimate the serfs. Other forces--other gods and an Invisible College--enter the fray. Gentle paints her mystical and occult world in the nightmare images of Hieronymus Bosch, drawing deeply on Rosicrucian and Hermetic lore, while at the same time creating idiosyncratic and believable characters.
May 3, 2011
This book is complex and, as other reviewers have noted, difficult to understand. I don't pretend to understand it myself. However, it is my seminal novel, one I have read repeatedly from my early teenage years until now, and which has influenced a lot of my own work. It is a rich concoction of bizarre concepts, many extracted from history (the Invisible College, the concept of a Rat King, the hanging of a pig for murder) and extended using Mary Gentle's now well known approach to historical alternity.
I own three copies of this book, by the way.
I own three copies of this book, by the way.
December 28, 2014
Mary Gentle has been quoted as describing this novel by saying "there are jokes... that only three people in the world will understand and one of them is dead. This is not an apology." This pretty much says it all really.
I love it.
I can't decide whether I want to be Casaubon or the White Crow when I grow up.
Edit: I have decided that the perfect way to describe Mary Gentle is that she's the British female counterpart to Avram Davidson.
I love it.
I can't decide whether I want to be Casaubon or the White Crow when I grow up.
Edit: I have decided that the perfect way to describe Mary Gentle is that she's the British female counterpart to Avram Davidson.
December 31, 2014
Oh, but this was a thing of beauty. I have read too many steampunk-sci-fi-fantasy worlds of late that have been all mouth and no trousers, but Mary Gentle never fails to create believable worlds out of the truly fantastic. Inspired by alchemical writings, Rats and Gargoyles reads like an intricate puzzle box that challenges, delights and infuriates. Normally I gobble books up, but this one I had to take my time over. The theory and playful intellect of this book balanced out by characters I cared for and a narrative that drove me on. Wonderful.
August 24, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in September 2000.
Hermetic philosophy - that is, strictly speaking, following the ideas in the occult writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus - has played a role in some for the best novels of the second half of the twentieth century, including Lawrence Durrell's The Avignon Quintet and John Fowles' The Magus. This resurgence of interest is related to an increased, open, interest in the occult, exploited by figures such as Alastair Crowley. These things were generally kept hidden, and would not be considered appropriate subjects to write about - the major survival from the Renaissance interest in this kind of idea have been Masonic lodges. Fantasy and science fiction authors have also been fascinated, including Piers Anthony (the Tarot is a recurring theme in many of his better novels) and Robert Anton Wilson (whose Illuminatus! Trilogy must rank as one of the most paranoid collections of novels ever written).
All of the books that I have mentioned are set more or less in the real world. Mary Gentle is, I think, unique in creating a fantasy universe almost completely based on occult writing. The world on which the novel is set has humans and several alien races living on it, including the aristocratic Rats, though everything is subordinate to the thirty six Decans, incarnations of the controlling principles of the universe. The plot of the novel concerns complicated schemes among the Rats to persuade the Decans to give up their incarnation; being omniscient, the Decans know what is going on, but are manipulating events for their own amusement.
Most of the action in the book is magical rather than physical; it starts, for example, with seer The White Crow using her blood to write messages for adepts to read on the face of the full moon. Masonic ideas about proportion in architecture are extremely important. Much of the background is interesting, but as a novel Rats and Gargoyles has several major problems.
The most obvious of these is a consequence of the subject matter. Hermetic writings are by nature obscure, complex, and often incomprehensible. This makes a novel based entirely on them, particularly one where the reader is thrown in at the deep end as here, heavy and difficult to read. Too much space is given to baroque description, and the plot is not dramatic enough to grab the attention. The novels mentioned earlier handle this better because they are set in a more familiar background. By being an introduction to the unknown from the known, there is far less to take in all at once.
In addition, there are too many major characters in the novel for Gentle to make them individual; Rats and Gargoyles is an attempt at something rather more ambitious than she can pull off. My final verdict: intereesting, but decidedly flawed.
Hermetic philosophy - that is, strictly speaking, following the ideas in the occult writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus - has played a role in some for the best novels of the second half of the twentieth century, including Lawrence Durrell's The Avignon Quintet and John Fowles' The Magus. This resurgence of interest is related to an increased, open, interest in the occult, exploited by figures such as Alastair Crowley. These things were generally kept hidden, and would not be considered appropriate subjects to write about - the major survival from the Renaissance interest in this kind of idea have been Masonic lodges. Fantasy and science fiction authors have also been fascinated, including Piers Anthony (the Tarot is a recurring theme in many of his better novels) and Robert Anton Wilson (whose Illuminatus! Trilogy must rank as one of the most paranoid collections of novels ever written).
