Speculative Fiction Junkie

Jeff VanderMeer

Author and all around book man extraordinaire Jeff VanderMeer's City of Saints and Madmen was one of the first titles ever reviewed at Speculative Fiction Junkie. After absolutely loving this first book in the Ambergris trilogy, however, I sadly found the second book in the series, Shriek: An Afterword, a bit difficult to get through, as the narrator was one of the most annoying fictional people I've ever encountered. While the format of the book was ingenious, I was nonetheless nearly forced to abandon it on three separate occasions. I had no idea what to expect, therefore, from the final book in the trilogy, entitled simply Finch. In fact, I probably wouldn't have even read it this soon if it weren't for the fact that Mr. VanderMeer will be doing a reading and signing in my neighborhood on December 10 and I wanted to be appropriately familiar with it before attending. I'm glad that I went ahead and read Finch because it is a great conclusion to the Ambergris saga.

It's impossible to discuss the book proper without at least a fleeting familiarity with its setting, the city of Ambergris (in fact, while not strictly necessary, you really should read the first two books before diving into Finch). The city as we know it was founded by whalers. However, at the time they arrived, another race of sentient fungal beings dubbed gray caps resided there. One thing led to another and the whalers started massacring the gray caps, who in turn fled underground, where they have resided ever since, only visiting the surface surreptitiously and in small numbers. This tension is the central psychological characteristic of the city, which has since developed vibrant trade, arts, and all of the other trappings of an advanced city. Prior to the events described in Finch, two powerful trading houses begin a civil war that ravages the city for years.

Finch opens about a century after the events described in its predecessor. The gray caps took advantage of the strife of the war between the houses to take over the city and force its inhabitants to live in a sort of Orwellian dystopia and squalor. Reluctant detective John Finch is tasked with solving a double murder, the victims of which were a human and a gray cap. He has to constantly report his progress to his gray cap boss and is always watched and questioned by "partials," humans who have joined cause with the gray caps and been physically altered accordingly. Further complicating his life is the existence of a shadowy resistance to gray cap occupation, freelancing gang boss types, personal relationships, and the necessity of learning the purpose behind gray cap moves, especially their construction of two enormous towers the purpose of which no one knows.

When viewed in the context of the whole Ambergris trilogy, Finch is most notable for the new direction it takes, into the noir world of hardboiled crime fiction and pulp detective stories. Even the sentence structure, often employing telegraphic prose without sentence subjects, is affected. There's no reason to expect success in this addition of yet another genre layer onto the already innovative blend of genres that Mr. VanderMeer's work displays. In fact, when I first read about the book, I was fairly certain that it wouldn't work. I was wrong of course. This new angle raises both noir fiction and the Ambergris cycle to new levels. I'm not sure how enjoyable traditional noir works will be after having read Finch.

The only aspect of Finch I had reservations about was the ending. Until this book, the gray caps, their actions and motivations, had remained shrouded in mystery and, for me, unrevealed mysteries are almost always preferable to revealed ones. This point aside, though, I also found the ending to be almost too small to satisfactorily address the creation that preceded it. This, though, is a testament to the strength and scope of the Ambergris creation and not something I fault the book for too much. It's quite possible, in other words, that my reservations are with the Ambergris trilogy being over rather than with the manner in which it ended.

Overall, Finch is a great conclusion to the Ambergris trilogy; better than I could have imagined. I have to say that I'm sorry it's over and I wonder what Mr. VanderMeer will do in the future. If you've read Finch and are longing for another example of recent attempts to expand the noir genre, take a look at Jebediah Berry's The Manual of Detection (review here). While not nearly as good as Finch, it is still a pretty good work.

Rating: 9/10

The True First:

Finch was first published in November 2009 by Underland Press as a trade paperback. A signed hardcover edition limited to 350 was simultaneously published, information about which can be found here. There was also another simultaneously published signed limited hardcover edition published which is limited to only 150 copies. Information can be found here.

[This review was based on a review copy]