Synopsis:
This faith is a double-edged sword, indeed.
In the deserts of Utter Ung, there lies a great stone dagger, buried in the heart of the dead goddess.
Sahul.
The mother.
The land herself.
For hundreds of millennia, the artefact has drawn broken people to it; those in search of answers, and those in search of power. It stands impassive and looming, casting a single shadow that sweeps across the deserts of the goddess’ breast. In the Tower that the blade has become, two halves of a monastic order have formed, set on tradition and reverence for the blade that brought the death of their land. The Tower, home to a myriad of ever-shifting and ever-changing rooms; doors that open onto other realities and worlds, is as feared as it is honoured.
Delving into the Tower’s secrets are Turtles, an elderly mute, and his companion Shadram, a muscled and guilt-ridden killer. They have spent years searching its secrets and notating its minute details. Joining them is a Sister of the Order of Agony, who has received a disturbing gift from the Tower.
When the Tower begins giving them messages, will they answer the call?
Review:
*I read this novella as part the judging group The Secret Scribes for the Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship (SFINCS). The following review is strictly my personal thoughts as each novella will be reviewed by two judges to be as objective as possible.*
The Land Herself is a prequel novella setting up a larger world that has an interesting premise but doesn’t necessarily have a traditional plot structure that most would expect.
This story takes place in a world where a goddess was slain and her body became the earth and the setting is within the remains of the blade that killed her. A monolithic tower in a desert, only the hilt of the blade is above ground, and within are two religious orders designed to protect the secrets of the blade. The secrets being that this blade is basically a portal to other lands/realms, all with weird species and creatures, you know, the kitchen sink so to speak.
As mentioned, there are two sects of folks who call the blade home, an all-male monastic order, and, you guessed it, an all-female order. Both led by a Patriarch and a Matriarch. And they very rarely interact. Amongst these monkish guys is a mute acolyte named Turtles (for the giant shield he wears on his back). Turtles is super old and isn’t truly part of the order but lives amongst them, searching the always shifting rooms within the blade. He’s kinda ho-hum about everything but is also trying to find secrets about the history of the world. I quite liked him. He also is piecing together ancient writing and this comes across in chapter epithets, so that was neat. Accompanying him is a mercenary named Shadram, who is also kinda old and likes to create crossbow bolts out of the creepy bugs of the desert while escaping his hard past. Within the Order of Agony is Sister Kadh, who we don’t learn a lot about but she’s old and has a connection to the loose plot arc of the novella. Suffice to say, all three POV were older than we normally see in main characters and I quite enjoyed that.
The best part of this novella is when Turtles and Shadram explore the rooms of the blade. Not only do we get a heavy dose of weird (seriously, they meet a slug knight who rides a bigger slug) but we also get some backstory on what the blade is and how it killed the goddess. There were a handful of scenes in these weird realities and each one different from the last. I also really enjoyed how Sister Kadh was given a task by the blade, but it involved leaving the blade for plot reasons (no spoilers) but to say the weird was only in the blade would be a lie, there was a misty magic person in charge of a ship crew. This book seriously has a ton of awesome concepts. There is just sooo much interesting thinking going on here, I would love to sit in Mr. Cormac’s mind for a worldbuilding session!
I will say, from a pure enjoyment side, I enjoyed this novella. The prose is fantastic, the pace is great, the weird is so weird I loved it. But, from an objective perspective in a competition, there are a few things that stand out in a less than positive way. The plot is very loose, meaning that this novella is more about bringing the reader into this world and showing them all the awesome things that exist and will most likely be expanded upon in the main series. It’s more a series of events/episodes, less full plot arc. If anything, the plot revolves around Sister Kadh’s task, but even then, it really doesn’t go anywhere, nor is anything is really resolved. And while the 3 POV are great (Shadram especially gets the most character growth) but, again, they just kinda bring us along these neat little episodes as opposed to having stakes or motivations. This is all nitpicking, yes, I am fully aware, and, truly, I did enjoy this story so please don’t let this keep you from picking it up!
For a prequel novella, The Land Herself sets out to do what Mr. Cormac intended: draw us in to a world of interesting lore, lots of weird, and a heaping dose of what the h*ll mystery.
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