Friday, December 21, 2018

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Bookburners Season 4 by Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Brian Francis Slattery, Mur Lafferty, and Andrea Phillips



Bookburners is an urban fantasy series from Serial Box Publishing, a publisher that essentially publishes stories in "Seasons" of ten or more episodes, as if they were seasons of a TV show.  Bookburners was the first one of these series I read, and I've already reviewed Seasons 2 (here) and 3 (here) on this blog over the past two years (my review of season 1 you can find somewhere on my twitter account).

And well, the Bookburners series has always been one of the most fun fantasy series I've read over the past few years, providing light (usually) stories with characters who are a lot of fun as they deal with their own issues....as they also try to contain the dangers of magic around the world as agents of the Vatican.  After a merely solid Season 2 - which kept the really fun characters but had a merely okay overarching plot - Season 3 of this series took a step forward, with an excellent overarching plot for these fun characters to navigate, one that massively shifted the status quo.

Season 4 takes that new status quo and runs with it, generally for the better.  The overall antagonists of the season are not the series' best, but the new status quo allows for a lot of fun new adventures for the team and man do I still love all of these characters so damn much.  There's no way one should start the series with Season 4 (just like a TV show), but this season justifies the decision for a new reader to jump in with Season 1 if they haven't already.

Note:  Like all Serial Box products, Bookburners is built to be read piecemeal, like episodes of a TV show on a weekly basis.  However, I read this season in a collection over a couple of days, like it was a single book, as I have two of the last three seasons, and this may color my impressions differently than someone reading this as originally published.  

-------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------
The Secret is out: Magic is now out in the open, after Team 3 thwarted Hannah's plot in London.  Now the world is rife with magic wreaking havoc, especially London, for which a large section is now known as "Weird London."  The magic is tearing the world apart, and the powerful Maitresse has gathered the team as well as every other magic user who has visited her market to discuss a plan to try and save it.

And then the Maitresse is killed by an old enemy.

Suddenly the world is turned upside down, with no one to lead people in this new age of magic to try and save everything.  It'll fall to the Bookburners, now known to the general public but considered criminals by their former Vatican masters, to try and guide humanity in this dangerous age.  But some magic-users, particularly those behind the Maitresse's death, have little interest in saving the world and every interest in taking advantage of the new status quo to save and enrich themselves instead.  And these enemies are as powerful as any group the Bookburners have ever faced.

Of course, the Bookburners' greatest foe may be themselves and their own anxieties, and to save the world and provide a guiding light, they're going to have to try and not kill each other first.....
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Let's be clear, the best part of this series is and has always been the characters.  The major elements of the team remain fantastic: Sal - the ex policewoman who takes a leadership role in the team, Liam - the computer expert for whom the emergence of more magic represents a test of his faith, Father Menchu- the team's former leader now unsure of himself when cut off from the Vatican, Grace - the woman whose lifespan is tied to a candle, for which superhuman abilities come at the cost of her life, and Asanti - the woman who has always wanted to learn more about and how to use magic and now is seemingly free to do so.  The book rotates generally among the five of them in showing their perspectives and how they're affected by things changing so drastically, and the interactions are just so great, whether they be Menchu trying to restore his friendship with Asanti despite their differences, Sal and Grace working out their relationship, etc.  Even the secondary members of the team, fellow magic user (with tentacles for legs) Frances and half-angel Perry/Aaron are excellent members of the team.

And the season gives them a great playground for these characters to interact and go forward in.  The overall season antagonists are maybe the weakest in the series (maybe season 2's are weaker but it's close), but the new status quo shifts things so much that everything feels new and fresh and the characters grow in new and interesting ways as a result.  The episode in which the team simply hangs around London and tries to figure out how to help ordinary people deal with the terrors of magic is a particular highlight, but even the more plot heavy parts provide great moments for the team to work.  Oh and as usual, the dialogue is extremely well done, often being very funny or at least putting a smile on my face.

Again, Bookburners is not a series that is any way a "Must Read" or even something I'd crazy highly recommend.  But it's the equivalent of really good comfort food - it's a lot of fun, with characters I always enjoy reading more of, and the Serial Box system means I can look forward to more of them to come.  Like a TV Series, it's possible that later seasons will lose momentum and I'll lose interest, but Season 4 shows no sign of that yet, so feel free to jump on board if you're looking for a series of fun.
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