Fortuna and the Scapegrace

Fortuna and the Scapegrace is the second book in Brian Kindall's The Epic of Didier Rain series, following the excellent Delivering Virtue. But unlike its literary predecessor which takes place in the Wild West of the 1850s, this adventure shoves out into the South Seas where Didier Rain takes on different personas in an effort to start a new life. It's an excellent adventure story with several plot twists that raise the stakes for our lucky protagonist as he wonders if his current course in life is a series of unfortunate coincidences, a sinister game played by unruly gods, or simply his destiny as foretold by a fortune teller.

Didier Rain wakes up dazed and confused on a clipper ship after being drugged by a sensual fortune teller, where he assumes the funny moniker of Hoper Newfangle. He befriends a young pastor named Adamiah Linklater who confesses to know nothing of the Bible. Newfangle becomes his tutor in all things biblical, all the while growing infatuated with the pastor's beautiful bride who is waiting for Linklater to land on a remote atoll so he can marry her, then lead their bizarre sect of Christian outliers. Newfangle (Didier Rain, of course, as his new persona) also assumes the role of protector of a gentle yet wily goat he lovingly names Angeline, a kind gesture that we readers surely assume will right the wrong of Didier not naming the amiable goat in the first book, Delivering Virtue. But after a night of overindulging raspberry cordial with Linklater while the ship tosses in the rough sea through a storm, Newfangle wakes up on the beach of the destined South Sea island, where the bride wrongly assumes Newfangle is actually Linklater, having not seen him in person since they were both children and also, he's wearing her childhood locket around his neck.

This novel has several plot twists, almost too many to count, while the magical realism and pitch-perfect language of the period elevates this story above similar rote adventures from classic texts. I found myself laughing out loud to the predicaments Didier Rain found himself in—either as the bumbling persona of Hoper Newfangle or later as prophetic groom Adamiah Linklater—and his ruminations about how the course of his life unfolds adds a much-needed reprieve from some of the unsavory characters he encounters.

When comparing the two books in the series, which I'm sure most readers will do, I found myself slightly preferring the first book to the second, mostly because the absence of the innocent titular character Virtue and the amiable horses Puck and Brownie, along with the unnamed yet helpful goat that comprised Didier Rain's caravan, provided a much-needed ballast of joviality for Didier's proclivity for boorishness. Without this group of amusing and innocent characters to balance him and his penchant for bad decision-making, Didier is a little less likeable by himself during this adventure.

That being said, I still enjoyed this mind-bending, wayward adventure and marveled at the sheer talent that is Brian Kindall's wordsmithing. Highly recommended!