Yesterday, we went to SF Bokhandeln in Gothenburg to check out what they had on offer for the annual book sale. We picked up a few things from the sale, and then I couldn’t resist also picking up Anne Bishop’s latest offering, Sebastian, even though I knew it would mean getting no work done once we got home. A prediction that turned out to be quite accurate.
Sebastian is the first book in a duology, set in the world of Ephemera, an ever-changing realm that long ago was shattered into separate Landscapes to protect it from the Eater of the World. Now that same enemy has been set free from its prison and threatens the world once again, and few remain who stand any chance of fighting it. There’s the enigmatic Belladonna, a Landscaper so powerful that her own peers tried to imprison her for fear of her talents, and there’s Sebastian, an incubus living in the demon Landscape known as the Den of Iniquity.
When the book opens, Sebastian is an incubus who seems to be getting tired of what he is and what he does. Playing the part of demon lover to women in other landscapes, or to those human women who dare to visit the Den, has gotten old and he’s looking for something different. That, however, seems to be a dangerous thing to do in Ephemera, a world influenced directly by what is in your heart, and it is no long before Sebastian’s situation is rapidly changing. It starts with a few mutilated bodies, and soon enough there’s a very real risk of the world literally crumbling around him. And then there’s Lynnea, and the complications brought on by an incubus taking an interest in a very innocent young girl.
While Sebastian doesn’t quite reach the level of the Black Jewels trilogy, I still found it to be a very enjoyable read that kept me up late last night to finish it. The world of Ephemera is a very interesting creation—although Bishop’s world-building tends to be sketchy rather than detailed, she always creates fascinating and unusual settings—almost a character in its own right, and one of the main premises of the story is one I’ve always been fond of, namely that Light and Dark depend on each other and that neither can fully dominate, be it in the world or in the heart.
I think, however, that I would have liked the book even better if it had been somewhat edgier. Despite some rather unpleasant scenes involving the creatures unleashed by the Eater of the World, the feeling of darkness or despair never gets all that strong, and Sebastian’s concerns about the inhuman side of his nature could perhaps have been given more room. One thing is sure, though, and that is that the ending has left me wondering a lot about where things will be going in the next book, which will focus on Belladonna instead of Sebastian.