Review: Children of the Black by W.J. Long III

Review: Children of the Black by W.J. Long III

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, I’m on something of a science fiction kick right now. There’s something about the genre that is intriguing to me.

I love the imaginings of where our world may be one day. Long’s offering is no exception to this, imagining a society that can travel to many different planets and where there are individuals who have silver aliens as part of them. There are also psionics that can affect people with just their minds and can exert great power over others, if they so desire.

One thing that I really love about this story is Long’s writing. His prose is lush and lyrical, giving the novel an almost dreamlike quality that is easy to lose yourself in. This made learning more about the world he created very intriguing!

There is a minor snag to this, though. Long uses these brief breaks in a chapter to cut to a new location/situation. It’s a technique familiar to me, because I used it once in a creative writing class I took, and the professor took issue with it. I know now why it was an issue when I did it, because I see problems with Long’s use of it. But I’ll get more into that when discussing structure.

For now, let’s give a brief summary.

Summary

We open on a ship in space. Claude DiSilva works under the command of Kerrid Bertrand at the end of a war between two peoples, the Beitans and the Sabiens. After the war, Claude is asked by Bertrand to retrieve mysterious drives and quickly finds that things are much more dangerous than originally thought, as a former ally of Bertrand’s will do anything to find and kill him.

Can Claude complete the job before Bertrand’s former ally gets to him?

Thoughts

What is there to say? I’m a real sucker for the kind of dreamlike prose Long uses. Even if he’s describing something bad, or the tension is up, there’s just something there that keeps me hooked. Even his descriptions of the “passenger” Claude has – I was intrigued from when that was first mentioned, and the more I learned, the more enthralled I was. Horrifying? Yes. But also gripping!

Actually, I want to talk a bit more about the passenger and the other characters that have versions of their own. Through the introduction of this element, Long’s dreamlike prose turns on its head quickly, because the creatures are mysterious, disgusting, and just plain wrong. The alien or otherworldly life form is a trope that is incredibly common at this point, but Long’s use of it is unique, in my view. Seeing the passenger only be a harmless wiggling bit of goop at first only to gain the abilities it does is horrifying! I won’t say what happens, but I will disclose that I’m worried for the rest of the characters, because he’s left some threads open.

Characters

Claude DiSilva

It’s not lost on me that Claude’s last name is DiSilva and his passenger is silver in color. I see what Long did there.

Joking aside, I like Claude a lot. I have a soft spot for characters that take on the responsibility of raising a child, and even without that, he just seems like such a good guy to me. The dedication to his job with Bertrand is great to see, as well as his dedication to raising Vision the psionic child.

I also love seeing his relationship with Zhara. I like the fact that, while it’s obvious Claude has feelings for her, he’s hesitant of his own actions and how they move forward. I also like that Long allowed for some comedic moments with the two of them, such as one when Bertrand caught them both in bed together and another when Vision was trying to get into their minds and couldn’t because they kissed, and she made her displeasure known from behind closed doors!

Speaking of Vision…

Vision

Vision intrigued me right away. A girl who can enter other people’s minds, their dreams, and can affect the passenger inside Claude is very interesting!

I also love the fact that Long makes her a little girl because, while she does have those otherworldly abilities, she is absolutely a child. She gets upset when she’s not treated like an adult, she likes sugar, and she wants to be more mature than she is and is somewhat bothered by the adults around her wanting to protect her. This is a very believable portrayal of a young child and I love it!

I would be very interested in reading more about her if Long were to continue this story. While he did wrap up the story he was trying to tell, I have questions and Vision is involved in a couple of those. I wouldn’t mind reading more about her.

Miranda

I’m not exactly sure how to phrase what I want to say about Miranda. She is intriguing to me because she is so dead set on revenge against Bertrand, and Long very heavily implies that her passenger is partly the reason why.

If that is indeed the case, I really feel bad for her more than anything. I don’t see it ending well for her given what we know about these passengers, and I’m frightened for Claude at the same time for the same reason.

I see it ending in tragedy for her – a promising life destroyed by a lust for revenge driven by an alien life form that could very well be eating her alive. Long illustrates this in what her passenger does as the story goes on and it’s terrifying to see.

Structure

So, I did have a problem with the structure. Long likes to put these breaks in the chapters going from one situation to another, and this bothered me as I went through the novel.

Why is this an issue? Turns out, this slows the story’s pacing significantly. This novel clocks in at almost seven hundred pages and over forty chapters and while, yes, that is a lot of material, I wouldn’t mind at all if there had been sixty or more chapters if it meant cutting down the information in each one.  

He starts to do this toward the end of the novel as we near the climax but doing it to just up the tension for the big final battle doesn’t erase the fact that I needed to frequently take breaks after reading one to two chapters because of how long they are and how much information was thrown at me in one go.

Writing

The biggest plus for me with this novel is Long’s prose. I love his writing! He builds this dreamlike space world that has a nightmarish side to it that is incredibly intriguing! I love all his descriptions of the place he’s created.

His descriptions of places and people are so well done that I felt like I was right there. One scene I remember is when Claude and Vision are at this restaurant and Vision ordered this highly sugary drink and Claude was preparing for her sugar high!

Another description I remember is Claude entering his old apartment, armed, and the tension is incredibly high during that time! I felt like I was in that dark room with him! Long is able to transport you to anywhere he wants, and the descriptions are so vividly imagined that you feel like you’re right there!

Conclusion

I really enjoyed this, even with the issues I had. I think I just have a thing for stories of people taking in children in need, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is an intriguing story even without that! The characters are great, the plot is gripping, and the world is beautifully imagined!

I would recommend this to science fiction fans that don’t mind a longer exploration of a world. Long really allows you to see everything and it’s a lot of fun as it goes along! I also want to mention that I hope he’ll continue this story. There are open threads here that I’d love to see explored down the road.

In the end, he’s created a fun world that I sure hope we haven’t seen the last of. I look forward to revisiting this world if we ever can!