Search - Butcher Bird: A Novel Of The Dominion

Back in 2008, I wrote a 3 line review of Butcher Bird. After reading Sandman Slim, I thought I’d revisit it – and got a pleasant surprise for my time and effort. It reads like an earlier draft of Sandman Slim. By the way, that’s a feature, not a bug. It has many mad, beautiful and weird ideas, with good descriptive prose. It also has more sympathetic characters than Sandman Slim.
As to what it’s about, the back cover blurb does a good job of setting it up and giving an overview. It should be, after all the folks that write it have more time to do so.
At its most basic level, Butcher Bird is about Spyder Lee (named for the car) an overgrown adolescent and tattoo artist finally growing up. He does this by getting infected with the truth and seeing the occult magic of the world (a beautiful and terrible experience at the best of times and Spyder’s exposure is far from ideal). He also goes on a quest… Along with Spyder, we get: Lulu, Spyder’s lesbian sister-in-spirit and business partner; Shrike (the butcher bird of the title) a former princess, now blind warrior who wanders the three spheres; Count Non, a mysterious and likable aristocratic warrior. These four then go on an epic quest.
Butcher Bird reminds me of Tim Powers, a darker version of Charles de Lint’s work or Bordertown with the characters growing up. It’s a great piece of urban fantasy. It is also a mash up of urban fantasy, the new weird and traditional quest fantasy. What makes it neat is that Kadrey doesn’t think small – he makes it universally important and personal for the characters. And the quest takes them well beyond Earth and the first sphere.
Now, I mentioned how Butcher Bird read like an earlier draft of Sandman Slim. The two books share elements and themes – Apollyon’s dagger, the Key, a living people in Hell, a human sorcerer raising Hell in Hell, terrors from the creation of the world and others. I doubt I’d have noticed the similarities if I hadn’t read the two in quick succession though. And I think the similarities are a feature, mainly because Butcher Bird is rawer and closer to the surface with its feelings.
In short I liked it. Four stars. Its evocative and has well drawn characters.
Likes: Decent (if not always sympathetic) characters; Nicely done dialogue; Sympathy for the Devil; The little myths from his work on Viper Wire; Character growth; Female characters that pass the Bechdel test; Oddly enough, Hell; Divine will vs. free will; Mad, beautiful ideas – like a city of lost things, fantastic air ships.
Dislikes: Spyder being an ass early in the book, but the character growth takes care of that; Not any sympathy for God.
Suggested for: Richard Kadrey and Sandman Slim fans; Fans of Tim Powers and Charles de Lint; Anyone who wanted a bit more out of the Bordertown series; Fans of John M. Ford’s The Last Hot Time.