Review: Snake Agent by Liz Williams

[megwrites]

Title: Snake Agent (Detective Inspector Chen, Book 1)
Author: Liz Williams (mevennen; Arkady.org)
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: NightShade Books
Page Count: 375 pages




Basic Plotline: Detective Inspector Chen works in the Singapore Three police department in future-China, working with both Earth and Hell to solve crimes that fall into his jurisdiction. When Pearl Tang fails to show up in heaven as she is supposed to, her mother goes to Chen for help. There he finds the beginnings of an extraordinary plot by Hell to steal innocent souls. Working with his counterpart from hell, Seneschal Zhu Irzh of the Ministry of Vice, he must stop their plans before something unspeakable is unleashed on humanity.

Positives: I really did love this book and was thrilled to be able to find it in paperback.

This book is, to it's benefit, a genre crosser. It combines elements of good old fashioned detective genre mystery with urban fantasy and science fiction. I liked that it combined the mystical and the futuristic in the city of Singapore Three that I fully believed that not only was it a plausible future, but a plausible underworld. I especially loved the setting. It was nice to pull away from the same old same old and go somewhere I'd never been before.

The characters, major and minor, are likable and if not likeable, tolerable. Zhu Irzh and Chen make great counterparts to each other, considering they have the same job. The teakettle badger was also a delightful touch. The various bad guys, or at least Hell guys, throughout the novel are wonderful and colorful. The First Lord of Banking is a particular favorite of mine, and I found him amusing. No Ro Shi and Sgt. Ma are great comic interludes, and I really did like poor Ma, who was - as I would be - completely freaked out by all this supernatural stuff and just wanting to do his job and go home.

The world that Williams sets us in is not so much exotic as it completely plausible and frightening in that plausibility. Though colorful, it was very, very real to me, and what I liked best was that in someways, Williams made it clear that the world of Singapore Three is exactly like our world. Some things don't change in the future, or in Hell. There are dashes of various kinds of 'punk' in her Hell, which is multilayered and sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, sometimes downright disgusting (a lot like humanity and Earth, actually). Such things as the "Ministry of Vice" and "Ministry of Epidemics" have a side of humor to them that I enjoyed, but without becoming so humorous as to become farcical.

The plot itself starts out with a solid mystery and keeps growing from there. Towards the end, there's the inevitable "crazy things happen, there's a big fight scene or a big chase, and we wrap up our case" type sequence which is sort of part and parcel of the mystery genre and urban fantasy. Still, the chase is interesting and the ending is satisfying, if a little on the too neat side.

As the writing goes, it's pretty good. Nothing overly poetic or flashy, but it works just fine to tell a pretty good story and show a really fascinating world. Williams reuses some phrases "icy water' in someone's veins or blood being "like ice" was a bit over used, but that's a minor pet peeve of mine. I'm sure other readers won't even notice.


Negatives: This book has relatively few downsides.

There is one logical (but nitpicky) slip the author makes towards the end. She has Chen thinking that the badger/teakettle spirit will protect his wife, Inari, but several scenes before that, the badger had run off and gotten lost after helping Chen and Zhu Irzh break into the Ministry of Epidemics. That's forgiveable.

I also wish more of Chen's service to Kuan Yin and his relationship with her had been explained or explored. Towards the end, she reveals that she withheld her favor because Chen is becoming too dependent on her, but they don't really explain why she feels that way or why there are certain things Chen can't do (like lying).

The only major hang up I had was a little glimmer of Deus Ex Machina that Williams pulls mid-way through. When Inari, Chen's demon wife, is taken back to hell and held captive in the Ministry of Epidemics, Zhu Irzh just happens to be crawling above the same airduct she's underneath while she's being treated badly and just decides to save her. I felt this was slightly out of character for the mostly ruthless and pragmatic Zhu Irzh, and a bit convenient that Chen's ersatz partner from hell should stumble across his wife.

It didn't ruin the plot for me, but it was a low moment in the book. I had no trouble just accepting it and moving on.



CoC Score: 9. All CoC's all the time in this book. Europeans appear only as bit characters in the background or skin jackets that the Ministers of Hell wear. I'm sure there might be some stereotypes or inaccuracies that I'm missing, but it was refreshing to see an all CoC cast this time, as well as a world that can delve deeply into one culture's mythology without emasculating or disenfranchising the rest.

I think writers should take a lesson from this. While all of this is set in the Chinese version of Heaven, Earth, and Hell, Williams slides in a few other explanations as to what happens to other people's mythologies around the world. In her world, hell takes the shape of the place it mirrors in the world, so one can posit that there is a European hell with European demons somewhere and African hell with African demons and so on and so forth.

So take note, writers of fantasy, urban fantasy, and sci-fi, if you want to base your world in one single mythology, fine, but at least mention what happened to the others, even if they never appear on screen.

One point deducted because Williams herself identifies (so far as I am aware) as white and scores of 10 are reserved for authors of color on this scale.

ETA: I wanted to add, for clarification, that I *definitely* am sure that there are things which are wrong about this novel that I have missed because my knowledge of Chinese culture, history, mythology, and people is woefully lacking. I want to point out that I would not blame anyone for giving this a lower score for things that I, being horribly uninformed and still dealing with my own racism, did not catch.

GLBT Score: 5. No GLBT main characters, and the only relationships in the books are heterosexual. However, romance and sex are kept to a minimum, and GLBTness doesn't seem to be taken as anything different from heterosexuality in this world, especially in Hell where it seems all things are equal.

Gender Score: 8. There aren't as many female characters as they are males, so a point taken away there. But there are everything from old ladies to goddesses to Inari. Women have agency, are empowered, and while Inari's subplot wasn't as interesting as it could have been, she was her own character.

Comments

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Once again, I must tell you how much I enjoy your reviews and the yardstick you use for judging them.

I find myself comparing my own work to your standards to see if they measure up :)

The book that you reviewed here sounds like one I must find. I'd love to read it.

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks. I'm glad that you really like them and they're helpful to you.

I'd definitely recommend this book. It's a very good read if you're looking for something that's fun and and different from the same old, same old. I had to take a break from regular urban fantasy for a while. It's a pretty good adventure, and it has tinges of humor in case you've had enough of the dark, dark stuff, too.

I could media mail you my copy now that I'm done. I love sharing books.