Majestrum

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Majestrum is a relatively short (232 page trade paperback) science fantasy set in our own far-future universe which has been colonized far and wide by humans from “Old Earth.” The protagonist, Henghis Hapthorn, is a “discriminator” (“he unravels conundrums, picks apart puzzles, uncovers enigmas”) who uses his keen logical skills to solve mysteries.

But some strange stuff is going on: Mr Hapthorn's integrator (a sentient computer which assists him in his work) has recently donned flesh and blood and become more like a familiar than a computer. Also, the small intuitive part of Henghis's psyche has suddenly asserted itself as a separate personality which shares Henghis's brain and body. These occurrences seem to indicate that sympathetic association (magic), which waxes and wanes across the eons, is now rising again. And soon Henghis Hapthorn's double personality and his familiar find themselves hunting an ancient evil force which is trying to resurface.

Majestrum is a fast-paced novel which reads much like a crime thriller (Matthew Hughes writes those under the name Matt Hughes) with a heavy dose of sarcasm, irony, and dry humor. The few characters are well-drawn and I am interested enough in one of them – the archon Filidor – that I may read the previous Archonate novels in which he was the main character.

Mr Hughes confesses to being a Jack Vance fan, and this influence is definitely noticeable. I thought I also detected some echoes of Ursula Le Guin – especially in the spare style and the importance of names in the magic system.

Matthew Hughes' droll writing style is amusing, and there are many laugh-out-loud moments such as when Henghis has to put on upper-class ornamentation so that the nobles can perceive him, when his integrator/familiar falls asleep at crucial moments, and when hardened criminals are given to the Corps of Buffoons, fitted with coercion suits, and compelled to publicly act in bawdy plays. Even the character names are funny: Glam Botch, Bristal Baxandall, Vhobald Hammis.

This was an inventive and entertaining novel but (as usual) I've got a few minor complaints to mention. The writing style, which seemed clever at first, was overdone to the point where I really wanted to take my blue pencil to it. There were too many ten-dollar words (e.g., peregrinations, transmogrification, pansophical, ratiocination) and the characters “ascend” rather than go up, “peruse” instead of read, and “ascertain” instead of figure out. And I started to tire of these sorts of constructions (all of the characters speak this way):

* “The ensuing conversation was one of those colloquies that occur when no one wishes to mention the particularly salient fact that is nonetheless in the front of each participant's mind.”
* “She made no answer but the set of her mouth told me that she had sustained worse injury than being made ridiculous before all whose opinions she valued, bad as that hurt must have been to one of her milieu.”
* “She turned her head away and I could see her undertaking the uncharacteristic effort of thinking.”
* “I then executed the precise formal motions that would register in the hyperesthetic circuits of his aristocratic neural net.”
* “But my fear is swept away by a presentiment that I am about to experience astonishments.”

The ending of Majestrum was so far-fetched that I suspect that Mr Hughes was actually going for camp. (If I had read any of his other novels, I'd have a better feel for this.) Henghis Hapthorn who, according to his alter-ego is “trapped in linear rationalism,” dismisses key facts and comes to a ridiculously and obviously wrong conclusion about the strange case they're working on, and ends up putting themselves in danger. But the climax unravels itself so quickly and painlessly that there's not much feeling evoked from the reader. This seemed inconsistent with the way that the evil enemy had been portrayed up to this point, and I was a bit let down.

But, overall Majestrum is an entertaining and quick read. If you're already a Matthew Hughes fan, if you enjoy Jack Vance style science fantasy, or if you're looking for something a bit quirky and light, then I recommend Majestrum. If you're only into traditional epic fantasy or sword & sorcery, or if you have no patience for a magniloquent writing style, look elsewhere.
Read this review in context at Fantasy literature.