War For The Oaks by Emma Bull

You know, posing review questions is a great outlet for us subconscious voices. So - War for the Oaks - give it the sell!

Eddi McCandry is a talented but down-on-her-luck rock n'roll musician until the Seelie Fey kinda kidnap her and tell her they need her help in a war with the Unseelie for Minneapolis. It's say Yes or the Unseelie start with her. Eddi's left with the infuriating and shape-shifting Phouka, a long list of questions, a serious case of nerves - and a new band to form.

That sounds like...

A lot of things? Yes. War for the Oaks was one of the founding stones of the Urban Fantasy genre and now, thirty plus years down the line, is made to look just a little cliche by its legion of spiritual offspring. Gotta say, I wonder if Emma Bull ever feels a tad peeved about that, or just proud of her work's influence. As someone with an appreciation for the genre's history, I was excited to read this. But even as someone who doesn't read all that much Urban Fantasy and doesn't get that annoyed by cliche and trope, this did evoke some deja vu at times. It doesn't help that my introduction to Urban Fantasy as a kid was Mercedes Lackey's Bedlam's Bard series, which fishes in very similar waters.

Got it. Urban Fantasy like Urban Fantasy's mama made it. What's it actually like though?

It's fun. Bull's two greatest strengths as an author here are witty banter and evocative descriptions (particularly of the uncanny) and you can build most of a fun story on those alone. My mind's eye saw and heard what Bull wanted it to see and hear and I smiled at the right times. Not that its non-stop wisecracking all the way; there's plenty of fear and nerves in the characters reaction when there should be. It's a story about a small group of people having a crazy adventure, half-laughing at it and half-WTFing at it, and the plot rattles along intriguingly enough. War For The Oaks is in the just straight up entertainment category.

Just how entertaining is it really?

I'd put it down as good but not great. Nothing about it had that "Holy Shit" impact for me - no damp eyed moments, no crowning moments of glory, no really good insults - nothing I'd rave about to my friends. For the most part that's an after the fact thought but occasionally the desire to see some real fireworks occurred while reading. Its hard to give too many details on that without a mahossive spoiler, so I'll simply say that when one early plot point is reintroduced right at the very end, I'm very underwhelmed at what's meant to be a big climax.

And part of that's because that plot point went unmentioned for most of the book. On a similar level, I can't think of a time when Eddi did this really clever thing, or made a really hard choice, or even just a choice that built a high level of dramatic resonance for later choices. Indeed, most of that comes from her bodyguard/sidekick, Phouka, who is unsurprisingly the most interesting and memorable character. But even his motivations feel a little underfleshed, and underfleshed is basically the best way I can think of to describe War For The Oaks' drama. It's still an enjoyable book, just not quite fulfilling its potential for me.

Did you turn to the back at any point?

Three-quarters through when it was too late to finish in one sitting, but too near the end for me to go to sleep without knowing.

Any Other Points of Interest?

Not really. If you love 80s rock, you'll love all the references. I guess from the point of view for anyone looking at representation, there's one black guy and Phouka is described as dark skinned (and also described with a N-bomb by one charming fellow). There's a fair amount of romance. Lots of female characters - although that's kinda the Urban Fantasy standard, isn't it? That's the thing with War For The Oaks. Its a very ronseal book these days (does exactly what it says on the tin). I wish I'd read this back when it was published but, well, I was struggling with not shitting myself and walking then, nevermind reading.

This is at least a straight forwards book to recommend. Interested in Urban Fantasy, Light-Hearted Adventures, and the Fantasy Genre's History? Step this way. Not? Probably not. War For The Oaks probably won't transcend genre lines for anyone. Not anymore. And I feel a sadness now that I've typed that for that's the cruel march of time in a nutshell. But so be it. This is still a good example of its genre.