Matt McAvoy Book Review

Some significant time investment is required for this superbly written war fantasy, by an author of real personality and capability.  First, it is long, and feels it sometimes, due to the ensemble cast of characters and parallel storylines; second, I am unusually content to spoil in this respect, by advising that the book is left open, so be warned.  I think it is only fair to advise you that you are expected to engross yourself utterly in the soap of these characters’ lives for the foreseeable future.  With its mythical, large-scale battle, set over many years in a retconned Earth of legend, inspired by real races and peoples, there is something of an air of Game of Thrones about this narrative – though, although set in an ancient past, a degree of science fiction, too.  If R.R. Martin wrote a space opera, it would probably be along these lines – although of course that may be misleading, for all the action in The Power of Water takes place here on Earth and the heavens.

The story and its execution are as epic as it gets, even though that may seem a superlative, bandied around far too often.  Its tale – or newly created legend – unfolds when man is gifted extraordinary powers by the gods: the ability to harness the supposedly divine element aether, coined by ancient Greeks as an all-powerful component of the atmosphere.  And, of course, as is man’s wont to do, he uses the aether to create immense weaponry, as well as fuel for all things space-powered.  The outcome is inevitable coveting and war between nations, angering the gods to the extent whereby a great flood is caused, sinking the vastly populated, mythical land of Atlantis.

James Grimm is a talent, and creates characters and scenes you can really engage with.  His battle sequences are rousing, though this book is really about a war, and its immense strategic and tactical detail; the rest is just incidental.  There is no way to tell how long James will carry on this narrative, in terms of titles released, as he creates an entire universe – a very fashionable thing to do in literature these days – but I think it is probably safe to say that he wants and needs to develop a real fanbase, and if you choose to read this book, you will perhaps need to sign up to it.  I wouldn’t describe the ending of this instalment as loose ends, per se, but rather more simply that it looks set to continue exactly as it left off, with more of the same. 

It really is carried by Grimm’s excellent syntax and prose, but that isn’t to say the book isn’t without its grammatical problems.  Although I don’t like to mention grammar in reviews unless necessary, I simply could not ignore the flaws in its respect – especially with regard to the tense, which flits back and forth between past and present so frequently it became distracting – often even in the same sentence; at times I simply couldn’t remain engaged, for the continuous jolting in and out of comfortable narrative.  This inconsistency in the book’s tense needs to be addressed; it may not be the only technical flaw, but it is by far the biggest and most problematic.

Still, this is a good read in an exceptionally popular genre – and a cracking example of it for the real hardcore fanbase.  If that’s you, and you’re happy to accept its open end, then I strongly recommend it.