Rok naší války

Fourlands #1

by Steph Swainston, Milan Žáček (Translator)

Jant je Posel, jeden z členů Kruhu, sboru padesáti nesmrtelných sloužících Císaři. Je jediný nesmrtelný, vlastně jediný živý člověk, který umí létat.
Císař se snaží ochránit lidstvo před hordami obřího Hmyzu, který už celá staletí pustoší zemi, ničí města svými krásnými hnízdy a požírá všechno a všechny, jež mu stojí v cestě. Musí se však také potýkat se spory a malichernými hádkami svých vybraných nesmrtelných. Jde o nesváry, které zanedlouho vyústí do otevřené občanské války.

Steph Swainstonová napsala úžasně originální, vyspělý fantasy román. Jeho smyšlený svět vyniká strhující, někdy až surreálnou krásou a je zalidněn naprosto exotickými nesmrtelnými postavami charakterizovanými odzbrojující lidskostí. Tímto románem se Steph Swainstonová zařadila do literární tradice reprezentované Mervynem Peakem, M. Johnem Harrisonem a, v poslední době, i Chinou Miévillem. Úchvatný debut té nejvyšší kvality.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, New Weird, Science Fiction, Novels, Speculative Fiction, Weird Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

BEFORE READING "THE YEAR OF OUR WAR"

All this talk of "Game of Thrones" is making feel a little jealous. No, I don't want to read them yet, they're too fat and Martin doesn't look like he's going to finish anytime soon and there's so many other things to read. Tempted? Yes. I want swords and battles and magic and weirdness. Fine let's look at some fantastic literature on the interwebs…

Miriam has this book on her Goodreads shelf. I have this book, too. That's right, I wanted to read this many months ago; I bought it; and then I put it on the Groaning Shelf of Books That I Will Read Someday. Why not? I'll read this today.


UPON STARTING "THE YEAR OF OUR WAR"

What the hell is going on in this story? Who are these immortals? Does that guy have wings, too? But only this one can fly. And he's a drug addict. And he wears jeans and mascara and a shirt that advertises a marathon he ran years ago.

A big insect wall. Big man-eating insects! These battle scenes are amazing. But what the hell is going on?


UPON REACHING PAGE 60 OF "THE YEAR OF OUR WAR"

Wait, this is brilliant. I can feel the slide. I am going to adore this book and I am going to devour it whole. But those first 60 pages are kind of foggy now…


UPON RE-READING THE FIRST 60 PAGES OF "THE YEAR OF OUR WAR" AND CONTINUING

Yes. Awesome. I get it. This is freaking genius. I can't stop reading this. Wow. Wow wow wow.


UPON FINISHING "THE YEAR OF OUR WAR" AT 2:30 AM

Holy shit that was great I can't believe that I've missed this for the last year I should have picked i up right away I'm so glad that I finally read it tomorrow I'm going to get up and order the second book it's already tomorrow in less than six hours I'm going to get up and order the second book I have got to see where Swainston is going to take this story so good so very fucking good.


IN CONCLUSION

"The Year of Our War" is audacious, weird, thoughtful, well-written, and, gosh darnit, fun. I love fantasy fiction for its swords and monsters and big conflicts between good and evil, and I am wary of reading any fantasy fiction at all for its recurrent bloat, immature sexual hijinks, stilted dialog, cardboard characters, and tired tales of conflicts between good and evil. Swainston avoids all of the bad, and infuses the genre with so much good material that is hers alone. I like the characters, I like the story, and I really like how Swainston brings it all together with a vital energy that once again makes reading a fantasy book urgent and enjoyable.

Thank you, Miriam, for pointing me towards this one.

[Daniel Roy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boy, does Steph Swainston's first book come with a lot of hype. The quotes on the cover and back of the US edition include such cutting-edge authors as Richard Morgan and China Miéville himself. After reading these glowing quotes and finishing this book, I have a theory about cover quotes: writers give them only to authors that don't threaten their supremacy.

I read the book based on a short but positive recommendation from Emerald City, having otherwise been totally oblivious to any kind of literary hype (China will do that to you!) That being said, I did expect some tasty weirdness and interesting world-building, which is the staple of so-called Weird Fiction. In both these regards, however, The Year of Our War is weak.

The setting is not the most intriguing, but it does have promise: Jant, the protagonist, is a cross-breed of two races, which gives him the unique ability to fly. This has made him attractive to the Emperor, who grants immortality to 50 individuals who are the best at their given task. Since Jant is the only one who can fly, he is the Emperor's Messenger. Other members of this Circle of immortals include Lightning, the Fourlands' best archer for 1,500 years, and Mist, the Emperor's sailor.

A twist to this setting is the Insects, man-sized creatures slowly overtaking the Fourlands and converting them to Paperlands, named such for the hard, paper-like substance the Insects use for construction. The Insects are a nice twist on the traditional Fantasy enemy: they're mindless, incomprehensible, and totally ruthless. In a Fantasy setting, they provide a suitably unsettling Starship Troopers quality to the conflict, which you usually don't find with your run-of-the-mill gloating bad guy who wants to overtake the Heroes for his own Evil reasons.

Ah, but there's more: see, Jant is also a drug addict, whose heroine-like substance addiction sometimes takes him to an alternate reality he calls the Shift, which is also infested by Insects. The Shift is actually richer in details and more fantastic, filled with man-turtles, women made of worms, and other weird characters.

Whew. Sounds overpacked with crazy details, doesn't it? Well, not really. Truth be told, all of the concepts in The Year of Our War sound awesome on paper, but they're only half-realized. Most of the novel is spent with very soap opera-esque characters fighting amongst themselves; you get women rebelling against their abusive husbands, secret love children, drug fiend self-loathing, and a lot of other things that are not that interesting, really. The secondary characters are sketched at best, and lack a certain quality to really make them stand out. For instance, we are told, rather than shown, that the King is a just and mighty King, and that the Emperor is wise and fearsome. When it came to actually showing them in action, they didn't truly stand out. The most annoying is definitely Mist Shearwater, who spouts modern-day truisms in two words, such as "Curiosity. Cat." or "Bitten. Shy." It's annoying the first time, and overwhelmingly irritating after sixty.

This lack of depth is unfortunately also the case for events in the story; you just feel it would have been more interesting if written by a better author. The biggest victim here is the Shift, which sounds on paper like it is meant to be a violent and visceral version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. You get turtle-men, leopards with square spots, horse-men wearing invisible clothes, and "problemmings" who jump from cliffs and fly in the air. Unfortunately, the lack of scope of these ideas means they're just there to decorate the plot and don't bring much atmosphere.

