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A review by paladintodd
Death's Heretic by James L. Sutter
1.0
The book gets three stars for being fairly rote fantasy. Nothing great, nothing awful about it. There is a problem with the main character in that he works for a church, but has a disregard for religion. We’re not told why this is. I suppose it’s supposed to make our hero, Salim, seem mysterious. For me, it just made him out to be a petulant snot. By the time we learn why, 3/4ths of the way through the book, I certainly didn’t care.
The book portrays itself as a mystery story, but there are no clues and we are eventually straight-out told whodunnit by an NPC. “You’re looking for the maltese falcon? Joe’s got it in his trunk.” Down to two stars.
The huge problem of the book though, earning it it’s one star rating, is the juvenile sexism throughout.
First up, the Bechdel test: There are only two major women in the book and they never talk. There are a couple minor women in the book: a naked nymph, a naked dryad, and serving women (not busboy, waiter, or servants - serving women).
The first of these women is a stunningly beautiful half-elf, former prostitute, and now the respected and desired owner of the town’s most esteemed brothel - how original. Her office is of course a bedroom, our hero sees many salacious sights on the way to speaking with her, and - after a mere 30 seconds of conversation - she offers herself to the hero for absolutely no reason whatsoever. She then disappears completely from the book.
The second woman in the book is our heroine, Neila, a stereotypical young, beautiful noblewoman - a facade of strength and resolve on the outside, but unsure and vulnerable on the inside (if only she had a man to help her out!). Not only does she pensively bite her lip, but our hero has to take her by the wrist and lead her out of danger as if she’s a dumb, panicked horse - not once, but twice. If only the author had had Neila faint at some point, he could have completed the helpless woman trifecta. He does give us this gem: “she would have overbalanced and fallen from the sudden vertigo if Salim hadn’t grabbed her hand to steady her” -- for a woman, the act of looking up at a tall tower requires the assistance of a man.
Or consider these lines:
“when he saw she didn’t understand, he sighed”
“Do you trust me?” (I don’t have to explain myself to you)
“without giving her the time for further questions”
“Just keep quiet and let me do the talking”
“Nobles had all sorts of manners, but never the ones that actually mattered”
“but surely the trial? … This time Salim couldn’t help it. He laughed once, hard and without humor.”
There’s nothing wrong with portraying a female as young, perhaps naive, and inexperienced. When the hero though treats this with disdain and open contempt, that’s sexist. Perhaps the author means to show Salim as an asshole? No, he’s the unflawed hero. The kicker for this is that Salim comes up with a plan to trade away Neila’s land to a bunch of fey to get their support. Does the man discuss with the woman if it’s OK to give away her property? Nope. He goes to fey and makes the offer directly to them without consulting her.
“her hair and blouse were damp with sweat and clung to her becomingly”
“she stretched out her legs, shapely in the traveling leathers that were just too fitted to be practical”
Nothing automatically egregious about those lines - it could be describing a building sexual tension, it could be two lines of many in a salacious book. In this book though, it’s neither of those. Those lines come out of nowhere early in the book, plop down on the page like wet turds, and lay there. They are a writer’s version of a construction worker’s wolf-whistle.
We’ve also got a lecherous satyr making frequent suggestions to the heroine, but never to the man. Salim, our hero, asks if Neila “would like to stay and enjoy the festivities?” in reference to an orgy.
So if you like a very vanilla fantasy story, with the answers to a mystery being spoon-fed to the reader, interspersed with frequently stopping and asking yourself “did the author really just say something that sexist?” -- then this book is for you.
The book portrays itself as a mystery story, but there are no clues and we are eventually straight-out told whodunnit by an NPC. “You’re looking for the maltese falcon? Joe’s got it in his trunk.” Down to two stars.
The huge problem of the book though, earning it it’s one star rating, is the juvenile sexism throughout.
First up, the Bechdel test: There are only two major women in the book and they never talk. There are a couple minor women in the book: a naked nymph, a naked dryad, and serving women (not busboy, waiter, or servants - serving women).
The first of these women is a stunningly beautiful half-elf, former prostitute, and now the respected and desired owner of the town’s most esteemed brothel - how original. Her office is of course a bedroom, our hero sees many salacious sights on the way to speaking with her, and - after a mere 30 seconds of conversation - she offers herself to the hero for absolutely no reason whatsoever. She then disappears completely from the book.
The second woman in the book is our heroine, Neila, a stereotypical young, beautiful noblewoman - a facade of strength and resolve on the outside, but unsure and vulnerable on the inside (if only she had a man to help her out!). Not only does she pensively bite her lip, but our hero has to take her by the wrist and lead her out of danger as if she’s a dumb, panicked horse - not once, but twice. If only the author had had Neila faint at some point, he could have completed the helpless woman trifecta. He does give us this gem: “she would have overbalanced and fallen from the sudden vertigo if Salim hadn’t grabbed her hand to steady her” -- for a woman, the act of looking up at a tall tower requires the assistance of a man.
Or consider these lines:
“when he saw she didn’t understand, he sighed”
“Do you trust me?” (I don’t have to explain myself to you)
“without giving her the time for further questions”
“Just keep quiet and let me do the talking”
“Nobles had all sorts of manners, but never the ones that actually mattered”
“but surely the trial? … This time Salim couldn’t help it. He laughed once, hard and without humor.”
There’s nothing wrong with portraying a female as young, perhaps naive, and inexperienced. When the hero though treats this with disdain and open contempt, that’s sexist. Perhaps the author means to show Salim as an asshole? No, he’s the unflawed hero. The kicker for this is that Salim comes up with a plan to trade away Neila’s land to a bunch of fey to get their support. Does the man discuss with the woman if it’s OK to give away her property? Nope. He goes to fey and makes the offer directly to them without consulting her.
“her hair and blouse were damp with sweat and clung to her becomingly”
“she stretched out her legs, shapely in the traveling leathers that were just too fitted to be practical”
Nothing automatically egregious about those lines - it could be describing a building sexual tension, it could be two lines of many in a salacious book. In this book though, it’s neither of those. Those lines come out of nowhere early in the book, plop down on the page like wet turds, and lay there. They are a writer’s version of a construction worker’s wolf-whistle.
We’ve also got a lecherous satyr making frequent suggestions to the heroine, but never to the man. Salim, our hero, asks if Neila “would like to stay and enjoy the festivities?” in reference to an orgy.
So if you like a very vanilla fantasy story, with the answers to a mystery being spoon-fed to the reader, interspersed with frequently stopping and asking yourself “did the author really just say something that sexist?” -- then this book is for you.