BOOK TALK - The Builders

The Builders by Daniel Polansky

From the summary on Amazon:

A missing eye.

A broken wing.

A stolen country.

The last job didn't end well.

Years go by, and scars fade, but memories only fester. For the animals of the Captain's company, survival has meant keeping a low profile, building a new life, and trying to forget the war they lost. But now the Captain's whiskers are twitching at the idea of evening the score

            ‘Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting’

            This was a phrase that I continuously said to myself while reading through the strange and violent tale of The Builders. When I had picked it up I assumed, both from the cover as well as from the various accolades comparing the book to Brian Jacques and Watership Down, that I was going to be in for a good old fantasy animal adventure. What I found instead was a sea of violence, death, betrayal, and a style that felt closer to Beowulf than it did to any of Brian Jacques works.

            It’s difficult to talk too much about this book without spoiling a number of things, so I will at least give my spoiler-free impressions first here: The Builders is an excellent story that is written in the style of a legend, with plot twists and many violent ends, this is a book for mature readers through and through. It’s fantastic anthropomorphic fiction, playing with many of the stereotypes that the animals involved are known for, and yet treating them as parts of the characters rather than one-note traits or jokes. Although it’s a little short and moves at a breakneck pace, I never felt deprived of characterization. It has a single, brutal story to tell and it does so with great efficiency. I must say, however, that a great many of the characters are very unlikable creatures and there’s not an innocent soul in the book, so it can make it very hard to personally have empathy for any of the cast. I’d definitely recommend it to fans of classic anthropomorphic literature and fans of western legends like Beowulf or North American tall tales.

... What? When I think of tall tales, I think of s'mores around the campfire. Don't you?

            Now, for a bit of a deeper look, I might be diving into spoiler territory as I talk about what I did and did not like about this story here, so consider yourselves warned!

            First and foremost, as I said, I had a bit of a problem connecting with the characters. The first character that we’re introduced to is a battered old soldier of a mouse known simply as ‘the Captain’. He’s immediately abrasive and constantly angry and you know from just looking at him that he’s a surprisingly deadly individual. Those are all cool traits for the gruff old captain stereotype but I never realized how prickly they could make a protagonist. He’s not simply tough with a no-nonsense personality, but he’s also cruel to both ally and enemy. One of the more telling elements of this cruelty is when he visits an old friend who gave up fighting and hires men to kill him, forcing his old friend to fight for his very life and awaken a bloodlust that he’d worked so hard to overcome.

            So, yes, rather than working through reason to get his old compatriot to join him in an eventual battle, or even respecting that ally’s wish to be forgotten, our protagonist throws away the lives of several others in a gambit that, if he’d miscalculated, would have resulted in the death of the very person he wanted to have help him. For the entire book, this incident made me feel just baffled as to why anyone would work with this mouse and why they would approach working with him with such joy and nostalgia. Yes, the Captain is strong and he’ll get the job done, but nobody in their right mind is going to think that they can trust their lives to him.

            This suspension of disbelief is somewhat alleviated as we meet and learn more about the entire cast. As I said above, nobody in this book is innocent, and that’s especially true for our heroes. They’re assassins, thieves, poisoners, liars, and more than a few are betrayers, both of good and bad. In fact, calling them ‘heroes’ feels rather wrong, and even our group of protagonists would most definitely disagree with the title. It took me until near the last half of the book to realize that the titular Builders were working towards positive political ends, as so much of the story feels more like a tale of revenge. It can be very confusing to know how to feel as one reads through this story.

            One thing that is not in question, however, is just how awesome these characters are. I compared this book to Beowulf, and I think the reason for that is because it feels like a classic epic poem in structure more than a novel. In novels, there’s usually an arc of sorts as you see character succeed and fail and grow into an eventual climax. In novels, it’s some accepted for your protagonists to start small and grow into something grand to overcome what were previously thought to be impossible odds. In this book, though, the characters start out being awesome and the entire book feels like we’re watching a legend being built. Strangely, the key villains in the story are actually afraid of the protagonists, and that fear never goes away as each member of the Builders shows exactly why they should be feared. It really put me in a different mood than most stories, and I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed anything quite like it other than possibly Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne series. For an anthropomorphic tale, this came like a wicked curve ball out of left field.

            Speaking of, as far as anthropomorphic fiction goes, The Builders is very solid. There’s an extremely diverse cast, including a salamander and an owl, and their individual animal traits are highlighted as a means to bring out their character, but not in a stereotypical fashion. Yes, the weasel is a cheat and a liar, but he’s also firmly a good guy and has one of the more heroic moments in the story. The badger is big and deadly, but he’s also soft-spoken and even a little romantic. The mouse is small and tenacious, but he’s also the most dangerous creature to ever walk the countryside, and everybody knows it.

