attackfish (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
attackfish) wrote2010-06-18 02:41 pm
attackfish) wrote2010-06-18 02:41 pm
Entry tags:
Sarah Rees Brennan's the Demon's Covenant: Awesome Kettle-Wielding Skills
It takes Sarah Rees Brennan a little under a year to put out a new book, unlike some authors who shall not be named *cough Megan Whalen Turner cough* and after the suspense of her last book, as far as I’m concerned, this makes her a semi-divine being. To my everlasting sadness, however, I wasn’t in town for the release of the The Demon's Covenant, and the mean, nasty new manager at the local indy bookstore wouldn’t let me pick up my copy a few days early. Seriously, I know they had it. The woman pulled it out from behind the counter and taunted me with it, the big meanie.
And since I’m applying to work there this summer, I’m now really glad no one knows my real name on the web.
Now that Nick knows the truth about who and what he is, and Jamie’s as safe as anyone else from demons, Mae has been trying to settle back into a normal life. But she keeps remembering Alan, and Nick, and the Goblin Market and the dancing, and her normal life seems just out of reach. Soon the choice to be normal is taken from her in the worst way possible, as her brother Jamie’s latent magical abilities bring their old enemies, the Obsidian Circle, out of the woodwork to recruit him, and she has to call on Nick and Alan to get them out of trouble again. But with Gerald, the new head of the Obsidian Circle, just salivating at the prospect of capturing Nick, and getting clever and inventing new marks, Mae, Jamie, Nick, and Alan could be in more trouble than they can handle.
I like to rave about good books. I love to rave about good books. I finished The Demon’s Covenant, and said to myself, Fish, you haven’t raved about enough good books lately. Everybody needs to read this book. Scamper off and do it. But don’t read it before The Demon’s Lexicon, because these books have twists.
Now I’m starting to think that me gushing praise at the beginning of any review of a Sarah Rees Brennan novel is an actual requirement. I can’t hold myself back. Now that that’s out of my system...
Rees Brennan has a beautifully witty style of writing. As dark as the narrative is, and dark it is, and it is certainly dark, the four main characters keep popping out with hilarious, sarcastic, comments. Aside from the obvious purpose of breaking the tension, the wit works from a character perspective, especially Nick's incongruous ability with words. All through rereading Lexicon, Nick's wit drove me crazy, because given the reveal, he shouldn't be good with words at all. But given the strong bond he had with Alan and his father, and given the pride Alan and his father had when Nick managed to speak, and given the way Nick learned he could set the two of them at ease with learning something new with words, wit must have been something he forced himself to learn. Also, nothing makes one look at things from odd angles, a necessary part of wit, like struggling with it. Jamie's wit meanwhile keeps him sane, and helps him and his sister unwind together. Mae's wit protects her and gives her something to say when she's in trouble. Of course for us readers, the wit also relieves the tension and gets us laughing, and this book needs that.
Covenant lacks some of the Gothic flavor of Lexicon, though none of the Gothic style foreboding. The monster locked away in the attic has been revealed and set loose. In fact much of the plot relies on Alan’s wish to lock the monster back up. What it lacks in classical Gothic elements, however, it makes up for in being tremendously self-aware of its current genre conventions. Genre is often referred to not just as a category, but as a sprawling conversation in story form, and Rees Brennan is definitely engaging her genre more in Covenant than in Lexicon. Rees Brennan subtly digs at some of the more culturally disturbing aspects of the Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance genres, including a brief allusion to Twilight and Edward watching Bella sleep. Only in Rees Brennan’s hands, the threat inherent in the moment is more than a fillip to the romance. It’s Nick, acknowledged in the story and in Mae’s own mind as a terrifying figure doing the watching, with a sword, and a lack of any romantic feelings for the sleeping girl.
In many ways, Covenant is less horror than Lexicon and more traditional fantasy. This has much to do with the perspective from which the stories are told. Nick fears the magical world, even as he is irrevocably part of it, whereas Mae, while she has some ambivalence towards the magical world, feels so much wonder and yearning that she wishes to become part of it. Just not Nick’s part. She feels guilty about her affection for Alan, fearing that what she really feels affection for is the entrance to the magical world that he represents. It’s telling that I keep referring to it as another world. Although Urban Fantasy, in some ways, Covenant reads more like an old school portal fantasy. There are times and places, the Goblin Markets, where Mae can escape the humdrum world in relative safety. It helps that the Goblin Markets are set on the ruins of castles.
