Fantasy Novella Review: The Seventh Perfection by Daniel Polansky

 



The Seventh Perfection by Daniel Polansky

The Seventh Perfection is a fantasy novella that is told from an interesting perspective - the story is told near-entirely in a way that gives the reader only one side of a conversation, as the main protagonist spends the pretty much the entire story speaking to various people and attempting to get the truth behind the questions she seeks.  As such, we the reader only hear the words of those speaking to the protagonist, and never see the actions or hear the words spoken by the protagonist herself (sorta). 

Through this perspective, The Seventh Perfection attempts to explore a mystery about what truly happened during a revolution in which a new God King took power, through the sacrifice of his beloved lover/friend, as well as a mystery about who the protagonist is herself.  It's a really interesting ride up until the end, in which the story kind of falls apart, with an answer that is just not really satisfying after a reveal that makes sense but isn't particularly special.  

Some more specifics after the jump:

Quick Plot Summary:  Manet is the the God-King's Amanuensis, the slave with the perfect memory supposed to carry out his will.  But this time Manet is searching for answers on her own, answers about a strange locket, which contains the picture of a woman that Manet just knows has to be important - a woman whose identity everyone swears they don't know.  And so Manet finds herself talking to more and more strange and questionable characters to find answers, and discovers truths about the God-King's Ascension; truths about the God King's beloved Amata who sacrificed herself to destroy the old regime, truths that will make her a fugitive. 

But Manet cannot stop searching for that truth, for the answer that will change everything and provide her with meaning.....

Thoughts:  As I said above the jump, a large part of the intrigue of this story comes from how we never actually get to hear Manet's speech.  Until the second to last chapter, which serves as a major reveal, the entire story is told from the dialogue of the various people Manet seeks out, whose reactions to her paint a picture of our main character - perfect in memory, caught up entirely in her own quest to the point of abandoning those who care for her, and determined to do everything it takes to get answers.  And the dialogue paints a picture of course of the rise of a dictator/god who has stricken the truth from history, a truth about a woman who helped him rise and then had to run from him in the end.  It is well done along the journey as it paints a strong picture of this world through the dialogue of a strange cast of characters - old people with memories, younger people who found things they never understood, members of the old regime, people who are on the margins for better or ill, and those with potentially creepy magic powers...at a price.  

Unfortunately that journey doesn't end with a satisfactory end, with Manet's own reveal in that second to last chapter.  This chapter is told not in dialogue, but from a first person plural perspective of Manet's own retrospective that reveals her quest to be the result of her perfect memory causing nothing to be enough, which makes sense but is also well...it's been done before.  And then the final reveal of the God King is just kind of eh after that, not really making an impact, as it tries I guess to subvert the expectations but instead makes it so that I absolutely didn't care.  

The result is an interesting narrative device, one that kept me interested, but one also that made me underwhelmed in the end.  Ah well.