Any Other Name

[sawyl]

Its been a while since I read it, but here are a few thought on Any Other Name, the second of Emma Newman's The Split Worlds novels. Set almost immediately after the events of Between Two Thorns, the Rosa family been given into the hands of the mysterious Agency while the Irises are a rising force, largely thanks to William Reticulata-Iris assuming credit for Catherine Rhoeas-Papaver's role in foiling the plot to take over Aquae Sulis.

Despite Cathy's best attempts to avoid matrimony — her mother drugs her to keep her tractable and her family's patron fits her with a magical choke collar for the ceremony itself — she find herself hitched to Will and shipped off to London, where Will is expected to challenge for the dukedom left empty by the downfall of the Rosas. Fortunately for Cathy Will proves himself a decent sort — by his own narrow and warped standards — and, instead of raping his wife on their wedding night, spends his honeymoon persuading Amelia Alba-Rosa to become his mistress in exchange for his continuing protection from the Agency.

The whole build-up to the wedding puts a dark spin on the trope of marriage as an unquestionable good by making it very clear that neither Cathy nor Will really want to be married to each other but neither can really find a way out of it. Cathy is very obviously forced into something she really doesn't want and ends up with a hideous curse as a consequence; and Will, while not quite as obviously compelled, is trapped by his family's expectations and by social rules that he can't even see and by his misplaced chivalrous desire to protect Cathy. Newman makes it hard to believe that Will might actually come round to Cathy's point of view. Despite his good intentions, Will is almost wilfully blind — both to the idea that his wife might have a mind of her own and to the notion that his mistress might resent being a kept woman and might not have his best interests at heart — and every time you think he has to opportunity to help, he somehow manages to reinforce his credentials as a bit of an arse.

Meanwhile, back in Aquae Sulis, Ekstrand has ordered Max to put his investigation into the loss of the Wessex Chapter of Arbiters on hold in favour of digging up information on the Agency. They quickly discover that the people given over to the Agency are treated as slaves and worse while, at the same time, Cathy realises that the Agency gouges its patrons by insisting on overstaffing their employers' houses, reling on the fact that discussions of staffing costs are a social taboo to keep it quiet. Fortunately Cathy's unconventional ways — not least with her willingness to discuss the ways of the Agency — and her keen intelligence quickly win her friends among Londinium society, much to the astonishment of Will who continues to think of his wife as the trapped and unhappy person she was in Aquae Sulis — which isn't to say that she isn't still trapped and unhappy, just that Londinium offers her outlets for her unhappiness that were unavailable back in Bath.

As might be expected, the Agency turn out to be a seriously nasty group of individuals. Not only are they ruthless but, because they provide all the servants, they literally know where all the bodies are buried and in some cases, may even have helped to bury them themselves. As Max and the gargoyle discover more about the Agency's activities, they find their own beliefs and ethics coming into increasing conflict with those of Ekstrand, who tends towards a ruthless desire to control — at least on days of the week when he's capable of being that focused.

As ever, poor Sam doesn't achieve a great deal or have a particularly good time of it: his marriage is disintegrating and he believes he has discovered something sinister about his wife's boss, but he can't seem to get her to believe it; his dismal attempts to rescue a group of humans abducted by the fae leaves him owing five years of his life to Lord Poppy; and he's not even particularly successful at helping Cathy escape from her life in Londinium. Still there's something to be said for his slacker amiability and there are definite signs towards the end that his plot thread isn't what it seems and things may well be about to pick up for him.

The book concludes with an accelerando as everything rapidly comes together in a good solid conclusion that provides answers to some long-standing questions only to open up more ready for the next book. As I've settled in with the series, got to know the characters, and come to appreciate where things are headed, I've found myself really falling in love with it and desperate to how things resolve themselves.