Titanchild by Jen Williams
I would like to thank Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Titan
Published – Out Now
Price – £19.99 hardback £7.47 Kindle eBook
The Othanim have conquered Brittletain. Their murderous leader, Icaraine, plans to feed Brittletain’s queens to her monstrous son. But total victory over the Othanim’s ancient enemy, the griffins, still eludes her. If Brittletain’s resistance, led by Princess Epona, can secure an alliance with the griffins, they may still stand a chance.
Envoy Kaeto has returned to the Imperium, hiding Felldir and Belise in a ruined castle. He believes both his friends and his attempt to murder Gynid Tyleigh have escaped the empress’s notice. Yet secrets are not so easy to keep in the Imperium. Kaeto will do anything to protect the people he loves – and so finds himself en route to Brittletain as ambassador to the Othanim.
Leven, Cillian and Ynis have spent the last two years tracking Ynis’s griffin sister, T’rook, a prisoner of Tyleigh. Meanwhile, Leven’s health is deteriorating, and Cillian – exiled and disgraced – is tormented by strange voices, who tell him of the return of the mythic Green Man to Brittletain.
There is no hope for humanity in a world ruled by Icaraine. But the price of defeating her might be almost too heavy to bear.
Warning this is the conclusion to the duology started in Talonsister by Jen Williams there will be spoilers
While its tempting to think it’s only Greek myths that get re-imagined on a fairly regular basis, I think in fantasy there is a much more normally nuanced use of the old stories, myths and folklores of the ages. For examples in various author’s hands dragons can be huge greedy beasts, intelligent equals to humans or just damn big monsters to fight! The evolution of fantasy is watching skilled authors come up with new interpretations and how they speak to us today. In Jen Williams’ new fantasy novel Titanchild that concludes a tale of a re0imag ned ancient Britain filled with fantasy creatures and strange locations we have such a unique spin on the old while delivering a fine sending with the traditional Willaims ability to make us really feel the stakes of the story all the way to its heart-wending conclusion
Two years have passed and the magical and often rowdy isle of Brittletain has been conquered by the murderous and giant winged Titan race known as the Othanim. The city of Londus is now theirs to torture its populations as they see fit while the Queen Boudicca is now sitting in their dungeons. Her daughter Epona is planning resistance, but the mighty Titans of the island are dwindling under the onslaught and loathe to join forces. The Othanim Queen Icaraine plans her next steps, and her mysterious strange child Malakim is key to her plans for ruling the world. Across the sea in the Imperium Envoy Kaeto has his two friends under his care a rebel Othanim named Felldir and his young assistant Belise has found herself turned into an Othanim warrior. They’ve managed to avoid Icarine but Kaeto’s own Empress has her own thoughts on how these two may strengthen her own hand negotiating with Icaraine
Elsewhere former warrior Leven, her lover the Druin Cillian and Leven’s newly discovered sister Ynis (who has lived with the Griffins for most of her life) are on the trail for Ynis’ Griffin sibling. Finally, they think they know where she is but a dangerous rescue is awaiting. The world is getting more dangerous, the remaining hope is various factions can finally work together and perhaps the mysterious power known as The Green Man could offer hope before all is lost.
It’s a really interesting conclusion that by the end I was fully immersed in and hit hard by the fates of many of the cast. There are few authors like Williams who can really make characters come alive and all their fates leave an impact. This story also has hugely inventive use of British folklore. It is also unusual to have an epic fantasy duology which initially wrongfooted me as we have a two-year time jump to get our heads around. Rather than the immense battle the previous book was ending with we find out that the bad guys won! In some ways its almost like the traditional middle volume bridge is quickly dispensed with. This means we don’t have the traditional wandering middle section of a trilogy, and this book is very pacey once it gets going. It did raise a couple of issues as with so many groups of characters and now all on slightly different missions I had to do some rapid reminder of the previous book as to who was who and what race was which. It does after a few chapters settle down into its new configuration but readers of the first book may want to refresh memories. Ideally a little time to help bring us up to speed and let the story breathe and readers to catch up may have made that transition easier
Once we get back to full speed though there is a lot to enjoy. At the character and plot level this starts that we have multiple types of stories weaving into the main plot. Kaeto and Epona are joined into more of a resistance type tale playing intrigue and acts of sabotage in the ruins of Londus. This storyline also has a new threat in the form of the spooky six-eyed young Othanim named Malakim. A strange sickly looking huge child with immense power and Williams make us ponder are they good or evil? Can a child even be evil? Malakim is a fascinating complex character that will keep us guessing their motivations and fate all the way through and that we care for someone so unsettling is to the author’s credit and their skill as an author. It neatly mirrors how Belise one of my favourite characters from the first book has moved from cheeky not quite evil apprentice of Kaeto into now a woman adapting to her new body but also learning she can play games of intrigue just as much as Kaeto has in the past. It’s a fascinating piece of character development seeing how someone ages and matures into a new subtly different form.
We have a slightly more mystical quest style plot for the other two main groups. For Leven and Cillian it’s the search for the power known as The Green Man. These sections of the story really allows Williams to flesh out the natural magical forces of Brittletain we return to the ever strange Wild Woods and their dimensions within dimensions but this also allows us to delve into bigger and older legends. We have here two young people in love but they’re putting everything on the line for the greater good of the world. For me this is the emotional heart of the second book as we start to see the price that is coming to be paid. They have an emotional power that good people will suffer here no matter the cost.
The final thread is focused on Ynis who in many ways the key figure of the last book as a human young woman who also sees herself as a Griffin creates more complexity in this instalment. Griffins do not like humans, have often eaten the unwary ones and so Ynis now suggesting Griffins need to help them is going to be difficult. The Ynis storyline is one that gently seems just to simmer but in the latter half of the book once again Williams brings an emotional drama to the story and weaves this into all three key plots to create a powerful conclusion. Fans of Williams’ work will not be surprised that we can be laughing one minute at a perfectly timed swear-word, a cheeky but funny joke, romance and then stunned by an act of body horror, violence towards characters we know and suddenly watch characters’ whole worlds are destroyed. It is rarely predictable what happens next, but Williams makes us as the reader watch and I think the real skill is they know how to make us feel the aftermath of a scene too. These actions have consequences good and bad.
My final key attraction to this book is the way Williams uses myth and folklore. Rather than simply re-using the myths this is perhaps better to say it’s a story with echoes of other tales that Williams creates their own unique spin. Our griffins here are a much more complex intelligent race than the monsters of old with their own religion, battle tactics and factions. But seeded throughout are really unusual twists on ancient myths. There are radically different nods to Arthurian legends than really tap int the idea that under this world is even more ancient magic that people don’t quite understand but its there from legends of sleeping giants to the unique and unpredictable version of the Green Man that we meet. If you love your old myths this is story to enjoyably explore what old tales are hidden and how they have been used and transformed. These versions really work well often still powerfully magical, weird and dangerous without lots of exposition as to their cause that gives this story the history, depth and texture that means we care about the world’s fate.
The Talon Duology for me is an extremely compelling read. With a unique take on the myths of the British Isles it very much feels its own thing honouring the old tales but very much a twenty first century fantasy with a lot of interesting and complex characters both good and evil to meet that make deep impressions on us to hate or to fall in love with. There is a wonderful mix of playfulness using legends in new ways but wrapped into the traditional Williams emotional character work and plotting to come together to create a compelling story. Highly recommended and as always intrigued to see where Williams goes next!
