Saturday, 15 September 2018 04:29 pm
Book Review: The Innkeeper's Song
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deckardcanineI didn't think much of the film version of [i]The Last Unicorn[/i], but Peter S. Beagle is popular enough that I wanted to check out his writing directly. I thought it best to start with something else for a fresher start.
The 20-line song itself is presented immediately before the prologue. We later learn that the pseudo-medieval innkeeper in question, Karsh, didn't write it and calls it "nonsense," yet it meshes perfectly with the story that follows, except maybe a few details of the last stanza. You might say it contains spoilers, but it doesn't tell us much. Certainly none of the really important or fantastical elements. It's just carping about ill-mannered guests.
Each chapter after the prologue has a first-person narrator identified in the chapter title. It looks as though someone set out to learn the full story behind the song and wound up interviewing numerous parties involved. Funny how nobody contradicts anyone else. Sometimes a narrator even says things to imply a live audience. I consider that a bigger cause of spoilers than the song, because it indicates some of who survives to tell about it. (The Gravediggers series isn't quite like that, given the present tense leaving open the possibility of imminent death. Same goes for Sin City, IIRC.)
That said, I have to wonder about one particular narrator who seems hard-pressed to communicate with humans: a fox. (Had I known about him, I'd have picked up the book earlier.) He can assume human form in the story, but judging from his choppy grammar among other evidence, he's not in that form while narrating. We never entirely learn the fox's supernatural nature or how he came to be where he is; perhaps Beagle planned to cover that in another book.
So what's the story here? Well, it concerns an old wizard whose name is zealously guarded (you know how names can have power with magic) and who doesn't show up until the book is nearly half over. He's on death's doorstep, which isn't the problem per se. In this world, if a wizard dies under extreme stress, he returns as something nasty and nigh invincible. One of this wizard's former apprentices, known as Arshadin, is trying to make that happen so he can have a powerful pet of sorts.
In light of this, the old wizard has summoned to the inn two other former apprentices, who might be seen as the true main characters of the story, insofar as there are any: Lal, a healer whose troubled past has made her reluctant to befriend anyone; and Nyateneri, who appears to have escaped a convent but has darker secrets than that. They did not know each other before this mission. Neither is considered a magician, despite knowing a trick or two and showing legendary fighting prowess. I still don't know what exactly the wizard expected them to be able to do for him; it wasn't fighting Arshadin.
Lal brings another major woman into play, starting from the prologue: young Lukassa, who had just drowned but whose soul cried out for Lal to revive her. Apart from her pallor, the only signs that Lukassa was ever dead are her amnesia and her ability to sense things that others don't, such as a room having been a scene of death long ago. Since she's in no position to take care of herself right away, Lal takes her to the inn. Unsurprisingly, Lukassa doesn't narrate until near the end; when she does, she expresses serious deficits in her understanding of not just her identity but the passage of time, alternating among past, present, and even future tenses. I think I actually like Lukassa best, partly because she's so affectionate toward the fox.
The one who gets the bulk of my sympathy is Tikat, who had been Lukassa's sweetheart before she drowned. He has trouble accepting that she'll never remember what they had before, let alone be quite the same person again. The back cover almost implies that Tikat is the protagonist, yet he remains mostly marginal.
The other character to merit a mention in a multi-paragraph summary is Karsh's stable boy, Rosseth. Nobody knows better what a bossy grouch Karsh is, and still Rosseth recommends the inn to visitors whom he knows Karsh won't welcome. Rosseth develops crushes on Lal, Lukassa, and especially Nyateneri all at once.
And I might as well tell you now: They have a four-way. Detailed across multiple chapters. No wonder Rankin/Bass never adapted this one. To my mind, the scene is far more awkward than arousing, partly because none of the parties seems to have any free will in it. At least Rosseth is a horny teen; what's the others' excuse?
I think Beagle just wanted to write it and didn't care how poorly it fit. Indeed, there are several points unrelated to sex that left me scratching my head, wondering whether the author had thought everything through or was just throwing in whatever twist crossed his mind to sustain his own interest. Sometimes we get further explanation to make it easier to swallow; sometimes we don't.
Another question to enter my head was whether anyone gave a darn about being considerate. Apart from a few characters who don't stick around long, they all come across as jerks at least some of the time, and some of the alleged good guys do most of the time. Maybe that wouldn't bother you, but it means that despite the multiple POVs, I could never really identify with any of them for long. Heck, Karsh's narrated attempts not to look like a bad man only make him look worse.
I enjoyed a few action sequences, even tho they could be hard to picture. I did not enjoy the final resolution, even tho it turned out happier than I feared.
Overall, the most distinctive thing about the book is the format, applied to a genre that doesn't regularly involve it. Alas, The Innkeeper's Song is not what I look for in fantasy. It reinforces my perception that Beagle is too bleak and bland. Nevertheless, I may just give him another try someday.
