That Self-Same Metal is a young adult historical fantasy novel written by author Brittany N. Williams. Taking place in a loose historical take on Shakespearean London, the story follows Joan, one of two black twins who are part of Shakespeare's troupe of players, and who (along with her twin) possesses magical powers as the chosen of one of the Orisha - for Joan, the Orisha Ogun, who gifts her with the power to magically manipulate metal. But when a pact between humanity and the Fae seems to fall apart, Joan finds herself and her friends and loved ones confronted with the chaos of a fae invasion, which only she and other Orisha-blessed peoples seem to be able to fight off. Along the way Joan will also have to deal with romantic inclinations towards both a fellow boy in her troupe and a girl who asks her for help, as well as the political machinations and prejudice of a lord and royalty who see fit to use her for their own ends.
The result is a highly enjoyable story, as Joan is a really well done narrator and protagonist and the story goes in a bunch of fun and interesting directions. By playing with both African mythology and Historical events in this era of England (very loosely at times), the story is rarely super predictable (with one exception near the end) and the occasional interludes of Fae Horror really heighten the stakes and well...horrify in how they show off the monstrous actions of the Fae. The love triangle here is also done decently well, although the suddenness of Joan's infatuation doesn't quite ring true for me at times (but that's a me thing), especially as it promises a bisexual and poly relationship...even if this book doesn't quite get around to finishing the romantic subplot. And the book deals well with both racial and gender prejudices, as Joan faces both in the course of the plot. All in all, it's a solid start to this series (I don't know if this is a duology or trilogy or whatever) and I'll be back for the next book to see how this resolves.
---------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------
For Joan Sands, life is okay, but it's filled with wishes that things could be otherwise. She's a chosen one of the Orisha Ogun, blessed with the power to control and manipulate metal...a gift she can't expose to anyone outside her family (all blessed with powers of other Orisha) because of England's requirement that they practice a protestant faith. She's a member of Shakespeare's troupe, in charge of the choreography for the fights in his plays, but can't actually perform in them due to the ban against women performing even in female roles. And she's, thanks only in part to her magic, an excellent metalworker and blacksmith, but can't take over her father's business due to her sex...with the only way she'd be allowed to stay near the business being for her to marry her father's incompetent apprentice. Her life isn't bad, but add in all of that, racial prejudice against her for being black, and her sudden unwanted attraction to her fellow player Nick, and to the stranger girl Rose - well it's a lot to handle.
Yet when her mentor as a blessed of Ogun is imprisoned while trying to convince the King to renew a pact between humanity and the Fae, Joan finds that things go from annoying to really bad very quickly: for the Fae, who usually are present (and visible to Joan and the other Orisha blessed) but harmless begin going on deadly rampages, killing and tricking mortals all over, and threatening both strangers and family and friends of Joan. Soon Joan finds herself personally targeted by the Fae lord Auberon, who is far more deadly than the portrayal in Shakespeare's plays, and facing more and more deadly fae sent on his behalf. And in the process of fighting them, Joan also finds herself coming to the attention of an English Lord who demands, under threat to her family and friends, she help him against the Fae. Caught on all sides with nowhere to go, Joan finds herself out of her depth wielding a power she finds to sometimes be beyond her control....but if she cannot control it and wield it properly, all of England will soon find itself overrun by the Fae, to the painful dismay of all Joan holds dear....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Self-Same Metal is told largely from the perspective of Joan, with the exception of occasional interludes in which other humans in London wind up facing the horrors of the unbound Fae, as if the novel has suddenly jumped to horror. And that horror is very effective in demonstrating the dangers that Joan, her friends and family, and all of London face if the Fae are left unchecked because yeah, the horror is very well done and very freaky/scary. The story also plays quite a bit loosely with the history of London in this time, although it contains a guide in its back to the historical figures who feature within and how they've been changed for this story. So yeah, just because you may know the history of this time period, don't expect your knowledge to guide exactly what is going to happen...history here has and will be changed by the magical nature of the setting and the Fae's and Joan's actions.
And well, this works really well largely because Joan is a really enjoyable protagonist. Joan is a black girl who deals with a ton of things all at once: prejudice against her for being black; prejudice and societal bias against her for being female (preventing Joan from properly inheriting her father's blacksmith job, preventing her from being on stage in the plays despite her knowing all the lines by heart and the proper swordplay, etc.); struggles with not using her power for fear of persecution from Christian and White society if they knew of what she could do; and well also the sudden but incredible attraction she's feeling towards another player in the troupe, Nick...which is almost made worse by the fact she feels a similar attraction to a black girl who comes to Joan and her brother James for help with a possibly supernatural problem (Joan's attractions being so sudden despite her seemingly knowing Nick for a while prior to the story didn't quite work for me...but I guess it could also be her just feeling attraction for the first time as someone growing up, so it's something that'll probably work better for young adult readers). And Joan's conflict over all of this is only made worse by the fact that Joan is kind of a girl of action - she wants to DO something when she sees a problem, so when the Fae attack and become a problem, Joan's first thought is to try and use her powers to help and stop them from causing harm. She's not utterly reckless - Joan knows when the hold her tongue around people, even if she may make some wrong choices - but Joan naturally wants to help, even when she's confronted with conflicts for which direct action may only make things worse.
And well the setting around Joan and the plot really uses Joan's character to craft an enjoyable engaging story that deals with some heavy themes. You have themes of prejudice against people of color and who aren't men*, struggles between people of different religions, and the stupidity of those blinded by these things and a love of power in ignoring warnings and the messages sent by others. Joan has to manage navigating not just the deadliness of the Fae, but the prejudices of the humans around her, as well as the fact that her power comes from a source - the Orisha Ogun - that she isn't fully comfortable with, especially as Ogun threatens to take control of her to use their combined power for themself...and Joan cannot stand the loss of autonomy that happens as a result. The book also plays with the motives of characters, especially the Fae, so both the reader and Joan isn't always quite sure whom to trust, and the result is highly compelling and keeps you invested in the outcome.
*Notably this book is seemingly queernorm and does not feature prejudice based upon queerness. Joan is Bi and the book hints its going to resolve its love triangle in a poly way, there's another suggested poly relationship, there are other queer characters, and well none of this looked about as being wrong or as something that needs to be hidden.
Not everything works perfectly - one plot twist that forms the book's cliffhanger ending is enormously obvious, to the point where it feels like Joan is forced to act really stupid by forgetting that one character is not to be trusted up until the reveal, and kind of took away from some of the plotting's good work up to that point. But otherwise, this book is really well done, and I will be back for the sequel.
No comments:
Post a Comment