A hidden cult is bringing the empires of the Celadon Highway to war, and caught up in the middle of it is Temur, the legitimate heir of his grandfather, the Great Khagan, and Samarkar, Once-Princess who has sacrificed her worldly power for the magical power of wizards.
Range of Ghosts, by Elizabeth Bear, the first book of the Eternal Sky trilogy, published 2012 by Tor. The copy I'm reading was actually donated to the Belleville Public Library by the author herself, which is really cool!
I checked this book out of the library (alongside The Darkness That Comes Before, Gardens of the Moon, and The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft) on the strength of many good recommendations. I was especially attracted to the setting: unlike most fantasy, the Eternal Sky draws from Asia, not the generic medieval-Europe setting of so much fantasy.
I'm pleased to say that it's marvelous. Of Range of Ghosts, I must say I have two favorite parts. The first of these is the central conceit of the world: the sky reflects the belief of the people underneath it, in that particular region.
For example, Temur, a Qersnyk plainsmen descended from the Great Khagan (for those who didn't read the tag), their sky has many moons, all of which represent a male heir to the throne. Temur's own is the Iron Moon. In this way, Temur, and his relatives, can check the sky to see who's alive and who's dead.
It's utterly marvelous. Interesting too are the hints that each culture's gods are not, in fact, dead. It would certainly explain the skies: they might really be interested in you.
The other of my favorites is the character of Samarkar, the Once-Princess of Rasa. The process to become a wizard is one with its sacrifices: you are trained in the ways of wizards. Then, a surgery is performed on you, to neuter you - to remove your ability to give birth. Then, you are initiated, and it is this which will see whether or not you manifest magical power. There is no guarantee: for the loss of the ability to procreate, you may, or may not, come unto the powers of a wizard.
Of course, that's not all there is: though Temur and Samarkar are our principal viewpoints, we also get scenes from the viewpoints of the main villain of the book, the al-Sepehr, as well as Edene, who becomes Temur's lover, and is kidnapped by the al-Sepehr.
In Temur's viewpoints we get the magical pony Bansh. I call her a "magical pony," but that's a description that lends itself poorly. More say that Bansh is more intelligent then you'd expect for a mare and has a preternatural sense of Temur's needs and whereabouts.
Rounding out this cast is Hrahima, a Cho-tse - a tiger woman. Don't be followed by the "cat woman" trope: she is very much emphasized as a large, exceptionally strong and powerful predator.
The world of Temur and Samarkar is painted beautifully - Bear is a magnificent prose-smith and we get a sense for just how beautiful the world is. We get a set of myths, and our villain the al-Sepehr is established early on. Lest you think from the name that this is a jab at Islam or the "exotic East" (the latter of which is all too common in fantasy), the al-Sepehr is very clearly established as part of a little-known cult-like sect of one of the religions of the world.
The al-Sepehr worships the Sorcerer-Prince, aka the Carrion-King. There's at least one other name provided for it within the story, too.
Edene, too, starting around... half-way in, I'd say, becomes a viewpoint character, and we see her plan to escape the al-Sepehr. Naturally, it's a little more complicated then that. I'll say no more.
I do have some criticisms to make: while I loved Samarkar, I feel that Temur's motivations were little explained and that we needed more exposition on who he was and his romance with Edene. It did not become obvious until the last third of the book that he was the legitimate heir of the Great Khagan. (I did not read the blurb.)
Samarkar, too, could've used some expansion on her background: though she ostensibly is sacrificing her political power in Rasa, and further her ability to ever have children, we don't actually get much sense of how much of a sacrifice this is. We join her shortly before her initiation.
The book is a slow-burn, serving almost entirely to set up the next two books. While I personally was okay with this, other readers may dislike it.
Though there is something of a lack of depth to Temur, and to a certain extent to the al-Sepehr, Edene, and Samarkar, Bear sets up an interesting world here and depicts it beautifully. The cultures are all quite unique and different from the generic fantasy. Though there is something of a dearth of story, the set-up seems to be preparing for a larger-scale second and third book.
I will certainly be reading the next one.
Hello, fellows! Please expect me to drop that long-mentioned Asimov's review, as well as the next part of Journey Through Lovecraft soon. My next book review will take a little more time - I am not far into The Darkness That Comes Before at all, though I am absolutely loving it so far (which is... about 70 pages in).