The Dharkan
book review
this is the second book in the Timelessness series. i reviewed the first one here.
i tried to keep SPOILERS to a minimum, but you know, beware.
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the book starts out very dark, and overall it’s much darker and more moody than the first. and it makes sense since the Dharkan who give the book its title are creatures of darkness. but it also hits you with something different and unexpected right away, given how the first book ended (with a cinematic bang, let’s call it).
the first third of The Dharkan is instead very theatrical, almost operatic. the setting is suddenly very limited, with characters coming in and out of view as if they are on stage, and mostly talking. this creates a game of shadows, where some characters are shown to hide motivations, scheme, conspire, etc, and it was an intelligent change of pace. a breathing space.
(the division of the series into different books is, to a certain extent, impossible and arbitrary, and i would say this book is the end of act one. this is a difficult part of any story to write, especially given the enormous scope).
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an interesting thing about this book is that, while it is no longer centered on Psyche as the first one is, we actually get more out of her (or from inside her) on this one. not only does she finally appear in her real form, but in her real, unfiltered and unclouded mind (still, the theme of voices inside heads and identity and memory remain in other characters, and are explored further in different ways too; also in the very theme of writing; we’ll get to that).
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i’ve read enough of Susana to say that subverting expectations is part of the deal. and because the Timelessness universe is so vast, it allows for very mind bending shifts and contrasts in points of view. and this book goes even further down the interior exploration than the last one. the world building happens as much or more inside each character than outside of them.
the first book was mostly focused on one perspective (well, one and a half), with a few interludes sprinkled in. this one is much more adventurous in its structure. you never really know who you will be following in the next chapter or even section from the outset, and because of another quirk of the universe itself, time skips and time vacuums are also something to contend with. such a complex construction would fail and confuse if not for very individual characterization. but a chapter or section from the perspective of one character, even if witnessing or participating in something we’ve already seen, is totally different from the perspective of another character, and this despite the fact that most characters are shown to have ulterior motives, and are to a large degree conniving even when their motives are clear. shifting alliances (or alliances revealed to have deeper and sometimes contrary motives) is definitely a theme. and as such so is truth, and fiction (again, we’ll get tot that).
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funnily enough, Aedan, the Dharkan we follow most in this book (and also the previous one) is perhaps one of least dark creatures in the book. and he’s a monster. i mean that literally. so this bit of irony works very well, and is charming. i’m still not sure who i should be rooting for, but, other than Psyche’s, Aedan’s motivations are perhaps the most human in the whole book.
i found it funny though that the romantic expectations built around him in the first book are completely and easily dismissed. (the purposes of the author for this constant subversion of tropes are varied, but this one is probably easier to understand: a big middle finger to the monster romance fad that has killed so many braincells).
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i have to single out chapter eleven as my favorite. it’s essentially pillow talk about writing, and what writing means, and the specifics of storytelling, and authorship, and truth and memory (yet woven into the story, so that what is being said is not just random thoughts out of nowhere; they appear as part of, and connect to, the overall narrative; which is itself a very meta aspect of the chapter). through the mouth of Seshat (the egyptian goddess of writing), the author is self reflecting on the complex tapestry of her own story and world spread across so many books and shared by so many different characters. and the setting in which this dialogue occurs (sort of a pillow talk, as i said), is very amusing and disarming.
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as i said, the book is very unpredictable. not only storytelling tropes, but wider cultural ones are turned on their head constantly. after we leave the theatrical setting, the main characters go on a sort of quest, and we get more glimpses into the dynamics between the different races and the political and religious environment of the world. the cultic aspects and the culture clashing were more developed themes in this one, and they appear in the narrative in unexpected ways. i don’t want to say much about this though (and it’s not the heart of the story). analogies with our world are not invited, but it’s easy to make them. let’s just say i can see how the author got in trouble with certain kinds of people for writing stuff like this (still, nothing yet like in Oublié).
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yet despite all the curve balls and left turns on the plot, throughout the whole of book two there is a looming threat, and we know what it is, so we kind of also know how the book will end and give way to the next. this is not hidden from the reader. the threat is unavoidable and will arrive, despite the character’s quests to attempt its avoidance.
but while we expect it since the beginning, when it does come at the end, the depth of that world (and especially the characters’ motivations) has been greatly expanded (yet still not fully revealed). i have to keep saying this, but, despite its genre (or perceived surface genre) this is a character book, more than it is a fantasy type book. and although there is mystery and it feels like a thriller at times, the fact is we already know what will happen next. but you get to know what the events mean to the people involved, not just that they happened. and that’s what books are for.
as Seshat says in chapter eleven, sometimes you have to see the same event from multiple perspectives to make any sense of it. this is, i think, the main point of book two: what you think you saw in book one, gets so much new context in book two that it almost becomes another book. and that is why the ending of book two is so hilariously brilliant. i won’t spoil it, but it makes so much sense and is so funny (again in a very avant garde sort of way).
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in short, The Dharkan is not only a strong follow up to Wyrd Gods, but a fun and challenging book in its own right.
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