The Builders
Daniel Polansky
Tordotcom
Fiction, Fantasy/Humor
Themes: Anthropomorphism, Avians, Cross-Genre, Small Animals, Soldier Stories
***+
Description
Five years ago, the land was torn apart when the toad brothers, heirs to the throne, clashed. Eventually, one arose the victor, the other fled to exile, and things settled down to an uneasy peace again... only some have not forgotten the injustices and betrayals at the peak of the war, and have waited patiently for a chance at revenge. Thus the one-eyed mouse travels the length and breadth of the land, gathering up his most trusted crew for one more - one last - fight. Only, last time they were together, one of their number turned traitor. Can the Captain succeed this time, or will he once again find a knife in his back?
Review
The plot and world have the guts of a classic Western, with traces of Redwall or The Wind in the Willows in the anthropomorphized animal characters. There's a dark and troubled history between the characters, a history hinted it in their conversations and often tense interactions, but the Captain manages to bind them together through sheer force of will. After years of bitter fighting in the civil war that rocked the land, does it do any good to rebel against one bloated (literal) toad on the throne in order to enable another, likely equally bloated toad to rule? From the start, the matter isn't remotely about justice and who "deserves" the crown, but righting the wrong of the betrayal that led to their downfall and evening the score. The body count hits double digits early on, and keeps ratcheting up as the Captain and his crew carve a bloody path toward their ultimate goal, each facing their own moments of truth along the way. Nobody is particularly likeable, though they are at least distinctive, and there's a certain pall of futility over the whole affair that sapped meaning from the plot and whatever personal victories are accomplished. Despite being an intriguing mixture of ideas, I found myself not liking it as much as I'd hoped.