Overall, if you get past the soap opera and the sometimes awkwardly modern language, there are some cool ideas in The Year of Our War. It's not a bad book; it just doesn't stand out all that much. And when it's placed next to contemporaries such as Perdido Street Station, it only suffers from the comparison. Still, it's Steph Swainston's first novel, so there's hope for a bright future.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

The Year of Our War is a second world fantasy series set in a medieval like country, that is ruled over by an emperor who grants immortality to 50 of the worlds best. These immortals rule their lands and lead the fight against the invading insects. The novel follows Jant, the immortal court messenger, and drug addict.

To start with, this was a book that took me a bit to get into, but maybe half way through I suddenly started really enjoying it and rushed through. The writing is fun, the characters are interesting, and it was just different. And I do so love different. That said, it was a bit hard to follow in some places; I think if a little bit more detail was put in, with a bit more expostion, it would have cleared a few things up. That said, this wasn't a huge deal as I'm used to, and in general enjoy, novels that just through you in and expect you to make do. But it would have benefited I think.

Character-wise, it verges on having a cast of thousands, in that you're aware of there being multitudes of potential immortals to meet, however you only ever read about a few. With each immortal you do meet you want to know more about them, who they are, what they have done. Why they're all right bastards. The enemy, the insects (Although at times, it seems they care more about fighting their allies more), were this unknowable force lurking in the background creating havoc. You see them at the start, and then they become this motivating force, pushing parts of the plot along. As far as plot devices go, they were kind of a frustrating choice. Not in that they were bad villains, but they kept getting sidelined by immortal drama. Every time Jant tried to organise other immortals to take action, they'd just go do their own thing. I'm like, "but what about the damn bugs???"

Who knew making people immortal would make them selfish little shits? I'm talking to you, Lighting. God he was an aggravating character. But then again, we're given so little to work with, history wise with these people. We've got what we know from Jant, who firmly fits into the unreliable narrator faction. And then... No, thinking about it, I think I'll stand by it. Prick.

Right, where was I? Good writing, interesting plot, frustrating characters. Oh, and then there's The Shift, Jant's drug induced portal world. It's trippy, and I don't really understand how it works, or why things played out as they did there, but it was an interesting addition. I'd like to learn more about it in later books, but for now it just felt like some sort of Miyazaki odd world. Not out of place, just bizarre in its own right.

I'd recommend this to people looking for something different, those who like Mieville and Vandemere, but are after something a bit more human, a bit easier to connect with. I'd recommend it to people who are after a bit of drama and a bit of political intrigue (only a bit, mind you). So yeah, that's my review. Got a bit longer than usual this time.

[Shaphron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all-time favoutrite books - the characters are intersting and develop thorught the book and then the series - my Husband is of the opinion that the trilogy is in fact about Lightning and not Comet at all, and any book which has such good character progression in someone who is not (at least nominally) the main character shows fantastic care from the author.

Along with the character development, the world itself, as well as the concept of a select immortal few (no spoiler here, that's the main drive of the book from page 1) has sparked more than it's fair share of conversations, thus demonstrating that it's both thought-provoking and interesting. Subjects ranged from what (if anything) the Insects could reprisent, how immortality could stagnate a whole population, even if only a couple of members of the were actually immortal, to who and/or what the Emperor could be, and whether the drugged-out hallucinations of Comet were in fact real.

I found this book to be a page turner - I had to keep reading to find out what happened next. It's definately a must-read for anyone who is tired of the same old fantsay cliche's and wants a look at a different type of fantasy world. The one thing I will add is that the book is more character-driven than plot driven (I hasten to add that there is plot, it just takes secondary importance to the characters in the narration) - this appeals to me immensly, but may annoy you if you want action on every page (or even every chapter). The big battle at the end is not given as much space as some would like, because it is a relatively small part of the character's lives, whereas the build up to it and the interractions between the characters is given more importance.

[Uudenkuun Emilia · Rating 1 out of 5]

What an incoherent mess. I really should've DNF'ed it once I realised I didn't like it, but I wanted to see if it got better... It did not. The prose was quite pretty at the start, and the setup felt interesting, but then it all went to hell. Everything was just so bad: characters, "plot".

I don't mind unlikeable narrators, but Jant was just so horrible. (TW for rape) Sexist towards every single woman, lacking any clear goals... and a rapist, too. (Why the hell was there an entire detailed scene featuring Jant basically raping a woman right at the point when the "final" action scenes were coming up??) FUCK THAT. And like, OK, it was a first-person narrative, but Jant's horrible features would've felt less bad if it hadn't felt like everything in the story corroborated them. Such as: every single woman was basically portrayed as a terrible bitch if they gained any agency.

I'm just utterly baffled by the narrative choices Swainston made. This "story" just rambled around without any clear direction till it finally reached some sort of end. Also, prosewise, the tenses just meandered randomly between past and present, and I dunno if that was a deliberate thing to portray Jant's drug-addled mind, but it just felt like sloppy editing to me.

Also, the tech level of the main world was completely nonsensical. They have cocktails and steel factories and magazines, but simultaneously medieval (and early medieval at that) weapons tech, despite fighting this war for centuries?? NO GUNS or other explosives with which to effectively fight the Insects? Makes absolutely zero sense.

[Althea Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book came highly recommended to me by a friend, AND it had a blurb from China Mieville on the front cover. So I fully expected to love it.
But - I just couldn't get into it.
I suspect that the aspects of the book that many readers interpreted as 'highly original' and 'weird' I just saw as poorly delineated usual fantasy.
It took a long time to be told who the characters are, where they are, what's going on, what their motivations are... and I didn't really see a point, narrative-wise, to be so cagey about everything. As a reader, it just made me feel distanced from the story.

Basically, Jant is a half-breed immortal, one of an elite military cadre, and the only individual who can fly, in a world that is desperately battling a plaque of giant insects. (That is, when they're not engaging in petty intrigue and bickering.) He's also a drug addict, which everyone around him regard as a failing - but it may be that the place his consciousness goes when he seems to be in a drug hallucination is an actual alternate world - and this may hold the key to defeating the bugs.

I thought that the world and the story had a lot of potential, but it felt like a first novel to me. (I also really disliked the drug-hallucination world, and its dependence on bad puns to distinguish it from the 'regular' world.) And apparently, the author has now given up on writing, with some bitter, grumpy public announcements of such... so I don't think I'll continue with the series. (It is a 4-book series, and this one ends at a cliffhanger point.)

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

(original review) I read an excerpt from one of Swainston's novels in _The New Weird_ and was intrigued enough to read her first novel. What a great, refreshing book. The world is original and contains enough tidbits and mystery to hold one's interest (well, grab it and not let it go). The story's well-paced. The main character, although not exactly likable, has a unique POV as an immortal half-breed junkie. And THEN there's the New Weird angle, which I'm hoping will be more prominent in the following books.

