Arcanum

For my first ever review, I’ve chosen Arcanum, a book I’ve recently finished.  Arcanum is written by Simon Morden, a science-fiction/fantasy author, and was published recently at the time of writing this review.

Arcanum is set in an alternate history, taking place roughly in the 1,400’s in country known as Carinthia, located just north of the Alps.  There most major difference in Morden’s world is the existent and wide-spread use of magic, a tool that allowed Alaric the Goth to sack Rome in 410 AD, spelling the end of the Roman Empire and the beginning of several countries non-existent in the real world.  Carinthia is one such country, and houses some of the strongest sorcerers of the surrounding countries.

The existence of magic has greatly influenced Carinthia’s technology; plows, carts, lights, and plumbing are all powered by magic, and Carinthia’s past battles consisted of 5 or 6 of their ‘hexmasters’ turning an enemy army into molten slag.  Carinthia’s prince does little more than collect taxes, half of which go to the hexmasters, a group that no one seems to know much about.  Surrounding countries are too terrified of the hexmasters to attack, and the presence of so much magic makes life fairly easy for the Carinthians.

This peaceful state of affairs changes rather rapidly, as the magic of the entire world begins to fail.  The Carinthians, formerly so reliant on magic for not only protection but their very way of life, find themselves being forced to adapt to the a world where magic doesn’t exist, and Carinthia has many enemies who would be more than happy to capitalise on their current powerlessness.

The novel itself is told from several different viewpoints, and each the characters is diverse in a realistic fashion.  Among the cast includes a sorceress, a huntmaster, a librarian, a Jewish woman, and several others.  Of these, I found the huntmaster Peter Büber to be the most interesting.  Tasked with tracking magical beasts throughout Carinthia, Büber has lived a hard life and shows it.  Missing multiple fingers and with dozens of scars across his face, chest, and arms, Büber still honors the oath he swore to serve the Carinthian prince.  At times a reluctant hero, at others so heroic to the point of being foolhardy, I still found Büber to be a consistent character; the choices he makes are set on his own principles, and he sticks to them.  If I have one complaint that extends not just to Peter Büber but also to the other characters, it’s that I find them to be a touch too predictable.  Each character seemingly undergoes character growth, but this never seems to leave a lasting impact.  While fairly deep and interesting, the characters seemed largely static to me, set in their ways and not likely to change.

The world Simon Morden creates is fascinating; as I mentioned, it is an alternate history where the barbarians Rome intended to conquer had access to magic, and destroyed Rome.  With this as his starting point, Morden has created a very realistic world, one where magic blends into the general populace in a believable fashion and where each country and location within the novel has a story all its own, often just barely touched on.  The most fascinating part of the novel in my opinion was watching this world change as the magic it relied upon was violently torn away from it, leaving it woefully unprepared to handle tasks that were formerly simple to accomplish.

Morden’s writing style is detailed, but not to the point where it is distracting.  The reader is told just enough to be able to form a mental picture all their own, which allows the story to flow easier than getting bogged down in dozens of adjectives.  For a novel of the sci-fi/fantasy genre, Arcanum is light on the violence; it has its moments, and the latter half of the book has scenes that are equal parts horrifying and awesome, but the emphasis of the novel is very clearly placed on the struggles of Carinthia as it tries to adapt to a magic-less society, rather than on witnessing a fighting spectacle.

I would suggest Arcanum to fans of medieval fantasy, specifically those looking for an engaging book that takes an accepted facet of many books of its genre and uses its sudden absence as a major plot point.  It’s a fascinating book, creating an interesting world for the reader and a story that is reasonably unique, and it manages to explore serious questions alongside the occasional action sequence or subtle joke.  I found the book thoroughly entertaining.