The Craft Sequence Buddy Read: Book 2, Two Serpents Rise- Review, Discussion Part 2 and a Giveaway!
This post is part of an ongoing Buddy Read, with Alex of Alex Can Read and our friend Jenni, of The Craft Sequence. (You can find our two-part discussion of the first book in the series, Three Parts Dead, here and here.) Refreshing the reader's sense of what this marvelous series is about, here's the series summary from the publisher:
"Set in a phenomenally built world in which lawyers ride lightning bolts, souls are currency, and cities are powered by the remains of fallen gods, Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence introduces readers to a modern fantasy landscape and an epic struggle to build a just society."
As part of our celebration of this great series, we want to share it! We're offering a giveaway of the six book Kindle bundle. Hang in there to the end of this post for a Rafflecopter giveaway!
Before we get to the second part of the Buddy Read, here's my review, both from 2017, when I read the book because the entire series was nominated for a Hugo Award, and my recent update. Unlike the Buddy Read discussion, my review has few, if any, spoilers.
Two Serpents Rise
by Max Gladstone
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
From my original review in June 2017:
The second Craft Sequence book takes us to a different place and time in the Craft World. Leaving Alt Coulomb, the setting for the first book, we arrive in Dresdiel Lex, with a burgeoning population of 17 million people, struggling to survive on rapidly diminishing resources. The methods of their short term survival are secured by truly abominable means. The protagonist of this volume, Caleb Altemoc, struggles with the realities of this world and with his painful family history. Caleb is the fulcrum for change but how that change can be safely and morally achieved is the unsettling question he wrestles with throughout this book.
Gladstone has built a complex and impressive world in these books. Magic comes with contractual boundaries and obligations in the Craft world. Rules and reciprocity dictate almost everything.
One of the things I like best about Gladstone's protagonists is that they always seem to end up in an "outside the box" resolution. The depth of motivation for some of the other central characters is a cautionary tale, however.
As to my overall feelings about this book, I like Caleb (and Teo) but I do miss Tara!
February 2018 Thoughts:
On second reading, what strikes me most about Two Serpents Rise is more than just the furthering of The Craft Sequence world. In this entry we see the sophisticated way that Gladstone has woven the anti-globalization narrative (and some of its failings) into the story. Published in 2013, on the heels of the Occupy Wall Street movement and more than a decade after the anti-globalization movement became a force in Seattle in 1999, Two Serpents Rise is just as fresh and relevant five years later. Once again Gladstone has taken real aspects of our own world and embedded them into his fantasy world in order to discuss the weakness of movements that rigidly proscribe things like global corporate development and the equally dubious prospect of the annihilation of culture without a genuine goal. The dialogues between Caleb and Mal are so well done, so pointed in their lack of resolution to problems that have no easy, and certainly no all-or-nothing, answers. Playing Red King Consolidated's power with an eye toward globalization versus loss of Quechal cultural heritage and unstemmed migration to massive urban centers is a storyline that could be ripped from any Asian modern history book.
I'm also struck in this readthrough by the father and son relationship between Caleb and Temoc. Caleb cuts his own path and for most of this book, Temoc is a seemingly ideal father who allows his son to find that path, which is so different from his own. This difficult relationship, due to their personal life choices, is handled with such finesse. You feel the love (especially Temoc's) and wariness they feel for each other and that's a tough balance to convey. It's masterfully written here.
I appreciated Caleb more on this reading, though his naiveté with respect to Mal still bothers me a bit. Perhaps it's a feature of his character that we should like, though. Caleb has a good heart and wants to be a force for change and for good. The fact that he, like Tara Abernathy in Three Parts Dead, wants to forge a new career path provides a satisfying outcome.
Please remember that our discussion below will not be spoiler-free!
Alex, Jenni and Marzie's Buddy Read Discussion of Two Serpents Rise
Just in case you landed here first, you can find Part 1 of our discussion over on Alex's blog. Without further delay, let's pick up Part Two, of the Buddy Read Discussion:
Jenni: I wanted to return briefly to the character of the Red King. I thought it was remarkable that a character that was initially set up to be a villain actually cared deeply for the city, in his own twisted way, and wound up being open to new ways of doing things and working with Caleb to try and secure the long-term good of Dresediel Lex, rather than just maximizing his power.
Alex: Oh goodness I love the King in Red. He’s so complex! On the one hand, he’s almost comical, being a walking skeleton flamboyantly dressed in red all the time. On the other hand, he’s a LITERAL WALKING TALKING SKELETON - TERRIFYING. I loved that he was motivated by the loss of his lover Timas and literally moved heaven and earth in revenge.
