Tag Archives: Roc

Breaking the Page 144 Curse: My Long-Overdue Finish of The Golem’s Eye

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When I reviewed The Amulet of Samarkand earlier this month, I mentioned that when I was first reading this series as a kid, I never made it past page 144 of The Golem’s Eye.

Well this time I’m proud to say I managed get all the way through it.

I didn’t notice anything particularly egregious on page 144 that would have caused me to put the book down. It’s during a chapter in which we are getting some of Kitty’s backstory.

Kitty is something of a perplexing character throughout The Golem’s Eye. By the time Nathaniel meets her in book one, she’s already quite competent, and something of a mystery to both the reader and Nathaniel. In The Golem’s Eye (book 2), Stroud spends a lot of time filling in the reader as to her history and goals, but keeps Nathaniel and Bartimaeus mostly in the dark about her.

As a “commoner”, Kitty does not start the book with access to magic, but when she teams up with “The Resistance”, she begins to use magical devices. Stroud has a bit of a tightrope walk here as the whole point of “The Resistance” is that they feel magicians abuse their magic powers, yet “The Resistance” will steel these magical devices and use them against magicians. The main arc of Kitty’s story is in conversation with this contradiction (hypocrisy), but it takes many flashback chapters for us to get there.

A lot of books will set two main characters apart, with the sort of unspoken promise that their stories will eventually meet. It’s no different in The Golem’s Eye, however, I would say that because Kitty is “common” at the beginning of her story, she has much further to go then Nathaniel who has already had a whole book worth of development. All that this means, is that when I was reading Kitty’s chapters, it felt like I was reading a whole other book, with whole other characters, and whole other themes. It was very hard to see throughout much of Kitty’s story, how it was even related to Nathaniel and Bartimaeus until probably the last third of the book.

But despite this sort of slow build toward the back of the book, when I finally got to the end, Kitty was the only character I actually kinda liked, or at the very least, the only character who felt heroic.

I had mentioned in my review of The Amulet of Samarkand, that I thought Nathaniel was kinda shitty. Unfortunately this book did nothing to try and change my mind about that. And Bartimaeus was not acting his best either. Booo hahah.

This sequel did succeed in expanding this magical world which Kitty, Nathaniel, and Bartimaeus must work in. Bartimaeus took on at least one new form from Islamic folklore, transforming during several scenes into a Roc (compare to Rocs seen in Fonda Lee’s Untethered Sky).

From Jewish folklore, we see — as the title suggests — a golem which wreaks havoc in London.

Of course I enjoyed lots of little references to Ancient Egypt, with the golem destroying many ancient Egyptian artifacts within The British Museum, and Kitty and “The Resistance” enacting a kind of tomb raiding scene in Westminster Abbey (apparently London’s elite wizards buried themselves with magic grave goods much like the Pharaohs). And then there was the afrit called Honorius, who goes so far as to climb a giant obelisk (Cleopatra’s Needle) in a scene that felt very reminiscent of King Kong climbing the Empire State Building.

Lastly, The Golem’s Eye provided some more evidence for my ongoing theory that cheese is funny. Here’s the line on page 401, again from Honorius:

” ‘Look at the sunset!’ it sighed, as if to itself, ‘Like blood and melted cheese.’ ” pg- 401

Not the funniest line I’ve heard but probably worth a chuckle.

Give “The Golem’s Eye” a Read?

I didn’t like this one as much as Amulet of Samarkand, mostly owing to long breaks in the main thrust of the story to catch the reader up on Kitty’s backstory, and that our other two main characters (Nathaniel and Bartimaeus) were just kinda awful the whole book.

However, there was still some awe and wonder to be had within its pages. I enjoyed seeing this series’ interpretation of Rocs and Golems, and the little references here and there to Ancient Egypt.

That’s all I have for this week! Has anyone read this one before? What were your favorite parts? Do you think it is as good as the first?

As always, please leave your thoughts in the comments section! I look forward to talking about this one!

A Short But Powerful Read: A Review of Fonda Lee’s Untethered Sky

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It can be easy, I think, to get cute when reviewing novellas. Even having read some fairly heavy/profound stories in that form (looking at you The Deep), the shorter page count always pulls me towards trivialization instead of, perhaps, proper consideration.

