Chris Willrich

After picking up The Scroll of Years randomly, I was surprised to find out that it was the first book in this series and not the third or fourth. Right from the beginning, the characters have what seems to be a highly varied and complex history with one another and the world in which they live. I do kind of like that. However, writing like you already know who these characters are, the author does little to establish who they are as people, which I don't like as much. The novel is dense with show more allusions to Chinese history and culture, which I enjoyed, and it has some fun characters and clever fantasy ideas--the titular scroll is particularly cool--but the writing is never quite elegant enough to make me feel as though this is a real world with real people in it. show less

After the events of The Scroll of Years, Persimmon Gaunt and Imago Bone are back in action in The Silk Map, and this time on an even more exhilarating and perilous adventure. I promise you’ll never see anything else quite like these books, with its themes of East meets West and sword-and-sorcery fantasy with just a dash of the metaphysical.

While The Silk Map is the follow up to The Scroll of Years, it can most definitely be enjoyed on its own. I can’t stop marveling at the ease with show more which the author can throw his readers into the middle of a situation but still manage to convey all the complexities and nuances in the relationships between his characters. In fact, the Scroll of Years was not the first time Gaunt and Bone appeared either; they had been starring in their own short fiction adventures for more than a decade now, but not having read those stories before tackling this series did not hinder me at all. Chris Willrich quite simply has a talent of writing extremely convincing characters, and upon picking up these books you can immediately feel the weight of the history behind Gaunt and Bone, partners in crime and partners in love.

But like all couples, they’ve had their differences and hit their rough spots. The story picks up once again in the faraway land of Ancient China-inspired Qiangguo, where Gaunt and Bone had taken asylum from their enemies. Gaunt had given birth to their son in the first book, but in order to save him from the clutches of evil forces, she and Bone had had no choice but to lock their child away in a pocket dimension within a magical scroll. Now that scroll has been lost, and together with their allies, our two protagonists must find a way to recover it and rescue their son trapped inside.

Their journey leads them to the make a bargain with the Great Sage Monkey, a demi-god who knows of a way to retrieve the scroll. In exchange for her help, the minor deity asks that Gaunt and Bone seek the mystical land of Xembala and bring back the great treasure of the Iron Moths, that impossibly valuable material they produce called ironsilk. Their quest will involve traveling along the Braid of Spice, a fictional trade route that will lead them into the west.

Chris Willrich describes in the acknowledgements how this story was in part inspired by the history and tales of the Silk Road, which should already tell you what a gorgeous book this is. In antiquity, this route served as a bridge between the East and West, connecting people from all walks of life. The Silk Map brings to life a version of that diverse setting in its own unparalleled way, blending a rich combination of fantasy and myth with elements from that ancient culture.

Written beautifully in a literary and almost formal style, the prose is also something to be sipped and savored. I liked that there’s actually a lot of humor woven into the dialogue, sometimes hidden in sly references and wordplay, and if you blink you might miss it. While it’s true this made me take longer to finish the book, it is by no means a slow read. The Silk Map is a tale of adventure at its heart, and there is plenty of action and swashbuckling fight scenes interspersed with the quieter moments where you can sit back and enjoy as a character spins a yarn. Like The Scroll of Years, this book features poems and other stories within the larger narrative, often used to explain or expand upon the plot. Willrich’s writing style perfectly complements the speculative quality of these anecdotes, reminiscent of folklore and the legends told in the Far East Asian tradition.

For me, the highlight of The Silk Map had to be the interplay between Gaunt and Bone. Their relationship so far has been a journey as harrowing as the quest they have embarked upon to find their son. Their love will be checked, tested, and probed over the course of this novel and how they each come to terms with the conflict is as important as the other aspects in the plot, though no one can doubt Bone’s devotion to his partner, and of course, Gaunt shows us why it would be a mistake to underestimate the lengths a mother would go to for her child.

Interested in an Asian-themed fantasy or looking for a more subtle, elegant touch to your sword and sorcery without sacrificing the heroic element and adventure? Check out these books. The heady and sometimes dreamlike mix of history and mythology also make them an excellent choice. show less

The Scroll of Years sees Chris Willrich taking his characters Persimmon Gaunt and Imago Bone into new territory, in more ways than one. To date, the pair of adventurers have appeared in a handful of short stories (and the first one is actually included in the back of this volume) but now the two of them are starring in their own full-length novel.

