Tuesday, May 7, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Speaker by Traci Chee




The Speaker is the second book in Traci Chee's Young Adult fantasy trilogy which began with "The Reader" (Review Here).  That book, which began the series featuring a fantasy world in which literacy and the written word was forgotten by all but a secretive few - and knowledge/usage of writing conveyed magical power - had been a rather strong introduction to the setting with interesting characters, but I'd felt at the time that it took far too long to explain what was going on, with understanding only coming near the very end.  It left me wanting more, but not particularly satisfied with the first book, so I was hoping this second book would make better use of the setup to a more satisfying end - even if it was only the middle book of a trilogy.

The good news is that it does exactly that - now that the world of this trilogy has been setup and the central conflict established, The Speaker guides its characters in interesting directions as they - both the protagonists and antagonists - attempt to figure out where to go from here.  Along the way the book introduces a few new interesting characters to go along with the excellent existing set, and develops everyone further, with the book taking a few interesting and surprising turns along the way.  I should note that this series definitely gets pretty dark in this book - it may be a YA series that's closer to middle-grade (in that it won't ever have explicit sex scenes), but it's not afraid to inflict pain of both the physical and psychological kind upon its characters.  The result is extremely satisfying and I'm definitely getting to the trilogy's finale quicker than I did this second novel.

--------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------
Having discovered the truth behind the Guard and the Book, Sefia and Archer are once again on the run.  But everything has changed - Sefia now knows that her parents were part of the organization that led to the horrors Archer faced and Archer now remembers: who he is, and how to speak.  And so, when Sefia continues to learn horrors about her family's past from The Book, and the two of them encounter more boys imprisoned by Impressors, they seem to have no choice but to act and fight the Impressors and rescue the boys.  But with their success, Archer begins to feel more of a bloodlust- the feelings beaten into him by his tortures, and Sefia finds her love for him tested.

Meanwhile, The Guard is continuing its plans for domination, and has not given up on its goals of getting The Book back from the two of them.  And as they move forward, it seems like Archer is becoming more and more the prophecized warrior The Guard has been looking for - in spite of their insistence that they will never serve The Guard's purposes.  Is there a way for Sefia to save Archer from that fate and to protect the boy she loves?  And can Archer sate his need to fight without turning into a thing he hates - something he knows cannot possibly be with Sefia?

As more secrets about the world are revealed, and the truth behind the world's lack of literacy is revealed, The Book and its magical writing seems more of a curse to Sefia and Archer than anything....a curse they can never seem to escape.....
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My issue with The Reader was that it took basically until the end of the book for crucial elements of the plot to be explained - namely what exactly the bad guys were looking to do and who they were, why the main duo was on the run in the first place, and really just the bare basics of the central conflict other than "duo is on the run from mysterious antagonists".  What the book did eventually reveal was a really strong foundation for further story, so I was interested in giving book 2 a try, but The Reader was kind of disappointing as a solo entry, unlike many trilogy-starters.

The Speaker doesn't suffer that problem.  Oh like many 2nd books in trilogies, it expands the world of its setting and introduces new characters to boot.  And these are rather strong additions mind you - particularly a new antagonist and the man he's charged with killing - whom he loves, tragically, resulting in a sideplot that would seem irrelevant if it wasn't so well done.  But the main conflict is clear now, and the protagonists have active choices to try and make as they try and figure out what to do about it, and the resultant plot and character development make this a really strong book.  And then while it ends on a cliffhanger, it's still a satisfying conclusion of the events of this novel, with the cliffhanger just providing a tantalizing hook towards how things will wind up in the finale.

Again, this is done in large part through the book's excellent characters and setting.  Sefia remains an excellent primary heroine, as she finds herself under further mental strain as she discovers how responsible her parents were for the horrors inflicted upon Archer and the world, and tries desperately to be there for Archer even as she sees him sinking further and further into bloodlust.  And Arthur becomes his own major character here - with the book telling large segments from his perspective, now that he can speak and remember more about who he is.  It's a romance with tragic underpinnings, and the book makes it work really well, and nicely avoids certain tropes that I was worried were going to show up.  And then the other major characters generally work as well - I already mentioned the new side antagonist and his love, but the main antagonist from last book returns as does Captain Reed, and their plots are rather strong...and more importantly, tie-in more specifically to the main plot than they did in The Reader, where they often felt kind of random.  And the revelation of how this world lost literacy works really well.

The book isn't perfect - one twist relies upon you not figuring out how prophecies work, which is kind of eh, and the lead character's decision 2/3 of the way through on a course of action belies a naivete which seems a bit much considering all she's already gone through - but it's really really well done in general and I have very little complaints this time around.  The finale - The Storyteller - will have a lot to live up to. 
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