Genre: Fantasy
Description:
The only bit of land on this whole planet is
a floating, hollowed out island, much like Laputa in Gulliver’s Travels. It
is called Maivau. Life in the top tiers of this island, where the sun shines
and the water supply is clean, is pretty sweet. The work gets harder, darker
and dirtier the further down the in the old mine workings you live. At the top
is The Arbiter who runs her teeming island with tight control and coercion.
It is easy to slip down the tiers, much less
easy to rise. The story is about what can happen when you try to better
yourself and rise in such a society: and what happens when you fail. There is a
mysterious system of gods, who appear to people and sometimes give them
super-powers (which they also sometimes take away again). There is an element
of ‘Snakes and Ladders’ to the Maivau and this story.
As well as the island, the author has
created a number of intriguing sentient beings. These have replaced the ancient
humans who used to inhabit this world (one presumes there was more land back
then). They have been drawn from folklore, myth, The Chronicles of Narnia
and Tolkien’s work, along with a big dollop of the author’s imagination which,
mixed together, give each species unique traits, which enrich the story. There
are lovely artistic impressions of them by Victoria Chevalier in the book. And a
kick-ass cover by “Chinhdwc”.
Author:
Jaysee Jewel is an author after my own
heart, in that she doesn’t like to work exclusively in one genre, or at one
length. She is a keen gamer. And ranges across fantasy, steampunk, sword and
sorcery, SF, romance and horror with her writing. In 2023 she released three
novels and a novella in various milieux. The back matter of this book promises
that the sequel to Twisted Vessels will be out this year. But after such
a burst of creativity last year we should, perhaps, anticipate a short delay.
Appraisal:
Jewel has built an interesting world, and seeded
it with these six races, from among whom she has teased out her characters. The
title is apt: these people have been twisted like pretzels by their environment.
Unfortunately – as Jewel explains in the
back matter – this novel is mainly back story. Jewel has written this first
part of a longer work so that readers can become familiar with the setting and
the characters. In order for them to be fully introduced they are given Stuff
To Do. And what happens is life changing for them, as it should be. But
there is also much internal monologue-ing, often revisiting the same problems
and dilemmas, which does not push matters forward. Quotidian actions are given
in detail, and repeated when they reoccur. Descriptions are repeated.
I realised I was halfway through and rather
little had happened, considering this is billed as an adventure. As what I’d
read was, nevertheless, interesting I didn’t feel I’d wasted my time. But it
did become apparent that I was going to have to be content with a solution to
the interim problems the author had set her characters and wait for the sequel
(now you see why the date of its release is important) to see what happens when
The Real Story starts and we set off towards The Big Reveal (big hints about what
is to come are dropped at the end of this book).
Some parts of this book may be a tough read
if you are squeamish. The whole society on this over-populated, vertically-integrated
island is based on people being horrid to one another – in vile and imaginative
ways. Much of this is on the page. But there are kind-hearted and virtuous folk
too. And they do sometimes prevail.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Descriptions of brutal violence, off-stage
rape, drug abuse.
Format/Typo
Issues:
Review is based on an advance review copy, so
we can’t gauge the final product in this area.
Rating: ***
Three Stars
Reviewed
by: Judi Moore
Approximate
word count: 90-95,000 words