Though there’s less of a horror element to Covenant, the novel is as dark as ever. The main villain, Gerald, is a generally nice man, who almost gets even Jamie, who knows exactly what he is, to join him and his circle. Also, as clever as he is, and as talented, coming up with new marks, and turning any situation he possibly can to his advantage, he’s desperate, on the brink of losing everything, and Rees Brennan shows just how dangerous a desperate villain is. It’s not hard to compare him to Nick, one of the protagonists, who is certainly not a nice man at all. Gerald may be nice, but he’s also incredibly ruthless and scarily evil, whereas Nick’s not nice, and not even really all that good. His near sociopathy scares the other protagonists and helps push Jamie closer to Gerald.
Nick’s wish from the very beginning to use his newfound powers to heal his bother’s disability gave rise to one of the strangest and most satisfying disability narratives I’ve read in a long time. The bits of Daniel’s diary, spread throughout that show what Alan’s life was like before his leg injury, and Nick’s inability to understand why Alan wouldn’t want to be fixed, and in the end his attempt to force that fixing felt so real, even with the supernatural nature of the whole exchange.
Rees Brennan sets up Covenant structurally almost identically to Lexicon, which gives it an appealingly mirror-like quality. The pattern goes like this: Perspective character gets into trouble, the four main characters get together, they go to a Goblin Market, there’s a small reveal, and then a much larger one at the beginning of the finale. This sets up a comfortable framework onto which the much less comfortable story and character growth is hung. Despite the similarity of structure, and despite the fact that the reveals this time were more like answers than surprises, Covenant managed to be completely unpredictable.
I would have liked to have known more about the magician’s mark, and where it came from. Did a magician invent it? Was he taught it by a demon? In Covenant, we learned what each of the marks actually did, and learning what a demon’s mark was all about is enough to give me a year’s worth of sleepless nights, but I would have liked to have known more about magicians’ powers and the practical underpinnings of magic in this universe. Also, Merris’ actions at the end of the book with regards to Sin and Mae struck me as stupid. Pitting the girls into that sort of competition can only spell bad things for the Goblin Market after Merris’ death compared to cooperation, no matter who wins.
In Lexicon, Rees Brennan showed just how clever and cagy her heroes and villains were, especially Alan, so it’s no surprise that in Covenant, everybody has a plan they’re keeping from everybody else. Watching all of the plans coming together, and working out or not working out because of all of the other plans was beautiful, nerve-wracking, and horribly sad, all at the same time. And though Nick's reaction to all of the plans wasn't surprising, it just about yanked my heart out.
Sarah Rees Brennan can be found online at her livejournal,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sarahtales . Check it out. She has free short stories set in the Demon’s Lexicon/Covenant universe posted there. Helps tide you over until the next book, and trust me, with these books, you’ll need some serious tiding over.
And since I’m applying to work there this summer, I’m now really glad no one knows my real name on the web.
Now that Nick knows the truth about who and what he is, and Jamie’s as safe as anyone else from demons, Mae has been trying to settle back into a normal life. But she keeps remembering Alan, and Nick, and the Goblin Market and the dancing, and her normal life seems just out of reach. Soon the choice to be normal is taken from her in the worst way possible, as her brother Jamie’s latent magical abilities bring their old enemies, the Obsidian Circle, out of the woodwork to recruit him, and she has to call on Nick and Alan to get them out of trouble again. But with Gerald, the new head of the Obsidian Circle, just salivating at the prospect of capturing Nick, and getting clever and inventing new marks, Mae, Jamie, Nick, and Alan could be in more trouble than they can handle.
I like to rave about good books. I love to rave about good books. I finished The Demon’s Covenant, and said to myself, Fish, you haven’t raved about enough good books lately. Everybody needs to read this book. Scamper off and do it. But don’t read it before The Demon’s Lexicon, because these books have twists.
Now I’m starting to think that me gushing praise at the beginning of any review of a Sarah Rees Brennan novel is an actual requirement. I can’t hold myself back. Now that that’s out of my system...
Rees Brennan has a beautifully witty style of writing. As dark as the narrative is, and dark it is, and it is certainly dark, the four main characters keep popping out with hilarious, sarcastic, comments. Aside from the obvious purpose of breaking the tension, the wit works from a character perspective, especially Nick's incongruous ability with words. All through rereading Lexicon, Nick's wit drove me crazy, because given the reveal, he shouldn't be good with words at all. But given the strong bond he had with Alan and his father, and given the pride Alan and his father had when Nick managed to speak, and given the way Nick learned he could set the two of them at ease with learning something new with words, wit must have been something he forced himself to learn. Also, nothing makes one look at things from odd angles, a necessary part of wit, like struggling with it. Jamie's wit meanwhile keeps him sane, and helps him and his sister unwind together. Mae's wit protects her and gives her something to say when she's in trouble. Of course for us readers, the wit also relieves the tension and gets us laughing, and this book needs that.
