Reviewer
Lavanya Karthik: Lavanya is from Mumbai, India and is a licensed
architect and consultant in environmental management. She lives in
Mumbai with her husband and six-year old daughter. She loves reading
and enjoys a diverse range of authors across genres.
Author: Max Frei
Translator: Polly Ganon
ISBN:
978-1-59020-065-0
Publisher: Overlook Press
The Labyrinths of Echo, a
successful Russian series, makes its English debut with The
Stranger. Written under the pseudonym Max Frei, the books chronicle
the adventures of a young man of the same name in a mysterious world
of magic that he visits in his dreams.
Author: Max Frei
Translator: Polly Ganon
ISBN:
978-1-59020-065-0
Publisher: Overlook Press
Click Here To Purchase The Stranger (The Labyrinths of Echo)
The Labyrinths of Echo, a
successful Russian series, makes its English debut with The
Stranger. Written under the pseudonym Max Frei, the books chronicle
the adventures of a young man of the same name in a mysterious world
of magic that he visits in his dreams.
Max the
twenty-something character is, by his own admission, a loser .
He is also an insomniac with surprisingly vivid dreams that he can
recollect quite accurately. Before long, he meets Sir Juffin
Hully in his dreams and is recruited to the nightwatch of the
Minor Secret Investigative Force of the Unified Kingdom. Max, it
turns out, has magical powers he himself is unaware of, which he now
uses as a policeman of sorts, hunting down perpetrators of crimes
involving magic and other supernatural forces.
What
follows is a hilarious and well written romp through Echo, capital
city of the Unified Kingdom as Max quickly earns a reputation as a
formidable investigator. He finds a motley crew of friends in his new
role, the hilarious Melifaro, the upright Lonli-Lokli, and the
beautiful Melamori. Echo is far removed from anything Max has known,
clothing is strange, one night stands are formalized; he finds he can
communicate with his colleagues and even dogs through Silent
Speech. The language of Echo is formal, almost archaic, with
everyone being addressed as 'Sir' or 'Lady'. Technology is
nowhere near the levels Max has been used to. Yet, magic and
telepathy more than make up for all this, as does the cuisine, that
finds frequent mention in the book. Max readily leaves his old
world for Echo, yet it is never far from him, slipping out in
references to Rutger Hauer and Diana Rigg, and in the awesomes that
sometimes pepper his Silent Speech. Max is a success in Echo
like he never was back in his old world, with one exception - his
losing streak with romance seems to have followed him to Echo too, as
seen in his unsuccessful flirtation with Melamori.
Now
the basic premise of this story is not in itself new; travel between
worlds and the transformation of a character from zero to hero have
been perhaps the most enduring literary fantasies of our times,
explored in tales as diverse as Gulliver's Travels, 'The Chronicles
of Narnia' and more recently, such blockbusters as the Dark
Materials trilogy and the Harry Potter series. The book jacket itself
makes a reference to the Boy who Lived, likening Max to an adult,
cigarette-smoking, less than successful Potter. In that
respect, 'The Stranger' does tread rather familiar ground, magical
occurrences, strange powers and stranger characters with tongue
twisting names. It also seems to doff its cap at its literary peers;
Max discovers Echo much like Alice does Wonderland . And he crosses
between worlds in a manner reminiscent of Harry Potter and his magic
bus.
Very little of Max's past is revealed; in fact, the
reader is thrown almost from page one into his new world. The book is
not very plot driven either, but is presented as a series of cases
that Max and his friends solve, that can quite easily be read out of
sequence. The cases all seem very speedily solved; Max?s own
hitherto hidden powers conveniently emerge in times of danger to help
him escape and be hailed yet again as hero. This is an
extremely long book (544 pages) and a certain monotony does set in
after a while, with its case-driven structure. There is quite a lot
of slapstick humor that I did not always find amusing. I was also
annoyed by the central female character, Lady Melamori. Here is a
seasoned investigator at ease when booking criminals, yet
dissolving into tears or nervous skulking in the presence of Max,
whom she is clearly attracted to. Their flirtation and frequent tiffs
would have been more fitting in a high school romance, not this
otherwise engrossing book.
For all the issues I had with
the book, it is nevertheless very readable, equal parts whimsy and
mystery. It is also quite clearly meant as an introduction to Max and
this enormous cast of characters, paving the way for the other nine
books already out in the original Russian. I have a strong feeling
that successive books in the series will be more plot-driven, perhaps
even darker than this humorous volume.
The one
mystery greater than Max's future in Echo is perhaps the
real identity of the author. While a little Google search
suggests that the author might be a young Russian woman, I?m quite
content to believe in the illusion of the writer Frei, and wait for
the next instalment of what promises to be a terrific literary ride.
Click Here To Purchase The Stranger (The Labyrinths of Echo)