Finch [Paperback]

My only exposure to Jeff Vandermeer prior to this, was reading Steampunk, which was this volume of works he edited with his wife. Ann. I really enjoyed that book. I thought the idea of Ambergris intriguing. I didn't know I was beginning at the end, which isn't the author's fault or mine. I dived into it, though, so I will read this first and then go back to the other books.

I was expecting a straight steampunk sort of novel with noir like detective elements, but this is much more than that. The fantasy elements, even the dark or grotesque ones, are beautiful. From page one, I was sucked in, a now fan of those books which are cut into "day" chapters. He has a very good use of vocabulary especially describing color and locations, it reminds me of Romantic Poets, yet this isn't a poem by far. The mixture is fantastic. It's gritty and violent, yet highly lovely in spirt, the only thing I could say even comes close to it that I have read, and I don't read a lot of fiction, is Nick Cave's And the Ass Saw the Angel. The two books are completely different in plot but share the same gorgeous intensity in their gothic imagery and dark joys. It's so rhythmic in nature, I can believe the music cited at the end inspired in and why he would want to make a soundtrack to go along with the book.

The story is a mix of so many things, horror, pulp detective stories, gothic literature, poetry, magic, who-done-its, I could list a bunch of movies and books I have read that would be the fingers and eyelashes of this work. It's good for the detective story read, good for the fantasy reader, hopefully good for the goths and steampunks too, though I am sure there might be debate over that. I am smitten by the lure of Ambergris, so I will be walking backwards and reading the rest. I would tell you my opinion of the plot, but the press that made the book, expresses their opinion that spoilers should be kept to the bare minimum, so I am respecting that. I can say that I don't read a lot of fiction because I rarely get sucked into a world, but this world of Ambergris is unique and gruesomely addictive.

Jeff Vandermeer's Finch is an interesting mixture of genres, encompassing noir, science fiction, and philosophy. The novel follows detective John Finch as he tries to solve a double murder- one human and one of the fungus-creature graycaps that rule the city of Ambergris are found dead in an otherwise empty apartment. With few resources, a partner who is quickly succumbing to a terrible disease, a lover who may or may not be his enemy, and a boss who is demanding answers immediately, Finch is forced to take actions that could prove deadly.

I didn't immediately like this book. I found the beginning somewhat muddled and had difficulty following what was going on. The author chose to place most of the description of his fantastical city of Ambergris and its history in the middle and end of the book. For me that meant it was a struggle to read the first quarter of the book or so, but after that things became increasingly clear, and I was able to focus more on the characters and their problems. I know that the author has written at least two other books in this world, but since they are supposed to be stand-alones, I thought I'd forge ahead without having read them. It's definitely possible that I would have had a more enjoyable reading experience had I done that.

Back to the timeless city of Ambergris, from VanderMeer's 'City Of Saints And Madmen' and 'Shriek: An Afterward'. Ambergris has changed a great deal over the last century. The once mysterious and quiet Gray Caps (Mushroom People) have risen from their Underground to take over the city, overpower the reigning corporate-based rulership, and now runs the city with the help of fungi based weapons, and towering purple mushrooms which disperse addictive drugs to the human population.

John Finch, not his real name, is a detective put on the case of two bodies lying dead in a tenement room. Both he and his partner Wyte, who is contaminated with fungal growth, are puzzled over the mysterious way the deaths occurred, and that one victim is human and the other a Gray Cap. They are watched over by the Partials, humans who have given themselves over to the Gray Caps and allowed fungal and other alterations to their bodies. Finch must eat the "memory bulbs" harvested from the dead, to discover the reason for their murder.

The Gray Caps, while ruling the city, are focused on building two towers, the function of which is unknown and mystifying. It seems the city falls deeper into decay the further along the towers rise. Finch finds himself deep in a complex web of fabrications and suspicion over the murder; a murder that ties in such anomalous characters as the Lady In Blue, Ethan Bliss, the dangerous Stark, Finch's neighbor Rathven, and his Gray Cap boss Heretic. Could there even be a tie to Ambergris historian Duncan Shriek, who disappeared a century ago?

Ambergris has a history: First, The Silence, discussed in VanderMeer's first Ambergris story 'City Of Saints And Madmen'; then The War Of The Houses, discussed in VanderMeer's second Ambergris novel 'Shriek: An Afterward'; and now in 'Finch' comes The Rising. Not only have the Gray Caps risen to take over the city, but the waters have risen too; where there was city and canals now lies a vast bay - Ambergris is shrinking.

There's a lot more, well, fungi, in this third trip through Ambergris. More spores, more infestation, more ruination, more rot, more types of fruiting bodies, and large tree-sized mushrooms that dispense purple spores that people wait for because the spores are the new drug of choice.

There's always been something attractive to me about fungi and fruiting bodies - they're peculiar and rather disgusting. They give me a creepy feeling, and when confronted with one in the wild I cannot stop myself from plucking it and handling it, turning it this way and that to study it, then scrubbing my hands as hard as I can to rid myself of the real (or imaginary)) slime and spores left behind.

I'm a little disappointed in The Rising depicted in 'Finch'. Part of what lured me to Ambergris was the mystery of the Gray Caps; now much of that mystery has been revealed, lessening the tension I felt reading the other Ambergris books. VanderMeer also changed his style a bit, using uncharacteristically short, stilted sentences rather than the flowing prose of the past two Ambergris novels. This works though, because 'Finch' is a rawer Ambergris, an Ambergris in more upset and peril than ever before. Can it be saved?

I highly recommend reading 'City Of Saints And Madmen' and 'Shriek: An Afterward' before 'Finch', even though 'Finch' can stand on it's own. Immerse yourself in the poetic history of Ambergris, and don't miss out on a moment of it. Enjoy!

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