Covenant lacks some of the Gothic flavor of Lexicon, though none of the Gothic style foreboding. The monster locked away in the attic has been revealed and set loose. In fact much of the plot relies on Alan’s wish to lock the monster back up. What it lacks in classical Gothic elements, however, it makes up for in being tremendously self-aware of its current genre conventions. Genre is often referred to not just as a category, but as a sprawling conversation in story form, and Rees Brennan is definitely engaging her genre more in Covenant than in Lexicon. Rees Brennan subtly digs at some of the more culturally disturbing aspects of the Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance genres, including a brief allusion to Twilight and Edward watching Bella sleep. Only in Rees Brennan’s hands, the threat inherent in the moment is more than a fillip to the romance. It’s Nick, acknowledged in the story and in Mae’s own mind as a terrifying figure doing the watching, with a sword, and a lack of any romantic feelings for the sleeping girl.
In many ways, Covenant is less horror than Lexicon and more traditional fantasy. This has much to do with the perspective from which the stories are told. Nick fears the magical world, even as he is irrevocably part of it, whereas Mae, while she has some ambivalence towards the magical world, feels so much wonder and yearning that she wishes to become part of it. Just not Nick’s part. She feels guilty about her affection for Alan, fearing that what she really feels affection for is the entrance to the magical world that he represents. It’s telling that I keep referring to it as another world. Although Urban Fantasy, in some ways, Covenant reads more like an old school portal fantasy. There are times and places, the Goblin Markets, where Mae can escape the humdrum world in relative safety. It helps that the Goblin Markets are set on the ruins of castles.
Though there’s less of a horror element to Covenant, the novel is as dark as ever. The main villain, Gerald, is a generally nice man, who almost gets even Jamie, who knows exactly what he is, to join him and his circle. Also, as clever as he is, and as talented, coming up with new marks, and turning any situation he possibly can to his advantage, he’s desperate, on the brink of losing everything, and Rees Brennan shows just how dangerous a desperate villain is. It’s not hard to compare him to Nick, one of the protagonists, who is certainly not a nice man at all. Gerald may be nice, but he’s also incredibly ruthless and scarily evil, whereas Nick’s not nice, and not even really all that good. His near sociopathy scares the other protagonists and helps push Jamie closer to Gerald.
Nick’s wish from the very beginning to use his newfound powers to heal his bother’s disability gave rise to one of the strangest and most satisfying disability narratives I’ve read in a long time. The bits of Daniel’s diary, spread throughout that show what Alan’s life was like before his leg injury, and Nick’s inability to understand why Alan wouldn’t want to be fixed, and in the end his attempt to force that fixing felt so real, even with the supernatural nature of the whole exchange.
Rees Brennan sets up Covenant structurally almost identically to Lexicon, which gives it an appealingly mirror-like quality. The pattern goes like this: Perspective character gets into trouble, the four main characters get together, they go to a Goblin Market, there’s a small reveal, and then a much larger one at the beginning of the finale. This sets up a comfortable framework onto which the much less comfortable story and character growth is hung. Despite the similarity of structure, and despite the fact that the reveals this time were more like answers than surprises, Covenant managed to be completely unpredictable.
I would have liked to have known more about the magician’s mark, and where it came from. Did a magician invent it? Was he taught it by a demon? In Covenant, we learned what each of the marks actually did, and learning what a demon’s mark was all about is enough to give me a year’s worth of sleepless nights, but I would have liked to have known more about magicians’ powers and the practical underpinnings of magic in this universe. Also, Merris’ actions at the end of the book with regards to Sin and Mae struck me as stupid. Pitting the girls into that sort of competition can only spell bad things for the Goblin Market after Merris’ death compared to cooperation, no matter who wins.
In Lexicon, Rees Brennan showed just how clever and cagy her heroes and villains were, especially Alan, so it’s no surprise that in Covenant, everybody has a plan they’re keeping from everybody else. Watching all of the plans coming together, and working out or not working out because of all of the other plans was beautiful, nerve-wracking, and horribly sad, all at the same time. And though Nick's reaction to all of the plans wasn't surprising, it just about yanked my heart out.
Sarah Rees Brennan can be found online at her livejournal,
sarahtales . Check it out. She has free short stories set in the Demon’s Lexicon/Covenant universe posted there. Helps tide you over until the next book, and trust me, with these books, you’ll need some serious tiding over.