Elizabeth Bear: Range of Ghosts

[bibliogramma]

Range of Ghosts is the first book in Elizabeth Bear's epic fantasy trilogy The Eternal Sky. Drawing on a wide range of Asian cultures as the starting point for her intensive world building, Bear has created a rich tapestry in which to embed the story of two heroes - Re Temur and Sardukar-la - both displaced royals, from very different cultures, who join together to fight a hidden power that seeks to destroy all that they know.

The blurb on Bear's website says of this novel:

Temur, grandson of the Great Khan, is walking away from a battlefield where he was left for dead. All around lie the fallen armies of his cousin and his brother, who made war to rule the Khaganate. Temur is now the legitimate heir by blood to his grandfather’s throne, but he is not the strongest. Going into exile is the only way to survive the machinations of his ruthless uncle.

Once-Princess Samarkar is climbing the thousand steps of the Citadel of the Wizards of Tsarepheth. She was heir to the Rasan Empire until her father got a son on a new wife. Then she was sent to be the wife of a Prince in Song, but that marriage ended in battle and blood. Now she has renounced her worldly power to seek the magical power of the wizards.

These two will come together to stand against the hidden cult that has so carefully brought all the empires of the Celadon Highway to strife and civil war through guile and deceit and sorcerous power.

Much of this novel is essentially an introduction to this wonderfully detailed and diverse world and the characters that will play a role in the events to come. Bear takes her time in setting up her narrative, and I'm very glad she does this, because this world is well worth getting to know. But there is nothing wasted here - every element is necessary to enable the reader to fully engage with the vastness of the setting - which, were it set on our Earth, would span the entire Asian continent, from the Middle East to Japan - and the depth of the characters - each of whom arrives with a full and complex backstory, unique individuals from the moment we meet them.

In Range of Ghosts, Bear demonstrates her mastery of yet another subgenre of speculative fiction, and further cements her position as one of the best writers operating in that field today. Yeah, I'm a fangirl. Deal.