Thursday, September 10, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Tyrant Baru Cormorant by Seth J Dickinson


The Tyrant Baru Cormorant is the third book in Seth J Dickinson's "The Masquerade" series, after his brilliant "The Traitor Baru Cormorant" in 2015 and 2018's "The Monster Baru Cormorant" (which I reviewed here).  That said, Tyrant isn't really the third book - it's more like the 2nd half of the second book, with it and Monster forming one complete sequel to the original novel Traitor, which makes sense since the two were apparently one original novel split into two (moving the series from three planned novels to four). 

 Traitor is one of the few books to which I've ever given a perfect score and is still an all time favorite, telling a fascinating tale of a girl deciding to rise up and destroy the Evil Empire from within, going along with its methods to gain the power to do so, no matter how repressive of others and of herself those methods must be, with an absolutely devastating ending.  Its follow up, Monster, was a fascinating half of a story with some really interesting themes and really fun moments amidst the darkness, but was kind of a mess as Dickinson split the narrative into several additional points of view as everything in this world expanded in often contradictory ways.  And now we finally have the conclusion to that first half of a novel, in the form of a book that's an absolute doorstopper in length.

And well, Tyrant is a mixed bag, with its structure still a bit of a mess, as it attempts to wrangle multiple factions and a cast of dozens into a cohesive story for our protagonist - the unmistakable Baru Cormorant - to deal with as she struggles with both her goal and the costs she has incurred to try and get to the point where she can destroy the Empire from within.  The writing still contains a huge number of fantastic and often humorous moments (despite the generally dark tone) to carry this book, and the perspectives of different characters actually seem to work better here than in Monster.  But the book's most compelling ideas kind of get muddled in the process, including the primary conflict at the heart of Monster, which is a little disappointing. 

More after the jump - Spoilers for Traitor are inevitable, and some minor spoilers for Monster as well. 


------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Baru Cormorant has sacrificed so much and so many people to get to where she is now: before the Cancrioth, the cancer worshiping (and possibly immortal) cult that has hidden in the shadows of the Oriati Mbo, which might have the power to destroy Falcrest once and for all.  After all, they seemingly were responsible for the Kettling plague that is destroying the island of Kyprananoke at this very moment.  But what Baru finds onboard the Cancrioth's vessel, the Eternal, is a faction at war with itself over what to do next, and not inclined to trust the woman who betrayed the last people to trust her against Falcrest.  And even if she can get them to trust her, is deploying an unstoppable plague really the right thing to do to destroy the Falcresti Empire....what Tain Hu would want her to do? 

And meanwhile, outside Eternal, other forces are still on the move.  Baru's fellow Cryptarchs, Xate Yawa and Svir know that Baru is ahead of them now, and will stop at nothing to drag her back...with Baru's own destruction seemingly the only way the two of them can survive.  Baru's former best friend, the Navy Lieutenant Commander Aminata IsiSegu, is still grappling whether Baru has betrayed her, and if so what should she and what she can do about it. 

And the seemingly unstoppable Tain Shir remains resolute in her mission - to ensure that Baru is confronted with the consequences of her own actions, to test Baru again and again by forcing Baru to choose between those she loves and the mission she has dedicated her life to - until Baru either has nothing left to sacrifice or has realized her only way forward lies in her own destruction......
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Monster essentially told a plot from several points of view (after the initial novel only followed Baru's), with the story taking place in two timelines: Baru's present day story and Tau-indi's past story from 25 years in the past (known as "A Story About Ash"), in which the pasts of several characters who grew increasingly relevant to Baru's present story was slowly revealed.  Tyrant adds a third timeline - the story is told from a framing device of Baru's patron, Cairdine Farrier (aka Itinerant), asking Baru what happened as Baru wakes up after having something done to her by rival cryptarch Xate Yawa.  Thus Baru tells Farrier a version of the present story, which takes up most of the book (plus the past story which resumes), until the finale, when the framing device leads up to the final conclusion.  The result is that the story is essentially told from the perspectives of four major narrators (Baru, Xate Yawa, Aminata and Tau-indi) with a few other narrators butting in here or there, over three timelines.  Honestly, this mess of narratives actually comes together more satisfactorily than in the last book, despite it only expanding, which was nice to see. 

And all these characters remain excellent, and Dickinson remains brilliant with the dialogue and character development, allowing this mostly dark book to be peppered with some absolutely fun moments throughout that will crack you up (a moment in the book's third act featuring a long awaited reunion is utterly hilarious).  Aminata's journey as she still struggles between her faith in Baru as her friend and her fears about Baru's loyalty is often heartbreaking to see - she's put through the ringer - and you really can't help but root for her.  And then there's Xate Yawa, who is like Baru the apprentice of another cryptarch (the eugenicist Hesychast), and who needs to prevail for the sake of her imprisoned brother and for the sake of her own plans to remove the Empire from Aurdwynn, whose story becomes a lot more sympathetic in this one (and remains as delightfully vulgar). 

And then there's Baru.*  Baru oddly enough feels like a character built to be a response in ways to Isaac Asimov's Foundation - brilliant with mathematics and predicting the movements of people through great masses and forces (particularly economics), but utterly shit at understanding individual people herself.  This has for two books before this gotten her in repeated trouble, and it continues to do so here, as she just can't understand how other actors will not necessarily dance to her plans...since they have their own beliefs and motives to guide them.  Baru was broken by the end of book 1, both physically - unable to perceive things on one side of her body - and emotionally, as she kept feeling the pain of sacrificing Tain Hu, and the need to justify that sacrifice, no matter the cost.  This was then only exacerbated by trying to deal with both Yawa's scheming and Tain Shir's repeated needs to put Baru to the test, forcing Baru to choose either to die herself or to sacrifice another to keep moving forward.  Baru ended Monster having decided she couldn't sacrifice anyone else (her parents being the latest offer), but still couldn't help herself from lying repeatedly to others who meant well as she tried to obtain the power to destroy the Empire.  And here in this book, her development continues, as she continues to understand how she cannot continue to sacrifice everything for the end result, and how her actions, her lying, and everything, all results in her furthering the Empire, and her patron's evil dream of creating a people who will self regulate themselves out of who they truly are and into the image he wants them to be.  It is for the most part a very well done development, from beginning to the very end.

