Book Review: Broken Quill by Joe Ducie

“Broken Quill” is longer and more epic than its predecessor. There’s a car chase. In Perth, Austrailia, a series of atrocities circles around Declan Hale, the Immortal King and Shadowless Arbiter. Declan is being stalked by an unfathomable and seeming unbeatable foe while across True Earth, the Knights Infernal retreat to Ascension City, leaving the world unprotected. After a harrowing battle with Emissary, the one responsible for brutal murders around Perth, Declan leaves Earth to have his questions answered. Sophie and Ethan return from “Distant Star” and Detective Annie Brie joins him on his journey across the literary worlds. From here onwards, it’s epic madness, majestic landscapes, and devastating battles.

Two books in and if there ever was a more apt theme to assign to this series it would be that while our regrets may be inescapable, still we soldier on, and mayhaps find redemption along the road. Declan’s guilt seems to weigh heavily on him, so much so that his finest ability is his invulnerable liver. But the true arc of our protagonist is his emotional and mental shift from reactive guilt to walking on the perpetual road to redemption.

As usual, Ducie illustrates otherworldly landscapes with a masterful hand. He lends his descriptive powers to a slew of colourful worlds, strange characters, and vividly depicted scenes. We glimpse a little of Hale’s past in “Broken Quill”, from his time as a commander during the Tome Wars. The scene reminded me a little of Star Trek, maybe Firefly. These flashback scenes are a treat to watch and spliced within the present narrative gives a juxtaposing weight to the story, compelling readers to compare Declan’s situation now with the glory of his past. It accentuates his regrets and guilt and gives us a deeper insight to his nature.

Ducie teases us with Annie Brie’s character. She’s an anomaly, an enigma. She shares Ethan’s role in serving as the reader stand-in for exposition and questions, but she is more significant than that, but in what ways we don’t know. As a character, Annie is well-crafted. She is sweet and bold, brave and daring. She is an excellent companion for Declan, the Amy Pond to his waistcoat-wearing Doctor. They have chemistry and balance. Her innocence and wonder are foils to Declan’s deepened cynicism and experience. Whether their relationship remains platonic is up in the air. Ducie gives evidence for either direction.

Whether intended by the author or not, I think on a deeper level, The Reminiscent Exile serves as a poignant metaphor for the metafictional, self-reflexive, and intertextual nature of pop culture in general, and popular literature in particular. Like the breadth of popular culture, “Distant Star”, and more so “Broken Quill”, permits a host of self-referencing remarks for the reader to catch and literary allusions to its intertextual predecessors. The notion that Declan and his friends can pull out aspects from books is a clever reference to real-life authors borrowing genre conventions and concepts from other authors. But dig deeper and it gets more complex. The characters take their own reality and shine a light on it, forcing us readers to question our presumptions about Declan’s multiverse and the essence of reality. Take, for example, a conversation Annie Brie has with the protagonist. She remarks that this “feels as if we’re in a storybook ourselves.” This metafic snippet made me a little giddy inside. I had a déjà vu moment, reminding me of the time Roland Deschain and the ka-tet learnt they were characters in a Stephen King series. I almost expected Ducie’s characters to learn they were written in a blaze of scotch- fuelled madness.

The conflict and drama in “Broken Quill” open up the mythology and universe to the reader. Threads started in “Distant Star” ascend to the fore in this second novel and set the way for future stories and future battles. In hindsight, “Distant Star” feels like an extended prologue placing characters into position and setting the field for battle. “Broken Quill”, therefore, is the opening salvo of an inevitable war that has been long in the making.

Book Review: Distant Star by Joe Ducie

Joe Ducie’s Distant Star reads a little bit like a Harry Dresden novel, but the comparison lacks. Distant Star is grittier, flourishing, and a touch alcoholic. The imagery is evocative of King’s Dark Tower series. The story revolves around Declan Hale, a Knight Infernal, who is exiled from Ascension City to True Earth for his horrendous, albeit necessary, crimes during the Tome War. After his exile, Declan opens a bookshop in Perth, Australia, and lives his days in relative peace until that calm is broken by a calling card from the future, one that drives him back to old habits and Ascension City, where tensions run high and war is imminent.

Declan’s world –a multiverse, really– contains individuals that possess Will (magic). Some of those with Will write stories that because of the Story Thread become separate worlds, places that other people with Will, like the Knights and Renegades, can walk in and out of. While the setting and atmosphere denote a contemporary urban fantasy, there is an element of the mythical from fabled Atlantis to universes spinning in the void. The story starts off within the urban sphere and shifts towards the otherworldly as Declan slides down the gradient from archetypal reluctance to proactive heroics. Declan is a powerful hero and he justifiably intimidates friends and foes alike, but he is not a deus ex machina that is undefeatable, indefatigable, and all-powerful. It’s not like he can’t die.

The character himself is intriguing. Declan is like the Doctor, Dresden, and two fingers of scotch. He is the quintessential war-wearied and reminiscent exile. The inner monologues are insightful and often poetic; they explore his humanity and sanity, his unyielding arrogance and quest for redemption, the greater reaches of a universe that he is on the fringes of, and the complex machinations of the people around him. Undoubtedly, Declan Hale is the most fully-fleshed out character, and through his eyes, we get a glimpse of his lost love, Tal Levy. That’s the other thing about Distant Star: it’s not just a fantasy adventure. This is, at its heart, a love story. Ethan is the reader stand-in through who Declan exposits the nature of their abilities and some background history. Sophie, Tal’s sister, made no particularly strong impression on me. Nor did King Morpheus Renegade. Marcus’ unbending sense of right and wrong over notions of loyalty make him one to watch out for. Perhaps it’s just because I like villains and bad girls because the other two characters to strike a chord were Jon Faraday and the Immortal Queen. The former is not evil per se, but he has consolidated his hold on power, a hold that is threatened by our exiled protagonist. The impression Faraday makes is that however misguided his intentions, however ruthless his actions, he does it for the greater good. With the Immortal Queen, however, all bets are off. She could just be a cutthroat, evil bitch. As King Morpheus’ wife, her intent and purpose among the Renegades are in question, along with everything else we know about her.

 

Ducie’s writing is concise and vivid, sensational for certain, depthful in its brevity. His tone affects melancholy, a sharp juxtaposition to the gold Australian setting. The places he visits, that he dares to show us, are portrayed with all the trappings of truly opulent grandeur. It’s hard not to get hooked on this book. Its largest flaw is that it didn’t last as long as Martin’s A Storm of Swords.

The novel plays the conventions of fantasy really well, and references a huge sweep of literature and pop culture. There are allusions to Harry Potter (this is magic, how could there not be?), Tolkien, mythology, Holmes. Fittingly so, considering this is a book about books. I even got a hint of Doctor Who about the Tome War, which remind me so poignantly of the legendary Last Great Time War that the Doctor, like Declan Hale, played a central role in ending by committing a terrible act. That being said, Distant Star is unique from all those works, swapping concepts and crafting a story worthy of attention.

Day 34: Distant Star by Joe Ducie

Ducie’s work is a cocktail mix of the best elements of fantasy, both classic and contemporary. A debut author, Joe Ducie, concocts his merry story like a bartender would mix me my tequila and pineapple juice: fast, sweet, sexy, and strong. Both the descriptive factors and the characters taste familiarly of the Dark Tower and the Dresden Files. This is a tale of love lost, redemption unfound, the schemes men make for power, and the remaking and unmaking of worlds. It’s a descent into madness and chaos, and it’s a helluva ride.