Review: A Strong and Sudden Thaw by R W Day

[erastes]

This book was originally published by Iris Books and has now been republished by the excellent Lethe Press.  If you see this book online DO NOT buy the Iris version as the owner of that defunct company is not forwarding any of the royalties--please buy the new Lethe version.
http://www.amazon.com/Strong-Sudden-Thaw-R-Day/dp/1590210638/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233914348&sr=1-2

My Review:

There just aren't enough of books of this quality and that's the truth.

RW Day takes you to a world that is recognisably our world, but changed, just a fraction, and that's what makes it scarier in my opinion. This is good sci-fi without too much sci, it's something that you can imagine, something that is plausible. Forget global warming, this is global freezing. A second ice-age has come and no-one lives much further north than Washington. We are two generations on from any technology, and everything has been lost. The world has reverted to a Frontier land with horses and oil lamps.

David Anderson lives in Moline, Virginia (in, as we find out later, a "holiday home" owned by his grandparents family before the freeze) His family exist on a small holding with sheep and a few crops, trapping and trading and they do pretty well. Life is a struggle, against the hills - and against the dragons which have inexplicably appeared, hovering over the land and snatching sheep and children - but they manage. David's father is well respected in the area, and David, sixteen and nearly adult, has a good reputation and a lot to live up to. Then one day a new Healer, Callan Landers, comes to town and David begins to understand why he's been shying away from his mother's hints about marriage.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg, 'scuse the pun. There's so much more to this book than just a coming of age story, or a homosexual romance. There's a family saga here, a biting commentary on the way Right Wing morality is going on in America now, there's DNA manipulation, government conspiracy and so very much more.

But it's the characters that make it so very memorable. David is the narrator and after half a page you don't even notice his country dialect, as RW Day writes it so skilfully that you are in his head and his grammatical faux pas seem part of your own as you "become David", by osmosis. David takes one of the biggest journeys in the book, travelling between young man and adult in a short time, coming out from the shadow of his impressive father and standing on his own two feet. He'll impress you, infuriate you and although you'll love him, you'll want to smack him at times, and that's how it should be.

Callan, too, although older than David by several years, takes a big journey too. He grows up as much as David, imho, and he learns so much - from David of all improbable sources - and I loved watching his experiences. He has such a fragility and a dark tension that he carries with him, and David's youthful enthusiasm threatens to sweep him away, but he manages to hold his own, and learns to step into the sun. I loved how he was cold, and how David worried about him. I loved his stubbornness and his fatalism. Some pairs are perfectly matched - these two are not, but they fit together anyhow, as David would say.

Quite apart from the main couple, there are countless other characters none of whom are ever cardboard cut-outs. If you meet a character, then you learn about them, see their strength and their weaknesses (from David's perspective) and that's the magic in this book. If you live in a tight knit community, then you KNOW people, and David knows everyone. There's David's siblings, David's grandmother and mother, the mayor, and so many other townsfolk. When there's a town meeting, then a lot of people speak, it's not all down to one person.

However, the biggest characters in the entire book (for me) were the landscape and the weather. The weather is omnipresent and always dangerous. "Either you are prepared, or you are dead," David says. The winter goes away (If the people of Moline are lucky) from late April to September, and even then, it's cold. RW Day writes the weather in with every activity of the town, but in a way that David would accept it - as an integral a part of his life as getting up and washing is - and it never seems intrusive or out of place. The weather matters.

And the landscape, too. RW Day knows these Virginian hills and it shows - the love of the land shines out with the first page onwards, and her descriptions are beautiful

I'm not going to discuss the dragons, you'll have to find that out for yourself.

This book is a triumph of imagination, and a damned good romance/adventure story that will make you laugh, cry, hold your breath in suspense and punch the air in relief.

This was a deserved finalist for the 2006 Lambda awards. There is a sequel, and I do hope, hugely, that Lethe will publish it, as I know there are many readers who will be waiting for it as eagerly as I am. Please DO NOT say to yourself "Oh I never read first person stories" because if you do you will miss something that is purely a crossover book--a wonderful "m/m" story and a wonderful piece of gay literature.

Comments

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

It's high on the list of books to get. :)

But first I have to read the "I Do" anthology.

[mroctober.livejournal.com]

I don't understand the issue with first person POV? A great many books--spec fic or not--are told in this POV.

As for the sequel, well, Becky has never brought it up with me.

[rwday.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, sweetie!

[kittymay.livejournal.com]

This sounds such an exciting idea...I'm very much looking forward to reading, and all the more so for 'first person'. So many wonderful books have been written in this way (The Color Purple, I Capture The Castle, Goethe's 'Werther') that I find it strange that people reject it.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you'll like it!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I don't either--but I've seen it mentioned time and again, saw someone mention it this very morning on the review on Jessewave's review blog, too. Think of all the book you'd miss if you said "I can't read that POV."

Well, I hope she does. *pokes her hard*

[erastes.livejournal.com]

You are welcome, it's the least I can do, David and Callan deserve it, so do you. Speak to Steve about the sequel (see comment of his, above)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

It's a wonderful book and I agree with you - you'd miss out on so many great books, wouldn't you? Jane Eyre, David Copperfield.. god, the list is huge.

[mongrelheart.livejournal.com]

I loved this book and can't wait for the sequel. I almost want to buy a second copy just to have the cool new cover art.

[girluknow.livejournal.com]

I read this book quite a while ago and I can still vividly recall scenes in it. I love the new cover. I hope there will be a sequel.

[emmyjag.livejournal.com]

I'm not a huge fan of spec fic, but I did love this book muchly. The new cover rawks! I hope everyone who missed this the first time round gets it this time.

I just don't know how many people that is? Everyone in my corner of the blogosphere already got it from Iris, and there's not a large audience for 1st person spec fic. Good luck to the fab Becky!

[mallorypath.livejournal.com]

I had ordered this from Iris and never got my copy, so I'm delighted to have the opportunity to get it now. And I'm already excited about the sequel.

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

Well, I look forward to reviewing it :)

[asphodeline.livejournal.com]

I *love* this book. It still haunts me and I have such clear pictures of the people and places in my head. I've passed it to friends, the highest compliment I can give a book!!

[lusiology.livejournal.com]

There is a sequel

On thank god!!! So many unanswere questions were racing through my mind when I finished it yesterday. My copy arrived Thursday morning and I couldn't put it down - thank goodness it's half term - I even took it to the hairdressers with me, so it's a good job those 'pumped males' weren't on the cover. *G*

Apart from David and Callan, my two fave characters were Jeannie and Brock. I found myself wishing my dad had been like his and that I'd got to know him better. And you are spot on, it is like living in that tight knit community. I'm keeping my fngers crossed that Lethe publishes the sequel.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it. She writes so beautifully. Please pop over to her LJ and fangirl her, she doesn't get enough of it, by half.

[lusiology.livejournal.com]

Please pop over to her LJ and fangirl her

I have done so and shamelessly I'm afraid.