Romp, lark, gambol (why have I never described a book as a gambol!). A tasty morsel. A delicious snack. These are the ways it feels appropriate to describe something small — that we are enthusiastic about — even when the only thing small about something is the form.

It would be a mistake to apply any of these terms to Untethered Sky. Lee’s Green Bone Saga may have a more sprawling scope, but this dive into the perils of obsession and their consequences for relationships, is no less affective on the reader.

Though it was perhaps more muted than some of her other works, I still finished reading this one with a feeling of: Ooof.

Don’t be mistaken, it’s not my intent to drive readers away by pointing out the shades of grimdark in Ester’s (the MC’s) journey. In fact it’s just the opposite. If you’re looking for a nuanced, highly evocative story, you could do much worse than Untethered Sky.

Tight prose, worldbuilding and family drama is the currency of the realm in most stories by Fonda Lee (see Jade City and Jade War specifically), and while Untethered Sky does trade in this currency, I was excited to see other elements of story telling taking prominence.

Perhaps the most noticeable difference between this work and previous stories lies with the actual prose used to tell Ester and Zahra’s tale. I stopped many times while reading to appreciate the poetry of a line, or the sense of wonder derived from a description. Considering much of the action takes place in open grassy fields or cramped but relatively featureless wooded environs, I was quite often impressed with the author’s ability to make these seemingly blank spaces interesting and even beautiful.

We’re meant to believe that Ester considers her Roc the most beautiful and terrifying creature that exists, and while we are sometimes told this straight out, more often we are left to derive it from the language and awe with which the creatures are described. To me, there was no doubt, and that assurance rests in the thoughtful and often lyrical prose through which the birds are described.

However, I would say that even with this lyrical — almost fairytale-like — use of language, Untethered Sky still feels very grounded in ‘the real’ as compared to stories like Shannon Chakraborty’s Daevabad Series with which it shares the use of monsters like Rocs and Manticores from Arabian and Persian folklore.

I attribute this mostly to (I believe) the complete lack of magic within the story. Gods and religion are referenced briefly but even the evil manticores are shown to be living, breathing, flesh and blood animals.

Another aspect of the story which I felt showed a kind of evolution from one work to the next was the way in which relationships are handled within Untethered Sky. In the Green Bone Saga, the thrust of the story was clearly centered around loyalty to family, responsibility for past history, and the bonds that are formed or broken through shared trauma.

In Untethered Sky relationships are again paramount to the meaning of the story, however they emphasize completely different aspects of the theme. Ester’s family are either (small spoiler) dead or estranged, and her only real family are the other Rukhers living within the same camp who all prioritize their dedication to their craft above friendship, love, or intimacy. Bonds are found more than forged, and they’re found somewhat accidentally it seems.

Of course there is the bond between Rukher and Roc, which caries the primary weight of argument throughout the story. I will not delve too deeply into the ways in which this bond is pressured as I do not want to spoil too much about the story, but I will say that its use felt different than the stories I’ve read from this author in the past, and while it caused me all sorts of feelings, ultimately I was here for it.

The last thing I’ll mention was not really something I caught on my own, but something I found interesting while reading other reviews of the book, and trying to gather my thoughts about this novella. Emily over at EmilyRandolphEpstein.com wrote in her Book Recommendation: Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee post that she felt many of the characters within this story had autistic traits which were able to “. . . thrive within the very regimented lifestyle required of the Royal Mews.” and that “. . . none of these potentially autistic-coded characters came across as a stereotype.”

Something similar was noted a little while ago in The Mimicking of Known Successes. Perhaps there are already heaps of stories which feature this kind of representation and I’m only now noticing, or perhaps its a trend we’re beginning to discover. Either way, it seemed a thing worth noting for any seeking out that kind of representation in the stories they’re reading and just generally another positive thing in an already fantastic novella.

Give This One A Read?

Absolutely! Though it’s not necessarily a easy read, there is a great deal to discover within its relatively few pages. As it fits into the cannon of Fonda Lee’s other works, I would say Untethered Sky was a welcome departure from previous modes, and an interesting evolution of the skills and craft we’ve come to expect from this author.

That’s all I have for this week! Let me know your thoughts in the comments. I’m excited to talk about this one!