2018 Lovecraftian SF, second in the series. Aphra Marsh is in New
York, trying to track down any relatives who might have survived the
Innsmouth Raid. But other forces are at play.
The series continues to do an excellent job of building a world
in which Lovecraft's stories are broadly true, but filtered through
his parochial perceptions. The major new player in this volume is the
Outer Ones, also known as the Mi-Go or the Fungi from Yuggoth. And
naturally, given the tenor of these books, they aren't the simplistic
monsters that one might expect.
Indeed, not only do they have factions – with the nature of their
disagreement perhaps a little disappointingly comprehensible – but
even their method of resolving disagreement is distinctly alien.
They're another triumph.
This isn't a great place to start the series, though; if you can't
readily call to mind who Deedee or Audrey is, you'll be somewhat lost.
Even though I read the first volume last year, I could probably have
done with a refresher.
There is plot going on here, though it's sometimes a little thin; the
book is much more about the characters, their errors, and how they
recover from them – or don't. There's far more moral complexity here
than in the previous book. And that perhaps makes it less of an easy
read, as well as less something that I rave about to everyone I know;
it's quieter, and more subtle, and hits you over the back of the head
with a club that seems disturbingly warm and redolent of… was that
sandalwood?
Oddly enough, the main thing that threw me out of immersion was the
use of the word "petrichor", the scent of earth after rain; I happen
to know it was coined in 1964, and really shouldn't be available for
casual use by someone in 1949. Bad beta-readers/editor, no biscuit.
If you liked the first book and want more of Emrys' writing,
definitely continue. If you want more of the same, perhaps not;
there's certainly a change of tone here, and while this is a fine book
it's not the same. No third volume been announced ("My next book after
Deep Roots will be in a different setting – but I'm happy to write
as many Aphra books as my publisher will buy!"), but I hope there will
be one.
Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.