            See, one of the most common pitfalls that can befall anthropomorphic literature, especially ones written in recent years, is when the characters lose their species identity. It can be easy, when reading certain books with diverse animal casts, to forget exactly what animal someone is, especially when you’re deep into the drama. Modern anthropomorphic stories can certainly have good and complex characters, but sometimes they can definitely feel interchangeable with humans or, at the very least, interchangeable with one another. The fox acts like the wolf who acts like the panther. This isn’t to say that all animal characters need to have dialogue tags that indicate their tails wagging or that they need to include barks and meows with their sentences (Goodness please no on that!), but a character’s species should be intricately tied to their identity, and not something added as an afterthought.

            It’s a little difficult to properly lay out how I mean this, but the best and most literal example that I can give is one of my favorite books: The Wind in the Willows. In a way, you could say that this book cheats by having all of the characters named after the animals that they are. Mole, Ratty, and Mr. Toad are all names that hide nothing… but somehow, upon saying those names, I just get a vivid mental picture of the character in the novel. I can’t say the name ‘Mr. Toad’ and not think of the wide-eyed, adventure-seeking expression of that crazed amphibian as he rides along in his newest vehicle. His species is a part of his character, and The Builders manages to convey that exact same feeling with its characters without resorting to calling them by their species names. It’s quite amazing.

It's funny... For as much as I love Disney, this is still the definitive version of Mr. Toad's appearance in my mind.
Maybe it's the pink human-y look of the Disney version that throws me off of it? Ah well!

            So, while The Builders might be a slightly mixed bag for my personal tastes because of the cruel characters and the intense violence and situations, I will not deny that it is an excellent book, and a perfect example of good anthropomorphic literature. I doubt this will reach the level of popularity as others in the field, and the book leaves absolutely no room for any kind of sequel, but I still feel like it should be getting more attention than it has. If you feel intrigued enough by my review here to give it a look, then please do so and let me know what you thought!

            Until next time, happy reading, all!

-Chammy

Currently Reading:

Mister Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Happy Furry Book Month!

Hello one and all!

I wanted to make you readers aware that October is a very special month indeed. Not just because of Halloween, Leif Erikson Day, or even National Nut Day (October 22 for the curious)!

Celebrating October in style!

No, October is extra special because it is officially known as Furry Book Month! At least, it’s official insofar as the month was declared as such by the Furry Writer’s Guild.

From what I can tell by reading their post about it and doing a little bit of Google Searching research, this is the first month that this has ever been made official, and I would like to join in to promote it to the few folks who read here!

Here are some details from the month borrowed and summarized from Skye Lansing (Check out his author blog here!), who seems to be one of the key promoters:

What is Furry Book Month?

It is a month-long campaign to help promote anthropomorphic literature and the producers of such content. While the focus of the campaign is on newer anthro literature, there is nothing at all wrong with taking this month to share classic from your collection! To help with the promotion, some publishers and book sellers are offering fantastic discounts for some of their books that fall under the ‘furry’ subgenre. You can read all about the current deals being offered at the Furry Writer’s Guild!

What is a Furry Book?

In the broadest sense, a furry book is any book that features anthropomorphic animal characters. We’ve talked about anthropomorphic literature plenty of times here, so you readers should be pros at identifying these! However, just because the book has anthropomorphic animals in it does NOT guarantee a discount from publishers. The discounts for this month seem largely to be focusing on books targeting or produced by the furry sub-culture. This doesn’t mean that you can’t promote and enjoy your copy of Redwall, though! It just means you might not be able to get it for half price.

How long does Furry Book Month last?

It lasts from October 1^st – 31^st, though some deals from publishers may have smaller windows.

Now, despite the naming, Furry Book Month does not have to be about the Furry sub-culture! Even if you have no interest at all in that, this month serves as a great way to promote the kinds of books that we enjoy! Who knows? If we can expand awareness of this month even further, more publishers and websites might get in on the fun, and it’ll go a long ways toward encouraging more writers in our favorite genre.

Besides that, this is a great excuse for me to talk to even more people about anthropomorphic literature at the library.

These guys have the right idea!

Until next time, happy reading!

-Chammy

Currently reading:

Gene Wilder: Funny and Sad by Brian Scott Mednick (Uhh… he played a fox in a movie once! It totally counts) 
Lackadaisy Vol. 2 by Tracy J. Butler

REVIEW: Shady Hollow

Shady Hollow: A Murder Mystery by Juneau Black

ShadyHollow: A Murder Mystery by Juneau Black, is an anthropomorphic mystery novel set in the town of the same name. It’s a rather idyllic ‘Mayberry-esque’ town where serious crime is almost unheard of. In classic fashion, it lists the cast of characters we have to look forward to in the beginning of the book, as if we were preparing to settle in for a play of sorts. An interesting omission, to me, is the listing of the species for the cast. Some of their character descriptions do mention what they are, but many are left for us to fill in the gaps until we meet the character in the book itself. Luckily, Shady Hollow follows the old tradition of giving relatively animalistic names to the anthropomorphic characters. For instance, our main character is named Vera Vixen and she is, of course, a fox. Others are a little more subtle like Lenore Lee being a raven who owns the local bookstore, Nevermore Books, and the ursine chief of police being named Theodore. 

