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Seven years after her extravagant public funeral, 20-year-old aristocrat Chene Viqar turns up at a highland border crossing dressed as a humble nomad. It's an instant headache for her ambitious Goddess Mother -- Rowene, the ruling Lady of Gwynyr -- and to further complicate matters, Chene carries no memory of her horrific abduction by revolutionaries from rich and rebellious Llyr Province.
Despite these setbacks, Chene follows her famous mother's footsteps into a promising legal career. But when she's assigned to defend one of Lady Rowene's warrior monks in a Llyrian murder trial, the unsolved mystery of Chene's teenage abduction makes her mere presence in the provincial capital a dangerous provocation. On the bright side, at least it's an open-and-shut case... if Chene can just overlook the mounting evidence that her doomed client's entire confession is a carefully constructed lie.
Chene, the first novel in D.C. McElroy's Goddess Daughter Trilogy and his larger series, The Darbas Cycle, is a slipstream epic fantasy about the limits of magic, power and principle, set in a world haunted by a past too grand for mundane imagination.
Despite these setbacks, Chene follows her famous mother's footsteps into a promising legal career. But when she's assigned to defend one of Lady Rowene's warrior monks in a Llyrian murder trial, the unsolved mystery of Chene's teenage abduction makes her mere presence in the provincial capital a dangerous provocation. On the bright side, at least it's an open-and-shut case... if Chene can just overlook the mounting evidence that her doomed client's entire confession is a carefully constructed lie.
Chene, the first novel in D.C. McElroy's Goddess Daughter Trilogy and his larger series, The Darbas Cycle, is a slipstream epic fantasy about the limits of magic, power and principle, set in a world haunted by a past too grand for mundane imagination.
273 pages, Paperback
Published August 15, 2021
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October 23, 2021
I read this book upon the encouragement of a social-media friend, who happens to be the author of the book. I knew him to be an excellent and deep-thinking writer of articles and essays on topics historical, political, agricultural, and mechanical-- someone I always look forward to reading! What might he do with a Fantasy Epic, I wondered? Based on this "book one," that epic will be every bit as clever and imaginative as I expected, but I'm thinking I might need to read this one again and take some notes and draw some diagrams? There is SO MUCH exposition, all of it interesting and relevant, but not for the faint of heart, nor for the casual escapist reader hoping to follow some humble and clueless but well-intentioned protagonist on a great quest.
First, the good stuff. This book evolves into something of a "legal drama"... unexpected, in an outwardly sword-and-sorcery setting, but very compelling! I expect it will also become more a geopolitical thriller based on the events of this first book. It many characters have all the complexity and ambiguity, virtues and failings, that you can hope for in a human drama (and they are obviously human, though you may wonder whether the physical setting is our present planet, a curiosity that is eventually partially addressed, but no spoilers). One of the book's most interesting virtues is that the society we're plunged into is one that is "ruled" by women! And with a gender dynamic that feels both opposite and familiar... as in occupying a culture in which the genders (mostly) respect each other, while playing time-honored roles without question, and dropping the occasional insensitive remark that one might not notice if not for the "oppositeness." The story itself builds slowly but inexorably (I think they call that a "slow burn") toward a crescendo in the last third or so of its 250 pages in which a few head-slapping bombshells are dropped, which I didn't see coming, and what fun to ride those crashing waves!
