Review: The Brittle Land by Tom Kane

The Brittle Land by Tom Kane

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My review of the prequel is here.

Diving into Tom Kane’s The Brittle Sea, I will confess to having been surprised by what the narrative threw at me. Going in, I had expected a story solely surrounded by the backdrop of the RMS Titanic, and that is a far cry from what is contained within those pages. That said, based on my review, a casual reader will be able to see that I was not disappointed in the overall narrative, despite my confession now that it was not what I had thought it was going to be. Being surprised does not necessarily equate to being disappointed, and he created a very intriguing plotline in the first book that led easily into this sequel.

Now, moving on to this book, I will confess that some of the historical jargon flew over my head, although I do see (and somewhat understand) what Kane is building toward. One of the biggest positives for me with this sequel is we finally see the two feuding families that were hinted at in the first book’s marketing, and that did not disappoint! The families in the conflict ended up subverting my expectations rather nicely, as I did not expect certain individuals to get involved.

Now that I’ve gotten that confession out of the way, let’s see what this story is about.

Summary

The story opens with a recap of the previous installment. Magda has shot Richard Blackmore in rage, and the captain finds himself eager for revenge. As Blackmore realizes this, The Great War begins in earnest, so he enlists to have an outlet for his rage.

While this is happening, Maggie resurfaces and learns of Magda, her shooting of Blackmore, and William Harker’s plot to destroy Richard. Enraged, Maggie embarks on her own journey for revenge, unaware that Magda may be the one pulling the strings behind her fury.

As The Great War rages on, Maggie and Harker engage in a conflict that threatens to destroy their lives and those close to them.

Will Maggie successfully subdue Harker? Or has she perhaps gone too far down the path of darkness all too familiar to her other persona?

Thoughts

Okay, wow! The fact that I wish I could dive right into the final book in this trilogy probably speaks to how I feel overall about the narrative being constructed here! Tom Kane continues to captivate me with this thrilling story of corruption, power, and intrigue in the opening (and ending) of the Great War. It’s incredible that this series completely subverted my expectations in the historical events that Kane chooses to focus on. The Titanic feels like it’s really just a small piece of the incredibly vast backdrop he is using to tell the characters’ stories.

Now, in the first book, it did eventually become clear that The Great War was one of the major events Kane was building toward. From the moment the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was mentioned, I knew what was coming, and we see the aftermath of that in this story.

Seeing Richard Blackmore and Peter Asparov both enlist and fight in the conflict was interesting to me, because of what it does to the overall narrative. It causes two separate stories to be built in this narrative – the story of the two characters in the war – and Maggie’s anger with William Harker. I will discuss both more in the structure section.

All that said, let’s get into the characters!

Characters

Maggie Blackmore

I know, I know. I discussed her character last time. However, with this series I feel it is necessary to track how each character evolves over the course of the trilogy, and I have some things to say about Maggie/Magda here. Let’s do it!

The subtle evolution of Maggie in this story is fascinating! I find it so interesting how Tom Kane is showing how Magda and Maggie are slowly becoming one again! When Maggie learns about her other side, there is some fear in her. This fear makes sense given how kind and gentle she is, so seeing her surprised and concerned that her body does not belong to her but instead belongs to a person she could never see herself being has a kind of irony to it that I am a bit amused by, because I remember laughing and poking fun at how Maggie and Magda would never get along if they were two separate individuals in the last book.

Besides that, I like that Kane is ever-so-subtly weaving some of Magda’s personality into Maggie’s, creating a sense of unease for the reader as the plot unfolds. Seeing the two start to meld together in the background as Maggie learns more about – and finds an enemy in – William Harker is as fascinating as it is terrifying! How their rivalry unfolds into the blood feud mentioned in the story’s synopsis is awesome to see. It’s captivating to watch!