Now I've begun something from the giveaway shelf: Writing Screenplays That Sell by Michael Hauges. Hope springs eternal?
The 20-line song itself is presented immediately before the prologue. We later learn that the pseudo-medieval innkeeper in question, Karsh, didn't write it and calls it "nonsense," yet it meshes perfectly with the story that follows, except maybe a few details of the last stanza. You might say it contains spoilers, but it doesn't tell us much. Certainly none of the really important or fantastical elements. It's just carping about ill-mannered guests.
Each chapter after the prologue has a first-person narrator identified in the chapter title. It looks as though someone set out to learn the full story behind the song and wound up interviewing numerous parties involved. Funny how nobody contradicts anyone else. Sometimes a narrator even says things to imply a live audience. I consider that a bigger cause of spoilers than the song, because it indicates some of who survives to tell about it. (The Gravediggers series isn't quite like that, given the present tense leaving open the possibility of imminent death. Same goes for Sin City, IIRC.)
That said, I have to wonder about one particular narrator who seems hard-pressed to communicate with humans: a fox. (Had I known about him, I'd have picked up the book earlier.) He can assume human form in the story, but judging from his choppy grammar among other evidence, he's not in that form while narrating. We never entirely learn the fox's supernatural nature or how he came to be where he is; perhaps Beagle planned to cover that in another book.
So what's the story here? Well, it concerns an old wizard whose name is zealously guarded (you know how names can have power with magic) and who doesn't show up until the book is nearly half over. He's on death's doorstep, which isn't the problem per se. In this world, if a wizard dies under extreme stress, he returns as something nasty and nigh invincible. One of this wizard's former apprentices, known as Arshadin, is trying to make that happen so he can have a powerful pet of sorts.
In light of this, the old wizard has summoned to the inn two other former apprentices, who might be seen as the true main characters of the story, insofar as there are any: Lal, a healer whose troubled past has made her reluctant to befriend anyone; and Nyateneri, who appears to have escaped a convent but has darker secrets than that. They did not know each other before this mission. Neither is considered a magician, despite knowing a trick or two and showing legendary fighting prowess. I still don't know what exactly the wizard expected them to be able to do for him; it wasn't fighting Arshadin.
Lal brings another major woman into play, starting from the prologue: young Lukassa, who had just drowned but whose soul cried out for Lal to revive her. Apart from her pallor, the only signs that Lukassa was ever dead are her amnesia and her ability to sense things that others don't, such as a room having been a scene of death long ago. Since she's in no position to take care of herself right away, Lal takes her to the inn. Unsurprisingly, Lukassa doesn't narrate until near the end; when she does, she expresses serious deficits in her understanding of not just her identity but the passage of time, alternating among past, present, and even future tenses. I think I actually like Lukassa best, partly because she's so affectionate toward the fox.
The one who gets the bulk of my sympathy is Tikat, who had been Lukassa's sweetheart before she drowned. He has trouble accepting that she'll never remember what they had before, let alone be quite the same person again. The back cover almost implies that Tikat is the protagonist, yet he remains mostly marginal.
The other character to merit a mention in a multi-paragraph summary is Karsh's stable boy, Rosseth. Nobody knows better what a bossy grouch Karsh is, and still Rosseth recommends the inn to visitors whom he knows Karsh won't welcome. Rosseth develops crushes on Lal, Lukassa, and especially Nyateneri all at once.
And I might as well tell you now: They have a four-way. Detailed across multiple chapters. No wonder Rankin/Bass never adapted this one. To my mind, the scene is far more awkward than arousing, partly because none of the parties seems to have any free will in it. At least Rosseth is a horny teen; what's the others' excuse?
I think Beagle just wanted to write it and didn't care how poorly it fit. Indeed, there are several points unrelated to sex that left me scratching my head, wondering whether the author had thought everything through or was just throwing in whatever twist crossed his mind to sustain his own interest. Sometimes we get further explanation to make it easier to swallow; sometimes we don't.
Another question to enter my head was whether anyone gave a darn about being considerate. Apart from a few characters who don't stick around long, they all come across as jerks at least some of the time, and some of the alleged good guys do most of the time. Maybe that wouldn't bother you, but it means that despite the multiple POVs, I could never really identify with any of them for long. Heck, Karsh's narrated attempts not to look like a bad man only make him look worse.
I enjoyed a few action sequences, even tho they could be hard to picture. I did not enjoy the final resolution, even tho it turned out happier than I feared.
Overall, the most distinctive thing about the book is the format, applied to a genre that doesn't regularly involve it. Alas, The Innkeeper's Song is not what I look for in fantasy. It reinforces my perception that Beagle is too bleak and bland. Nevertheless, I may just give him another try someday.
Now I've begun something from the giveaway shelf: Writing Screenplays That Sell by Michael Hauges. Hope springs eternal?