Caine's Law (Acts of Caine: Act of Atonement, Book 2) [Paperback]

To say I'm a big fan of Matthew Stover's Acts of Caine series may be to understate the case. When I read Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle (the first two books in the series and the Acts of Violence and War, respectively) a dozen years or so ago, they had a profound influence both on my life and on the course my reading would take over the following decade or so. And so it was that I was extremely excited when Caine Black Knife, the first half of the Act of Atonement, was finally released in 2008. And, like a number of fans, I was entertained by that volume but also a bit disappointed. While action-packed, it often lacked the intensity, the scale, and the escalation of stakes that had helped make the first two books so gripping. Further, it featured few of the recurring characters that fans have come to love, and more, being only the first part of an Act, its cliffhanger conclusion was a bit unsatisfying -- all the more so considering the insanely epic finales of both previous books. So when Caine's Law, the conclusion to the Act of Atonement and possibly the final novel in the series, was released, I was both excited and a bit anxious.

I should have trusted Stover. This novel is more than a return to form after Caine Black Knife: it's a magnificent novel, on par with the first two books in the series. Picking up where Caine Black Knife left off, it not only continues that story but, with its nonlinear narrative (and some divine intervention), utterly encompasses it, consumes it, subsumes it, and makes it more than it had been. Which is to say: not only is Caine's Law a better novel than Caine Black Knife but, having read them both, Caine Black Knife is a better novel than it had been on its own. All those characters whose absence was noted in Caine Black Knife return here, in greater or less capacities, and several wonderful new characters are introduced. A number of Stover's recurring tropes and motifs -- the nature of identity, the struggle of people against gods, the intimate versus the abstract, and more -- and favorite lines return, but he continues to grow as a writer and their incorporation into the story is always fresh and exciting. While the action (and by action I mean violence) is not as nonstop as in Caine Black Knife, it is more compelling -- things got pretty nasty in that book -- and the pacing here is actually better than in the previous book, sustained by plenty of Stover's clever dialogue and thoughtful twists, all building toward a fabulously satisfying conclusion. In the end, while the third book in this series is not as good as the first two novels, the third Act, taken as a whole, happily takes its place alongside them.

While I heartily recommend this novel, I must point out that it does not stand alone; it is not, as they say, a good jumping on point for new readers. To get the most out of this novel -- and, possibly, simply to avoid being totally lost -- you definitely need to have read at least Caine Black Knife and preferably all three of the earlier novels before this one. So do yourself a favor and get to reading.

Seriously, I don't understand why Matthew Stover isn't famous. This is the guy who has taken sword & sorcery to the next level, combining the atmosphere and action of RE Howard, the plotting of ER Burroughs, and the subtlety and modern sensibility of Moorcock. Why is he putting food on the table writing Star Wars novelizations instead of working on the screenplay for the latest big-screen Caine epic starring somebody like Jason Statham, Vin Diesel, or Daniel Craig?

Be that as it may, Stover is still doing original work, and "Caine's Law" is yet another triumph for Stover. The "Acts of Caine" series started out strong with "Heroes Die" and has just built with every installment (although to be fair, while the first two books in the series stood very well alone, "Caine Black Knife" and "Caine's Law" feel like two halves to a single novel). Caine Black Knife dispensed with linear time, cutting back and forth between "mature" Caine and Caine at the beginning of his career. Stover is like a juggler, who keeps adding one more spinning plate, right up until the moment when he seems to lose it and they are all coming crashing to the floor--only to somehow pull of a conclusion conclusion that seems both elegant and inevitable. I think, with this novel, that he has managed to bring the story of Caine to such a conclusion--although it wouldn't surprise me if he some day comes up with a way to up the ante yet again.

Readers new to Stover's work should begin with "Heroes Die" to get the full impact of the series. Fortunately, second and long out-of-print book in the series, "Blade of Tyshalle," is now available for Kindle, (although a physical copy will cost you a pretty penny even used, unless you are lucky enough to find it new on the shelf of a bookstore as I did a few years back).

If you haven't read the series at all, "Acts of Caine" is a fantasy pretending to be science fiction pretending to be fantasy. Set in a corporate-dominated dystopian near future with a rigid caste system, a "gate" is discovered to an alternate world with medieval technology where magic actually works. So, naturally, we turn it into a reality show, sending "Actors" with surgically implanted recording devices over to the alternate world to foment trouble and have violent adventures for the entertainment of the masses on our world. Becoming an"Actor" is one of the few ways for the lower castes to make it big, and "Caine" (real name in our world, Hari Michaelson) begins as one such aspiring Actor.

Those of...er..."delicate" sensibilities should be warned that this is very much postmodern sword & sorcery. It is often graphically violent (Stover has clearly done enough martial arts to write some very believable fight scenes). Stover's protagonist Caine is more anti- than hero, and his language is realistically larded with profanity, as befits a character who grew up in a violent slum.

Anybody with a serious appreciation of the genre absolutely must give Stover a try.

I love Stover's writing style. I love the character of Caine that he has created. And the world he has created in Home is very well realized. Reading this book, one can tell that MWS ha devoted a lot of thought to the nature of this world and these characters.

However, I can't help but feel that Stover is letting himself get a little carried away with these books. With each book, the character of Caine becomes more important, more dangerous, more clever & intelligent, and can more easily screw over, piss off, and/or outwit his opponents than in the previous book. Caine has far out grown what he was in the original Heroes Die, and not in the sense that his personality or goals have changed. He's the exact same person, just MORE of him. More in your face and with ever-increasing stakes. The "big reveal" towards the end of the book felt less like shocking news and more like a justification of how this character can get away with everything that he does. And allows Caine to continue to spout out (a)moral platitudes to justify his actions and the reason he such a dick to everyone.

The book was structured in such a way that the narrative jumped around to various points of Caine's life based on (I can on assume) is meant to be some sort of thematic arc. However, the threads tying the chapters together did not always seem fully realized. Reading the book, I felt like it was done more to intentionally disorient the reader and keep us guessing as to what was really going on than to bother with a fully cohesive story that had something to say on its own merits. It felt like a smokescreen to make the message of the book come off as more important/significant than it really is.

All that being said, I honestly did enjoy the book. I read it in less than a week while on vacation. By the end of it, I could barely put the book down. Stover is really adept at crafting a gripping story with (mostly) realistic characters. I just think he reached a little too far with this book and showed the limits of these characters and this world in comparison to the message Stover is trying to convey.