All of the books that I have mentioned are set more or less in the real world. Mary Gentle is, I think, unique in creating a fantasy universe almost completely based on occult writing. The world on which the novel is set has humans and several alien races living on it, including the aristocratic Rats, though everything is subordinate to the thirty six Decans, incarnations of the controlling principles of the universe. The plot of the novel concerns complicated schemes among the Rats to persuade the Decans to give up their incarnation; being omniscient, the Decans know what is going on, but are manipulating events for their own amusement.
Most of the action in the book is magical rather than physical; it starts, for example, with seer The White Crow using her blood to write messages for adepts to read on the face of the full moon. Masonic ideas about proportion in architecture are extremely important. Much of the background is interesting, but as a novel Rats and Gargoyles has several major problems.
The most obvious of these is a consequence of the subject matter. Hermetic writings are by nature obscure, complex, and often incomprehensible. This makes a novel based entirely on them, particularly one where the reader is thrown in at the deep end as here, heavy and difficult to read. Too much space is given to baroque description, and the plot is not dramatic enough to grab the attention. The novels mentioned earlier handle this better because they are set in a more familiar background. By being an introduction to the unknown from the known, there is far less to take in all at once.
In addition, there are too many major characters in the novel for Gentle to make them individual; Rats and Gargoyles is an attempt at something rather more ambitious than she can pull off. My final verdict: intereesting, but decidedly flawed.
August 17, 2007
A depressed god could cure himself if only he willed it; but he rots away in the heart of the cathedral while the city is in turmoil. Humanity plots to overthrow its masters.
January 22, 2015
Starts well with a dramatic, atmospheric and very visual opening scene. And kind of goes downhill from there.
Gentle is great at descriptions, although this can also get very repetitive and distracting. I lost count of the number of times characters' hair and clothing was described, for no real reason, and always using the same words (copper or cinnamon, depending on the character), and when the world is collapsing I don't really need to read the details of the colour and texture of the crumbling masonry in every scene.
But the main problem is clarity: I didn't have a clue what was going on half the time. There's some vague, hand-wavy nonsense about gods and necromancy and alchemy and architecture but I couldn't make head or tail of it, and gave up trying after a while. All that left me was the occasional startling image or beautiful turn of phrase. To use an architectural analogy as Gentle would herself, it's all gothic stylings and embellishment without a solid structure or foundation to hold it up.
Gentle is great at descriptions, although this can also get very repetitive and distracting. I lost count of the number of times characters' hair and clothing was described, for no real reason, and always using the same words (copper or cinnamon, depending on the character), and when the world is collapsing I don't really need to read the details of the colour and texture of the crumbling masonry in every scene.
But the main problem is clarity: I didn't have a clue what was going on half the time. There's some vague, hand-wavy nonsense about gods and necromancy and alchemy and architecture but I couldn't make head or tail of it, and gave up trying after a while. All that left me was the occasional startling image or beautiful turn of phrase. To use an architectural analogy as Gentle would herself, it's all gothic stylings and embellishment without a solid structure or foundation to hold it up.
March 3, 2012
A very cool book that, sadly, doesn't maintain its narrative drive. Nonetheless, a terrifically realized and unique fantasy setting - I pictured a sort of twisted 18th century sans-cullotes Paris with rodent overlords and working magic. There's also a character who, I realized many pages in, has a tail! You really have to peer into the story's corners, as it were, to see how detailed and clever Gentle's world-building is. For me, the story achieved a kind of fantasy fiction hyperdrive with a scene where one of the protagonists transforms into a very large bird. The passage was so vivid, telling it from her point of view, and felt so REAL (considering the fantastical nature of the process)that I had to put the book down and shake my head in awe. I haven't re-read it in ages but I've never forgotten it and there it is as a 'keeper' on my bookshelf. Also - love love love that title!
