Butterfly Effects, by Seanan McGuire
At this point it is pretty well established that I’m all in on Seanan McGuire’s various novels and series and I’ve been a fan of Incryptid from the start, which is something I bring up because McGuire has been cooking with Antimony truly saving the world, Alice getting Thomas back, and on the various journeys across worlds / dimensions with Sarah Zellaby - but this third Sarah novel just didn’t quite land for me.
This is to say that even when I’m not fully invested in one of McGuire’s books I’m still having a good time and she’s a smooth writer with a distinct style, and all of the verbal tics she uses in how any of the characters express themselves is on full display - so if you’re down with how Seanan McGuire writes you’ll be on board with Butterfly Effects.
Where I faltered is in this continued telling of Sarah’s story. This will make absolutely no sense for anyone who isn’t already familiar with Incryptid, but Sarah Zellaby is basically a telepathic wasp in human form. Her species is known as a cuckoo, or more properly a Johrlac. While many magical / mystical creatures are native to Earth, the Johrlac are from the planet Johrlar, which is somewhere out there, it’s not important, but the cuckoos can be incredibly destructive to a planet - but it turns out that the cuckoos of Earth are not “true” Johrlac, they are outcasts and the Johrlac have been shutting down and eliminating any that become too powerful or commit “crimes”.
Well, in a previous novel Sarah did reach the ultimate power level of a Johrlac and in doing so (and in saving the world) ending up committing a murder (per the Johrlac) so the true Johrlac came to earth and kidnapped / arrested Sarah back to their planet to put her on a sham trial and execute her.
That’s a lot of background to describe what’s going on here, but the end result was a rescue adventure of a motley bunch of Prices (including Alice, Thomas, Antimony, and others) that *should* have been a heck of a romp but somehow isn’t as remotely satisfying as I had hoped. Butterfly Effects is weirdly tedious while mixed with that style of Seanan McGuire’s which I otherwise appreciate and enjoy.
I’ll be looking for the next Incryptid novel and wondering where McGuire brings the story (presumably back to the issues with the Covenant), but for me, Butterfly Effects is one of the weaker entries in the series.
Sub-Majer’s Challenge, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr
This is a somewhat mis-titled book because it’s not very long into the story when Alyiakal is promoted to Majer, which isn’t so much of an important point as it is something that bothered me for much of Sub-Majer’s Challenge. It is also happily the only thing that bothered me about Sub-Majer’s Challenge - which is probably not a surprise to anyone who has paid attention to my reviews of Modesitt’s Recluce novels. I’ve often described Modesitt’s fiction as comfort food, and that’s an image I keep returning to because it just feels so right - there is something about these books that give me exactly what I am looking for - which is, ultimately a world to luxuriate and live in through the gradual trials of its protagonists.
Sub-Majer’s Challenge is the 26th book in the Saga of Recluce and the third of the Alyiakal sub series. With his promotion to Majer, Alyiakal is assigned back to Pemedra, this time as post Commander. Pemedra is another combat posting. It is mentioned multiple times in the Alyiakal books that the most competent officers who are perhaps also too rigidly moral spend their careers in combat postings because either they accomplish the empire’s aims or they are killed. Neither result is preferable to the other. Obviously Alyiakal thrives and succeeds.
That’s what we get in Sub-Majer’s Challenge - another combat posting, rising through the ranks, and succeeding in the most impossible ways that he simply cannot be denied. Through it all, we follow Alyiakal through his day to day life, the challenges of ethical leadership, his relationship with the trader Saelora, and eventually his further rise and promotion to an entirely new sphere of political influence and the risks inherent.
While readers can start almost anywhere in the Recluce saga, the third in a character arc is perhaps not the best spot. The Alyiakal novels are quite good, so begin with From the Forest and continue through there. The last novel in the arc, Last of the First, will publish this summer.
PUBLISHED BY: Joe Sherry - Senior Editor of Nerds of a Feather. Hugo and Ignyte Winner. Minnesotan.
