Rating: 
Summary: Promising but not completely successful first novel
Review: A Scattering of Jades is firmly in Tim Powers territory. It's a fantasy cum secret history dealing with obscure gods and magic impinging on the life of an ordinary man. The man ends up injured, just as most of Powers' heroes, and he must make a desperate journey, trusting implausible forces, to save a loved one. In this case, the gods are mostly Aztec gods, particularly Tlaloc, with a leavening of Lenni Lenape gods. And the "secret history" is of the United States, dealing with Aaron Burr's mad ambitions and their aftermath, and more directly with the most horrible blot on U.S. history: slavery.The novel turns on a plot devised by Riley Steen, an associate of Burr's. Following on some discoveries Burr supposedly made, Steen has determined that if he can find a certain "chacmool", or mummy, to help channel the power of the Aztec god Tlaloc, and if he can create the perfect young virgin sacrifice to Tlaloc, a "new sun" will dawn in 1843. A new world will be created, and Steen believes he will be the temporal power in this world. To this end, he causes Jane Prescott, the daughter of a New York would-be journalist named Archie Prescott, to be burned horribly. He captures Jane in the aftermath of the fire, in which Archie believes she died along with his wife. Some years later, Jane escapes back to New York, to haunt an unbelieving Archie with her claim that she is his long-lost still-living daughter. Meanwhile, Steen finally manages to locate the chacmool, who is found in Mammoth Cave by a slave named Stephen Bishop. The main plot revolves around Archie's semi-coincidental involvement with the chacmool, which Steen has temporarily stashed in P.T. Barnum's American Museum. Archie stumbles upon the chacmool awakening to its power, and after nearly dying on a couple of occasions, he finds himself somehow linked to it. Finally he believes in Jane's claim that she is his daughter, but too late: she is under the chacmool's power, kidnapped again and taken to Mammoth Cave to be a willing sacrifice. Archie must travel halfway across America to find his daughter, and to reconcile his own desires with those of Stephen Bishop, Jane, and two old gods. Meanwhile Stephen must weigh Tlaloc's promise of freedom from slavery with his own sense of morality; while a variety of dead people and other gods also try to interfere. The story is exciting enough, and the ending is well-done and satisfying. But along the way I was unconvinced on a couple of grounds. Most problematic was the motivations of various characters, who seemed to do the plot's bidding against all good sense. Likewise, all the characters leaped too rapidly, to my mind, to belief in some truly weird happenings. Finally, I never really engaged emotionally, or mythically, with the old gods Irvine describes. Pure and simply, they and their powers did not resonate with me. So the novel was somewhat interesting, but not wholly satisfying. Nonetheless, it's a promising debut for an author I will continue to watch closely.
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful novel of a history that is almost ours
Review: Aaron Burr is dead and the memory of his aborted attempt to create an empire in the west is largely faded, yet some remember. Riley Steen knows that Burr's hopes were based on Aztec mythology, on an ancient god whose mystic calendar is now coming due. With skill and planning, Steen intends to create what Burr failed at--and is willing to pay any price to make it happen. Printer Archie Prescott knows that his daughter is dead, that the crazy girl who calls him 'da' cannot be Jane. Yet he involves himself with a strange mezo-American mummy that comes to life in New York. Torn by images of destruction, and followed by Steen's killers, Archie heads from New York, across 19th century America, to the Mammoth caves of Kentucky where the magic of the great cycle is taking place and where a new world may be created. Slave Stephen Bishop yearns for a freedom that will never be given him. The emerging god offers him freedom for himself and his children, but only in return for a high price. Only Stephen knows the caves well enough to prevent the magic--or to protect the god. Author Alexander C. Irvine creates a powerful alternate history where magic works unseen to most, but remains powerful. Irvine's images of the world of the dead, where the dead's belief in the gods they created continue to sustain the gods' powers is strong and compelling. Irvine's world could be our own, yet zombies walk and gods carve their way into men's hearts. The skillful use of the somewhat obscure history of Aaron Burr's attempted empire (since history was written by Burr's enemies, we may never know his real motivations and goals), gives A SCATTERING OF JADES a verisimilitude that definitely adds to the reader's enjoyment
Rating:
Summary: Best first novel in years!
Review: Alex Irvine's writing carries a maturity that most writers don't reach for several novels. It's incredible to think that he's this good out of the gate. This book is on par with other first novels, SONG OF KALI by Dan Simmons and NEUROMANCER by William Gibson, although those books are of a different genre than SCATTERING OF JADES. The writing in this novel is very reminiscent of Charles de Lint or Tim Powers; magical, earthy, and powerful. I really enjoy novels that pull real historical figures into them and this book seamlessly blends reality and fantasy. Irvine is a writer you will hear from for a long time. This book should be on your must-read list for this year.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and well-plotted. Good debut novel.
Review: Alexander Irvine's, _A Scattering of Jades_ is an interesting work of historical occult fiction set in 1840's America.
The novel is well-plotted, and full of those interesting factoids that are required to create an interesting "parallel history". The reader learns interesting tidbits on topics ranging from "The Burr Conspiracy" (an actual historical event I had never heard of) to the origins of New York's Tammany Hall.
Have you ever heard of Harman Blennerhasset? St. Tammany? Me neither. Mix these elements with Aztec mysticism, throw in Mammoth Cave for good measure, and you've got yourself a story!
If the novel has a shortcoming, it is the character development, which I felt could have been stronger. The characters always felt distant to me, giving the whole affair a rather clinical, cold, feeling.
Overall, I recommend this novel, especially to those of us who are in to this genre.
Rating:
Summary: All first books should be of this caliber!
Review: I recommend it highly. Lyrical prose. Engaging dialog. Fast paced and unpredictable plot. Well researched. A hidden history novel placed in NYC in the 1840s. I look forward to Mr. Irvine's next book.
