I unfortunately did that thing where I got super excited and thought that I had the entire arc ready to go, only I was WRONG! So I had to wait for #6.
Still, it's freaking brilliant. So, American born artist Isla heads to Glasgow to try and find out what happened to the sister who died before she was born. Instead she finds magic, monsters, old gods, new gods, and a WHOLE lotta trouble. Meet Red Thorn, ancient Scottish God, who has been chained underground for centuries. Isla is about to release him. Hence the trouble.
Slight Spoiler? Neither Isla, or originally her sister were drawn to Glasgow by accident. A secret in their blood gives them the power to change reality through their art. In high school she accidently brought to life a drawing who decided to attend her school for a whole semester. And then kill a teacher by stabbing them with a pencil 27 times. Of course. I love this reality bending power. It's both a beautiful plot point, and a great meta-narrative idea. I love me some meta. It's got some similarity to Art Ops, and to Unwritten, and lets be honest to American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Which I love. It turns out that she's not he only one either. Red Thorn has a plan to collect people with this power in order to get revenge on the guy who captured him so long ago. The thing is, he's looking to not just change his present, but also the past with Isla's power.
Some of my favourite parts? The "New Gods". Evil Old God Cadros, who slaughtered the old gods to take all the power for himself, has been, ah, inteferring with belief.
Red Thorn is a tattooed, manipulative, morally questionable, hyper-sexual, confident BASTARD. Very Glaswegian. He's a fabulous character. I love how he has plans on top of plans on top of plans. I love how far he's willing to go to get what he wants, lying, stealing, and fucking with everyone. (Let's be honest, he's working on just fucking everyone, too. Centuries of celibacy to make up for). I'm fascinated by him, I can't wait to see what he comes up with, but MAN is he trouble.
I also freaking love Tarek. Like Isla, he has the power to change reality through his drawings. Only his power is over spaces rather than people. He can actually create and change places through his art.
Making him mute is an interesting dynamic. His loss of power and agency with words, compared to his power and agency through art is great. Being so young and having been dismissed by his father because of his disability, gives him a vulnerability and makes him easily manipulated. With Isla getting a little, ah,"lost", (not spoiling that bit), I'm very worried about him.Though, I also wonder if he is going to prove to be a lot more powerful than expected.
David Baillie, I adore you. 8,5/10, and I'm betting that number goes up with Vol 2.
(btw, I've also just read a great debut urban fantasy novel set in Glasgow, this time about a half Maori, blue-haired werewolf by Maria Lewis. Read it)
No comments:
Post a Comment