Marzie: Must we? He’s such a terrible-wonderful-awful person. Please, someone, tell me that Elayne isn’t going to end up like The King in Red? Please? And, okay, the Timas storyline was quite poignant. It left him more deeply scarred than anything Temoc did to Caleb.
Jenni: Oh, those instant reactions! See, that’s what I loved about him. He was so…rich and multi-faceted.
Marzie: You know, I never actually perceived him as a villain? Just creepy and as much a fanatic for his cause as Temoc is. But he never seemed villainous.
Alex: I think Temoc and Alaxic would disagree with you that he’s not a villain. Though I saw him more as an antagonist to the plot, but one with layers.
Jenni: I guess I was predisposed to see him as a villain, after the senior Craftspeople in the first book. And then the way Caleb hid in his office to avoid having to interact with him...
(After the fact Marzie rereads this and feels dismay at the idea of anyone thinking Elayne is villainous...)
Alex: What, you’ve never hidden in your office when the CEO is coming down the hall because you just weren’t emotionally prepared to see the leader of your company first thing in the morning? I sure have.
Marzie: I relate to that. Strongly. “Just not up to you right now...”
Jenni: Sadly, I only have a cube, not an office, lol. And the dear leader likes to keep it real, so although he has an office, he mostly occupies a cube two rows over!
Alex: The leadership at my company is very friendly, but I’ve still changed directions to avoid them in the hallway.
Marzie: When you see a Craftsman as powerful as the Red King, don’t they approach god-like status, which is so laden in irony…
Jenni: I thought the end solution that Caleb came up with was particularly ironic, and elevated the Red King nearly to the godhood he had sought to destroy.
Alex: It was an elegant solution. Max balances irony with seriousness and humor in such an inventive way. He essentially made it so that the King in Red had to take a leap of faith.
Marzie: Hahaha, after all the ones Caleb had to take (literally, figuratively) that is rather amusing.
Alex: I think ultimately Two Serpents Rise is a fantastical interrogation of the interplay between globalization, sustainability, and faith.
Marzie: I think that’s true. I don’t really hold much with the faith aspect in my updated review; I guess because I see it as diminishing in the Craft world. But it’s still there, and a potent risk to the hold the Craftsmen have over their populations.
Jenni: Caleb wanted to find a way to let people keep their religion without letting it harm the world. Sort give them a pressure valve, so they don’t revolt.
Marzie: That’s what brings me back to my perception that he still loves his father, even if he viscerally disagrees with him on a moral and pragmatic level. There is still space in Caleb’s worldview for those of faith.
Jenni: As long as they’re not killing people in sacrifice.
Alex: Yes, I think Caleb’s whole thing is you can keep your religion and you can keep doing what you need to as long as you’re not inflicting it upon others. In this application, we’re talking about literally sacrificing others. But in our own world, there’s a lot of pushing faith on others.
Marzie: We need a heaping share of that in this country. The idea that your faith cannot be inflicted upon others or dictate their freedoms is sorely challenged at present.
Alex: Okay, any final thoughts?
Marzie: As I said at the beginning, I loved it more the second time around. I found the book much more complex, and deeper in meaning, than when I first read it, when I was still feeling like I was Tara, only slightly less recently kicked out of the Hidden Schools. LOL
Alex: I also loved it more the second time around, especially with the additional layers of context later books have given me.
Jenni: Having only read it the once (so far), I can’t join the chorus. ;-)
Marzie: I can definitely say that this is one of those books you ENJOY reading the second time around. There are some out there that are a grind to reread for a series, but this is a good book to reread and enjoy.
Alex: YES! This is a series I’m consciously making space for on my shelf because rereading it is just a joy.
Marzie: I’m so happy that you’re reading with us, Jenni. I feel like I get to look at the books with fresh eyes, through your comments. Thanks so much for sharing with us!
Jenni: Thanks so much for having me! Discussing this series with you all is a pleasure, on top of the pleasure of discovering wonderful new stories.
This concludes our discussion of Two Serpents Rise. We look forward to your joining us in March, when we discuss Full Fathom Five.
We now have discussion space available both on Facebook and our buddy reads book club at Book Movement. If you sign up at Book Movement you can join our discussion for this book here. You can also create your own topics for discussion and recommend books to us.
View all Marzie's reviews
crossing my fingers!
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