Rating:
Summary: All first books should be of this caliber!
Review: I recommend it highly. Lyrical prose. Engaging dialog. Fast paced and unpredictable plot. Well researched. A hidden history novel placed in NYC in the 1840s. I look forward to Mr. Irvine's next book.
Rating:
Summary: 'Never again shall you return'
Review: I select my 'next book to read' by picking through what it waiting on my shelves and reading a few pages here and there. It is a rare experience when a book I start out to take a quick look at suddenly becomes the one I am reading to the exclusion of all else. Of course, authors who can pick up a mythology and create a compelling and original story out of it are equally uncommon. Alexander Irvine is not the first who has essayed the fertile ground of Aztec legend, but, by setting the story in the U.S. of the 1840's, a deeper and more modern significance than one would anticipate. This is a tale about monsters, but it is not a monster story. The story turns on the awakening of a chacmool, an Aztec avatar of the god Tlaloc, who seeks to recreate the world via a series of magical acts and a final sacrifice. Set against the machinations of Riley Steen, who has prepared the way for the chacmool is Archie Prescott, who lost his wife and daughter Jane in fires magically set to mark the young girl as the intended sacrifice. Completely distracted by the loss, Prescott is at his nadir when a sequence of events reveals to him that Jane is still alive and provides him with a new purpose to his life. A series of eerie encounters sets him on Jane's path in an effort to prevent the sacrifice. The result is a mage's journey across the U.S., from New York City to the Mammoth Cave in far Kentucky. At each step in this mythic journey, he meets adversity, and enemies as inconstant as are his friends. Seemingly random events flow together for him in an almost foreordained pattern. As Prescott proceeds on his own path Stephen Bishop, a Negro slave and guide to Mammoth Cave, begins his own interior journey, enticed into providing aid and support to the chacmool in return for a promise of freedom for himself and his children. This subtle subtext on the nature and effect of slavery molds both men as they proceed to their meeting in the caverns below. The parallels between the men are carefully constructed. Each seeks the salvation of his children. Archie must learn to see the dark, and Stephen to see in the dark. Both are manipulated and molded by events, and each learns something from the dignity and strength of the other. For the reader, this is simply one of the more important facets of a surprisingly complex tale of fantasy and alternate history. Among the guest appearances that dot the novel are Edgar Allen Poe and Aaron Burr as Irvine proves himself adept in using history as a mystery play. You will find yourself reminded at times of Tim Power and Neil Gaiman. While I do not think that Irvine has achieved the quality of either, that he can evoke echoes of them is one of the best of signs. 'A Scattering of Jades' is one of the best debut novels I have seen this year, and one I heartily recommend.
Rating:
Summary: 'Never again shall you return'
Review: I select my 'next book to read' by picking through what it waiting on my shelves and reading a few pages here and there. It is a rare experience when a book I start out to take a quick look at suddenly becomes the one I am reading to the exclusion of all else. Of course, authors who can pick up a mythology and create a compelling and original story out of it are equally uncommon. Alexander Irvine is not the first who has essayed the fertile ground of Aztec legend, but, by setting the story in the U.S. of the 1840's, a deeper and more modern significance than one would anticipate. This is a tale about monsters, but it is not a monster story. The story turns on the awakening of a chacmool, an Aztec avatar of the god Tlaloc, who seeks to recreate the world via a series of magical acts and a final sacrifice. Set against the machinations of Riley Steen, who has prepared the way for the chacmool is Archie Prescott, who lost his wife and daughter Jane in fires magically set to mark the young girl as the intended sacrifice. Completely distracted by the loss, Prescott is at his nadir when a sequence of events reveals to him that Jane is still alive and provides him with a new purpose to his life. A series of eerie encounters sets him on Jane's path in an effort to prevent the sacrifice. The result is a mage's journey across the U.S., from New York City to the Mammoth Cave in far Kentucky. At each step in this mythic journey, he meets adversity, and enemies as inconstant as are his friends. Seemingly random events flow together for him in an almost foreordained pattern. As Prescott proceeds on his own path Stephen Bishop, a Negro slave and guide to Mammoth Cave, begins his own interior journey, enticed into providing aid and support to the chacmool in return for a promise of freedom for himself and his children. This subtle subtext on the nature and effect of slavery molds both men as they proceed to their meeting in the caverns below. The parallels between the men are carefully constructed. Each seeks the salvation of his children. Archie must learn to see the dark, and Stephen to see in the dark. Both are manipulated and molded by events, and each learns something from the dignity and strength of the other. For the reader, this is simply one of the more important facets of a surprisingly complex tale of fantasy and alternate history. Among the guest appearances that dot the novel are Edgar Allen Poe and Aaron Burr as Irvine proves himself adept in using history as a mystery play. You will find yourself reminded at times of Tim Power and Neil Gaiman. While I do not think that Irvine has achieved the quality of either, that he can evoke echoes of them is one of the best of signs. 'A Scattering of Jades' is one of the best debut novels I have seen this year, and one I heartily recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Scattering of Jades
Review: I was lucky enough to get my hands on a pre-publication proof of this book. If you like mystery, history, adventure, metaphysics, ideas of the past that resonate with today, great characterization, literal and figurative descents into the underworld, and fine writing, this book is for you. A really amazing first novel. I can't wait to see what this guy does next.
Rating:
Summary: Scattering of Jades
Review: I was lucky enough to get my hands on a pre-publication proof of this book. If you like mystery, history, adventure, metaphysics, ideas of the past that resonate with today, great characterization, literal and figurative descents into the underworld, and fine writing, this book is for you. A really amazing first novel. I can't wait to see what this guy does next.
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