William Ray reviewed Onslaught of Madness by Jesse Teller
Review of 'Onslaught of Madness' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Jesse Teller has written a multi-layered epic fantasy world with Malazan's complexity and Westeros's grandeur.
The story follows an initially somewhat dizzying array of main characters, and much like [i]Gardens of the Moon[/i], it begins somewhat mid-action on a lot of their stories. Complex histories and relationships are unwound over the course of the tale, with major characters dying off and falling away to be replaced by others. It lends the story an immense scope, but it does have the unfortunate side effect of introducing several plot threads that never resolve. Perhaps they're elements for later volumes, or perhaps they're just there to lend a sense of weight to the deaths. Either way, the experience is sort of like catching the middle of a tumultuous history that may not have any clear cut beginning or end.
Where Teller really triumphs is in the sense of scale to the power of …
Jesse Teller has written a multi-layered epic fantasy world with Malazan's complexity and Westeros's grandeur.
The story follows an initially somewhat dizzying array of main characters, and much like [i]Gardens of the Moon[/i], it begins somewhat mid-action on a lot of their stories. Complex histories and relationships are unwound over the course of the tale, with major characters dying off and falling away to be replaced by others. It lends the story an immense scope, but it does have the unfortunate side effect of introducing several plot threads that never resolve. Perhaps they're elements for later volumes, or perhaps they're just there to lend a sense of weight to the deaths. Either way, the experience is sort of like catching the middle of a tumultuous history that may not have any clear cut beginning or end.
Where Teller really triumphs is in the sense of scale to the power of the gods and their faithful. Malazan, for all its good features, always fell short of that for me... the gods there were very casual, more like just slightly higher ranking dudes than true grandiose divinities. Teller's pantheon expresses true majesty, feeling both in the mortal world and impossibly distant all at once. In a world where wizards can dazzle with amazing spellcraft, the presence of the gods in the world feels far more magical than the actual magic does.
My biggest reservation on this title is the age of the characters. Many of the major characters felt about three years younger than they should have been. The child characters at the center of the action are intended to be exceptional people, and when other children wander into the story, the main cast are certainly more advanced by comparison... but at the same time, even amid demons and wizards and child gods, its still hard to envision an army following the direction of a trio of ten year olds. It was often easy to overlook. The ten-year-olds certainly don't act ten, so that fact would often slip my mind as I read, until there was some awkward reminder. All of these characters are constantly enmeshed in the setting's violence and brutal sex which, to me as a reader, was uncomfortable. The murderous moppets, the victimized young witch... I wouldn't say their stories were callously handled by the writer, but they are set in a callous world, and that juxtaposition was an unexpected unpleasantry.
That aside, I felt the parts that work all worked very well. Some of the components and world building were simply brilliant. Boxhead, the child god, was a particular favorite, and his cult's customs and magic, and the holy mission of his paladin, all felt like a bright light in an artfully horrid landscape.