A Song for the Void

Loved this! Cosmic horror mixed with historical nautical fiction set in the Opium Wars. Such an intriguing mashup! And it is all done with skill and style.

19th century interaction between China and European powers feels like an under represented fictional niche. The Opium Wars, the Taiping rebellion and the various imperialistic powers meddling certainly made it a turbulent time with a lot of disruption. This setting provides the backdrop of the novel - a Royal Navy ship on patrol against pirates in the aftermath of the Opium Wars with the Taiping rebellion still in full swing on the mainland. Madness was already very much in the air.

A boat also provides an excellent claustrophobic setting for existential horror. The sense of being trapped, unable to escape from the building madness and horror around creates an excellent degree of tension. The imagery is certainly graphic and prays upon that sense of entrapment well. Throughout it all is a fascinating philosophical question framed around the famous Descartes quote of ‘I think therefore I am'. Epistemology and the theory of knowledge ties in well with this kind of cosmic horror, where perception and reality become important themes. Add in the mind bending nature of drugs (opium in this case) and a recipe for questioning the reliability of the narrator is carefully concocted.

The characterizations are also all superbly done. The MC is the ships doctor, someone who has previously battled an opium addiction, and the desire to fall back into the comfort of that addiction is a fascinating battle that is well articulated. The other characters are well drawn as well, from the junior officer facing his own battles with injury and fears for the future, to the American smuggler whose nastiness is just on the right side of believable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and can highly recommend it.