Thursday, May 20, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Siege of Rage and Ruin by Django Wexler

 




There are few books I've looked forward to more than Siege of Rage and Ruin, the third book in Django Wexler's "Wells of Sorcery" series.  This dark YA Fantasy series began two years ago with Ship of Smoke and Steel (Reviewed Here) and continued last year with City of Stone and Silence (Reviewed Here).  And when I say Dark, I mean there's some dark shit here - our heroine from book 1, Isoka begins that book by murdering one of her allies (and a lover) to stop him from selling her out and our other protagonist, her sister Tori in book 2, possesses the power of mind control and does a lot of dark shit with it.  But it's not pointless darkness, but instead one that's used to deal with interesting themes of power, leadership, and trying to do the right thing for oneself and perhaps for others, and how far is too far to go to ever be redeemable.  And book 2 was just tremendous on that score, as it introduced and really dealt with our second protagonist, Tori.  

Siege of Rage and Ruin isn't quite as good - it has to try to wrap things up, and I think it can't quite go where it probably should in terms of the ultimate fates of Tori and Isoka, two teenage girls with incredible powers who have done some pretty unforgivable things.  It also kind of cheats a bit by introducing a plot element that allows for an ending that wraps things up a bit too nicely.  And yet, it's still a really strong conclusion to the story of two really strong protagonists, complete with some really great action scenes, and is short enough to never wear out its welcome.  There could've been a lot more here, but I still really enjoyed this series and would be interested to see more in this world if Wexler ever wants to go there.  

Spoilers for Books 1 and 2 are inevitable.   -----------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
Isoka has seemingly done the impossible, gained control of the Ghost Ship Soliton and taken it back to Kahnzoka, where the Empire's most powerful man Kuon Naga waits to accept it in return for not harming her sister Tori.  But Isoka knows not to rust Kuon Naga to hold to the bargain, and is not going to turn the ship over blindly....especially when she only has limited control of its powerful Angels through her power of Eddica, the Well of Spirits.  

But a lot has happened since Isoka was away, and her sister Tori has not been idle - instead of enjoying the privileged life that Isoka fought to give her, Tori has been using her secret power of the Well of Mind, Kindre, to help an underground movement to heal and help common born mage-bloods who would otherwise be killed or conscripted by the Empire.  And those activities turned the 14 year old Tori into first a rebel and then the leader of a band of revolutionaries - in whose name Tori has done the monstrous and unthinkable with her power, warping others minds and getting innocents killed, all in the name of fighting back against an oppressive power.  

Isoka might want to get Tori out of the city and to go, but to Tori, she's the leader now of a group of revolutionaries who seem bound to fail....but whom she can't leave given all the horrible acts she has committed for their cause.  And so when the sisters unite, they will have to realize how far the two of them have come, and find a way to move forward when all possible paths seem to lead to their utter destruction......
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Over the course of our first two books, our two heroines - Isoka and Tori - have changed quite a bit.  Isoka began the series as a ruthless mob enforcer with her Melos power (she can create energy shields and blades), willing to do whatever it took to survive and ensure her sister's good living...and learned on Soliton to bear her soul and love someone else, in the princess Meroe.  She also then wound up in charge of a whole ship, and then a small group of friends, even though she never wanted to be a leader, simply because there was no one else.  Tori meanwhile was driven by guilt to try to help the underground in the poorer wards of the city that Isoka had fought so hard to get her out of.  But as she saw how bad it was the poor and other mage-born, who didn't have a sister like Isoka to fight for them, she found she couldn't sit by and do nothing, or accept slow governmental reforms like her noble love interest wanted, and found that she had to do something....even if that something involved monstrous use of her power to harm innocent people. 

And so while Isoka began the series as a monster and morphed into a capable leader that she never wanted to be, doing good for a group of others, Tori began the series as an innocent who was forced to become a monster in order to become a leader for a group of others.  And so it's difficult for the two of them when they reunite, especially as Tori always hid these feelings and her power from Isoka so as not to ruin Isoka's happiness.  Tori cannot abandon the people she's destroyed her own goodness for, a people who aren't the people Isoka has spent the last few months saving and thus cannot care as much for them as her own sister.  But to save Tori, Isoka will have to help these people....

But the cause seems impossible - because even with her mind controlling power, Tori and her Red Sash rebels cannot match up against the Immortals, Kuon Naga's mage elites, to say nothing of the Empire's own magic-wielding legions.  And so for both Tori and Isoka, they both struggle with the question: if the fight for justice is seemingly impossible, is it worth still trying?  For Tori, that answer is yes, because otherwise what would her actions be for?  Even when Tori gets a moment where it seems she could turn her back on that and have a comfortable life with the noble boy who loves her (and who she would be happy to fuck)...she just can't bring herself to ever do that.  For Isoka, it seems like the answer should be no, because even as she developed to being a leader, survival was everything....but for her to act on that would destroy her relationship with Tori, which is all she came back for.  

It's a great conflict, and the action scenes are strong, and the themes - the burden of power, the use of monstrous powers to try and do good, and the pointlessness of an impossible cause - work pretty well.  Other themes however, themes of Empire and the choice of doing nothing vs the choice of doing something and whether there is any way for our protagonists to be redeemed after all they've done....are less well done.  The book essentially adds a new character who exists here solely to allow for our protagonists to escape with a happy-esque ending, with the potential for a better future at the end of it all.  It's an okay ending, but honestly after all that's done, it doesn't really feel earned or deserved....Tori did some monstrous things and while her living isn't a problem, she's never really judged at all for her actions, which is kind of an issue.  

In short, it does seem perhaps Wexler dug himself into a corner he wasn't really willing to write to its natural dark conclusion, but the result is still a solid conclusion to the series, especially with its two lead characters.  There's also still some interesting stuff that could be done with this universe going forward, and with Wexler's excellent character work, if he wants to return to it, I'll be back.  

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