April 11, 2012
complice forse (probabilmente, direi) una traduzione che m'è parsa zoppa, dopo una partenza da brividi mi son perso a metà, faticando non poco a trovare il bandolo della matassa. sono rimasto con la sensazione di un sacco di ottime idee non sviluppate, e di un sacco di pagine messe lì a far numero.
nonostante tutto, resta la sensazione che l'autrice sia da tenere in considerazione, e il libro prima o poi da riprendere in mano per vedere l'effetto che fa.
nonostante tutto, resta la sensazione che l'autrice sia da tenere in considerazione, e il libro prima o poi da riprendere in mano per vedere l'effetto che fa.
March 10, 2016
Another re-read. First got this when it was first published, back in the day; and it's one of the ones that I re-read on a fairly regular basis. Still an excellent, inventive, and unique fantasy; really not enough people doing hermetic renaissance fantasy. There's Mary Gentle, and Michaela Roessner, ... and that was about it, really. Hmm.
August 7, 2023
So I liked this, overall. Granted, shoes seemed to be in short supply and if someone had a tail I received up to the minute updates on what that tail was doing, at all times. If someone had red hair, or was fat, or was black, Mary Gentle hammered it home with description after description. That got a little tedious after a while, and usually description doesn't irritate me.
The world was interesting. Towers, siege engines, and yes, mention of an airship even. Humans are subjugated by rats, enslaved even, and trying to win back their freedom. The Rat King is an actual rat king, you guys. Gods are real and can be communicated with, and the dead sail around in a big boat, for some reason.
If you like class-conscious steampunkesque weird fantasy, and you've already read the Bas-Lag trilogy, I'd suggest you give this a go.
The world was interesting. Towers, siege engines, and yes, mention of an airship even. Humans are subjugated by rats, enslaved even, and trying to win back their freedom. The Rat King is an actual rat king, you guys. Gods are real and can be communicated with, and the dead sail around in a big boat, for some reason.
If you like class-conscious steampunkesque weird fantasy, and you've already read the Bas-Lag trilogy, I'd suggest you give this a go.
September 8, 2024
Really wanted to like this. Gave it 100 pages, but after a while I felt like I was often reading random words on a page. I often couldn't tell who was speaking and so didn't know which voice to use when I was reading it to my wife. I often found myself reading a line and saying, "I don't have any idea what that means."
I know that Mary Gentle is a loved author, all I can think is that she was trying to get a little crazy with this one and it didn't work for me (or my wife). I didn't even know what kind of creature one of the main characters was. Maybe the story just needed a little more "front loading/info-dump" to explain the world and what was happening.
I know that Mary Gentle is a loved author, all I can think is that she was trying to get a little crazy with this one and it didn't work for me (or my wife). I didn't even know what kind of creature one of the main characters was. Maybe the story just needed a little more "front loading/info-dump" to explain the world and what was happening.
August 9, 2021
This is a strange book about a world where the compass has five cardinal points, each 90 degrees apart and totaling 360 degrees. Humans are laborers who wear silks and satin. Rats are their lords, and gargoyles, which are called acolytes of the Decans, enforce the will of the 36 gods, which are not to be confused with the old gods, the serpent-headed night council. There is no main character, or rather too many main characters. Bad things happen, but (spoiler) the end of the world is averted.
September 18, 2023
A real burden to read!
I loved the concept and the universe.
Liked the general plot.
But the writting was sloppy, over descriptive and disjointed.
And the protagonist were the least interesting characters, I liked more the secondary characters, and that was another thing that I didn't like and it was the under development of the characters.
I loved the concept and the universe.
Liked the general plot.
But the writting was sloppy, over descriptive and disjointed.
And the protagonist were the least interesting characters, I liked more the secondary characters, and that was another thing that I didn't like and it was the under development of the characters.
August 11, 2020
This story flummoxed me. But I am stupid, so don't let that dissuade you from reading it. It is definitely interesting: weird and unique. It's a bit too long, and there are some actiony parts that maybe don't accomplish everything they attempt. I hope you enjoy it; I didn't.
August 23, 2020
This book reads like a fever-dream you might have if you had been reading Hermeticism and Freemasonry. I see some people have been puzzled by it, but to me it made sense, if only dream-sense. I immediately downloaded "The Architecture of Desire" because I need more of White Crow and Casaubon.
December 31, 2024
Very good, very weird, very...deep? It's one of those books, like C.J. Cherryh, that I have to read slowly in order to sink into the world and its rules and the shape of it.
The scene with the snake-headed deities made me laugh out loud and was a welcome break in all the tension.
