The Bodhisattva

So there they were. Surrounded and beat down, almost completely diminished, yet not quite finished. We were savoring this. After years of repetition; after seeing the formula so many times it became ingrained into our consciousness that actually caused most of our brothers and sisters to succumb to it in acceptance instead of being with us laying in the kicks, grinding into dust all but one – we were having fun. Some were kicking, some were biting, others were dropping Dusty’s, and I even saw a couple people break out there Hugo’s and hugo-whip them in a manner would make the most bellicose Gun Kaya sensei proud. Nobody stopped us; it was time for a change, and invigorated by the notoriety being received with the rise of China, and all armed with our mandate and like english assassins with our final programe for a purpose we likened to having a cure for cancer, we were implementing our dangerous visions with promises to leave no signs of life. We felt righteous, and in truth I still think we proceeded with the best of intentions in mind. We loved fantasy; and they were turning the fantastic into a non-fluid brand, like a broken record playing continuously their foul wishsong. We were tired of walking through the same land with a different name, we were tired of plots being reduced to instances of deus ex machina easily brought on by the snap of a uber wizard’s fingertips or a god’s whim; we were sick of multi-book tomes that recycled themes from their peers and later themselves. We were tired of preprogrammed ingredients given to factory line-like “writers”. I try to remember when I lost it - my own loyalty sworn to the cause - and it was the coming of the fifth sorceress.

…we were handing out cigars – very pleased with ourselves - some choice brands I think from perhaps Viriconium, or was it Ashamoil? The descendant of the wen on the arse were finished – not physically, but detached from ourselves, and we left the only still surviving one, in fact what was the remnant of our childhood nostalgia beaten down — by no small portion motivated by a growing arrogance — in the gutter to die on the corner of mainstream and slush; Then the strangest thing happened… I swear to Peake, the last one had dragged himself up; one that I didn’t recognize and he laughed; and told us to go fuck ourselves, eh — and told me that I would be back.

And I was….

He held nothing back, he was going to write planned 10 book sequence, with not only uber/overpowered characters, but a world full of them, and that doesn’t even include the Gods, which there are a myriad, both new and elder, and everything in between, some seemingly even more affluent and absurd in ability. He was going to have characters with weapons that have the pretentious quality of having names, and unending armies in constant battles that we mockingly call campaigns, and he was going to undertake the most extravagant and later prove to be the most expansive world building effort epic fantasy had ever seen, he was going to have a Elric clone (and even gave him Stormbringer to boot) and he was only going to be one of 100’s of super beings around every corner, he was going to make them fight – continuously, through 1000 page tomes. Those that thought this was Robert Jordan announcing a new series simply died instantly – and with good reasoning – unable to take the thought of more multi-million dollar marketed bullshit. To put the nail in the coffin, and not to be undone, he even told us he was going to make it a semi shared-world, when we all know there hasn’t been a worthwhile shared-world in over 20 years, with the first incarnation of Thieves World. Not only that, the installment written by the other author was actually decent, even though he felt it necessary to offer asinine comments about an author who is much more accomplished (both critically and commercially) at his craft than he is, and has been for 30 years — most likely ever will be — while trying to make flippant remarks about a series he couldn’t even name right in interview. So here it was; everything we had grown to associate with mediocrity: a high magic world, a deity system, constant war and battles by multiple beings with Kryptonian like stature. Mage duels, Dragons, a multi-book sequence of the fat-fantasy variety that was expanded for at least one installment to even be the dreaded shared world, a world that would of course focus around …an Empire….

