Friday, February 28, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Name of All Things by Jenn Lyons




The Name of All Things is the second book in Jenn Lyons' "A Chorus of Dragons", her five book dark (maybe grimdark) epic fantasy series which began with The Ruin of Kings earlier in 2019 (which I reviewed here).  I had very mixed feelings about The Ruin of Kings - one one hand, I only liked but didn't love the lead character and felt no attachment to the other characters involved, found the narrative structure unnecessarily distracting, and the plot often unfocused as it tried to setup both short term and long term plot arcs, often in confusing fashion.  On the other hand, I did find the prose hard to put down, with me reading the entire near 600 page hardcover while on a flight home from Seattle, and I was intrigued to see where things went from its conclusion.  So I figured I'd give its sequel a shot and if it didn't improve, I'd DNF it and move on, though I was in no rush to get to it.

Fortunately, the Name of All Things is a substantially improved novel, and made my decision well worth it.  The book features a cast of new far more interesting characters, a plot that is far more focused with its short term and long term plot arc in sync, and is a hell of a lot better at explaining things as it goes along, with less things seemingly pulled out of nowhere.  It still features the same extraneous narrative structure - a story being told by a narrator who footnotes the whole thing (in a way that is less entertaining than the author believes), with most of the story told in parts by alternating narrators, - but the structure works better here, even if it really could probably be cast aside.  The end result is an epic fantasy novel that is a much better novel than its predecessor and has kept me entertained and interested in seeing where the series goes from here.

Note: Minor Spoilers for The Ruin of Kings are inevitable below.  You have been warned.


------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------
Two Days after he shattered the Stone of Shackles and set the demons free, Kihrin D'Mon is on the run, searching for the prophesied allies who can help him set things right.....or perhaps destroy the word instead.  But he soon finds himself stuck in Jorat in a tavern with a woman he has only seen in a vision, a woman named Janel Theranon who claims to have met him in the afterlife, and who begs Kihrin helps in stopping a dragon from destroying the Joratese capital.  Kihrin is naturally skeptical, especially with Relos Var apparently involved, but suspects Janel isn't just some woman shown to him by a demon, but the ally he seeks.  And so he listens as Janel and her friend Qown tell their story:

Janel and Qown's story begins in Jorat, as Janel at first attempts to evade a man who would force her into marriage, and stumbles into a conspiracy led by Relos Var - the dangerous evil sorcerer whom even the gods fear - to upend Jorat, killing thousands or more in the process.  But Janel is no ordinary woman - as a child she was taken by the demon Xaltorath and as a result is no ordinary person: wielding seemingly super strength, the power of flames, and a curse that sends her to the afterlife when she falls asleep for the night - and she knows that together with her allies she may be the only chance at stopping Relos Var from his massacre.

But Relos Var's plots contain wheels within wheels and Janel will need to make use of all her gifts, all her allies, and her wits in order to stay alive, nevertheless stop him and save her people.  And in the process Janel and Qown will need to decide how far they are willing to go for what they think is right...and whether they are willing to ally themselves with the deadly monsters whose strengths they may need to pull it all off.....
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The Name of All Things is similar to The Ruin of Kings in that it contains a really awkward narrative frame as its way of telling the story: the book is the written report of Senera, the right hand woman of Relos Var, and that report features two other characters - Qown and Janel - alternating telling the story for most of the book, with Kihrin interacting with the other two in interludes at the start of each chapter until the final act.  And like in the first book, Lyons uses this narrative structure to have Senera provide footnotes on the story, which sometimes contain extra information, but most of the time simply are there for Lyons to snark jokes.  It's an incredibly forced setup, and the footnotes feel too often like Lyons trying too hard more than anything.

But while the setup to make it happen may be awkward and probably unnecessary, the alternating dual narratives of Qown and Janel work far better than the dual narratives of the first book (where it was Kihrin and Talon).  Honestly, this is because Qown and Janel are telling basically the same story, and both of them are active participants in those stories, so the switching of narratives never really throws the reader off (since you're not switching stories mainly, just perspectives) and both Janel and Qown's perspectives are really compelling.  That's also the key difference in this book from the last: the characters are just so so much better.

In the first book, Kihrin was the only common character between the narratives, and thus it was hard to really take an interest in any of the rest of the cast.  Here, the cast is shared between the narratives, and it is excellent.  Janel is a far more likable hero than Kihrin (who's kind of a whiner in book 1), badass and determined, but secretly unsure of her way forward and scared of her own cursed past.  And Qown, as a young priest/mage who is trying to help Janel under instructions from his order's leader, is a really strong secondary lead, as he deals with revelations that shatter his perspective on the world and is forced to confront a world where perhaps only bad choices exist as one tries to do good.  The shifting perspectives builds both characters incredibly well, and the reader will feel just as confused as what they should do next, which is impressively done.

And the main duo's allies are also really nicely built out, from the non-local woman who scrappily shows off her martial skill and tries to help the heroes out of scraps to the snarky older woman who acts as sort of a mother figure to Janel and so on.  Even the antagonists are built up much better than in the first book, as you'll come to know Relos Var, Senera, and others quite well.  And of course, in the few appearances by characters originally from book 1, this book does a good job of building upon the work there to make them more interesting (although Poor Teraeth has the worst luck with his love interests).

I should add by the way somewhere here than Janel is genderqueer, and the entire region for most of this book - Jorat - is very open about sex, sexuality and gender in a way the region of Book 1 wasn't. Jorat features a norm that people openly state their own gender and sexual interests in normal conversation, with trans characters being nothing out of the ordinary, to go along with ace characters and others.  It's not a perfect world in this regard - Janel is fleeing from a forced arranged marriage in large part because her suitor wants her to only be a woman essentially - but it's far more open in its queerness than the world of the first book.  Lyons portrays this whole atmosphere really well and I feel that bears clear mentioning.

And the plot here too is much improved from the first book, which often felt at times like it couldn't decide whether it wanted to deal with series-long threats or single book threats, resulting in a muddled mess at times.  This book is far more focused - the narrative is singly focused on a single plot, and while the reader is well aware the main antagonist is plotting far more in scope than Janel and Qown are aware, the book doesn't have to go all over the place to show it.  The result is far more satisfying, up through the tantalizing cliffhangers of the ending, even if it requires some major characters to be kind of stupid at times.  I'll definitely be back for book 3 later this year.
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