The West Passage

If your like fairy tales on the darker side, this is for you. The story is a bit twisted, in a good way, and brought me back to movies I watched as a child in the ‘80s (we were witness to a lot of weird films!). The writing is beautiful, and I know I'm going to have to re-read it because it was a bit of a whirlwind and I wasn't prepared for the ending.

I received an advance review copy of Old Soul from the publisher through NetGalley.

Summary

In the cold, dusty confines of Grey Tower, where few remain, the last Guardian has died, and with her last breath charged her young apprentice with a message: "Tell Black it's coming." As unexpected winter sets in on the Grey district, the newly-named Mother has also set out to ask a question of the Black Lady who leads the palace. Can either of them reach their goal before the fabled Beast emerges?

Review

I’ve read a number of books that follow in the footsteps of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast books. Few do so successfully. Alex Pheby’s Mordew made a good effort, but got a little carried away with itself. This book does much better. As with Mordew, it carves out a home in the Gormenghast neighbourhood without actually trying to be Gormenghast.

Pechaček’s decaying, overgrown palace is confusing, filled with obscure ritual, and shows us the misery of the underlings (and sometimes the leaders) of the realm, ground down by obeisance to tradition. It goes a step further in inserting a cast seemingly drawn from a Bosch painting, but treated as absolutely normal (and, in fact, charming). The result is excellent – a rich, hyper-gothic tableau of slow, epic adventure undertaken by confused but noble actors, all against a carefully revealed ancient tragedy, with dryly humorous asides. I loved it.

Where I think Pechaček goes wrong is in focusing so much on the enticing visual imagery – one clever oddity after another – rather than story. The characters spend most of the book trying to get one place or another, and it often began to feel more like a travelogue than a narrative – look at this! And this! And now this! Aren’t they intriguing and grotesque? They are, but to my mind scenery is in aid of story, not in place of it. It’s almost immediately clear that the author has a broad, slant-wise imagination; we don’t need to see proof after proof after proof. The imagery doesn’t fit or work as well, for example, as the vocabulary, which is rich and varied, but generally doesn’t feel like the author is putting it on display (as opposed to choosing just the right and fitting word for the occasion).

The interior art, by the author, is not to my usual taste, but is excellent for the purpose, and genuinely adds another dimension. I’m not sure why Tor felt the need for a different cover artist.

To be fair, Pechaček does land the story pretty well. Early on, I had concerns, but as the book progressed, I grew more and more confident that he would treat the reader well, and he does. There could have been a touch more clarity on one of the two endings, but overall, it reads well, left me satisfied, and left me a definite Pechaček fan. Here’s hoping that for his next book, he does something equally interesting, but very, very different.

One more caveat, I suppose – as with Gormenghast, I found the geography of the palace impossible to unravel, and not a match for either of the maps that is provided.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve discovered some incredible books and authors through Netgalley but I had no idea when I requested an ALC of The West Passage, a dark fantasy novel with a somewhat cryptic blurb, from Netgalley and Macmillan Audio that I’d found The One, but I have. I’ve found my favorite book of all time.

In The West Passage, we follow Kew and Pell on their individual journeys as they do what they feel is necessary to save their home from a terrible beast. But the story isn’t just about Kew and Pell, it’s about the massive sprawling palace grounds in which they live and travel through, a world with deep lore and rich history, some of which is too long-forgotten by its inhabitants. While on their journeys through this dangerous world, Kew and Pell meet plenty of interesting and quirky characters, and though the book is pretty dark, it reminded me a lot of both Alice in Wonderland and The Phantom Tollbooth. I got whimsical vibes and felt sort of nostalgic for those stories when listening to this one.

I was constantly impressed by Jared Pechaček’s immersive world building, beautifully descriptive writing, and immense creativity. His writing made me feel like he has actually been there and is simply describing everything for us, like he’s a historian of the palace. As if it didn’t come from his mind and it exists somewhere and he’s just telling us about it. Pechaček has written a textbook, and I listened to the audio but now I want a copy to highlight, make flashcards to study, memorize and learn the entirely too interesting history of this world as if it’s a real place.

I took my time listening to The West Passage on audiobook over the last week because there has never been a book I’ve wanted to savor more fully than this one. When I listen to audiobook, I always do other things, but I just sat and listened this time. I had to and wanted to focus on The West Passage because I felt like I was participating in this book, this event, and I didn’t want to participate in anything else. Though I did start out feeling as if the physical or ebook version might be a better choice, Steve West’s narration made me feel like I was a child being read a bit of a grand fantasy before bed, and I loved it. There are many, many characters in this story and West was able to change his voice wonderfully for each one. I especially liked the voices he did in a scene where there were 8 different frogs. If I can tell 8 frogs apart, that’s a damn good narrator.

If you cannot tell, I am absolutely obsessed with this book. It’s my Holy Grail. It’s my precious. Want to be sucked into a world that feels as though it will continue to live and breathe even after you turn the last page? This is the one.