Review: Vultures by Luke Tarzian
Blurb:
An enemy slain is not a conflict won...After decades of war the demon Te Mirkvahíl is dead. But its progeny endure, spilling from the Heart of Mirkúr, sowing death across the land of Ariath. If the people are to finally know peace, the Heart must be destroyed. Theailys An believes he can do just that with The Keepers' Wrath, an infamous power focus wrought in Ariath's yesteryears--but the weapon first must be reforged.War spares no one...Serece never intended to get involved in Ariath's war. But history and demons have a way of pulling strings. When she learns Theailys An, a man whom she abhors, bears striking similarity to the first creator of The Keepers' Wrath, Serece departs her mountain world for Ariath to ascertain the truth.From patience, hope...For millennia Behtréal has walked the world alone. Rewriting history to resurrect his people is easier said than done. But Ariath holds the key--soon The Keepers' Wrath will be remade.Truth from madness...As paths converge and a shadow falls across Ariath, one thing becomes increasingly and horrifyingly clear--these events have played out many times before.
Review:
I’ve heard good things about Luke Tarzians writing. Really good things. So, one night, when I was scrolling through twitter, I saw his post about looking for reviewers to flip through his latest book, “Vultures”. Tossed him a DM saying I’d be interested in reading it, opened up the email he sent me, and started reading. Set this book down several, several hours later, stared at the basement wall I was standing next to, and wondered how exactly I should describe my experience reading this novel. Some parts moved fluidly, and understandably, others, not as much. But overall, there was a story there. And it was a story that kept me reading right up until the final pages.
If I had to quickly explain the book, I’d introduce you to the three main characters. Theailys wants to rebuild the Ariathian equivalent to a nuke, using Mirkúr to harvest souls. Serece is stuck in the mountains due to a plague, and to figure out what the hell is going on all throughout Ariath, she goes sleuthing, looking for the truth. And Behtréal is playing around with the fabric of time, trying to rewrite events as the land of Ariath. But I digress, just spelling out what exactly those people are doing isn’t enough to fully explain the book, not enough to say that that’s the reason you should read it.
I’ve already clarified the goals of the three people in the previous paragraph. But that doesn’t explain their characteristics at all, nor does it shed light onto what happens before.
Theailys An is a tortured soul, who’s trying to do good with what powers he has. He has his vices, alcohol mostly, and has a literal shadow/demon following him around. Or, if it’s a good day, a lawful voice telling him not to do something stupid. His two companions will be talked about later. Serece is a Phantaxian, a near immortal race that is confined to the cold of the mountains, lest they succumb to entropy. She’s been around long enough to have witnessed the creation of the Ariathian nuke, and has always held a grudge against Theailys for some unknown reason. Now, to Behtréal, the “main villain” of this book. I put the previous descriptor in quotation marks because he is technically not the main villain, even though that’s him throughout the entire book. He’s trying to bring back his people, and to do so, he has played around with one of the most cardinal sins to ever exist - time travel. Enlisting the help of the actual villain, the actual evil, the demon Te Mirkvahíl, he goes around trying to manipulate pieces into play. Serece and Theailys run into each other a lot, but Behtréal is always lurking in the shadows with Te Mirkvahíl, manipulating the chess pieces to fall into place. And, as I’ve said before, with books that have several main characters interacting together sometimes, and then other times not even being in the same city, it works. For me, it always felt like I was learning something new about each of them. Then, the side characters. Some had character growth, some did not. But they fit with the story, which made no interaction feel wasted.
This brings me to the next part. A plot that is so profoundly, so mind bogglingly good at being straightforward yet so confusing. On one hand it’s basically just a fetch quest to build a nuke, a detective hunt looking for the truth, and scientifically playing around with magic in order to create time travel. On the other hand, on the other hand there are the flashbacks, the extra lore, the behind the scenes from others perspectives that muddle the straightforwardness. Sure, I’d read this book again, but the next read through will be with an application next to me where I can create a mindmap of all that is going on, from the behind the scenes to the flashbacks.
Even with the book being extremely straightforward and extremely confusing at the same time, the plot did not feel forced, nor did it add anything that was too unnecessary. The flashbacks, despite feeling jarring at times, helped explain what was going on in the main plot of the book and vice versa. In a weird way, each element of the storyline had its purpose and fulfilled it wonderfully.
Second to last, I’d like to try to elaborate the magic system within “Vultures”. There’s Illum, the good. And Mirkúr, the bad. Illum is light based, meant to kill the darkness, and vice versa. Mirkúr however does not just mean manipulating the shadows. No, it also means the reanimation of the dead, and armies of Lokyn, trickster demons, running around rampant. Then, besides that, there’s the In Between that the Phantaxuans sort of believe in, with their deities having all kicked the bucket years ago. There’s Perdition, hell, in a way. Vampires exist under the term strigoi, and magic allows time travel. This small section should be sufficient enough to help understand the absolute chaos and shenanigans that are the central and last part of the book.
Lastly, I’m going to go back to Theailys two shoulder angels, for lack of a better word. They aren’t really there, they’re a coping mechanism for traumatic past experiences, acting as almost mentors to Theailys in order to get him to where he wants to go. And throughout the entire book they didn’t feel like a coping mechanism, they seemed real and tangible. It was interesting to see that whole aspect grow, and it showed how that coping mechanism came together for healing, it felt good and right seeing that work out in the end.
If I had to say anything negative about this book, I’d have to say the convolutedness of the plots. Despite it all working together to create a wonderful story, the different plots and flashbacks, at some point it was hard to differentiate between the two, and that made reading through those parts feel like a chore.
Over all though, if you want to read a book that has multiple layers to it and a book that doesn’t shy away from butchering several people, I’d hand you “Vultures”, several water bottles, a portable chair, and wish you happy reading.
As always, thank you for reading this review, and I hope I’ve helped nudge you towards your next read. If not, don’t fret, we have plenty more reviews on this site for you to peruse, from daring space opera adventures, to almost mundane fantasy, Or you could hop onto one of the many buddy reads going on for some great books over in the SFF Insiders community on Discord.
Wherever you are reading this review, have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night!
