Tonight you get an extra-special super-duper bonus diary: a book review.
That's right. Tonight, my friends and faithful readers, I bring you not just Bad Books, or Condensed Books, or even the latest news on Gil the Wonder Cat's extra-silky super-fluffy coat. I bring you a review for a stunning new novel, one that I've been waiting to see in print for years. It's by science fiction author Walter H. Hunt, whom I've spoken of before, and believe me, it's not only the best thing he's ever done, it's one of the best books I've read this year.
It's called Elements of Mind, and it's about a sacred artifact and a secret world that may have shaped the history of the last century and a half.....
Elements of Mind, by Walter H. Hunt - James Esdaile should have it all: retired after a long career as a doctor in Victorian India, he's back in Scotland with a lovely wife and enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life. So why does his younger brother, a minister, all but order him and his wife to leave the area and not return? Why does Esdaile do all he can to avoid meeting his old correspondent Rev. William Davey? What promises did he make to Davey and his associates, the mysterious Committee that controls the small but influential community of British mesmerists - and what promises did he break?
And why would a respectable doctor kill himself in front of his wife, his nemesis, and the solid citizens of London under the glittering panels of the great Crystal Palace itself?
Esdaile's suicide, which thwarted both Rev. Davey and a much greater threat, is only the opening act of this marvelously entertaining, compulsively readable novel set in a Victorian Age that is almost - but not quite - the one found in the history books. It seems that Esdaile, who achieved remarkable success in treating his patients with the ancient art of mesmerism (which is almost but not quite hypnotism), promised to bring a powerful artifact that seemingly enhanced his own talents back to London for the Committee to examine and use. He died rather than fulfill his promise, and Rev. Davey sets out to learn why Esdaile reneged, and what happened to the artifact itself, no matter the cost - which proves to be much, much higher than he ever suspected.
Rev. Davey, stubborn, irritating, and utterly convinced that he is right mounting evidence to the contrary, is a compelling if ultimately misguided protagonist as he sets out to discover why Esdaile reneged on his promise. The supporting cast is equally well characterized, particularly Eliza Esdaile, who manages to survive an ordeal that would have broken a lesser woman, the incorruptible British officer Henry Evelyn Wood, the doomed Egyptian mesmerist Mehmet Nour, and the brilliant Georgiana Shackleford, who is both the epitome of the Victorian "angel of the house" and a force of nature in her own right. Many of these characters were based on real Victorians, both eminent and not, but Hunt's writing is so deft, and his characterizations so strong, that it's both a surprise and a real pleasure to discover how neatly he's taken what's in the historical record and re-imagined it as fiction.
The same can be said of the entire book. Steampunk and dark Victorian fantasy are all the rage right now, but it's rare to find an example that so easily combines meticulous research with excellent plotting and a narrative voice that manages to be both convincingly Victorian and accessible to the modern reader. Best of all, there are hints throughout the book that this is only the beginning, that mesmerism and its adherents have been behind so much of what's gone wrong in the last century, and that there are many, many more stories to be told in this richly imagined universe.
Walter Hunt is best known for his science fiction, especially the Dark Wing quartet. This is a new and very promising direction for his writing, and I look forward to learning more about the world he's created.
Links to non-Amazon sources:
Elements of Mind, at Barnes & Noble.
Elements of Mind, at Books-A-Million.
Elements of Mind, at Indiebound.