The scene with the snake-headed deities made me laugh out loud and was a welcome break in all the tension.
February 11, 2020
Lots going on in this one. Got confused sometimes. Interesting ideas though.
November 2, 2021
I love Mary Gentle, her writing is very varied, these stories are wild and weird.
September 11, 2022
I've read this book a few times. I don't really understand what's going on all the time, but it's still one of my favourites.
August 18, 2023
This was really hard to get through. It's needlessly complicated and I still don't understand a lot of it.
March 13, 2024
4 stars for the world and the 'in at the deep end' style of exposition, but 2 stars for plot and pacing
January 8, 2024
I have changed my rating from two stars to four stars because I genuinely have not stopped thinking about this book for months and have reread it twice. I loved this book. It's also bad.
I really truly could not recommend this book less for anyone except those fitting an extremely weird niche of people like myself who enjoy reading a book not for quality or plot, but instead for a chaotic puzzle that one can only guess at the writing and editing process for. I live texted my reading of this book to my friend who gave it to me, who read it first and insisted that I had to as well in order to have someone that could understand the mental labyrinth he was now living in as this book haunted his psyche. We agreed on a number of things.
For one, the plot is absolutely incomprehensible as you read. Viewing the book as a whole from the outside, one can somewhat piece together what has happened in order. However, understanding /why/ any of it happens is something far too difficult to ask of the reader at any point in the book. Characters suddenly begin projects, give each other winks and nods, take off running in one direction, and the reader is left to stumble blindly after them with no idea what has led the characters to take action in the way they do. It works out, in the end, and the other characters seem to find it the most understandable thing possible, but the reader, not having lived in this magical renaissance world all their life, is left scratching their head. The end of the book is a wonderful sequence of missions undertaken by our main characters individually, all performing heroic feats and awesome acts that just seem to be happening, completely divorced from each other yet somehow interlocking despite never seemingly discussed or explained by any of the actors.
The second point my fellow reader and I agreed upon was that the lore in this book was beautiful, fascinating, deeply planned and thought out, and utterly unavailable to the reader. Fantastic structures and institutions are brought up, and play important roles in the city and the story, but the reader literally never learns more than a few brief and less-than-encompassing details about them. The worst example of this is the Boat, which is introduced into the scene by one character going "Ah, that must be the Boat", to which the other character goes "oh of course, it's the Boat". The scene then switches. While we do learn some other details about the Boat later on, they are never clearly laid out- the reader is left to pick them out of conversations as if trying to piece together the plot of a movie by overhearing it at a bar discussed by two people that watched it some time ago. While this is often used to great effect to draw in a reader in other stories and allow them to build on their already existing images if they're quick enough to catch on, it requires a base, solid understanding of the concept. Trying to put together an image belatedly from slivers of information is more of a headache than a fun reading experience. I'm sure somewhere there exists a great notebook filled with the structures of this world and deep descriptions of all the power dynamics and history and mechanics- I just think perhaps the author forgot that the audience hasn't read it.
Truly I think this book would be incredible if it was entirely rewritten. The idea of the plot is good, the mechanics are interesting, the magic system seems cool, the species and their power structures are fascinating, the writing is at time gorgeous in its creation of atmosphere and cityscape. It just doesn't read well. It has somewhat the feeling of a sequence of fever dreams, where you have a sense that things are interesting and beautiful and fantastical but it's all vague and fuzzy and you can't quite concentrate on anything coherently. This is true top down, from the overall story down sometimes to the individual sentence level. Maybe if you're already used to Gentle's writing style, or have an existing context for the world and characters, it reads better. But as the first in a sequence, and as a standalone story, this book is a rough go.
Final verdict: an incredible book that you should first challenge a number of your friends to read, then summarize while under the influence of alcohol. Makes a great night.
I really truly could not recommend this book less for anyone except those fitting an extremely weird niche of people like myself who enjoy reading a book not for quality or plot, but instead for a chaotic puzzle that one can only guess at the writing and editing process for. I live texted my reading of this book to my friend who gave it to me, who read it first and insisted that I had to as well in order to have someone that could understand the mental labyrinth he was now living in as this book haunted his psyche. We agreed on a number of things.