William Harker

I admit, the opening with Harker made me think for a second that the character from the last book had grown and matured to the point where he was no longer a monster. How naïve of me! This man is just as cruel and vindictive as ever, and it’s intense watching him work to bring down the Blackmores. Seeing everything he does lets me know in the back of my mind that anything is possible, but at the same time I admit that Tom Kane continues to catch me off-guard with certain things Harker does.

The activities he engages in to bring down the Blackmore family should not be surprising given who he is. However, the depravity that this character has shown thus far is now making me think that he will never change. And I am preparing myself for even darker deeds from him. One strong indicator of this is how he treats his own family. His children literally mean nothing to him as he engages in this feud. He does not care how property damage will affect his family’s living situation – he is only angry about the fortune that was lost. Those two things cemented for me that he is beyond redemption, and I am interested to see how much lower he can go.

Richard Blackmore

It was intriguing to see Blackmore decide to enlist in the war, and how that turned out. I am not surprised by his kindness for his comrades, but – unsurprisingly – he continues to have some terrible luck. Without divulging spoilers, I will say it should be interesting to see how he handles the situation going forward, because I think he just found another person to hate in Magda’s brother Peter. Besides that, it is interesting to see the change in him from when he decides to enlist. Tom Kane gives virtually no time from it being discovered that he is alive after Magda shooting him to saying he is going to get involved in the war.

I find this interesting because while, yes, he is getting involved because of his anger and his experience as a captain on the surface, I also think Kane gave us a little preview of this with the rebel invasion in the last book. If you read my review of the previous installment, you’ll learn I wasn’t a huge fan of how that development played out. However, if I’m right and it was used as a precursor to this, I am okay with the two events being linked in that way.

Structure

Now, as I hinted before I dove into the character section, this story is divided among several different perspectives and – in doing so – Tom Kane builds two separate narratives for the reader to follow: the story of the combatants in the war and Maggie’s conflict with William Harker. I will admit that – out of the two – I was more enthralled by the familial feud than the war. It’s not that the war itself didn’t have compelling moments, but rather that I personally feel like certain characters weren’t checked in on often enough for their plights to be entirely memorable.

When I say this, I am talking about Peter. I am wondering if I may have missed it, but I do not understand why he enlisted and why he became so bitter during the conflict and what resulted. Is Tom Kane trying to imply that it was the horror of the war by itself that just broke him? I admit to that being a strong possibility, but I would like to be sure. Either way, now that the war is over, I am looking forward to seeing him again and hopefully getting some answers.  

Writing

As with the last book, the writing is very compelling! In the last installment, I wrote mostly about the use of tone and tonal shifts in the narrative. However, in this sequel, I noticed something that I think is awesome. I mentioned this trick in my review of Anthony Di Angelo’s Sicilian Roulette, so it might sound familiar: when the author takes a scene and first writes it with little context, only to reintroduce it later from another perspective that allows for greater context – and perhaps even an entirely new take on it – to be shown.

In this case, Kane is reintroducing the opening scene of the first book from the perspective of a passerby named Evie. Seeing this situation from Evie’s perspective gives the scene an entirely new tone: one of tragedy and shock because we’re seeing it from a passerby, rather than just the shock with which the scene is painted in the prequel. Evie witnessing this event shows the reader how an innocent bystander might feel about the events of the narrative, showing that the story’s plotline is not one of an everyday life – this is a story of greed and corruption that would leave an innocent bystander weeping for those involved.

Conclusion

So, overall, I enjoyed this sequel very much. While I still think the prequel would be my favorite out of the two simply because of how Tom Kane was able to shock me so often in that story and I felt like – with the plot involving the war here – that happened less often, I am still hooked enough that I want to finish this! I want to see what comes next!

I am still highly interested in seeing how Tom Kane is going to wrap this up, especially with the fact that we do now see the families in the feud. I am also interested to see how Richard Blackmore and Peter Asparov will wrap up their conflict. I look forward to finishing this story and would recommend it to those that have read the prequel and want to see where the story goes next!