The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps

I loved this book, and it has some of the most beautiful prose I've ever encountered, especially in the moments that Demane shares with the Captain. But it was very difficult to read. It's not the dialect, or even the random bits of other languages, but that the author makes many strange word choices, using archaic and uncommon words and unusual phrasing. In some ways, it's much more like poetry than a novel.

I actually did the full Whispersync thing for the first time ever, reading along while listening to the audiobook, and I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it otherwise. The book this most reminds me of is Nothing Like the Sun by Anthony Burgess, which I liked a lot as a young teen, but couldn't finish, due to the writing style. This time, I'm grateful that one of my favorite narrators, Kevin R. Free, was there to ferry me along.

But yeah, I love the central relationship, although it is not the sole focus of the book. Demane deeply cherishes every moment he can steal with the Captain; the book's structure, which rarely shows their interactions, makes the reader share his longing.

I also like that many of the characters are written as morally grey, just people with different perceptions. In another book, Faedou would be a villain, and the two young boys would be pure comic relief. Instead, we see them all as complete people.

I have questions about a few things which I guess are left intentionally ambiguous: I think that the Captain dies in the end, but it isn't totally clear. Other than my own intellectual laziness, one reason that I avoid reading literary queer novels (not romance novels) is because the deaths of queer people in stories really bother me; I am old enough to remember when those were the only stories we ever got about ourselves. I want to believe they lived happily ever after in Demane's homeland, but I don't think so.

What I'm more curious about is whether the captain is suicidal through the whole story, or if he can see that his own death is coming. When Demane remembers their first meeting, the Captain talked that night about Demane taking over for him at the end of the upcoming voyage, and there are several other moments with the Captain seems like he is courting death. I'm wondering if Isa is meant to be world-weary, in the way that Aunty's Mother was, just done with his time on Earth and ready to permanently dissolve into light, like Demane briefly does. But if that's true, the ending is even sadder, since it is Demane's love for Isa that makes him return to Earth - it would mean that Isa's love for him was not as strong.

Also, I'm not sure if this is a post-apocalyptic Earth, an alternate history, a version of actual history, or another world. At some points when Demane mentions his “mother tongue,” it seems like he's talking about science, but he does have actual supernatural powers. Maybe the setting is also intentionally ambiguous.

I'm really glad to have read this and I recommend it to anyone who is okay with excessive violence/gore, and willing to spend some time with a dictionary while reading. I'm sure I'll reread it many times in the future, because some of the joyful moments are so perfect.