Despite the silly names and a setting that would appear to be right out of a Saturday-morning cartoon, Shady Hollow is not at all shy about jumping into the serious realm of murder and intrigue. In the very first chapter, it jumps right into the grisly murder of Otto Sumpf, a frog who is the local crotchety grump, and who is found face down in the river with a knife in his back. From there, the story fans out into exploring the lives of various townsfolk and uncovering all of their little secrets and hidden affairs (including some literal affairs). This leads to more characters than one would expect having reason to murder Otto and shake up the relative serenity of Shady Hollow. As the book goes on, it expands into the classic murder mystery format of laying out alibis and examining motives until the killer is finally revealed.

Interestingly, the book plays around with everything that it knows itself to be. Even though it’s considered to be a ‘funny animal’ book in the same vein as The Wind in the Willows, its animals never shy away from being scandalous or deadly serious, turning the typical ‘playful and happy-go-lucky’ animal stereotype on its head. Characters get drunk, have one-night stands, tell open-face lies, have broken marriages… but none of it ever goes TOO far over the line. One of the characters being a mistress is heavily implied, but never is anything sexual seen. Characters may occasionally say and do awful things to one another and can fight quite bitterly, but there is no swearing or foul language of any kind. Even the murders are written in an oddly ‘off-screen’ manner, where the murder itself is never seen and the injuries are usually physically minor and hidden from view. It’s almost odd to think that everything that we actually get to see, if it were a film, would put this book within a PG rating in terms of content, yet the mystery is treated very much like an adult affair. The motives that characters have can be heart-breaking or cruel, even venturing into the realm of a small town’s socially accepted racism or distrust of outsiders. Make no mistake: this is a work of fiction that is probably best enjoyed with an adult mindset. It’s like watching the stories of Winnie-The-Pooh unravel and reveal what happens when Rabbit finally has enough and smacks Tigger with his shovel over the rampant property destruction.

The mystery novel aspect is played around with as well, and done in a very enjoyable fashion. Early on, Vera takes on the case of Otto’s murder and determines that she needs an expert’s opinion on the matter. Rather than going to a police detective, she confides in her best friend Lenore, who specializes in reading mystery novels. The pair constantly deconstruct what should normally happen in a mystery and compare it with the situations they’re facing, including checking up on alibis and even typical suspects and false leads. While not only fun, it also helps to put the reader into the proper mindset of wanting to crack the case themselves.

With all of that praise, there are a few things that hold the book back. First, the book is a little short, giving us only about 200 pages of very fast-moving text. By the end, it feels like we’ve watched an episode or two of a television series rather than read a full-length novel. Granted, this is a minor problem, as the pace of the novel is brisk and it kept me pretty engaged throughout, but I really would have enjoyed taking some time to learn more about the world of Shady Hollow and the lives of the various characters in it. The drama of the book is a little on the low side because of this. Also, as a related problem, some of the characters are painfully one-dimensional, despite being important enough to warrant a listing in the ‘cast list’ at the beginning of the book. BW Stone, the always angry and always shouting skunk who manages the local newspaper is probably the worst offender, being little more than a skunk-based caricature of J. Jonah Jameson from Spider Man. 

Ya know, his hair always DID
look kind of skunk-like

Characters like these make it feel like the book is a little tonally confused, as it will try to impart the gravity of a murder and social problems at one moment and remind you that this isn’t a children’s tale, but then it tries to be a little too silly or stereotypical and avoids depth. It kind of makes me wonder if the authors are straddling the line between adult and childish writing because they themselves couldn’t decide on an audience to market this towards. Considering how anthropomorphic fiction IS usually considered to be in the realm of Teen or Children’s literature by most publishers, I could certainly understand such a problem. It also would explain the fairly low-key cover design of a fox silhouetted underneath the title and the ‘A Murder Mystery’ subtitle. A cover fully displaying the anthropomorphic cast with all their vibrant colors and personalities would give a very different feel and might sway too far towards one side or the other. It’s a shame, though, as I would have very much liked to see how the author envisioned this cast!

In the end, despite the little problems I’ve mentioned, I’d give this book a hearty recommendation for fans of mysteries, inventive stories, and anthropomorphic fiction! Not only is it a fun, quick read, but there also looks to be more on the way, if the ‘Coming Soon’ list at the front of the book is any indication. Considering how rare it is for me to see something that bridges my love for both mysteries and anthropomorphic fiction, I’m certainly hoping we’ll see the next book in this series sooner rather than later!

Stand aside, Basil of Baker Street! It's time for the Great Raccoon Detective!

Until next time,

Happy reading, all!

-Chammy

Currently reading:

The Chronicles of Flurry the Bear by J. S. Skye