Review: War Song by Michael Michel

Blurb:

Admar’s future is a path paved with broken glass. Each step forward living under Scothean tyranny cuts away another piece of his humanity. Right down to the very bone.

But even a meager life as a miner is better than a pointless death. A sister, a mother, a lover, all lost at the uncaring hands of the Scoths, have left him with nothing but memories and ash for comfort. While stories like his are all too common, they still aren’t enough to stoke rebellion among the oppressed.

If Admar is to find hope amid the brutal occupation of his homeland, he’ll have to question how deep his convictions go. For with every crack of the enemy’s whip, he’ll know torment. With every swipe of their axes, he’ll know suffering. And every moment he refuses to act will drag him further from his destiny.

Maybe there are no more heroes left…or maybe they’re waiting to be made.

The events of this novelette take place 73 years prior to the events of "The Price of Power."

Review:

Michael Michel has been on my TBR for a while now. The first—and only—piece of writing that I had read of his was the short story “War in a Way That Suits You”. A few paragraphs in, I knew this was an author who could get deep inside the protagonist’s mind and simulate that visceral experience of action scenes and extreme situations can force on a person’s psyche. War Song is exactly that, and more. 

War Song follows Admar, a man forced into slavery by the Scoths, a colonizing empire whose leaders seem to have magical abilities. During his enslavement, Admar begins engaging with Danath, a slave who has survived the pits for over a decade, and talks of rebellion, of slaves uniting together to beat and overthrow the slavers. What follows is an account of human perseverance, shaking faith, failing hope, and brutal salvation. 

Spoilers Ahead!

Brutal is the right word to describe War Song. Michel does not hold back, be it when the Scoths slaughter Admar’s friends, or the atrocities in the slave camps, or even Admar’s defeatist thoughts that make him betray his people. This last part is what really made me love this book. A typical protagonist would be righteous, always doing the right thing. But not Admar. Admar has his moments of weakness, and that exactly is what makes him real. It’s easy to go with a righteous character but to tell a story through a flawed character who slowly succumbs to his weakening resolve and fading faith, now that’s a heartlessly honest experience. 

As I said earlier, Michael Michel takes you deep into the character’s psyche and simulates the visceral experience of all that the character is facing. From Admar’s inaction in the opening to his momentary outburst of violence, to his submission, and everything that follows, you see exactly how and why he is the way he is. He thinks like any regular bloke, not taking decisions because the plot demands it, but because that’s what a secondary citizen in a colonized empire would do for survival. 

Plot-wise, the novelette is straightforward. Man wronged seeks vengeance. But Michel subverts your expectations by making that man weak. Instead, he shows you Danath, a typical protagonist from any series with such a plot, and plants doubt about whether or not he’s sane, or his actions rational. In the end, when it is Danath’s story that gets its satisfying resolution with the slave rebellion. And to see it play out from Admar’s perspective was just the icing on the cake. 

Lastly, the world. While the magic system is only briefly visited, the impact of imperial expansion on the Fractured Lands is hinted at by the characters. Although you don’t know the specifics, you know who the wronged were, and how they have lost everything because of the Scoths. Brief, and to the point, the world-building gives you just enough to set up and explain the slave rebellion, and what such an event could mean for the empire. The novelette also featured the prologue of The Price of Power, but I chose not to read it because I wanted to experience it freshly when I read that book. 

If I had to compare War Song to anything that I’ve read before, the first that comes to mind is Malazan. Gritty, and visceral, War Song sets the stage for Michel’s main series, The Price of Power. I highly recommend this novelette and cannot wait to read more from the author. 

TL;DR:

WHAT I LIKED: Flawed protagonist, the way the author took us into the protagonist’s mind, brutally real treatment of the plot.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: Nothing. I genuinely loved everything about this book.