So, this week’s prompt over at The Egotist’s Club is: Best Story Setting.
After much thought, a discussion with the Beloved Husband, and a large glass of milk, I’ve decided that I like the pseudo-modern fantasy setting that Anne Bishop uses in her Black Jewels novels. It’s got a sense of familiarity and comfort, but retains a palpable sense of magic that makes the world that much more alien and mysterious.
American Heritage Dictionary defines “setting” as:
a. The context and environment in which a situation is set; the background.b. The time, place, and circumstances in which a narrative, drama, or film takes place
So, we’ll tackle the physical trappings of this world first. Overall, it’s pretty familiar – modern plumbing exists, so we have showers and toilets, etc.. Readers see other familiar objects as well; stoves, refrigerators, even taxis. All this makes the readers comfortable – we know what we’re dealing with and can picture the scenery pretty easily.
There is a twist though. Everything is powered by magic. Refrigerators are called “cold boxes” and need to have the spell that keeps them cold renewed once a week. Stoves are lit with a psychic/magical manifestation called “witchfire” (something that can be summoned at will, anywhere, by anyone with the ability), as are lamps and candles. The taxis are called “coaches” and can be driven only by someone with proper magical strength, as they travel through the ”in-between” plane called “The Winds”. That makes for an interesting social dynamic, since non-magic users have limited to no access to fast transportation – they have to use horses.
What’s really kind of funny is that changing the names totally preserves that sense of magic other-worldliness. I was halfway through the fourth or fifth book before I started to put two and two together and match the magic-driven objects with their real life equivalents.
While the physical setting of this world is pretty familiar, the cultural setting is not. Bishop has created a culture unto itself – one that’s complex enough that you have to read the books to get it. It’s kind of like visiting a foreign country for the first time. You can have the customs and social hierarchies explained all you like, but it isn’t until you’re immersed in them and see them in action that you start to “get it”.
Quick overview – the ruling magic users are called “The Blood”; non-magic users are called “landens”. For The Blood, their magic/psychic strength is stored in Jewels that they wear as jewelry. The darker the Jewel, the more powerful the person is. Lighter Jewels cannot perform the same spells that Darker Jewels can and vice verse. Beyond the strict power hierarchy of Jewel strength, there’s a complex social one as well. I’m not even going to try to explain that one.
That completely alien cultural setting, layered on top of the familiar physical one makes for a unique and enjoyable read. I find that that particular blend of familiar and un-familiar make it easier for readers to get sucked into the novels. Because we can recognize the trappings of the world, we have a leg up on figuring out the social dances that fill the series.
Anyways, the point is (if I haven’t bored you to tears yet and you’re still reading) that because of the complexity of this setting and the unique flavor it gives to the series, I think the world of Anne Bishop and its three Realms qualifies for being one of the best settings I’ve encountered in a while.
June 4, 2012
Golden Bookwyrm
3 responses to “Week 8 – No Place I’d Rather Be…”
David
June 17th, 2012 at 21:40
Interesting idea, reworking modern technology to run on magic. Don’t think I’ve read a book that really focused on that. Was there anything else about the setting that really drew you in? The possibilities it suggested, the way characters interacted with it?
Golden Bookwyrm
June 17th, 2012 at 22:02
What really drew me in is kind of hard to describe, since it ties in to so many different aspects of the stories.
I’ve said that George R. R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” is too brutal for me, but these books are pretty much as brutal, just in a different way. The most telling phrase in the series is: “There is no law against murder among The Blood, but payment for it can be demanded at any time.” This creates an interesting (and often chilling) push and pull between the powerful characters who want to protect the weaker ones and the powerful characters who want to prey on them. At one point, while on my first read-through, I remember thinking that this is what a world completely devoid of God’s mercy would be like – and the sheer foreignness of that kind of setting fascinated me.
So that social/cultural setting drew me in, and then the mechanics of the magic were really cool as well. Like, a character with really potent magic could be able to move entire buildings, but not be able to shift a pair of shoes because the scope of the magic would simply be too big to handle the delicacy of dealing with smaller items. The fact that Bishop added limitations like that really made the whole thing more interesting. Not only did it prevent any character from being omnipotent, but it ensured that stories about weaker characters were just as interesting and unique as the stories about the strong ones.
David
June 18th, 2012 at 19:38
Limitations like that do sound interesting. That’s one of the trickier aspects of writing about magic — giving it some rhyme and reason!