Best of all, unlike the last heroic fantasy book I tried to read (and much like China Mieville's cover blurb) it was very hard to put down...

EDIT: so 15 years down the line I found out there was a 5th book in the series, but I never finished the 4th book because it was a flashback and Jant, well, I didn't love Jant enough to read a book about his childhood. Yet here I am with an omnibus edition of books 1-3 plowing furiously through it. Boy did I forget about the things that make me a bit nuts - like that some characters have three or four different names, that multiple characters are mentioned by name and NEVER SEEN much less described, and did I mention Jant is sort of pathetic even if you forgive his drug habit?

[Francesco Lanza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questo è un bellissimo primo libro d'una saga ormai ben sviluppata, il cui genere potremmo definire tranquillamente "weird fantasy": in un'epoca in cui il fantasy classico ma appestato da elementi grimdark che sono nati stantii, Steph Swainston ci presenta un mondo originale, ma che non si sforza affatto d'esserlo a tutti i costi. Se apprezzate Brandon Sanderson e la sua creazione di mondi con regole balzane, credo che la Swainston l'abbia fatto prima e meglio, e al contrario di Sanderson scrive personaggi stuzzicanti, in cui è facile immedesimarsi, e non Naruto mormoni un po' troppo bidimensionali. E al contrario di China Mieville, non sembra trasudare una personalità fastidiosa, che a me ammorba dopo qualche decina di pagine.

Le mie valutazioni sono del tutto soggettive, e non voglio suonare intransigente con gli autori che meglio si confrontano con questa scrittrice, ma se siete alla ricerca di una via d'uscita dall'Epic Fantasy, siete appassionati di personaggi che hanno poteri incredibili, ma non sono dei "prescelti", se vi ha stufato avere a che fare con un mondo di perenne medioevo farlocco anglosassone di pantaloni di pelle, stufato di montone e idromele, provate a rifugiarvi nei regni mentali di Steph Swainston. Saremo in buona compagnia.

[Pavlo Tverdokhlib · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Fourlands are locked in a bitter struggle with Insects- a generic Zerg-like entity that came from nowhere and is devouring the land, killing its inhabitants- Humans and the winged Awians alike- and turning the occupied territory into Paperlands, based on the appearance of the dwellings they build everywhere they go.

To counter them, the Immortal Emperor uses his Circle of the Immortals- individuals granted immortality for being the best examples of the different Aspects of war to assist the mortal Kings and Governors of the different areas of the Fourlands. "Comet" Jant Shira, the Messenger is a half-breed from the winged but flightless Awians and the mountain-dwelling, cat-like Rhydanne. Due to inheriting traits from both races, he is the only being capable of flight. He is also a drug addict.

When the latestt offensive from the brilliant King of Awia goes awry, resulting in his death and a massive counter-offensive by the Insects as the kings' ineffectual brother takes the throne and ineptly sabotages years of fighting, the Circle and the Fourlands as a whole stands on the brink of chaos, as grudges between Immortals get interposed over mortal politics.

In the midst of all this, Jant is faced with a distusbing knowledge- when he overdoses, he travels to a different world, the Shift-and he suspects that the repercussions of his actions there may be the reasons for the chaos in the Fourlands.

"The Year of Our War" is a novel that's a bit all over the place, but it gets by on the strength of its unique setting. In addition, Swainston manages to keep strong pacing all the way to the ending, which I felt was somewhat abrupt. There's no real resolution, as it seems he chose to make a pause in the story an end-point.

Nevertheless, the book is interesting. Swainston weaves in centuries of history into the background, often through the recollections of the long-lived Immortals, without ever really feeling like info-dumps, and it s generally fun to try to piece a history together. There's a fair degree of intrigue, although the overall plot is pretty simple.

Overall, the book makes for a quick, decently enjoyable read, though I hope future volumes make more use of the unventive, New Weird elements of the Shift.

[Larry Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantasy novels say nothing to me about the real world or about my life; real people don't act like the characters in those epics. Tolkien said that fantasy ideas were 'endlessly combined' — he knew that fantasy means boundless imagination and reinvention, not clinging to staid ideas.

-- Steph Swainston, HarperCollins interview, undated



Like discovering alien-made artificial worlds in space with such entries like Ringworld, Orbitsville, and Titan, fighting arthropodic aliens has certainly become a sub-genre of fantasist literature. The cinematic Alien and Predator franchises notwithstanding, some of the most noted science fiction novels involve Big Bug Bashing. Ender's Game, The Forever War, and Harrison's A Storm of Wings come immediately to mind. Souped-up insects make wonderful enemies. Few people would not run screaming from a Gregor-sized cockroach, but add a few million fellow travelers and there is true loathing and unmitigated terror.

And now, add The Year of our War to the Bad Bug yarns.

The Insects of this novel possess no hive-like intelligence, nor do they have leaders or many distinguishable features. They swarm and infest the plot like locusts, turning village after village into saliva-glued cocoons of abandonment. The enemy has no face to hate like Saddam Hussein , Adolf Hitler , or Ghengis Kahn. They are the AIDS virus, nuclear winter, or the Black Plague of the Middle Ages sporting antennae and mandibles. Since Western heritage instinctively pushes to seek individuals out of any group, insect gatherings and behavior have always been especially repulsive. In this sense, then, the Insects can symbolize the submersion of individual freedom, will and rights to the group, further threatening the spirit with becoming chattel to Religion, the State, or the Corporation.

Desperately fighting this infestation are humanoids and humans, Gods and ghosts. They navigate by Polaris, so the world called The Fourlands exists on Earth, although whether it's the past, future, or parallel is up for debate. These are Medieveal times, with Kings and castles without gunpowder, yet the inhabitants wear t-shirts with slogans, faded jeans, and talk using present-day colloquialisms. God exists but he is more akin to Cronos of the Titans than any Christian , Jewish, or Muslim God. Unfortunately, he is on vacation, according to popular consensus or myth, and has positioned San as his Emperor to oversee His “playground” (Eos, trade paper edition, ISBN 0060753870, c.2004, p.321) with a Circle of fifty bestowed with immortality. It's all very Greek, with the fifty quasi-gods carrying out San's decisions with a minimum of interference to the general population. They are chosen for eternal life, which can be rescinded at the whim of the Emperor, to fulfill archetypal positions like Sailor, Archer, Strongman, etc.