And I loved it…

Steven Erikson told us all to fuck ourselves, and accomplished something even more admirable (if not grander) than introducing us — with each installment — to new ideas, and with unimagined creativity around every corner. No, there is no Lovecraftian madcap imagination and baroque style of Mieville, and no it isn’t as creatively inventive and assured like a VanderMeer mosaic, nor do the words seem as effortless and seamless in its weave that we come to both expect and marvel from Jeffrey Ford or a Lucius Shepard, and no he doesn’t play with streams of consciousness like Gene Wolfe, and no he isn’t matching the stylistic beauty that a Catherynne M. Valente achieves with each turn of phrase – instead Erikson did something that makes so much sense it’s easy to see why it took so long for U.S. publishing rights to be garnered — instead of making us forsake what we had been reading completely; our legitimate blame overextending to the innocent elements that should have only been directed at the authors haphazardly applying them, turning elements into clichés, then into tired clichés — he gave us what we had been asking for. How crazy of an idea is that? Much like how Matthew Stover proved with Blade of Tyshalle, and Gary Wassner with his ongoing Gem Quest, and Michael Swanwick with his Iron Dragon’s Daugther that not all contemporary books with Elves in it has to be exclusively directed and marketed (even if it is in self-denial without the accompanying proper YA tag that would to any discernible reader seem logical and apt) to children – Erikson has showed me the error of some of my own past broad comments by becoming a blasted exception!

Didn’t I just talk about epic fantasy in my review of Bakker’s The Darkness that comes Before? Yes, but this isn’t about epic fantasy entirely, which isn’t or wasn’t completely dead due to people like Bakker, Kay, Martin, Mckillip, (and Erikson) etc this is about a sub-genre that really is dead. Sword/Sorcery for all intents and purposes has been dead for decades; not in practice but in relevant application. Gone is the legacy of Howard, Leiber, C.L. Moore, L. Sprague de Camp, Burroughs, Karl Edward Wagner, and some examples of Clark Ashton Smith’s work – the only living master practioneer of the craft remaining, being Michael Moorcock. Make no mistake, these are legends who produced work on a level that rivals anyone then or otherwise, and although their legacy may still be most applicable and even far reaching in other forms and authors not practicing sword/sorcery specifically. Thus, the death of Sword/Sorcery served a purpose; as it grew it fueled and evolved into influences that we can see in works by say someone like a Stover, and indeed I believe Erikson, who no doubt is categorized as an epic fantasy author, however, I see a work that was just brimming with the lost legacy and promise of Sword & Sorcery of the past. If you close your eyes it could be Elric who rules Moon’s Spawn, floating above a myriad of Caines, Mousers, Kulls, Conans, Jirils, Fafhrds, Solomon Kanes, John Carters, Sonyas, Dark Agnes de la Feres, Elaks, Harold Sheas, and Bran Mak Morn inhabiting a setting that’s nothing less than a world-building achievement; a world populated with eternal champions. Erikson has taken the gambit, and used the obvious influences from past masters of fantastic fiction that have as of late been chiefly relegated to being listed as influences in at times solid, but for the most part uninspiring efforts, with the limited canvas favored by authors like a David Gemmell or rubbish like Dragonlance, and has made something altogether new and exciting. A world where the mortals stick it to Ascendants and Gods who meddle in their affairs, a world crawling with at burglars, assassins, Ascendants, munitions experts, engineers, historians, seers, Empresses, priests, high mages, squad mages, shape changers, mortals possessed by deities warlords, where there are beings who walk the land that not merely can, but HAVE destroyed civilizations, soul shifters, hammers that stir the slumber of gods, necromancy, demons, a chained god - only this one is not even from this world - an alien god, in a setting where each deity rules his own realm, and a world that has a sword that can imprison the very god who crafted it within in it; a world that has a timely shipping service that it would make Marty Mcfly’s heads spin; and a world where a flying moon fortress full of some brothers that just love to kick the shit out of people, just one of a multitude of races both mortal and not; in the middle of it all, a legendary company of soldiers who just get it done - first in, last out.

You miss enjoying larger than life Sword & Sorcery characters, but fear the element is not possible in today’s fantasy or has died altogether? Or maybe no author is applying what made Sword & Sorcery great in the past in a manner fitting your more evolved tastes? Give Erikson a try and see how even the ideas of legends can be expanded upon into something altogether new but still bears that unmistakable magic that drew us to lands like Newhon, Barsoom, and Cimmeria, as Steven Erikson turns back the clock while taking us a step forward.

I’m loving this series.

Tags: books, book reviews