theguardian - 5 days ago

The Devils by Joe Aberc The Incandescent by Emily T Land of Hope by Cate B A Line You Have Traced by Roisin DunnettThe Devils by Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz, £25)
Bookish Brother Diaz is stunned to be made vicar of the Chapel of Holy Expediency, whose congregation – a necromancer, a vampire, a werewolf, and an elf – are tasked with escorting a claimant to the imperial throne to her coronation. This is Suicide Squad in a sideways medieval Europe, where instead of the son of god we have a daughter, instead of a cross, a wheel, and instead of Byzantium, Troy. The worldbuilding is one of the novel’s chief pleasures, combining the familiar – crusades, religious schisms and territorial disputes – with strange and alien elements, such as the lost empire of Carthage, which built most of the world’s major cities before succumbing to its own dark magic. Against this backdrop, the sardonic crew of the Chapel make their way through a series of elaborate, violent set-pieces, barely escaping with their lives while causing mass death and property damage, and quipping relentlessly. This is enjoyable, particularly as we get to know characters such as Vigga, a happy-go-lucky Viking werewolf, and Sunny, a supposedly soulless elf who is the novel’s most ethical character. Eventually, however, it becomes repetitive, and the book’s sequel-bait ending is not entirely enticing.The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Orbit, £20)
Turning the magical school story genre on its head, Tesh’s follow-up to the Hugo-winning Some Desperate Glory focuses not on precocious teenagers but on their teacher. Saffy Walden is director of magic at the prestigious Chetswood boarding school. When her A-level invocation class accidentally call up a demon much more dangerous than they can handle, Saffy must rise to the school’s defence, while also juggling budget meetings, difficult colleagues and a board who want to blame the whole mess on a talented scholarship student. Tesh is doing a lot of things with this novel. It is first and foremost a love letter to teachers, repeatedly making the point that their work is not only hard, but multifaceted and cr but it is also a meditation on the pleasures of growing up – past the age where, most school stories tell us, all of life’s adventures happen, but which the novel insists is where the joyful work of becoming yourself can actually begin. And it’s a sharp indictment of the fact that a truly top-notch education remains accessible only to a privileged few. The result is a clever twist on a familiar fantasy story, starring a winning, flawed, undeniably grown-up heroine. Continue reading...

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