The first-person protagonist is the Messenger named Jant Shira, nicknamed Comet. He is an elusive narrator at best, and probably an unreliable one as well, since he is addicted to a shooter drug like heroin or crystal meth, that, in his world is nicknamed “cat”. Because he is immortal, he can essentially OD and enter a dimensional world he calls “The Shift”. Nobody else believes in it, except for the demised King Dunlin, and only because Comet doused him with the narcotic on his deathbed and permanently crossed him over. It makes for a fascinating ontological argument. God's Being is undeniable, since proof lies in His gift of immortality on Earth to a chosen few. An afterlife is never mentioned except by those experiencing it by deadly overdose. The Shift's cityscape of Epsilon is as irrefutably real as Being is in the Fourlands: the resolution of the plot's global conflict with the Insects depends on it. So, with a verified afterlife, not only are God's Chosen immortal, so are drug addicts and Insects! And, the dopers and bugs don't have to fret over some celestial Santa Claus taking back the presents. But then, nothing's mentioned about life among the dimensions as going on forever, either. Worst-case scenario is that you age, but, as long as you have a stash, you can merely shift to another dimensional world like Osseous, land of “the Horse People” (p.257), ad infinitum.

The peculiarities of Swainston's creation readily shift into all sorts of mind-bending idiosyncrasies, but the primary rumination is the difficulty of identifying deeper addictions within the conscientiousness of free will and moral judgments to the pragmatic actions of individuals, the society, and the world. Immortality is the Grail here, and what the characters are willing to do to obtain it illuminates their mettle and adds a deeper gloss to the novel's action. Some will kill their spouses while others will face suicidal situations for acceptance into god's eternal Circle. By the luck of the draw and a driving, self-serving vanity, the junkie narrator tenuously holds onto his Dance Forever! card, and the reader's sympathies for his acned personality, by posturing as the quintessential Outsider. But his vapid pronouncement, “anything goes but this—you don't lie, don't cheat, and don't grass on your mates” (p.223), seems like adolescent brio when facing the larger addictions of control and power tied immutably to endless longevity.

This parallel Earthworld is startling and brilliant, and the author chops lines with enough facts, clues, people and things to keep the reading compulsive. But it's like looking out a French glass door where one pane is crystal clear and the next one cloudy or hazy, as the window to this world shifts between solidity and porosity. I never understood with any coherence the differences between the races of humans, Awians, and Rhydanne. And Epilson, that otherland “where blue monsters worship entrails” (p.277), sways between woozy and just plain silly with animals like whorses, giraffiti, and terribulls.

Author Swainston has written a sequel entitled No Present Like Time, with another installment following at the first of 2007. Hopefully, Comet's joined Narcotics Anonymous and things will be a lot more perspicuous.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Year Of Our War” is the debut fantasy novel by British author Steph Swainston. It is a highly impressive book, even ignoring the fact that this is her first novel. It is highly original, entertainingly plotted and very well written.
It is set in “The Fourlands”, a setting which is unusual mix of medieval society with some early-20th Century trappings such as semi-industrialised cities and tabloid newspapers. The population is divided into two categories, the immortal Eszai and the mortal Zescai. The Eszai consist of the fifty members of the “Castle Circle” (and their spouses) who are chosen for immortality because they are the best at a particular task – best archer, best warrior, best blacksmith, best sailor and so on. As long as a more-talented mortal doesn’t come along and successfully challenge them the Eszai can live forever, guiding and protecting the mortals. They are all ruled over by the immortal Emperor, San, who controls the circle and claims to be the oldest man alive.

The title of the book might imply that the Fourlands are fighting a year-long war. This is a bit misleading since the empire has been at war for millennia, fighting against an alien race they call “Insects”. The Insects are roughly man-sized, possibly sentient and extremely vicious, attacking everything that moves and covering the land in walls and buildings made of a strange pulpy material the Fourlanders call ‘paper’. Two millennia ago they suddenly appeared on the continent in a small enclosure, they quickly spread over a large part of the continent, turning it into their ‘Paperlands’ before the newly-formed Castle Circle managed to stem the tide. Since then the struggle has been ongoing. The book starts with an attempt by Dunlin Rachiswater, a mortal King of one of the Fourlands, to advance into insect territory and hopefully drive them back. The attempt goes horribly wrong, the King is mortally wounded and the Insects start spreading out into new territory, killing as they go. The Insects are appearing in greater number than ever before, and they threaten to overwhelm the Fourlands. At a time when unity is required, Dunlin’s heir cowers behind his castle walls with his army while the Eszai squabble amongst themselves.

The main character of the book is Comet, the Messenger of the Circle and the only immortal able to fly, due to his unusual ancestry. After a harsh upbringing in the gangs of Hacilith, the Fourlands’ largest city, he gained immortality by challenging the previous Messenger. Now he finds himself charged with discovering where the Insects are coming from, while at the same time mediating between feuding immortals. His other problem is an addiction to the drug ‘Cat’ which allows him to ‘shift’ realities into the world of Epsilon, a world he can’t prove exists. Epsilon is a surreal place, seemingly largely populated by puns (inhabitants include Fibre Tooth Tigers, Laardvarks, Impossums, Whorses and Problemmings – lighter than air rodents that throw themselves off cliffs and float into the air), dominated by the vicious Tines and fighting its own war against Insects.

The conflict between the immortals is caused by a dispute between Mist, the Circle’s Sailor, and his wife Ata, who hates her husband and believes she should take on the title of ‘Sailor’. Their marital dispute threatens to turn into a martial one after Ata raises an army (and navy) to fight against her husband. Lightning, the Circle’s Archer and Comet’s best friend, allies himself with Ata having long resented Mist being the ruler of land that used to be in Lightning’s family. Comet has to try and reign in Lightning and Ata and get them to fight the Insects instead, while simultaneously providing unwilling assistance in Lightning’s wooing of Swallow Awnydyn. Swallow is a mortal governor of a small town and probably the best musician in the history of the Fourlands. However, after the Emperor decrees that only skills useful to the war qualify someone to become an immortal she embarks on an ill-advised military expedition to try and lift the Insect’s siege of Lowespass fortress, with Lightning and Comet providing unwilling support.

As you can probably see, the plot and setting are extremely original – apart from some similarities between the Insects and the Locusts in M.John Harrison’s “A Storm Of Wings” there is nothing else even remotely like this book. It is fascinatingly strange, while still being comprehensible. The land may be very different but the characters are easy to relate to, just trying to go about normal-ish lives in very abnormal circumstances. The main character, Comet, is particularly charismatic despite his serious failings, and his witty commentary on just about everything is one of the novel’s highlights.
The writing is superb, sometimes surreal, sometimes ominous, sometimes highly amusing. Each chapter seems to have at least one brilliantly-constructed, highly quotable sentence or phrase – usually provided by Comet.

Probably the only criticism that can be made of this book is that the plot does seem a bit aimless at times. A lot of the time the book gets distracted from the war against the Insects, and even the looming civil war between the immortals. While Comet’s reminiscing over past events and his escapades in Epsilon are highly entertaining, they sometimes seem to have little relevance to the main plot. Also, the ending is rushed and the book end far too abruptly. Swainston builds up a fascinating plot, and then ties everything up neatly in a handful of chapters which is slightly unsatisfying.