Spoiler in ROT13: be jryy, sbe zbfg bs guvf obbx, Onueh.

But not completely.  As I noted in the Monster review, a major element of this series through two books, the theme that Tain Shir directly confronted Baru with, was the idea that if one sacrificed themselves and everyone they cared about for the sake of power and for their cause, for the sake of working within the Empire to destroy it, they would be no better than the Empire they sought to destroy.  That one couldn't coopt the Empire's own means to destroy it.  This idea, and the conflict with Tain Shir, is resolved in the first act of this novel entirely, and while it's still at the back of Baru's mind thereafter, the themed is replace instead with the other questions of how one can still fight the Empire without becoming what Itinerant wants her to be and whether the Empire was really inevitable.  Tain Shir meanwhile disappears for the most part after that point, and it's a huge loss, as she was the most compelling antagonist and the most compelling theme of this book.  Instead the book features a plot development that is kind of absurd at the end of the first act but which Dickinson makes somehow work, which shifts the alliances and possibilities of the course of the plot.

And I mean that works here, but it's all a massive juggling act that Dickinson clearly struggles with pulling off.  Certain characters and factions alternate between being absolutely unstoppable and being utterly about to be destroyed from part to part of this entire book, seemingly to justify the reaction of the rest of the characters (The Cancrioth in particular).  Certain ideas are tossed out and go nowhere, whereas others become entire focuses, and at one point the book seems about to verge (as in a character plans to do something in specifics) into an area of gender I think would've been problematic, but it swerves away from ever fulfilling that thankfully.  And Baru's final answer to things is very Baru-like and really enjoyable, but may very well lead a reader to go "wait that's it?" and it's hard to believe so many people would get on boards with it over rasher more immediate actions (I kind of doubt Tain Shir would be willing to go with it?)

The book's most interesting theme here involves the foundation behind the country of Oriati Mbo and how it survived for a millennium without the power of the Empire, and even there other elements seem to diminish that idea a bit at times.  It's a really interesting idea mind you* that leads to the ultimate conclusion of this novel: that Empire is NOT inevitable and that other possibilities exist for a better world.  It's here that the past story intersects with the present, and that really works, but a tighter novel would've made this theme far stronger, and its not quite as interesting as the question of whether Baru could really destroy the Empire with its own methods from within and what she might sacrifice to do it. 

*Spoiler in ROT13 for more specific discussion: Gur cevbe abiry vagebqhprq gung gur Bevngv oryvrir va gur pbaprcg bs Gevz, n xnezn-yvxr vqrn gung rirelbar unf n pregnva nzbhag bs tbbqarff gung erdhverf gurz gb or tbbq sbe bguref, abg sbe nal bgure checbfr, be gurl jvyy ybfr Gevz/fhssre n jbhaq-va-Gevz.  Jbhaqf va Gevz unir frevbhf ercrephffvbaf gurl oryvrir, cbffvoyl jbeyq funxvat barf, naq ab bar oryvrirf va guvf zber guna Gnh, ohg vg fgvyy vf gur trareny vqrn oruvaq gur Zob.  Gur Zob fheivirf, naq guhf Rzcver vf abg varivgnoyr, orpnhfr rirelbar vf vatenvarq jvgu gur vqrn bs qbvat tbbq hagb bguref sbe ab bgure fnxr guna vg vf gur guvat gb qb, juvpu zrnaf gur yrnqref qba'g npg shyyl frysvfuyl naq gur crbcyr qba'g fhssre sebz pynff/enpvny qvivfvbaf orpnhfr rirelbar npgf gb cerirag gubfr sebz pbzvat vagb rkvfgrapr.  Vg'f ubj gur fbpvnyvfg Zob jbexf, naq ubj vg erfvfgf nyy bs Snyperfg'f nggrzcgf gb pbageby vg ivn rpbabzvp cbyvpl (jul Snyperfg pna'g fvzcyl pbadhre vg zvyvgnevyl vf ubjrire abg nafjrerq urer, fvapr gur cnfg fgbelyvar frrzf gb fhttrfg gurl pbhyq!  Vg'f ernyyl fgenatr).  Ohg guvf vf xvaq bs jrnxrarq ol gur vqrn bs gur Pnapevbgu orvat n frperg sbepr gung nvqrq gur Zob nyy gurfr lrnef, nf gur Pnapevbgu vf n frys pragrerq vzzbegny sbepr gung qbrfa'g oryvrir va Gevz naq vf jengushy naq iratrnapr va jnlf.  Fb lrnu, vg'f n zvkrq ont, ohg V yvxr gur vqrn ng yrnfg.

All this results in a fascinating novel that does lead to a much more satisfying conclusion than the prior novel (which again was really half a novel) with an ending that for once carries a suggestion of a hopeful future.  It still ends with a sequel hook kind of artificially grafted on and some dangerous powers still at large, so there's more to do here, but I'm not quite sure how Dickinson can really write something more on these themes.  But I hope he will do so and will bring it all together in a way that is at least like this novel, if not like the book that started it all 



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