- Hardcover: 448 pages
- Publisher: Tor Books; 1 edition (July 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0765301164
- ISBN-13: 978-0765301161
- Product Dimensions: 21.5 x 14.6 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,231,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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A bitter wind gusted through the courtyard that separated the sister buildings of the crumbling tenement, animating strips of newspaper and swirls of powdery snow. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
A bitter wind gusted through the courtyard that separated the sister buildings of the crumbling tenement, animating strips of newspaper and swirls of powdery snow. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A Scattering of Jades is Alexander C. Irvine’s debut novel, and as such it is surprisingly good. Set in nineteenth century USA, it draws heavily from Aztec mythology, which for me is a refreshingly new niche in the fantasy jungle.
At the centre of the story is Archie Prescott, a poor nobody trying to get by with his wife and daughter in the less fortunate parts of New York. What Archie isn’t aware of is that his daughter, Jane, has been marked by mysterious powers as the catalyst for the return of an ancient, terrible god, and that he is the only one who can stop this from happening.
Irvine’s writing is simple but elegant, and it’s only in rare places you notice that this is a first novel. The characterization is also excellent, and the plot well paced. I found the beginning somewhat confusing, when Irvine bombards us with unpronounceable names of Aztec deities and the viewpoints change a bit too rapidly, but once things started coming together it was an enjoyable read all the way up to the end, which was good, but not fully convincing.
With A Scattering of Jades Alexander C. Irvine has made an excellent start to his career as a writer, and I’m sure we are going to hear more from him in the future.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Best first novel in years!
8 July 2002
Format:Hardcover
Alex Irvine's writing carries a maturity that most writers don't reach for several novels. It's incredible to think that he's this good out of the gate. This book is on par with other first novels, SONG OF KALI by Dan Simmons and NEUROMANCER by William Gibson, although those books are of a different genre than SCATTERING OF JADES.
The writing in this novel is very reminiscent of Charles de Lint or Tim Powers; magical, earthy, and powerful. I really enjoy novels that pull real historical figures into them and this book seamlessly blends reality and fantasy.
Irvine is a writer you will hear from for a long time. This book should be on your must-read list for this year.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Scattering of Jades
19 Jun 2002
Format:Hardcover
I was lucky enough to get my hands on a pre-publication proof of this book. If you like mystery, history, adventure, metaphysics, ideas of the past that resonate with today, great characterization, literal and figurative descents into the underworld, and fine writing, this book is for you. A really amazing first novel. I can't wait to see what this guy does next.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
'Never again shall you return'
2 Oct 2002
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I select my 'next book to read' by picking through what it waiting on my shelves and reading a few pages here and there. It is a rare experience when a book I start out to take a quick look at suddenly becomes the one I am reading to the exclusion of all else. Of course, authors who can pick up a mythology and create a compelling and original story out of it are equally uncommon. Alexander Irvine is not the first who has essayed the fertile ground of Aztec legend, but, by setting the story in the U.S. of the 1840's, a deeper and more modern significance than one would anticipate. This is a tale about monsters, but it is not a monster story.
The story turns on the awakening of a chacmool, an Aztec avatar of the god Tlaloc, who seeks to recreate the world via a series of magical acts and a final sacrifice. Set against the machinations of Riley Steen, who has prepared the way for the chacmool is Archie Prescott, who lost his wife and daughter Jane in fires magically set to mark the young girl as the intended sacrifice. Completely distracted by the loss, Prescott is at his nadir when a sequence of events reveals to him that Jane is still alive and provides him with a new purpose to his life. A series of eerie encounters sets him on Jane's path in an effort to prevent the sacrifice.
The result is a mage's journey across the U.S., from New York City to the Mammoth Cave in far Kentucky. At each step in this mythic journey, he meets adversity, and enemies as inconstant as are his friends. Seemingly random events flow together for him in an almost foreordained pattern. As Prescott proceeds on his own path Stephen Bishop, a Negro slave and guide to Mammoth Cave, begins his own interior journey, enticed into providing aid and support to the chacmool in return for a promise of freedom for himself and his children. This subtle subtext on the nature and effect of slavery molds both men as they proceed to their meeting in the caverns below.
The parallels between the men are carefully constructed. Each seeks the salvation of his children. Archie must learn to see the dark, and Stephen to see in the dark. Both are manipulated and molded by events, and each learns something from the dignity and strength of the other. For the reader, this is simply one of the more important facets of a surprisingly complex tale of fantasy and alternate history. Among the guest appearances that dot the novel are Edgar Allen Poe and Aaron Burr as Irvine proves himself adept in using history as a mystery play.
You will find yourself reminded at times of Tim Power and Neil Gaiman. While I do not think that Irvine has achieved the quality of either, that he can evoke echoes of them is one of the best of signs. 'A Scattering of Jades' is one of the best debut novels I have seen this year, and one I heartily recommend.
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