For one, the plot is absolutely incomprehensible as you read. Viewing the book as a whole from the outside, one can somewhat piece together what has happened in order. However, understanding /why/ any of it happens is something far too difficult to ask of the reader at any point in the book. Characters suddenly begin projects, give each other winks and nods, take off running in one direction, and the reader is left to stumble blindly after them with no idea what has led the characters to take action in the way they do. It works out, in the end, and the other characters seem to find it the most understandable thing possible, but the reader, not having lived in this magical renaissance world all their life, is left scratching their head. The end of the book is a wonderful sequence of missions undertaken by our main characters individually, all performing heroic feats and awesome acts that just seem to be happening, completely divorced from each other yet somehow interlocking despite never seemingly discussed or explained by any of the actors.
The second point my fellow reader and I agreed upon was that the lore in this book was beautiful, fascinating, deeply planned and thought out, and utterly unavailable to the reader. Fantastic structures and institutions are brought up, and play important roles in the city and the story, but the reader literally never learns more than a few brief and less-than-encompassing details about them. The worst example of this is the Boat, which is introduced into the scene by one character going "Ah, that must be the Boat", to which the other character goes "oh of course, it's the Boat". The scene then switches. While we do learn some other details about the Boat later on, they are never clearly laid out- the reader is left to pick them out of conversations as if trying to piece together the plot of a movie by overhearing it at a bar discussed by two people that watched it some time ago. While this is often used to great effect to draw in a reader in other stories and allow them to build on their already existing images if they're quick enough to catch on, it requires a base, solid understanding of the concept. Trying to put together an image belatedly from slivers of information is more of a headache than a fun reading experience. I'm sure somewhere there exists a great notebook filled with the structures of this world and deep descriptions of all the power dynamics and history and mechanics- I just think perhaps the author forgot that the audience hasn't read it.
Truly I think this book would be incredible if it was entirely rewritten. The idea of the plot is good, the mechanics are interesting, the magic system seems cool, the species and their power structures are fascinating, the writing is at time gorgeous in its creation of atmosphere and cityscape. It just doesn't read well. It has somewhat the feeling of a sequence of fever dreams, where you have a sense that things are interesting and beautiful and fantastical but it's all vague and fuzzy and you can't quite concentrate on anything coherently. This is true top down, from the overall story down sometimes to the individual sentence level. Maybe if you're already used to Gentle's writing style, or have an existing context for the world and characters, it reads better. But as the first in a sequence, and as a standalone story, this book is a rough go.
Final verdict: an incredible book that you should first challenge a number of your friends to read, then summarize while under the influence of alcohol. Makes a great night.
April 6, 2016
Disappointing. Maybe because it had an overabundance of Rats and a sad dearth of Gargoyles*.
In an unnamed city ruled by Rat Lords and Gargoyle gods (Decans), revolution is brewing. Humans, at the bottom rung of the status level, are eager for change, tired of system that prevents them from engaging in any commerce outside of barter, and tired of the prohibition against carrying weapons. The Rats--yes, huge, walking, talking anthropomorphic rats--are weary of the Gargoyle's rule. The Rats' precise motivation for revolt escapes me, which leads to my problem with this novel.
It's obtuse, like having a conversation with Gandalf where he obviously knows stuff, but rather then just telling you what you need to know, he drops all sort of sage-sounding, but extremely (annoying) vague hints.
I believe it's a matter of writing style, a narrative choice that avoids exposition in favor of a very active, show-don't-tell, form of storytelling. I get it. Some people love this style. Me? Not so much.
I don't need or want a lengthy dissertation into the various customs, traditions, lineages, languages, foods, and politics of a novel's worlds. But yes, please give me some exposition, preferably, dribbled out in a paragraph or two, or better yet, in snappy dialogue. I'm not a subtle reader, nor am I attentive. Point of fact, I'm lazy. Rather than beat around the bush showing me in ten pages of story how shit works in your world, just fucking tell me.
Rats and Gargoyles is beautifully written but tells me nothing about its world.
Too bad, because the story is reminiscent of China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, one of my favorite novels, ever. Unfortunately, in addition to the lack of straightforward exposition, there's the "who needs dialogue tags?" approach to dialogue. There's also a weird point of view; it's sort of third person omniscient past-present tense. I also had a hard time figuring out who the text referred to as there was an unclear uses of pronouns (and a weird aversion to using the characters' names, instead calling them "the black Rat" or "red-headed woman").
