I recently mentioned Max Gladstone's work here in a mildly critical tone and I thought I needed to expand on this a little because Mr Gladstone is one of the best authors around.
I don't talk about his books a lot here so that mightn't come across like it should. I'm not sure why I don't - his name is mentioned prominently in my end of year lists and then forgotten for the rest of the year - but I should. Maybe part of it is I space out reading his books so I don't accidentally consume them all in one go.
In any case, Max Gladstone = must try reading and here is why.
It starts with the ideas. My fantasy reading is in a strange place these days sometimes as I want fantasy to resemble the fantasy I grew up, but I also hunger for new ideas. I still read books that keep closely to the old ways and books that are heading in different directions, but I go through moods with them. For me, Gladstone's idea of a world where Gods are companies, where magic and souls are currency, and where worship is business, is one of those things that hits the sweet spot in the middle. I imagine for others that this will sound way too out there and I get that, but my idea of fantasy has always been about history meeting myth and this has that.
What his books also have is a great conception of the smaller details too. Gladstone's cultures combine modern day problems with the resonance of legends. He's done three different locales in three different books and in each case, he has made both sides of the coin feel utterly real. Personal everyday problems are just as riveting as incredible displays of magic. And his use of stereotype and trope is adroit too. Lots of books feature that special lady who the man falls in love with right away; few delve as deep into the psychology as work as he does.
It helps that Gladstone writes fantastically well too. He has a knack for the succinct and evocative scene setter: "Kai met the Craftswoman a week later in a nightmare of glass." He has a good balance between detail and brevity - closer inspection shows he often goes for three sentences - and a fine eye for life's little absurdities: He describes the uncanny very well too: "More like a stream of water, if water were invisible, and not precisely wet". Most crucially for me, he very rarely gets carried away. He can wax poetical but those waxings are there to give the work its finish, not to be the finish itself. Gladstone is, first and foremost, a very lucid writer.
What then of his storytelling? The part of his craft I was mildly grousing about earlier? It is the easiest part of his books to criticise, but also something at which he is easily more than adequate. A preference for strong themes and tight character casts does occasionally result in telegraphed decisions but other than that he twists plots well. I admire the pacing with which he reveals details about the world and he manages the arc of emotions very nicely. If I ever end up as good a storyteller as Max Gladstone, I'll be proper chuffed.
All in all, he is a truly special author in every way. And the overall effect reminds me so much of Sir Terry Pratchett, only American and more serious. Not only have they both created worlds that feel at once loving and utterly irreverent about fantasy, there is a similar approach to how they approach humanity; with gentle anger. So much of fantasy is about power and while almost no authors are uncritical about its effects, very few are so direct about the messes we tolerate. It is often quietly said so as not to drown out the story itself, but it is direct.
The weird thing is there doesn't seem to be a lot of noise about him. I know a few people who are even bigger fans than me, I see talk about his books once in a while, but he seems to be slipping under most people's radars. A while back when I was first connecting properly with the wider fandom, I asked for recommendations on what's good and recent and nobody mentioned his name once. Granted, it was a small survey, and only one person recommend NK Jemisin so clearly a lot has changed since then, but its some modicum of proof that my mind isn't playing tricks on me.
I hope this changes. I hope Gladstone becomes massive and that there are movies about his books. He deserves to. And I hope that there's someone who reads this, likes what they hear, and decides he deserves a shot on their TBR list.
Because he is one of the best things about fantasy today.
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