That reaction probably isn’t a great surprise to most of you, who know I’ve been a fan of Mark’s work for quite a while now. But I want to emphasise it again, for those of you nodding along and saying “Yeah but you like everything he writes”. Yes. Yes I do. It’s intelligently written, with complex characterisation which builds complicated, human characters out of hardship, friendship, and the occasional bout of violence. It’s written with an eye to a world which makes sense, which is rich in detail, which has a history that we’d love to see mor e of, even as we soak up the grandeur, strangeness and similarities unrolling in front of us. And it has stories that make you want to keep reading. That last one, perhaps most of all. It blends together characters and world and story into a delightful narrative gumbo, one which it’s impossible to stop eating. I mean reading.
And all of those traits are on display here. Yes. But this one is a stunner, even by the usual high standard for Lawrence’s work. My initial review was just a line that said “I was up until one-thirty in the morning reading this, and I have no regrets”. That is still very true. And I have every expectation that if you’ve come along on the journey of Yaz and her friends, as they trudged through endless ice, through the subterranean husks of haunted worlds, and through the under currents of their own understanding…well, then you won’t have any regrets reading this, either.
I will make one caveat: this is the final book in a trilogy. There is a summary of the previous two books at the front, so if you haven’t read the first two in a while, that’ll brush up your memory. And if you haven’t read either of them, you could probably use that summary to come in and not be entirely lost. But really, if you’re new to the series, go back to the start, you won’t regret it.
Which is a whole lot of words just to say, this is a book that anyone invested in Yaz’s story, and the world of Abeth, should read. But you should. Go get a copy!
I don’t want to mine too deep, for fear of spoilers, but let’s talk a little bit about Abeth. It’s a world we’ve seen before (in the Red Sister series), but mostly the nicer, sunny bits, filled with politics, magic and murder. And then we’ve had The Book of the Ice, which has been filled with a lot of, well, if we’re honest, ice. And also some magic, and, yes, sometimes a murder. But we’ve seen characters moved out of their element, seen them adapt, work together, understand each other, and push forward together. Here, they’re doing something a little different - stepping into a climate that isn’t trying to kill them, and into a society which operates by different rules, and may well, in fact, try to kill them. The sense of personal connection and social disconnection is done beautifully, as our intrepid band rapidly find themselves out of their depth. They have each other to rely on, but they don’t know the rules, and they don’t know how to survive in a world which isn’t bounded by the necessity of subsistence survival. From a characterisation point of view, this is beautifully done - watching new bonds form, watching each of Yaz’s friends, and Yaz herself, struggle with the idea of abundance, in even a transient sense. Watching them try to understand what it is that drives people with so much to do some pretty awful things. And it also says to the reader, I think, that these strangers in a strange land, they’re not stupid, or bad, or wrong in their strangeness, they just operate in a different context. Something we could all stand to think about in our own lives, perhaps.
It’s great to see Yaz taking the lead here, a woman who has really been growing into herself. Deciding who she is and what she actually wants has always been a struggle, and we’ve seen that before in the fragments of “devils” that she’s encountered, broken pieces of their former selves. But Yaz is taking hold of parts of herself and examining them, holding onto them, making her sense of self something she shapes, something not defined by the expectations of those around her. That’s a powerful message, and one that will resonate strongly with a lot of readers. And, to be fair to Yaz, she does this while also kicking some serious butt, getting an understanding of her own emotional vulnerabilities, planning to save the world, and making new friends. Basically, Yaz is awesome. And she’s backed by an amazing supporting cast, from nefarious unspeakable ancient evils, right through to the mechanised spirit of a teenage ancestor, and out the other side to familiar faces from the ice plains. And she’s going to meet more than a few new friends and enemies in this story, too (and there’s some connections into Lawrence’s other work, if you’re paying attention).
Anyway, I’ve gone on long enough.
Yaz is great, a protagonist with a fascinating perspective, and with energy and resilience that makes her a pleasure to follow along with. Her fellow cast add excellent flavour to the stew - as does Abeth itself, a rich world with a diverse, multi-layered history which I’d love to explore further. And the story, as I said way back at the start of this review, was one that kept me up until waaaaay too late. It kept me turning pages, and it’ll do the same for you.
So we’re back to the top, and the big question is, should you read this? Yes, yes you should. As fast as you can!
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