A dynamic dual and partners in crime, Gaunt and Bone are also lovers expecting their first child. Caught up in some trouble with Night Auditor show more assassins at the beginning of this book, the pair flee across the ocean to Qiangguo, a land very much inspired by ancient Imperial China. To protect themselves from enemies and other factions who already have designs on their unborn child, they will need all the help they can get, and allies apparently can come from the most unexpected of places.

There is much to be said about Chris Willrich's ability to make me feel so connected to his main protagonists, since I have not read the short stories and The Scroll of Years is my first introduction to Gaunt and Bone. Already, the two are in love and starting a family, which offers a very interesting kind of dynamic you usually don't find when picking up the first book of a series. It's not often that one gets a chance to read a fantasy novel from the perspective of a couple of parents-to-be, after all.

Quite frankly, it gave me positive feelings towards this book and its main characters right away, especially since the emotional nuances are always so close to surface whenever Gaunt or Bone find themselves in a quandary. On a personal level, Persimmon Gaunt's experiences as an expectant woman and then a new mother were humorous at times, and tugged at my heartstrings at others. Overall, these characters have a lot of depth and are just written so well.

The world in which the story takes place is also beautifully crafted, achieved without overt info-dumping. I have a great interest in Far East traditions, and to my delight the author has taken some Chinese myths and legends and incorporated them into this story, also creating some of his own at times to add to the richness of Qiangguo. Clearly, a lot of care was taken to blend fantasy, history, and his own research and knowledge, as evidenced by some of the stories and poetry found in this book, and even by simple things like the name given to this land of the Heavenwalls ("Qiang" meaning "Wall", "Guo" meaning "Nation").

The writing is also something I feel I have to remark upon, because the prose is definitely not of a typical style. Even so, this makes it no less beautiful or impressive in my eyes. It did take me a lot longer than expected to read this book, but only because Chris Willrich's style was something I felt really needed to be taken in slowly and savored. Because a certain level of attention is required to do so, this might make The Scroll of Years a difficult book to get into, but stick with it and you'll be rewarded by many subtle surprises in the writing. For example, I for one was not expecting much humor in this novel, but there were actually quite a few funny moments that came out of nowhere and made me laugh out loud.

All in all, I can safely say I cannot remember the last time I came across a book like this. Highly recommended for readers of fantasy who love a good action-adventure tale, especially those who might be on the lookout for something a bit different with an elegant and subtle touch. show less

I've been reading Chris Willrich's short fiction for years, and I particularly enjoy his Gaunt and Bone stories. Their lyricism and whimsy seem to fill a void in a fantasy fiction landscape marked by dark, gritty realism. I love dark, gritty realism, but I can only take so much.

I've long been hoping that some gutsy publisher would buck the trend and print a compilation of Willrich's Gaunt and Bone tales to sprinkle some dreamlike fable amidst our worldly fantasy fiction. Instead, this Gaunt show more and Bone novel arrives. Even better. The fantasy fiction shelves need to be stocked with more books like this one.

Willrich injects The Scroll of Years with the same gorgeous prose of his short fiction but still manages to move the story along at a steady clip. It rises to a pulse-pounding pace in delightfully entertaining moments of action and at times slows to a trickle to allow the reader to ponder a bit of philosophy. But it never stalls. The landscape--described in precise, exquisite detail--is a character in itself (literally and figuratively) the dialogue is witty and insightful. Through all of this, Willrich weaves his signature threads of antithesis and paradox. There's enough depth and beauty here to make subsequent readings just as entertaining as the first.

He packs this all into about 260 pages, which is impressive, but this may have detracted from the overall story a bit only because it prevents the inclusion of more background about the characters. Gaunt and Bone, and some of the secondary characters as well, have fascinating pasts that readers can only glimpse. This is at once tantalizing and frustrating. Readers well acquainted with Gaunt and Bone will not be deterred, but those meeting the characters for the first time may miss out a little on what makes them so compelling.

I do hope this absence will urge them to read the next installment, The Silk Map, to learn more. I've already pre-ordered my copy (and I'm still holding out hope for that Gaunt and Bone short story compilation). show less