Now here is where I'll get into some of the critique behind my "only 3 stars" review... that slow burn did not "stay burning" very continuously for me because there is SO much to learn and remember! [It was a backing fire through patchy fuel that might go out if you don't baby it... until the wind changes late in the book.] I've never edited a book before, but if I had been asked to edit this one I would've recommended one or both of the following "reader aids"... (1) Consider adding a bit more amnesia to the protagonist's life history, enough so that she is getting reacquainted with the setting, the culture, the religion(s), the politics, the factions, the families, and the history of this world, which would help the reader learn it at the same time, rather than by allusions and references (which are well done and skillfully placed, but there were way too MANY for me to keep straight). This might've fundamentally changed the character of course, whose self-confidence is so attractive, so I can understand not going there. (2) Put the Maps and the Dramatis Personae in the same part of the book, either the front or the back, and add to this reference section a Glossary or even some thumbnail sketches of some of the geopolitical/sociocultural elements of the setting (without giving away what I suspect is the deeper world history). I found myself struggling with my kindle app to go to the front and go to the end and search for references within the the book (3 different ways to lose one's place) and it is a lot of work to manage that, not to mention losing the thread of the story with too many those pauses. Maybe if I had a real kindle, or more kindle-tech skill, or younger and more numerous brain cells, it would've been easier. But whether electronic or hardcopy, some "exposition aids" like this would've been helpful, and perhaps allowed the action to progress a little faster. I was once advised that a good story is 10% exposition and 90% stuff-happening, and I think this book would not pass that test? That said, I'm the kind of person that enjoyed the Appendices of Lord of the Rings as much as I did the story. What's hard is deciding how to integrate or separate all that background exposition.
Finally, even though I kept forgetting who were the Gheralds and the Clydes, and which Lady was Sacred, and which of the Paths were whose, and where the Va came from (and I eventually resorted to "surfing over" a lot of that detail) I truly enjoyed the book, and will very likely read the next one!
First, the good stuff. This book evolves into something of a "legal drama"... unexpected, in an outwardly sword-and-sorcery setting, but very compelling! I expect it will also become more a geopolitical thriller based on the events of this first book. It many characters have all the complexity and ambiguity, virtues and failings, that you can hope for in a human drama (and they are obviously human, though you may wonder whether the physical setting is our present planet, a curiosity that is eventually partially addressed, but no spoilers). One of the book's most interesting virtues is that the society we're plunged into is one that is "ruled" by women! And with a gender dynamic that feels both opposite and familiar... as in occupying a culture in which the genders (mostly) respect each other, while playing time-honored roles without question, and dropping the occasional insensitive remark that one might not notice if not for the "oppositeness." The story itself builds slowly but inexorably (I think they call that a "slow burn") toward a crescendo in the last third or so of its 250 pages in which a few head-slapping bombshells are dropped, which I didn't see coming, and what fun to ride those crashing waves!
Now here is where I'll get into some of the critique behind my "only 3 stars" review... that slow burn did not "stay burning" very continuously for me because there is SO much to learn and remember! [It was a backing fire through patchy fuel that might go out if you don't baby it... until the wind changes late in the book.] I've never edited a book before, but if I had been asked to edit this one I would've recommended one or both of the following "reader aids"... (1) Consider adding a bit more amnesia to the protagonist's life history, enough so that she is getting reacquainted with the setting, the culture, the religion(s), the politics, the factions, the families, and the history of this world, which would help the reader learn it at the same time, rather than by allusions and references (which are well done and skillfully placed, but there were way too MANY for me to keep straight). This might've fundamentally changed the character of course, whose self-confidence is so attractive, so I can understand not going there. (2) Put the Maps and the Dramatis Personae in the same part of the book, either the front or the back, and add to this reference section a Glossary or even some thumbnail sketches of some of the geopolitical/sociocultural elements of the setting (without giving away what I suspect is the deeper world history). I found myself struggling with my kindle app to go to the front and go to the end and search for references within the the book (3 different ways to lose one's place) and it is a lot of work to manage that, not to mention losing the thread of the story with too many those pauses. Maybe if I had a real kindle, or more kindle-tech skill, or younger and more numerous brain cells, it would've been easier. But whether electronic or hardcopy, some "exposition aids" like this would've been helpful, and perhaps allowed the action to progress a little faster. I was once advised that a good story is 10% exposition and 90% stuff-happening, and I think this book would not pass that test? That said, I'm the kind of person that enjoyed the Appendices of Lord of the Rings as much as I did the story. What's hard is deciding how to integrate or separate all that background exposition.
Finally, even though I kept forgetting who were the Gheralds and the Clydes, and which Lady was Sacred, and which of the Paths were whose, and where the Va came from (and I eventually resorted to "surfing over" a lot of that detail) I truly enjoyed the book, and will very likely read the next one!
Displaying 1 of 1 review