SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells https://t.co/gVWkjOCzx1 Short Review: 8.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) May 17, 2018

Short Review (cont): A Priestess/Sorceress, assisted by a foreign swordsman, having been exiled for treason, is forced to return home when a rite that maintains reality is threatened. A fascinating world & characters- particularly its middle aged sassy woman of color lead (2/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) May 17, 2018

The Wheel of the Infinite is one of two novels written by Martha Wells that don't belong to one of her few shared universes (Raksura, Ile-Rien, or Murderbot).  I am a huge fan of Martha Wells' work, and I've yet to be disappointed by a work of hers.  After reading The Wheel of the Infinite...that's still the case: this is still a really good book.

What makes the Wheel of the Infinite are its unusual heroes: the Middle Aged - and trending more towards being elderly than being young - woman Maskelle and its similarly aged (maybe slightly younger) sarcastic ronin (this is a fantasy world, but well, he's clearly a Ronin/ex-samurai) Rian.   This is not a story about young people - both our heroes not only have had children, but Maskelle is a widow three times over already - and yet our older heroes are still people of great power and intelligence.  It's also a world filled with people of color (Maskelle and the people of the Empire are described as dark-skinned), as opposed to yet another White fantasy world.  The end result is a pretty great story with excellent characters and an unpredictable plot that is well worth your time.

Note:  I read this as an audiobook.  The reader is generally good, except she's not particularly great at differentiating between comments that are spoken aloud or simply thought by our point of view characters, which was confusing at times.  But otherwise it's a fine way to read this book, with characters' voices nicely differentiated without being distracting.

More after the Jump:

--------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------
Maskelle was once the Voice of the Adversary, the most powerful ancestral spirit in the Kushorit religion, and through its voice and her own power, was one of the most powerful people in the Celestial Empire.  But Seven Years ago, Maskelle was exiled from the Celestial Empire when she attempted what amounted to treason....and the Adversary hasn't spoken to her since.  But now, she has been summoned by the Celestial One, head of her Order, back to the capital on the eve of the culmination of the Empire's most important rite: the creation of the Wheel of the Infinite, whose creation shapes the very reality of the world.  And dark forces seem to be trying to stop her from reaching the capital.

But what she finds when she gets to the capital is beyond what she could have expected: something is causing strange dark unknown symbols to appear in the Wheel of the Infinite, threatening the very basis of their reality.  If this is allowed to persist, the world as everyone knows it could be forever changed.  Together with the Sintanese swordsman Rian, Maskelle will have to find out who is behind this corruption of the right...and how to stop it, or the world could be changed....forever.
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What makes the Wheel of the Infinite truly special are its two leads: Maskelle and Rian.  The book is more Maskelle's story than Rian's, but after the first third, the book seems to split its time showing the story from each of their points of view equally.  Which is fine because they're both really interesting and very different characters from the usual.

I loved Maskelle.  The Strong Female Protagonist trope is not a bad one, but they're rarely done like her - a woman confident in her power and her abilities but less confident in her path (usually it's the opposite, with the protagonist knowing what they should do but not confident in their ability).  Maskelle is weary of the world, having committed a heavy sin out of trying to follow what she thought was a real vision, and having lost not one but three husbands as a result (although only one of these is clearly her fault).  But when she's forced to take action to try and save The Infinite and thus the World, she simply will not tolerate any bullshit and is more constrained by her oaths not to do what she once did and simply kill everybody than an actual willingness to negotiate.  And yet, despite the description I just gave, she's not rash in any way - she's simply wise.  Picture the older (though not that old, really) woman leaning on her staff and walking with poise - that's Maskelle, and that's not the usual heroine you see in these books - and I loved her so much.

Rian is just as weary of the world, having lacked a purpose until he was rescued by Maskelle in the first chapter and dedicated himself to her protection.  If anything, he's actually more sarcastic than Maskelle is - and definitely more openly sarcastic than she is, and his tart approach to dealing with other people repeatedly cracked me up in a story not built around humor.  What makes him different from other heroes in other stories is that well....he's not trying to be a hero or antihero.  He has no patience for bullshit (which is what makes him such a good match for Maskelle) and simply wants to do what's necessary to help Maskelle.

Our other minor characters are of varying effectiveness.  The Celestial One is pretty amazing at backtalk for a hundred year old man, especially in annoyance at Maskelle's actions.  The other minor character of note, Rastim, who you'd think from the beginning is going to be dropped early on and never is, alternates between being annoying and amusing (the audiobook gives him an annoying voice, presumably because he annoys Rian at times).

The plot and world are generally very interesting as well.  The book takes a number of very interesting twists and turns, and plays with one common trope in a way I didn't expect.  That said, I was partially spoiled about one late book twist, so I saw it coming which affected my enjoyment a little.  The antagonists aren't particularly interesting in the end, and the ending kind of fizzles out?  I'm not really what to think about the ending actually.  That said, the plot was mostly excellent and as I mentioned above, so are the main characters, so I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a little bit of a different fantasy story.