Wheel of the Infinite

[sawyl]

I actually finished reading Martha Wells' Wheel of the Infinite a couple of weeks ago, but for one reason and another, I don't seem to have got round to writing up it. Set in a fantasy word where magic seems to be tied up with a spiritual domain called the Infinite, it follows a middle-aged and somewhat disgraced priestess, Maskelle, as she obeys a request from the Celestial One, the head of the Koshan religion, to return to the city of Duvalpour.

The story opens with Maskelle on the road, travel undercover as part of a troupe of foreign actors. While searching for a herbal remedy for one of the children, she happens across a group of river pirates and almost by chance rescues a young Sitanese swordsman called Rien. As they approach Duvalpour, it becomes clear that Rien has decided to attach himself to the party as Maskelle's bodyguard. As an outsider from a barbaric and highly feudal culture, Rien is baffled by the Koshan faith, by Maskelle's position as Voice of the Adversary, and by the idea of the hundred year rite — the creation of a sand-painted mandala that reflects reality so precisely that, if the Wheel is changed, reality changes to match it.

Arriving in the city, Maskelle learns from the Celestial One that there is a problem with the rite. One of the Voices working on the Wheel died unexpected and, when his deputy took over, he too was taken unexpected ill but not until after a strange and irremovable aberration had appeared in the sand painting. Desperate to fix the problem before the start of ceremonies on the equinox, the priests have agreed to rescind Maskelle's banishment and to allow her to use her unique position to investigate the cause of the abnormality.

As ever with Wells' novels, the world is beautifully imagined and teeming with realistic details. The Koshan faith, a fascinating semi-Buddhist religion that incorporates elements of ancestor worship, is extremely convincing. Rien, unfamiliar with Koshan practices and used to equating religion with sacrifices and vengeful shamen, acts as a stand-in for the reader, asking questions of Maskelle until he — and we — gain a working understand of the way everything fits together.

Of the principal characters, Maskelle is particularly well drawn. Impulsive and brusquely charming, she holds a unique position in the Koshan religion: as the Voice of the Adversary, she is effectively its militant arm, possessed of substantial magical powers intended to be used in the pursuit of justice and retribution. But she is also partly disgraced and discredited after embarking on a crusade after failing to correctly interpret a vision from the Adversary and has spent the last few years in exile, stripped of her role in the religion but not of her position as a Voice.

Rien, is a good foil to Maskelle. Stoic and quiet, but deeply capable and all too familiar with the depths of human treachery. As an outsider, he brings out a lot of the details of Duvalpour that Maskelle, in her familiarity, takes for granted. The members of the acting troupe also feel authentic, from the small details of their nomadic lifestyles to actor-manager Restim's obsession with audiences and semi-improvised routines to Old Mali, Maskelle's friend, servant, and keeper who won't take any nonsense from anyone. The Celestial One comes across as half Buddha, half cranky old man, who seems proud of and frustrated with Maskelle in equal measures. At one point Restim asks Maskelle whether the Celestial One was elected to his position, to which she replies that he was selected because he died and then, sometime later, was brought back to life by the strength of his connection with the Infinite. She notes that this isn't particularly unusual and that some religious hermits can also do it, but they're generally wise enough to do it away from the site of anyone else in order to ensure that they don't accidentally become the next Celestial One.

Not just an enjoyable, engaging read but Wheel of the Infinite is also that rarest of things: a standalone fantasy novel, complete and satisfying in itself. Recommended.