This is an excellent book, and particularly impressive considering that it is a debut novel.

[Ben Chandler · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book replete with many fascinating ideas, and yet I didn't enjoy it much. Too much dramatic action that felt hopeless in a strange, distant way, too much of the ever-escalating tension that some folks seem to adore, and too many flaws burdening every character until I found it very difficult to resonate with any of them. Some nicely planned and played twists and turns, and some lovely depths of intrigue give the book texture and drama beyond the face value of the overwhelming action, but even these couldn't redeem the book for me. A shame.

[Jase · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Four Lands are in a constant state of war as the inhabitants of the three southern lands, Awia, Plainsland, and Morenzia are in a perpetual tug-of-war match with the Insectoid inhabitants of the North, called the Paper Lands. Swainston populates the Four Lands with a human population that offers variety, and are made unique by evolutionary differences between the inhabitants of the largely different ecosystems and environments her setting offers. Each of these groups share common cause against the Insects, however are given vastly different customs, both social and in regards to economic strengths and weaknesses. The different strengths of certain populations are noted by one of the most interesting concepts regarding Swainston’s world and that is the Circle. The land is indeed governed by the various heads of local governments however all bodies recognize the authority (and mostly positively) of the Circle. The denizens of the Circle are based in what is simply called The Castle, the seat of power in the land, and carries with it a always welcome Mervyn Peake influence, is home of the immortal Emperor San. The Emperor is not the only immortal however, he grants immortality to fifty others (his Circle), in which he chooses the most adept at different valuable skills and freezes them in their age. Members of this coterie for example include the greatest Archer, Swordsman, Sailor and so on. There are three ways to join this club dubbed the Escazi, an entry only the Emperor can bestow and also remove – the gift of immortality. One is to be chosen by the San himself, the other is to marry a current member of the Circle, and the other is by challenging a current member (also by San’s approval). The existence of the Circle and its means of membership of course provide some very intriguing and even clandestine possibilities. I know what you’re thinking; The Immortal Circle is a fabulous idea!

Swainston chooses one of the members of the Circle as our eyes to her imaginative world, “the Messenger of the Gods” Jant Shira. Swainston employs a first person narrative, and absolutely succeeds in bringing Jant to life. One of the strengths of the novel is the fact that the Escazi are drawn from the population, and the gift of immortality doesn’t cause any of the members to automatically lose any preexisting qualities they had prior. They are not Gods, they are people, and capable of the same weaknesses in character, or any other limitations of any other beings, excluding ageing. Jant is among other things, a half-breed, described as a comely, and like many denizens of the Four Lands he has wings. The difference is he is the only one that can fly. Not interested yet? By the way, he is also a former drug pusher, and current junkie, loves his wife, and yet is a womanizer as well. It is through Jant we see the crisis in the Four Lands occur. The King has fallen and the Insects, seemingly infinite in number, invade. San gives the task of solving the mystery of the Insects to Jant who accomplishes this by both relaying messages from other members of Circle, the mortal kingdoms and the Emperor, and by participating in numerous battles as well. It is the mandate given to him by San that Swainston uses to introduce another one of the strongest features of The Year of Our War and that is the alternate dimension, an “after life” in some circumstances which can be entered by “shifting”, which Jant accomplishes by overdosing on his drug of choice, “scat”. Along with the advent of the Circle, the Shift is just an incredible element by Swainston that only adds to the aforementioned possibilities she can take, not only in this novel, but in future works. The narrative sequences in the novel can be broken down into three primary segments that Swainston weaves in a way that gives the novel its decidedly surreal feel. The first is Jant and other members of the Circle try to defeat the insect invasion, the second is Jan’s various visits in the shift, and the third I enjoyed the most, Jant’s flashback, telling us one portion of his past and upbringing, and then allowing us to believably witness the product he has become in the present. Swainston depicts Jant’s childhood activities in a Dickensian backdrop showcasing a deprived, tough, street urchin who as truly enough counts many times his ability to run to be one of his assets he is most fortuitous to posses. The flashback segments are some of the most vivid, and as I mentioned before, my favorite portions of The Year of Our War. It is here where we lean the origin of both the admirable qualities, and the faults of the narrator. These three distinctly different venues allow Swainston to display all of her talents. She is able to write about large-scale battles, and political and social maneuvering in the Four Lands; she is able with the “Shift” to give her work that New Weird appeal, and the Jant’s flashbacks offer her to display her abilities and to add to the novels content of dark, gritty, realism.

Swainston is clever with her prose but in a way that translates more easily on the pages. Swainston provides a setting that although cannot be described as overtly medieval, it is decidedly less technologically advanced than our own, and one that evolved rather believably especially when one considers the implications of a world that evolved in the presence of an institution like the Circle of Immortals.

I also rather enjoyed Swainston’s even depiction of female characters. She provides female characters of many degrees of personalities. From the ambitious Ata challenging her husband’s position among the Circle, to the prodigious musical talent of Swallow, who Swainston nicely displays that although she is a genius in regards to music she still shows the indecisiveness and stubbornness that can be attributed to her age. Swainston also uses Swallow to give us insight on what the Emperor considers of import when making decisions regarding those petitioning to be immortal. In The Shift we are introduced to another character, the Captain of the Guard, who seems capable of making even the immortal cringe; while also showing a domestic aspect of Jant through his wife Tern.

Some aspects that I felt weren’t as strong as I expect in her next work No Present Like Time, I really didn’t feel to enamored with the entire Invasion scenes with the Insects, which is a minor complaint when there so much to like about this novel. From what I have seen I think this detraction is often twisted to something more than necessary. It is a mistake in my opinion to define the plot of this novel as mainly the conflict with the Insects. If one does this, I agree one would have a reason to gripe, however, they are completely missing the point. The Year of Our War is more aptly a telling of Jant’s activities during a period of a time where the invasion occurred, and how past and present elements in his life motivated his actions and decisions he both made and didn’t make in the novel. It’s more of how external events molded him than the reverse, which without doubt presents more realism if not a surplus of displays of heroic gallantry. I also want to put down another detraction that I have been hearing regarding the depth of secondary characters, or the perceived lack there of. Although I am certainly a huge advocate of depth in terms of characterization, especially in secondary characters, I don’t understand how some can complain about the lack of this contained in a novel that is written in a first person narrative. This by definition limits a reader’s access to the insights and observations of a single character. After all, Jant albeit immortal, is not omniscient (not to mention much of time he is either under the influence of Cat or suffering from withdrawal) and as such is generally only privy to what those around him exude openly. I want to add something that I think is important. There is a sexual component to this novel and I want to stress this is written as first person POV of a very flawed character who is often under the influence. What's being described and what's important is filtered through him. I don't know Steph Swainston but I'm sure what's important to her isn't important to Jant the character. Jant isn't a great guy.