I was initially captivated by the story and characters--in particular Lucas and Zari (who reminds me of Sette, from the online comic Unsounded)--but after a strong opening, the novel loses its initial momentum, and the plot gets hopelessly lost in the ever-growing cast of characters.
Given that this novel received accolades, clearly the style works for some readers. Me, I loved the first hundred pages, but the peculiar narrative style grew tiresome, and by the end of the story, I was skimming. Confession, by about page 350, I quit reading and paged forward without really reading (comprehending) to the end.
*I loved the 1990s animated series Gargoyles and would devour a great gargoyle novel, if such a thing exists.
In an unnamed city ruled by Rat Lords and Gargoyle gods (Decans), revolution is brewing. Humans, at the bottom rung of the status level, are eager for change, tired of system that prevents them from engaging in any commerce outside of barter, and tired of the prohibition against carrying weapons. The Rats--yes, huge, walking, talking anthropomorphic rats--are weary of the Gargoyle's rule. The Rats' precise motivation for revolt escapes me, which leads to my problem with this novel.
It's obtuse, like having a conversation with Gandalf where he obviously knows stuff, but rather then just telling you what you need to know, he drops all sort of sage-sounding, but extremely (annoying) vague hints.
I believe it's a matter of writing style, a narrative choice that avoids exposition in favor of a very active, show-don't-tell, form of storytelling. I get it. Some people love this style. Me? Not so much.
I don't need or want a lengthy dissertation into the various customs, traditions, lineages, languages, foods, and politics of a novel's worlds. But yes, please give me some exposition, preferably, dribbled out in a paragraph or two, or better yet, in snappy dialogue. I'm not a subtle reader, nor am I attentive. Point of fact, I'm lazy. Rather than beat around the bush showing me in ten pages of story how shit works in your world, just fucking tell me.
Rats and Gargoyles is beautifully written but tells me nothing about its world.
Too bad, because the story is reminiscent of China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, one of my favorite novels, ever. Unfortunately, in addition to the lack of straightforward exposition, there's the "who needs dialogue tags?" approach to dialogue. There's also a weird point of view; it's sort of third person omniscient past-present tense. I also had a hard time figuring out who the text referred to as there was an unclear uses of pronouns (and a weird aversion to using the characters' names, instead calling them "the black Rat" or "red-headed woman").
I was initially captivated by the story and characters--in particular Lucas and Zari (who reminds me of Sette, from the online comic Unsounded)--but after a strong opening, the novel loses its initial momentum, and the plot gets hopelessly lost in the ever-growing cast of characters.
Given that this novel received accolades, clearly the style works for some readers. Me, I loved the first hundred pages, but the peculiar narrative style grew tiresome, and by the end of the story, I was skimming. Confession, by about page 350, I quit reading and paged forward without really reading (comprehending) to the end.
*I loved the 1990s animated series Gargoyles and would devour a great gargoyle novel, if such a thing exists.
May 25, 2011
"Government is a hard art, harder than your /magia/."
Very hard to summarize this complicated and challenging fantasy, but it's more than worth the effort.
Mary Gentle is out of control!
Also here are some Internet Archive stored posts by Gentle that may give you some insights into her extraordinary techniques.
http://web.archive.org/web/2006010721...
http://web.archive.org/web/2005020711...
http://web.archive.org/web/2004120822...
I just can't wait to read The Architecture of Desire.
Very hard to summarize this complicated and challenging fantasy, but it's more than worth the effort.
Mary Gentle is out of control!
Also here are some Internet Archive stored posts by Gentle that may give you some insights into her extraordinary techniques.
http://web.archive.org/web/2006010721...
http://web.archive.org/web/2005020711...
http://web.archive.org/web/2004120822...
I just can't wait to read The Architecture of Desire.
May 20, 2008
This was a fascinating book. I dont think most people would like it, but I definitely did. It is a different, gritty sort of fantasy setting, with a lot of detail and some explicit content. The thing I liked the most about it is that the book seems to be written in 5 dimensions(not just the normal 4).
July 23, 2016
hard to tell what's going on most of the time. pronouns are used more than the character's actual name, so most of the time I was trying to figure out who was doing or saying what.
it feels like listening to someone narrating a TV show while they're watching it, except they're so engrossed in the show that they've forgotten you can't see it.
it feels like listening to someone narrating a TV show while they're watching it, except they're so engrossed in the show that they've forgotten you can't see it.
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