Trickster Drift

Jared Martin is sober. It’s been almost a year. Almost a year since the events that brought [Son of a Trickster] to a close. His girlfriend, Sarah, is now his ex. Most of his friends have abandoned him. And his mother can’t stand what she perceives as his sanctimonious AA sobriety. Just as well that he is on his way out of Kitimat, headed to Vancouver and college. He’ll make new friends and, if necessary, connect with other relations such as his aunt, Mavis Moody, even though his mother hates her sister. What Jared doesn’t expect is his newfound connection to the otherworldly. For example, he sees ghosts, well mostly just one ghost in a bathrobe who always wants to watch Dr Who on the Sci-Fi channel. Oh, and there’s something show more creepy living in the wall of his bedroom.

Although the opening of this second volume of this proposed trilogy is a bit awkward — inevitably Robinson has to open out Jared’s world with individuals we’ve not yet come across even though they appear to be relatives — once the story gets going, it is fully engrossing. She has a real flair for Jared’s unique voice and his sanguine approach to frankly freaky situations. Not that he has escaped his past. His mother’s crazy ex-boyfriend, David, is stalking him, and magic keeps edging closer and closer.

Of course some of what shows up in the middle novel of a trilogy, of necessity, is bridging material to get us to the final volume. But there is enough real interaction between characters here to ensure this novel satisfies on its own terms. Aunt Mave is a wonderfully eccentric character and Jared’s cousin and fellow participant at AA, Kota, is both complex and poignant. Plus there are plenty of opportunities for Jared’s sparky verbal jousts which are a treat. I enjoyed it all.

Recommended. show less

After barely getting out of Kitimat alive, Jared heads to Vancouver to get a break from his life, which seems to be spiraling out of control. The supernatural keeps encroaching in his already chaotic life, adding a dimension he neither wants nor knows how to deal with. In Vancouver he reluctantly moves in with his aunt Mave, who appears blissfully unaware of all the magical elements that occupy her apartment. Jared gets caught up in family and community, starts his classes at BCIT, and tries to live a normal life—as normal as it can be while trying to stay sober and avoiding his sadistic stalker. But, just as everyone around him has been warning him, the supernatural, which he has been dabbling in without even knowing it, catches up show more to him, and by the end of the story it is pretty clear his life will never be the same again. I love this story because the characters are so vivid, utterly believable and real, like they could be my own neighbours. Jared is an incredibly strong and resourceful kid, making his way through a complicated and often unforgiving life. I look forward to the final volume of this trilogy, as Jared applies his natural resiliency to a whole new set of circumstances. show less

While I didn’t like this as much as the first one, I think it’s my usual sequel/middle-of-a-trilogy problem more than anything. You know, how the second book isn’t nearly as shiny because you know how the writer and world operate now? How the second in a trilogy often picks up in the middle and ends in the middle and doesn’t quite give you resolution? Yeah.

The writing’s about the same, from what I remember, though the story’s less raw because Jared’s gotten away from the substance abuse and dysfunctional home life that made it so. He’s still a jerk, still unlearning things, still messed up by his childhood and confused in a believably seventeen-year-old way and not dealing very well with the whole magic thing at all—so show more there’s plenty of mouthing off and doing dumb things and moments when he slips back into old patterns. I enjoyed how much he’d grown since the first book, and watching him grow more in this one, but that gut-wrenching “oh gods no what happens now” feeling I remember from Son of a Trickster wasn’t there.

There’s more humour, too, mostly in the form of absolutely wacky characters. A dance instructor who used to babysit him, a five-year-old with a fixation on Frozen and her cheeky ghostly follower, the twin gamers who show up anywhere there’s free food, his highly intense writer-activist aunt, and more…. Watching them all bounce off Jared, and each other, was wonderful, and I hope some of them come back because they were fun.

The story’s very subtle, though, which I never deal with well while I’m in the thick of it. Like, for most of it, all I saw was Jared going about daily life and helping people and going to school and freaking out over ghosts, with brief moments of “look, there’s a problem here,” and some of the magical stuff near the end was very sudden for me. But like with Son of a Trickster, once I got to the end and looked back, things gelled. To sum up: Robinson is essentially updating Heiltsuk mythology for the 21st century, specifically the Raven cycle, but not playing by Western literary rules to do so. I think I’m missing a lot of the details of what exactly she’s doing because I’m white and largely familiar with other Raven traditions (mostly Haida), but I still think what she’s doing is cool.

And then the climax happened and Robinson doubled down on the magical everything. Shit got real. Fast. And bad. I’m going to have to read the third book just to be sure Jared’s okay in the end.

So … I don’t know if I can rec this book specifically, because it starts too much in the middle of everything and it left me just a bit too ambivalent, but I did like it and I certainly recommend the trilogy.

Warnings: Stalking. Addiction, drug use, and alcoholism. Depression. Mentions of self-harm and residential schools. Seriously terrible driving. Awkward moments with professors.

7/10 show less

The paranormal was introduced at the end of the first book, but it has a starring role in this book. Believe it or let it be part of the fiction, either way this book is pretty intense with drama and sh*t in Jared's life, like the first except different drama and a (mostly) new cast of characters. It is easy to see why this is a tv show -- limited cast of characters who are all quirky and colourful with their own baggage and most of the scenes take place in the apartment or random streets. Spooky ghosts are straightforward to CGI, and there you have the book on screen. Very readable in terms of the writing, and it pulled me through again, even though I couldn't relate (thankfully).

Eden Robinson knows how to write. She knows how to write a teenage main character with angst that is not whiny. He is a moody teenager with an I can do it all myself no matter what it is thanks attitude.

He is also hyper aware of the people around him like an abused teenager would be. His character is so well developed I can feel his anxiety and determination.

Not only is the MC a full character but the other characters are fully realized as well. I want to know them even more. The MC, because of his past, leaves these characters to slowly reveal themselves without asking the questions I the reader so want him too.

It is exciting that CBC is making the first book in a tv series of 6 episodes. It will be interesting to see these characters show more realized on the screen. CBC has done a great job with other tv shows like "Kim's Convenience" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5912064/, and "Little Mosque on the Prairie" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923293/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1 .

For those, like me, who have cut cable it will be available on the CBC gem app, or online on CBC the day after it airs on tv. show less

That was definitely a cliffhanger ending. I hope we're not waiting for book 3 for too long.

Poor Jared. He's trying so hard to be a normal, productive, boring member of regular society, and yet every event conspires to make him more magical and powerful.

The characters are incredible (literary novels could be written about each of them and they'd be fully compelling with or without magic), the dialogue is gorgeous, the magic is incredible, and the story is just perfection.

Liked Trickster Drift even more than the first book. Watching Jared start to really embrace becoming an adult and still holding on to his kindness of being young.

The magic and background story telling of the other worldly creatures is amazing. I'd love to read a book about Shu or one about Dent.