Up Jim River (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

This novel picks up sometime after The January Dancer and carries on in the same wild vein of a mythical quest element crossed with a sometimes madcap universe, where nearly everything is so old that the real meanings have been forgotten but which the astute reader can sometimes unpick.

"Up Jim River" is a phrase that Mearana the Harper, daughter of the 'Hound' known as Bridget Ban uses, and it means as it sounds, 'up the swanee', as we would say. Bridget is missing. The Hounds, a sort of Sherlockian space detective agency, have tried and failed to find their lost operative ,so they encourage her daughter, and the Scarred Man, to try and find her. The Scarred Man is now internally split into seven different personalities,
and while the quest is Mearana's, the Scarred Man is also on a quest of sorts for inner peace.

As with the previous volume, the yarn is deep and its threads are complex. The serious side is offset by plenty of comedy. There are betrayals and acts of bravery. While a resolution is reached, there seems to be plenty more stories left in this universe.

In this story we are reunited with the harper and the scarred man from The January Dancer. But there are two differences. First, we know who they are. And they leave the Bar on Jehovah to look for the harper's mother, the Hound Bridget ban who has gone missing. It turns out that this was a reason the harper sought out the scarred man in Michael Flynn's last book.

As the two follow Bridget ban's trail, we learn more about these characters and the universe Flynn has constructed around them. The scarred man's mind is fragmented into a handful of personalities that quarrel and occasionally cooperate. He and the harper find allies among the Hounds, the citizens of diverse worlds, and Wild barbarians who honor the harper's music. The level of hospitality they encounter ranges from Far Gatmander, where "guests happen," to Enjrun's Oorah, who treat guests "as their most precious treasure." As they draw nearer to their quest's end, they encounter enemies and allies, old and new. More need not be said.

Flynn continues to build the universe that holds his stories. We learn more of the League, the Confederation, and how humans were scattered from Old Earth. There are playful references to our current culture made through planetary customs, names, and snippets of language. (I'll admit to laughing out loud when learning that the planet "Boldly Go" contained only women.) This playfulness doesn't get in the way--much.

There are a few negatives. One is the more pedestrian pace of this book compared to The January Dancer. There is less mystery about the characters and their motivations. And some of the book's twists are the same kinds of twists as in the previous book. You don't necessarily see them coming--but in their aftermath they feel less surprising. Let's hope the author has some new tricks for the sequel. There will plainly be at least one.

This book is recommended for space opera fans, readers who enjoy playful use of language, and those who have enjoyed Flynn's previous books.