The Year of Our War is a more than solid debut, establishing a basis for more intriguing opportunities than any other recent introduction has provided. Admittedly it doesn’t fall into the traditional fantasy category, but as I mentioned before it’s more accessible to fans of such work than many other non-traditional fantasy efforts but I can see it being a slog for someone who either likes traditional fantasy or likes the more fully formed new weird works of an early Jeff VanderMeer or China Mieville as sometimes a mix doesn't hit that sweet spot and we are left with something that doesn't ever go where we want it to trying to straddle a middleground and not offering what someone wants. I can see many fans of either side not enjoying the novel for that reason.

[Hayden Shewchuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series has been one of my top favourites for two years now and I re-read the first two at least once a year. I've been seeing a lot of negative reviews, but that's totally understandable. The series, especially this debut, is very dark, hard to follow at times, and overall strange. I would argue that there's not a single likeable or admirable character in it, with the exception of Rayne, the Immortal Doctor, and Cyan, the Immortal Archer Lightning's daughter. However, Swainston is aware of how unlikable her characters are doesn't prop them up, not even Jant, who garners little sympathy but ensnares us into his trap nonetheless, mainly because of his humour and drug-induced misadventures. I would say that the overarching theme of the series is exposing the flaws of imperialism and the futility of endless war. There is no honour in war in the Fourlands, and imperial unity is non-existent, with all the nationalities and ethnic groups within the empire constantly at each others' throats. Hell, even San is a cold, scheming, power-hungry bastard. As for the rest of the Immortals, they are all for the most part boorish, warmongering, snide, jealous, prideful imperialist dipshits. However, they're all funny so I can forgive them for that. Seriously though, Lightning's love letters never fail to crack me up.

As for Jant, he's just Jant. He's not meant to be a role model for impressionable young readers. He's a royal fuck-up who's been self-medicating for 92 years to cope for the stresses of being in San's service as well as for a dark past he's haunted by. When he's not at work, he's tripping balls, lying, and having extra-martial affairs. On that note, his scene with Genya Dara has garnered much controversy. I've read the book three times so I'm going to clarify just a few things:
1) It is the custom for the Rhydanne male to chase and essentially take the Rhydanne female when she tires out. It's dark, it's gruesome, it makes me uncomfortable, but that's how Swainston chose to structure their courtship ritual for some reason. I'll never know why.
2) Jant was guilty about what he did to her and was haunted by it in his nightmares. Ultimately he was the one who helped her escape from Lowespass.
3) It is presented as a gruesome, bloody scene and neither Swainston nor Jant, after the fact, condone his actions.

Jant does grow up throughout the series and treats those around him better, but despite being the lead, he is not a hero. Swainston makes this clear.

This series takes some warming up to, but it remains one of my favourites. I personally like reading about the darkest aspects of human nature, but I know that's not for everyone and I totally get that. Either way, if you're open for that kind of thing, then I definitely recommend this.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the first two Fourlands when they came out, but they fell off my radar somehow, which is annoying, because I really liked them, and now I like them all the more after years of Grimdark fantasies all over the place. So it's great to revisit the Castle and the Circle and rediscover what made them so fresh and exciting. Set in a world under attack from hordes of giant insects, united by an emperor who grants immortality to fifty individuals chosen for excellence in a particular field or skill who devote themselves to the defence of the Fourlands when not being distracted by petty squabbles and love affairs and addictions. Jant is Comet, the Messenger, the only person in the world with the power of flight. he's also a junkie, addicted to a drug that sometimes lets him travel to another world he calls The Shift. While helping his mentor, Lightning, prosecute his latest love affair with a aristocratic musician who wants to become immortal through her own merits rather than through marriage, the war with the insects suffers a dramatic reversal as swarms of insects breach the front. It doesn't help that a king has died and been replaced by his more cowardly brother, or that open civil war is breaking out amongst the other immortals. The stresses and pressures send Jant more and more to the drug, which takes a physical and mental toll, particularly when he discovers that the current disaster may be all his fault.

Imposing a modernist style and sensibility on classic fantasy to invigorating effect, this feels like a take on the current moment in our world in the same way any given Discworld novel did. The Year Of Our War is witty, but not comic - it has moments of horror, bloody action, explicit sex, surrealism, and essentially office politics and celebrity culture built around a mythic pantheon in the making. It's written in marvelous polished crystalline prose that reminded me of Gwyneth Jones and is an incredibly assured and confident first novel.

[Search · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book features some terrific prose. The writing is honed to a level rarely displayed in debut novels. Features a unique idea, and a very well developed protagonist.Miss Swainston offers some very interesting insights into the mentality of a junkie. Although there is an inherent flaw to her unique idea of having giant insects as the enemy; they aren't all that interesting and they can't have a point of view either.
I Liked this one considerably apart from the weird secondary world. I have a problem with weirdness when it stretches the limit of believe-ability, when my brain starts viewing fictional content in terms of toonish animation rather than the visually crisp dream-like experience, I rely on fantasy to deliver.
Don't get me wrong I love animation but things like three human heads on top of a rat's body or a creature with a hand in-place of a head that communicates through sign language may be delightful for some people but just doesn't work for me.(Not that any of these things actually appeared in the book, this is just an example of why I don't like Mieville-ish or new-weird aspects.)

Overall, though this is a very fine piece of fiction which I must admit in-spite of my reservations because of the secondary world weirdness.

[Vít · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tohle se povedlo, je to čtivá, zajímavá a hlavně originální fantasy s nádechem Nového Krobuzonu a snad i trochu Venissu. Nečtu to poprvé a asi ani naposledy, celá tahle trilogie na mě pořád kouká z toho regálu v knihovně, kde se k sobě vinou knihy z laserovské edice New Weird. Občas holt neodolám, něco vytáhnu a přečtu si to znovu. Nikdy nelituju, jsou to všechno dobré věci a tahle knížka i trilogie patří k těm nejlepším.
Doporučuji.

[[ J o ] · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise seemed quite good, and I'm sure that's what pulled me toward it in the first place, but the execution terrible. I couldn't really keep up with the plot and found all the characters to be two-dimensional and quite difficult to get to know. They were just names on a page. I also didn't like the odd, blasè way the protagonist's drug addiction was handled. He took drugs, spaced out for about five minutes and then was absolutely fine and could have conversations straight after? The drug abuse was probably the most interesting aspect of it: especially since it was in first person narrative, but the author clearly has no idea what drugs actually do to you.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars

I tried to enjoy this highly imaginative fantasy by Step Swainston, but it never got a hold of me. The setting is awesome and the landscape and world building are all top notch. The war with the insects could have been amazing but only was just ok for me. The characters are colorful and a plenty but unfortunately I never identified with or even cared about the main protagonist.

