Category Archives: Morlock the Maker

Morlock in Love

Wrath-Bearing Tree
James Enge
Pyr Books
Trade paperback, 320 pp., $18.00
ebook $11.99 Kindle Nook

Across the Narrow Sea, in the land of Kaen, something is killing the gods. In order to determine if this is a potential threat to the Wardlands, the Graith of Guardians sends Morlock Ambrosius and Aloe Oaij to investigate.

Morlock is secretly in love with Aloe. Aloe isn’t in love with him. At least not yet. In his afterward, Enge describes this book as a love story with sword and sorcery interruptions. To a point, that’s true. But if you take the sword and sorcery out, the love story is pretty thin. Magic is so much a part of Morlock that you can’t tell much of a story about him if there’s no magic involved.

This was a strange novel in some ways. Not the love story portion. Enge handles that very well, starting with the misunderstandings between Aloe and Morlock to her growing admiration of, and ultimately love for, Morlock. I realize that last sentence sounds like this is just Jane Austin with fantasy trappings. In the hands of other, lesser writers, that’s what you would get. Not so here.

At times Wrath-Bearing Tree is a very weird book. As Morlock and Aloe visit the cities of Kaen, it’s almost like reading some of the “true accounts” of travelers in the early days of the Age of Exploration. Strange, bizarre, and completely unlike anything you’re familiar with. For instance, and this isn’t the weirdest example, there’s a mountain on which the inhabitants either herd goats or sheep, but never both. The reason is the religious significance of what an individual herds. Once a year the two religions have a major battle (which of course Morlock and Aloe get caught in), but the goats and sheep used in those battles are anything but cute livestock. And I’m not even sure how to describe the The Purple Patriarchy.

Because of this, much of the book reminded me of Jack Vance with doses of Clark Ashton Smith here and there. The unusual societies were one of the highlights of the book for me. Enge has some fun along the way. During the Purple Patriarchy chapter, Aloe and Morlock have run afoul of the local traditions and need to escape. They do so with the aid of a group of adventures trying to put together a quest, D&D style.

Eventually Morlock and Aloe encounter Morlock’s father Merlin. Morlock has never met his father, so it’s an emotional reunion. Merlin as Enge depicts him is an interesting character, although not an admirable one. I would like to have seen more of him.

The main portion of the book, in which Aloe begins to fall in love with Morlock is told entirely from her point of view. The reader already knows how he feels about her. It’s interesting to watch her misunderstandings about him change as she gets to know him better. One word of warning. The sex scenes are extremely graphic, so if you are offended by that sort of thing or it’s not your cup of tea, you may want to keep that in mind.

The subtitle of Wrath-Bearing Tree is A Tournament of Shadows, Book 2. There are some unresolved issues in the larger story arc, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Enge resolves them. I’d also like to thank Pyr Books for sending me the review copy.

Enge’s work is unlike anything else out there that I’ve come across. To some extent, it may be an acquired taste, because he’s not a paint-by-numbers kind of writer. His work is original, imaginative, and one of a kind.

I Found A Guile of Dragons Most Beguiling

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A Guile of Dragons
James Enge
Pyr Books
trade paper, 279 p., $17.95

I apologize for the horrible pun in the title of this post, but some things, well, they just have to be done.

I eargerly anticipated this book for most of the summer and was thrilled when the review copy showed up. (Thanks to the good folks at Pyr.) The chaos of moving kept me from getting to it as soon as I’d have liked. But it was worth the wait.

This is the thinnest of the Morlock books so far, but that doesn’t mean it’s thin on story. It takes us back to the earliest days of Morlock’s life and then some. The book opens with Morlock’s mother Nimue betraying his father Merlin to his old enemy Earno. She’s pregnant with Morlock at the time.

The main part of the action takes place years later, when Morlock, raised by the Dwarves after his parents are exiled, has joined the Graith of Guardians. He’s a thain, the lowest possible rank. Morlock has a major problem, one he isn’t aware of. He’s come to the notice of the gods, and they’re messing with him. In case it isn’t obvious, let me say that this is never a good thing. Ever.

Morlock finds himself in the middle of a war between the Dwarves and the Dragons, ancient enemies who have fought before. This is also never a good thing. Before it’s over, Morlock with have to come to grips with his heritage and the history of his family, both his biological family of Ambrose and his adopted family of Dwarves. In many ways this is a coming of age story.

The action is good, the dialogue crackles, and Enge doesn’t broadcast where he’s going with the story. He also shows how certain aspects of Dwarvish culture originated, and he does so in a logical manner. Enge is a classicist by profession, and it shows in his prose, which I found quite readable and much more enjoyable than the flat prose that packs so many doorstop sized novels. With his tales of Morlock the Maker, Enge is establishing himself as one of the major writers of the decade.

One thing that I did have trouble with was keeping up with the many members of the supporting cast. Names aren’t my strong suit, and there’s a lot of them in this book. Some of them seem to be there not because they’re particularly essential for this story, but they need to be introduced now in order to play role in the larger story arc. At least that seems to be the case from some foreshadowing in a couple of places.

The characters are unique individuals, and Enge does a good job getting in their heads. Almost everyone has motivations that are complex and at times contradictory. Just like real people. I found the character of Merlin the most interesting and hope we’ll see more of him in future volumes. I suspect we will.

The subtitle of this novel is A Tournament of Shadows Book 1, implying there’s much more to this story to come. For one thing, we know the gods haven’t finished messing with Morlock.

A Guile of Dragons is a featured book at Adventures Fantastic Books.

Giveaway – James Enge’s This Crooked Way

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Things appear as though they will settle down in the next day or so, and I can get a report on Fencon and a review posted. In the meantime, I’ve started reading James Enge’s A Guile of Dragons. This novel is being promoted as the origin story of Morlock Ambrosius and will be the next novel I review (after the one I need to write). To tie in with my review, I’ll be giving away a copy of This Crooked Way, one of the earlier volumes in the Morlock series and a good introduction to the character.

Here’s how things will work. I thought about doing a simple random drawing from among the entrants, but where’s the fun in that? Instead, I’m going to select the winner based on creativity. Paul Cornell has called Enge’s work “Conan as written by Raymond Chandler”. The giveaway takes off from that.

What fantasy author/famous nonfantasy or literary author mashup would you like to see? (For this contest, William Shakespeare counts as a fantasy author.) Specifically, what famous fantasy character would you like to see written by another author?

Got that? Name a fantasy character you would like to see written by a nonfantasy or famous author and why. The “why” is essential if you want to win. I’m judging the entries on originality and creativity. Your reasoning is where your creativity can really shine.

Place your answer in the comments. You can enter up to three times, but each character must be entered separately. Comments containing more than one entry will be disqualified. Entries will be judged on creativity. Contest closes at 11:59 p.m., CDT, Sunday, October 30. Winner will be announced later that week in a blog post and asked to send me a private email with a shipping address.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below. Good luck and have fun!

Update: More than one person who already has a copy of This Crooked Way has submitted an entry just for fun. That’s great! The more, the merrier. Thanks, guys.