Mystic Quest: Book Two of the Bronze Canticles by Tracy Hickman and Laura Hickman
(I know I should have put out more content than I did last month. I apologize. In my defense I was dealing with a fairy heavy family situation for the last third of the month.)
Sometimes, you can be surprised. Sometimes, the anticipation of re-reading something you read over fifteen years ago isn’t better than what’s coming. Sometimes, a reunion with a book can be the celebration you always wanted it to be. Not always, but sometimes.
Many millions of years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and my oldest daughter, who wins medals at national competitions and just graduated from high school, was still in diapers I purchase and read a book known as Mystic Quest: Book Two of the Bronze Canticles. It was the only real outlet I had for as long as it took me to read it, as I was going to college full time, working full time and taking care of said stinker while her mother was at work. I needed it and it worked.
It was also the third book in a trilogy whose conclusion wasn’t published yet and when you factor in going from community college to a university (which I did the semester this thing came out) my recreational reading time crashed and I lost track before the new one came out. I’ll never forget the end of this thing and how exciting it was or how frustrated I got with the cliffhanger. Then I never finished the series because life.
I’m happy to say that I eventually got to pick up the full series and that I’ve previously reviewed book one, Mystic Warrior, here. I’ve enjoyed the journey thus far, and I can’t wait to get to the final book. Look for that review later this month or early next month.
But as far as Mystic Quest goes on its own merits, I loved it. There is just so much in here. It’s a book like this that really makes an aspiring author like myself really excited about the possibilities of what I could potentially do. I’ve been a fan of Tracy Hickman since fall of 1991 (better known as the beginning of my freshman year of high school) and I knew that dude could write. I don’t remember reading anything by Laura before this, but I figured it he trusted her to help him tell a story so would I. I’m glad I did.
The Bronze Canticles are a series of books based not on one story, but on three. The Hickmans tell the story of three nearly completely separate groups of people on three completely different planes of existence (I think) and continuously draw them nearer. It is eventually made clear to the reader that events on one plane influence (or is it reflect?) the events on the other two planes. Everything is interrelated.
The only connection between people on the separate planes is in a dreamscape. They can see each other and communicate after a fashion, but they don’t seem to fully grasp the importance of the fact that they’re all there. For the most part, they seem to be confused by the appearance of the other characters in the story. No one is quite sure who these other people are, why they look the way they do (one plane is inhabited by humans, one by fairies and the other by goblins) or why they’re seeing them. It’s frustrating to a certain extent but it also makes more sense than just about anything I’ve read in any other fantasy novel and I’ve been reading them since the early 90s.
Mystic Quest reads like three tightly plotted and high energy fantasy novels woven together. Somehow though, it makes sense that way. I’m guessing the Hickmans spent either
A.)A lot of time planning this novel
B.) A ton of time editing this novel
or
C.) Both
because binding it all together and making it all make sense could not possibly have been an easy task but they did it. I need to figure out HOW they did it, but that’s a separate issue at the moment.
The really cool part is that each individual story would make sense without the other two. When one group crashes their boat and falls from the aqueduct it works. Events in the other stories work alongside it, and are needed for the larger meta narrative, but even alone, a bunch of people on a boat that smash into something and get flung is exciting, suspense building, easy to follow and carries the storyline for those characters on and makes it everything look effortless, even if I know better.
The individual characters are believable in their own milieus as well. Whether it’s the greedy goblin conqueror, his scheming wife, the dwarven paragon, the feuding brothers, the nerd who is enthralled with his discovery of an ancient and undisturbed library…
Every person in Mystic Quest seems to come from history. The plot contains surprises galore but the characters are in many ways archetypical and I mean that as a compliment. There is a reason that the Faithful Servant exists as a trope. Whether it’s Samwise Gamgee, Alfred Pennyworth or Aislynn the fairy hardly matters. When the Scheming Wife shows up no one cares if its Agrippina the Elder (mother of Caligula) or Gynik the Goblin Queen, we know what’s about to happen. It’s comforting. It’s like reading that fantasy story with the Grand Visier that has a goatee and waiting for him to sell everybody out. You look forward to it. It’s gratifying.
The action sequences are gratifying, especially in the case of the goblins and their attack on a city full of ogres. I expected that from the Hickmans and I wasn’t disappointed. They don’t necessarily describe things in the precise military terms you might get from a Tom Kratman, but it’s still descriptive and riveting. When things really got going I got carried away with Mystic Quest and all the little other things like sleeping and eating kind of went out of the window. Fortunately, I didn’t have to work today because I was up late last night finishing this thing. I’d do it again. It was worth it. I can’t wait to get to the conclusion of The Bronze Canticle even if I don’t want to see it end.
Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Strange Devices
Mystic Quest: Book Two of the Bronze Canticle
Tracy Hickman and Laura Hickman
Grand Central Publishing, 2008
Mystic Quest: Book Two of the Bronze Canticle is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.