Honestly, I decided not to finish this book as I lost my interest in it. Maybe I will come back to this book and this series another day...for now I pass.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best-written fantasy I've read in a very long time. Swainston has an excellent prose style, playful and dark by turns, but avoids overwrought language for compelling, brilliant, and lucid descriptions that echo in the mind and roll off the tongue. The characters are complicated, compelling, and subtle.

[scarlettraces · Rating 1 out of 5]

i have no idea if the story is any good, i lasted a very small number of pages before the terrible writing did me in.

[Predrag Djokic · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[Matthew Tyas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imaginative, wonderfully written and a ripping good yarn. I highly recommend it!

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I spent much of my time with Year of Our War kind of annoyed and disappointed, but now that I've finished it I find myself looking back more fondly than I expected. It's a clever dark fantasy with a vaguely punk sensibility and some New Weird elements, somewhere between Perdido Street Station and The Crimson Empire, though not quite as pronounced as either. There are a lot of things going for it, but they're consistently undermined by things working against them. The character work is compelling and unique, but it's often hard to keep track of who's who. Many characters have both a Role and an honorific name as well as a first and last name, and you have to piece together which go together on your own, as well as parsing out their racial and territorial associations. The prose is sharp and so sesquipedalian it gives Mieville a run for his money, but it's also missing some kind of connective tissue that makes it feel awkward and disorienting. Neither is helped by the fact that the structure awkwardly unites what should arguably have been three distinct stories into a single novel, with a few shared characters but largely a new cast and new central problem and resolution and setting.

The worldbuilding is similarly very much my shit but hamstrung by certain choices. The main conceit here is that the fantasy world has been invaded by a species of giant social insects called Insects, and that the various races have created a cadre of immortals and altered their whole social order to deal with this threat, which has persisted in a more and less stable balance for a long time. This is of interest to me in many ways--a meaningful predator of humans, a competing species engaged in major niche construction on the same scale as humans, with a long-term coevolutionary relationship that shapes social institutions, and, of course, they're even insects. Here again, though, those ideas are poorer for the fact that Swainston doesn't seem interested in them at all. That the insects are just called Insects should tell you all you need to know about how much effort is put into their design and how much flavor they add to the book. And while the Insects have been the unifying military threat for so long that it's unheard of for people to fight each other, it doesn't seem like they've altered their tactics or technology to better fight insects in any way. Given the choice I'd rather have a low emphasis on fights in my fantasy books and while there aren't a ton here, there are a few and they are hard to follow, not particularly fun or relevant to the story, and undermine the sense of history in the worldbuilding. And while the historical events in the story are more or less my kind of fantasy they really do suffer from the lack of context. They put too much emphasis on the geography and polities to treat them as negligently as it does.

The New Weird stuff is confined to its own separate dimension, which only the protagonist is aware of apparently. The way this all suddenly spirals into the story is not sufficiently established to really sell it as a sudden historical event. Why is The Shift not a cultural element in any way, if it's something every addict can access? Why is the interaction between the two worlds so novel? And while The Shift is full of some pretty cool and brutal stuff (mmm the Vermiform, can't get enough of these leech ppl), it's hard to really enjoy when all the creatures are bad pun Pokemon-rejects. Some are better than others, of course, but the overall sense that it's more Alice in Wonderland than Bas-lag or Lothric takes the edge off a bit.

All that said, I can imagine it getting really cool with a more polished hand, and it sounds like the rest of the series might offer that, so I can imagine coming back to those at some point. The off-kilter narration and quirky plot do add up to something unusual, though, and I do think it ended up more likable than disappointing or confusing.

[Kaylie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The beginning of The Year of Our War was a real struggle. I felt bombarded with long, long lists of unfamiliar words, at least some of which are specific to this book and thus couldn't be looked up in the dictionary. Perhaps this was intentional, because the opening scene(s) are a battlefield on which the POV character, Jant, and his comrades fights against an endless tide of Insects with a capital I. That part of the book was actually one of the most effective for me. I hate ants anyway, especially the way they swarm over things in their hundreds, so Jant's eagle-eye perspective of the battlefield evoked that same shivering horror.

Unfortunately, that's about where my patience with Jant's perspective ran out. Even though it was deliberate, I very quickly tired of being given every female character's physical stats in the context of how attractive they are to Jant. This happened several times within the first 60 pages, culminating in the introduction of Swallow who, despite being one of the most interesting characters, was primarily introduced as being plump but not big-breasted, as if that information would be remotely important.

Zooming out for a moment, I struggled throughout the book with not having a clear idea of what I was supposed to care about, or why. Characters and relationships were introduced, but without any sense of how they would be important to the plot. Or even, really, what the plot was. Caroline, at book club, described The Year of Our War as being about the small stories of the immortal characters, the 'office politics' between them and questions of what professions are considered valuable enough to earn a place in the circle. If I'd known that going in, I might have had a better time of it.

The middle and end of The Year of Our War were definitely better than the beginning. And if you're someone who specifically values the weird in fiction, then there's a whole lot here for you! It's just that I appreciate weird as an added extra, not my main motivation for reading. If the sequels were written from anyone's perspective other than Jant's, I'd give them a go, I think. As they're not, however, this will probably be the last of this series that I read.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in May 2005.

The Year of Our War, Steph Swainston's debut, does everything a genre novel should: it brings new life to familiar ideas, and has something unusual about it. The unusual aspect is not the plot, which is typical of the genre: the empire under attack from faceless hordes (known as Insects, which on occasion gives the story the air of a fifties B-movie) and can only be saved by the heroic acts of a small number of people. There are some interesting features in the background: the band of potential saviours are immortals, the Eszai, granted eternal life by the emperor because they are the best at some task useful in the fighting - the fastest messenger, the most skilful sailor, and so on - and they have little in common save their immortality and are mostly limited in anything outside their specialisms. While this is not the kind of idea often encountered in a serious fantasy novel, the Eszai are clearly a band of flawed superheroes who could well have come from an Alan Moore comic strip.

The part of The Year of Our War which is basically unique is the central character. Jant is one of the Eszai, plucked from the gangs of a large city because of his unique ability: he can fly. He has a really major flaw, however: he is a drug addict. The drug, known as cat, is an addictive psychodelic, which has effects something between crack and LSD. Being part of a fantasy world means that something can be made of the visions perceived while under the influence; they shift the consciousness into another world. One of the biggest acheivements Swainston pulls off (in, as must be remembered, her debut) is to make the two imaginary settings of the novel quite different in style, and with different derees of versimilitude: the drug world seems more arbitrary and artificial.

