The Keeper's Six

I have heard so much about Kate Elliot's work but had yet to take the plunge into her extensive back catalog. When I saw that she was releasing a new novella from Tordotcom (which has been on fire lately with their novella releases), I thought there was no better time to jump in.

Well, this one really didn't work for me.

But I want to make clear that I think this novella could work for some readers who look for different things in books than I do. Namely, this book has some really fantastic worldbuilding. Kate Elliot creatively combines tropes from both fantasy and science fiction to craft a universe unlike any I have ever seen before. There are magical portals, deadly climate patterns, shape-shifting dragons, over-sized dangerous show more insects, government bureaucracies, queer romances, rugelach baking, and so much more. Elliot packs so much fun and strange things into this little novella. I am a very visual reader (I create the "movie in my mind") and was actually overstimulating myself while reading!). If you read fantasy or science fiction to dive in and explore a world much unlike our own, then definitely give this one a go.

And I want to emphasize that Elliot's worldbuilding is fun. While maintaining internal worldbuilding coherence, Elliot took a no holds barred approach to what she wanted to introduce. Reading this novella made me wonder why we don't see more worldbuliding like this in fantasy and science fiction. Elliot's creativity jumps off the page and there are so many clever and creative elements that I had never seen before in speculative fiction. Elliot also injects a lot of wit and humor through the book. There are many moments that made me smile and laugh in between the more intense plot points.

I think I struggled with this book because while I enjoy a good fictional universe, I look for plot and characters before all. This is where The Keeper's Six fell a bit short for me. While there is a plot (summarized in the publisher's blurb above), it takes a back seat to Elliot's worldbuilding. A lot of the limited page count is dedicated to characters explaining the "rules" of the universe to one another. The plot really fails to build forward momentum because it keeps screeching to a halt for another info-dump. Points in the novella that should have been really exciting and tense were dragged down by characters monologuing about the worldbuilding and how everything works. Due to these narrative starts and stops, I had a hard time latching onto the plot. Worse, there were times where I had a hard time following the plot because just so much was thrown at me all at once.

Not only was the plot a bit thin, but the characters fail to make much of an impact on the reader. The basic premise of the magic/science fiction system is that groups of six people create a "Hex" - a team in which every person has a particular job to travel between Realms and complete missions. This means that at the minimum Elliot had to introduce and develop six characters, and this did not count the villains, allies, and others that Esther (the main character) encounters on her quest to save her son. Characters come and go throughout the novella with aplomb, and many characters introduced early on get separated from the main POV character and aren't seen again until the end. I had a hard time keeping each character, their personality, background, and role in the Hex straight. Pretty much all of the characters were two-dimensional place holders that existed only to propel the worldbuilding. Even Esther doesn't really develop as the plot progresses. Everything we know about her at the beginning of the novella (namely, that she is a badass Jewish grandmother) is all there really is to her.

I'm not sure the novella format was ideal for this story. It doesn't necessarily need to be a 1000 page chonker, but just another 100 pages would have allowed the narrative to breathe a bit. I was overwhelmed by the frantic pace of the worldbuilding, while the plot and character got sidelined by the novella length.

Concluding Thoughts: Filled to brim with creative worldbuilding, this novella is perfect for those looking for a fun romp through a wholly original science fantasy universe. However, the intense and creative worldbuilding so come at the expense of deep plot or characters. show less

Esther is leaving middle age from the hard end and her son has been kidnapped forcing her to violate the suspension of her HEX to rescue him. She and the 4 other team members venture into the Beyond between realms to confront the hoarding dragon that has taken their Keeper, the foundation of the HEX. This is a fun mix of elements that are fairly current in trans dimensional fantasy these days but throws in some delightful flourishes of Elliott's own to keep it fresh. Short and sweet. And funny if you have pro-union leanings.

This is one of those books I like concept more of, than I do the actual book. I found the characters to be more stereotypes, than full fledged characters. They were more created around an idea, rather than actual people. From the main character, Esther, high moral ground that drives her decisions, without consulting her team, and at the expense of her job. Esther's son, who while being held as hostage, manages to convince his jailers to let him loose, than teach the servants in the castle about unionizing and rights. Her son's partner is too passive. Also, I have big problems where a former slave and his rescuer immediately fall in love.

Now, I'm not against any of these messages and fully agree - slavery is bad, but I don't like it show more when a book is written around that message, rather than integrated into it. As for the world, I really liked it. It has an interesting concept, and with an interesting mechanism, but it was too preachy for me. show less

I wanted to like this more than I did, but I think the biggest problem with the book was its brevity. There was just so much information, so much world-building and so many different plot facets, and the way it was all crammed into fewer than 200 pages made the book terribly dense. I think if there had been more breathing room, so to speak, I would have been pulled into the story of a bad-ass mother heading off to rescue her kidnapped son far more easily; as it was, I found myself continually putting the book down and walking away, feeling "done" with reading for a while.

As far as that world-building went, it was a very interesting premise, the idea of a system of magic and magical travel strictly regulated for the primary purpose of show more commerce. I suppose that in terms of motives, that's a pretty powerful one. I liked the idea of magic being performed in groups with individual defined roles, and the depiction of the characters in this story really showed off how those roles could shape and be shaped by the person who filled them.

I loved Daniel and Kai, and I think I would have liked to see more about them. I would have liked more Shahin, and more explanation about what happened to Esther's husband (Vincent?), but there was never time for the book to go deep into any of the story lines introduced, which was unfortunate. The story had a lot of potential, but it missed for me on execution. show less