The
ending of Harry Turtledove’s novel Beyond
the Gap set the stage for its sequel to focus on battle between
an alliance of the Raumsdalian empire and the Bizogot tribesmen against
the invading Rulers from beyond the glacier. In The Breath of God,
Turtledove picks up where the first novel left off, as Count Hamnet
Thyssen and his motley band leave the Raumsdalian capital of Nidaros to
try to stop the threatening invaders.
While
Turtledove spent much of the first novel creating the characters and
their relationships, most of The
Breath of God is spent focusing on their fight against and flight
from the Rulers. From the
very beginning, Turtledove treats the readers to magic-enhanced battles
between his small, but doughty, band and the Rulers’ might.
A trip onto strange terrain is thrown in as a bonus.
Eventually, the non-stop action does take a break, however, it
isn’t long before Turtledove picks it up again.
The
Rulers remain something of a mystery in The
Breath of God, a departure from Turtledove’s usual multi-character
viewpoint novels. As far as
the reader knows, they exist solely as an invading force that views
others as sub-human. Those
few Rulers who Thyssen comes into contact with who aren’t immediately
killed in battle, offer little insight into any more complex into the
Rulers’ society and motives. Through two novels now, the Rulers have
appeared as little more than bogeymen, although highly effective
bogeymen.
Throughout
The Breath of God, the Rulers have Thyssen and his band of heroes on the
run. This is never more evident than when they must make a daring escape
to the top of the glacier, where they discover an unknown area and,
possibly, something which will save the Raumsdalian empire and the
Bizogot tribesmen from the invasion.
While
on the glacier, Thyssen and Liv, his Bizogot lover, also begin having
problems of their own. However,
these problems crop up with reasonable suddenness and it is clear what
the outcome is going to be. Turtledove could have incorporated more
tension and suspense into their relationship, perhaps tying it in to the
group’s flight from the Rulers across the glacier a little better.
Just
as Beyond the Gap ended with
the indication that the second book would be very different in nature,
so, too, does The Breath of God
end with the indication that the third novel, The
Golden Shrine will be different, perhaps more of a travelogue.
It will be interesting to see how Turtledove completes this
series that began by looking at character and moved on to providing
non-stop action sequences.
The Breath of God is not as strong a novel as Beyond the Gap, but it is also a linking novel, between that first
novel and a final novel in the series which, it is to be hoped, will
provide Turtledove with plenty of new material to explore and allow his
characters to grow and demonstrate their abilities and relationships.
Not only is it hoped that The
Golden Shrine will show more of the strange land beyond the glacier,
but it will also provide a deeper look into the alien Rulers’
civilization.