There are parts of the novel which could be better. The title is poor; it's punning nature suggests something much lighter than the novel inside the covers. Lifting character building above plotting is not a problem (and makes a change from complicated versions of the hero's journey populated by cardboard cutouts - the clichés of the genre). However, the novel's structure betrays some inexperience; given the lengthy buildup, the denoument is too short and too facile. Even so, this is an enjoyable, well written fantasy novel with an adult grittiness missing from most of the genre.

Drug addiction and the experiences induced by drug taing have long been part of science fiction. The history of this generally seems to lead back to influences from crossover readership in the sicties between the genre and the cult writing of people like William S. Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson. SF provided some of the important books in hippy culture, such as Stranger in a Strange Land. Novels as diverse as Aldous Huxley's Island, Stanislaus Lem's The Futurological Congress and Robert Sheckley'sThe Alchemical Marriage of Alistair Crompton all fed into or followed from psychodelic ideas about mind expansion through drug taking. But the darker side of drugs really became part of the SF mainstream only from the advent of cyberpunk in the eighties, though the psychodelia in Philip K. Dick is already less optimistic, and there are hints that drugs might be used for control in dystopian fiction back to Brave New World (which shows how much Huxley's mind changed on the subject over the years). Despite this long SF tradition, there is far less history of serious treatment of drugs in the sister genre of fantasy. It is hard to think of anything before the turn of the millennium which is more serious than the trivial references in (say) the Spellsinger and Belgariad series. (David Eddings created an entire race of addicts in the Belgariad, but the Nyissans are generally minor characters and the consequences of their drug taking are never treated in human terms - it is at best a convenient plot device.) It is really only recent writers like China Miéville how have begun to introduce the sordid to their fantasy worlds: that is one reason why he is an important writer, even though I don't like his work personally.

While it would be possible to put together an academic thesis on the history of drug references in SF and fantasy (and I suspect that someone already has), the interesting question is why it should be so different between the two genres, so similar in terms of their fanbase and use of the fantastic. (Afficionados generally seem to feel that the difference is in terms of the treatment of science - in pure science fiction, it should be possible to justify everything in some kind of scientific terms, though with some traditional themes of the genre, such as time travel, this is more difficult than others.) Both SF and fantasy have a strong tradition of satire and parody, a lightness not so common in other genres; thus, Terry Pratchett is the best known author of fantasy writing for adults today. In science fiction, this tendency has begun to diminish over recent years, as the oft derided amateurish writing style detractors detect in the genre begin to be replaced by more professional and polished work: the association of author and fan is becoming weaker. My suspicion is that this has come about through the huge success of genre films, since Star Wars; the equivalent film for fantasy is The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and that is too recent for it to have had much of an effect on novels as yet. This has left most fantasy (and certainly the popular end) either light and humourous or epic and cliched. (The biggest exception to this until recently is Stephen R. Donaldson.) Steph Swainston's debut novel is part of the process of bringing more adult ideas into the fantasy genre, and, whether or not it turns out to be as successful as it deserves, The Year of Our War should be welcomed.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those stories where the execution just doesn't quite live up to the potential in its premise and characters.

The POV protagonist, Comet Jant Shira, is one of the most unique characters I've come across in a while. A hybrid immortal with a fear of mortality, an obsession with language and chemistry, and a painkiller addiction whose unique physiology gives him the ability to fly and the title as the fastest person in the world. He's a great character-- I even love his name-- but unfortunately the surrounding cast doesn't do much for me. They're a collection of traits rather than real personalities, and some of the more interesting supporting characters, like Genya Dara, don't really serve much of a purpose at all. In a similar vein, I think the story is interesting and could be good, but the mix of fantasy warfare, political maneuvering, and alternate world of the Shift get all muddled together until none of the storylines are really given justice. The primary antagonists, the Insects, are a mindless, alien race with no clear or compelling motivation, which makes them absolutely horrifying but otherwise unremarkable. All told, the premise and foundation here was solid, but the execution was somewhat lacking.

In terms of personal preference, I found the graphic gore and hypersexuality unpleasant and off-putting, though that might not bother everyone. Still, I certainly wouldn't recommend it to children or young teens, and I don't imagine I'll be picking up the next in the series anytime soon.

[Sam Makowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

(I'm actually reading the omnibus version but I wanted to review/get credit for each book separately)

I complain a lot about formulaic fantasy and then I read something like this and...it's weird, okay? It's very, very weird.

There are humans without wings, humans with flightless wings, humans with insectlike characteristics, and one character whose hybrid genetics give him the gift of flight. 50 people granted immortality (somehow) for being the best alive at their specific skill, a two-millenia year old war against an invading insect race, and an alternate world/reality/dimension accessible only by overdosing on this world's version of heroin. They use the metric system and the Gregorian calendar, they use medieval weapons and transport, but there is mascara and graphic tees and denim jeans. Nothing is ever explained; some answers are found over the course of the book but most are left confusing. The writing is disjointed and hectic enough at times that I felt like I was the one tripping.

It took about a third of the book for me to start buying into this psychedelic world. I can't really recommend it to anyone but I do plan to finish the trilogy if only to find out wtf is going on.

[7thTrooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jag hade nog för höga förväntningar på den här boken. Efter ca 170 sidor så kastar jag in handduken, det finns så många fler böcker jag är mer genuint nyfiken på en den här. Från beskrivningarna jag läst om den så skulle det vara något liknande Starship Troopers skriven av China Miéville. Tyvärr blev det mer Armour, skriven av Brandon Sanderson. Konceptet med de köttätande insekterna och hela grejen med the Shift i sig var intressant; tyvärr var genomförandet inte lika bra som jag hoppats på. Det var helt enkelt för trist, oftast, och karaktärerna var ointressanta medans handlingen var ofokuserad och ytlig, avbruten av onödiga och påträngande flashbacks. Världen i sig var både otydlig och ganska typisk för fantasy i allmänhet, trots några små försök att göra den mer unik.
Så jag ger mig.

[Benj · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good fantasy, with enough off-the-wall extras to keep you off your balance. For instance, it's a fairly standard medieval type setting, but they have newspapers and trams (and chewing gum). There's a cadre of immortals, but they're just ordinary people who happen to be best at certain things (fastest, strongest, best archer etc). They are there to protect the world until their missing god (always referred to as 'it') returns. The main enemy are huge mindless (or are they mindless?) insects.

And just when you've taken this all in, you're taken to the Shift, another world completely that the narrator (one of the immortals) can only get to by taking a large dose of an illegal drug.

It just blows my mind. The story's pretty exciting as well.