She Dreams In Blood (The Obsidian Path 2), Michael R. Fletcher, 2021 (358pgs)
Whatever our crimes, we were together. That mattered more than anything.
—Khraen, reflecting on his completely
healthy relationship with his wife.
The second volume in the Obsidian Path trilogy opens with our narrator having acquired a name, Khraen. Oh, and he finds himself in hell. (“Buried under a castle carved of obsidian floating through a twisting red and purple sky forever devoured by a trapped god,” in Fletcher’s rich description.) It’s a hell of his own creation, but a hell nonetheless. For company, he has the enigmatic counselor Nhil, an endless font of advice which is as perceptive as it is suspect.
And Khraen has a dilemma.
A key part of Black Stone Heart was the discovery that Khraen is one facet of a resurrected dark emperor, a war criminal many times over and servant of the terrible goddess who dreams in blood. What he is to do with this knowledge forms part of his dilemma. The other part takes the form of Henka, necromancer and his wife of eons. She sent the wolf who greeted his return from a literal grave, has guided him through his return to life, and is possibly the agent of his ancient downfall at the hands of the wizards who now rule the world he once held in his palm.
In She Dreams In Blood, Khraen reaches a figurative adolescence. Having put aside the basic questions about who and what he is (and was) which framed the first book, this volume plumbs deeper waters of relationships: marital, political, divine and friendship. (Spoiler alert: there are no—zero, null, nada—healthy relationships in this trilogy. Nowhere.)
At the same time, Khraen is physically journeying -- seeking more fragments of himself and ultimately, a return to his former capital. Along the way, he visits—and wrecks—a series of places, all of which were terrible even before he showed up.
These intertwined journeys, unfortunately are no easier or more straightforward than those from the first volume. Khraen must manage decay: on a moral level within his own heart and soul, ethically in respect to a newfound friend, and in a disturbing, recurring and very literal way in the case of Henka. He handles none of this well, but that’s the journey the author sets the reader on.
“Confident men didn’t hunger for worship, didn’t crave fear. The wants of a man who likes himself are so very different from those of a man drowning in self-loathing. ”
As with the earlier book, this is masterfully written and gripping. At the same time I thought it was a little less compelling than Black Stone Heart. This may be because here we really get to come to grips with the insanely ambitious schema through which Fletcher moves his characters. We have an adventuring layer, a magical layer, a world-building layer, layers on layers of carefully obfuscated plot (and plotting), and the worm-like twisting and turning that is Khaen’s own evolution--or devolution, depending on the angle from which one’s viewing it.
It’s a lot to take on, and saying that sometimes the book creaks a little bit under the strain of it all doesn’t take away from the end result: I have to admire Fletcher’s largely very smooth execution of a hugely ambitious project. Just, really, could we have a little less necromancy?
Smirk factor: All clear: 2 pts (Zero smirks given or received.)
Immersion factor: Chest-high: 1.5 pts
Writing quality: Above-average: 1.5 pts
Character/plot development: High-minus: 1.75 pts
Innovative/interesting: Above-average: 1.5 pts
Total: 8.25/10 (4.125 stars...no, that’s silly. Still a 5.)