Review: The Duchess of the Shallows
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 8, 2012
Comparison is tricky, but I think readers who like the Braavos chapters in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire will enjoy The Duchess of the Shallows, which is likewise focused on the bustling life of a city, as complex and intricate in its way as the interplay of nations with which fantasy is more often concerned. Rodaas has enough different factions and sub-factions-- religious, political, economic, criminal-- to give its gritty intrigue the touch of realism, and deeper mysteries tinged with the fantastic create a subtle creepiness and a sense of a long, often tragic history. Overall it's definitely a rich enough setting to support the further stories I understand are forthcoming.In some ways the setting is stronger than the plot, which is pleasantly fast-moving but doesn't offer many great surprises; by and large the single major strand of the narrative, involving a daring theft and its far-reaching consequences, plays out as one would expect, with the victories and reversals that the concept demands. It's almost like an extended prologue to the larger story that those future installments will tell, but paced naturally enough that this doesn't pose much of a problem. The balance between present-day narrative on the one hand and flashbacks and exposition on the other is particularly well-handled, as one never feels that the flow is being interrupted for an info-dump. Character development is on the slim side; the protagonists are realistic but not especially complex, and while one key scene suggests intriguing possible developments down the line, within this volume the players are pretty static.If those reading this are anything like me, their biggest worry with any self-published fiction is the quality of the prose, but The Duchess of the Shallows holds up pretty well on this front. There are occasional moments of inelegance-- sometimes the language is too compressed, in need of expansion that would let the description develop naturally without damaging the pace-- but no more of them than one often finds in "professional" novels. In places Duchess' self-reflection is a bit too on-the-nose thematically, but that's also a minor complaint. Overall, this is a sharp, skillful book, easily recommended to those who find the concept appealing. I'm glad I read it, and will certainly check out the next volume, The Fall of Ventaris, when it's released.