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Book Reviews: The Retrievers Series by Laura Anne Gilman
It’s book review time...because I have to clear the backlog!
We’re discussing the Retrievers novels of Laura Anne Gilman (LAG).
So far we have:
STAYING DEAD
CURSE THE DARK
BRING IT ON
BURNING BRIDGES
Our heroine is Wren Valere, a talented young woman in her late 20s who is a lonejack, a solo magic user raised up in a soloist tradition. She works as a “retriever” – essentially a thief with considerable magical talents. Someone stole something from you – something magical, dangerous, powerful? You pay Valere and her “manager” Sergei Didier, and she’ll steal it right back.
New York City is a vibrant place at any time, but in LAG’s world talents (those who feel and manipulate current) and nulls (those who neither feel nor manipulate current/magic) intersect constantly, and it’s not always a pretty sight. Among the Cosa Nostradamus there are the fatae who live their own magic – the nonhuman griffins, piskies, dryads, etc. – and those humans who are either lonejacks of varying power and skills, or members of The Council. The Council prefers to run everything in its own city. They want control of all magic-users – but they’ll settle for intimidation.
And then there are the humans who have no magic of their own, but know it exists and want to know what’s going on in every nook and cranny of the city. They hire lonejacks to work with them, their interface staff called “handlers” who manage the “talent”.
Sergei Didier was once a handler, and was one of the few who turned his back on The Silence and lived to tell the tale. But The Silence want Wren to work for them – and Wren could use a client who pays a retainer. Simply, two things change in Wren’s world, and the first pebbles of an avalanche start rolling: she and Sergei, partners for ten years, choose to become lovers, and they are gathered into The Silence’s embrace.
Wren, who specializes in never being seen, who keeps to herself and avoids all Council and fatae politics, slowly finds herself being drawn into the intricate games of The Council and The Silence. The fatae-hating humans are hunting – and some of them are buried deep within The Silence. The Council and Silence have their own traitors, and will force the Lonejacks and fatae to either join them or fear them. Wren becomes a lightning rod for all that is to come, and a spokesperson for a fragile fatae and lonejack alliance that may not survive its first dawn.
You can look forward to small, fascinating bits of info about the magic system LAG has built (and built it well, better than most fantasies these days.) You’ll enjoy Wren’s interaction with non-human Cosa members and null humans. She’s delightfully race-blind in her associations, and struggles to understand humans of all stripes. You’ll come to love a four-foot demon nick-named P.B. (polar bear) who runs messages – for a price. You’ll get one of the best intimate scenes ever in book two, CURSE THE DARK, and watch a relationship that rings true like a bell – what really happens when a magic-user and a null start up a relationship? When the touch of a magic-user can damage a null...and he keeps that a secret from her?
What would Chinese take-out be like if a Seer wrote the fortunes?
Check out this world. I found the first book, STAYING DEAD, an excellent place to start, because there is an arc to the big story, but there are smaller tales inside each volume, allowing them to stand pretty well on their own. Problems? I’ll mention the biggest one: she keeps introducing interesting characters and killing them off too soon. Two books isn’t long enough – some only one book – and I will get even in another series. Eventually.
Recommended. I buy these in trade paperback, by the way. Worth every penny. Feeling poor? Pick up the first used, and then buy the next new. Get on the wagon! You will love LAG’s NYC – even if you start looking out of the corner of your eye as you walk through Central Park.
We’re discussing the Retrievers novels of Laura Anne Gilman (LAG).
So far we have:
STAYING DEAD
CURSE THE DARK
BRING IT ON
BURNING BRIDGES
Our heroine is Wren Valere, a talented young woman in her late 20s who is a lonejack, a solo magic user raised up in a soloist tradition. She works as a “retriever” – essentially a thief with considerable magical talents. Someone stole something from you – something magical, dangerous, powerful? You pay Valere and her “manager” Sergei Didier, and she’ll steal it right back.
New York City is a vibrant place at any time, but in LAG’s world talents (those who feel and manipulate current) and nulls (those who neither feel nor manipulate current/magic) intersect constantly, and it’s not always a pretty sight. Among the Cosa Nostradamus there are the fatae who live their own magic – the nonhuman griffins, piskies, dryads, etc. – and those humans who are either lonejacks of varying power and skills, or members of The Council. The Council prefers to run everything in its own city. They want control of all magic-users – but they’ll settle for intimidation.
And then there are the humans who have no magic of their own, but know it exists and want to know what’s going on in every nook and cranny of the city. They hire lonejacks to work with them, their interface staff called “handlers” who manage the “talent”.
Sergei Didier was once a handler, and was one of the few who turned his back on The Silence and lived to tell the tale. But The Silence want Wren to work for them – and Wren could use a client who pays a retainer. Simply, two things change in Wren’s world, and the first pebbles of an avalanche start rolling: she and Sergei, partners for ten years, choose to become lovers, and they are gathered into The Silence’s embrace.
Wren, who specializes in never being seen, who keeps to herself and avoids all Council and fatae politics, slowly finds herself being drawn into the intricate games of The Council and The Silence. The fatae-hating humans are hunting – and some of them are buried deep within The Silence. The Council and Silence have their own traitors, and will force the Lonejacks and fatae to either join them or fear them. Wren becomes a lightning rod for all that is to come, and a spokesperson for a fragile fatae and lonejack alliance that may not survive its first dawn.
You can look forward to small, fascinating bits of info about the magic system LAG has built (and built it well, better than most fantasies these days.) You’ll enjoy Wren’s interaction with non-human Cosa members and null humans. She’s delightfully race-blind in her associations, and struggles to understand humans of all stripes. You’ll come to love a four-foot demon nick-named P.B. (polar bear) who runs messages – for a price. You’ll get one of the best intimate scenes ever in book two, CURSE THE DARK, and watch a relationship that rings true like a bell – what really happens when a magic-user and a null start up a relationship? When the touch of a magic-user can damage a null...and he keeps that a secret from her?
What would Chinese take-out be like if a Seer wrote the fortunes?
Check out this world. I found the first book, STAYING DEAD, an excellent place to start, because there is an arc to the big story, but there are smaller tales inside each volume, allowing them to stand pretty well on their own. Problems? I’ll mention the biggest one: she keeps introducing interesting characters and killing them off too soon. Two books isn’t long enough – some only one book – and I will get even in another series. Eventually.
Recommended. I buy these in trade paperback, by the way. Worth every penny. Feeling poor? Pick up the first used, and then buy the next new. Get on the wagon! You will love LAG’s NYC – even if you start looking out of the corner of your eye as you walk through Central Park.