The Deer and the Dragon
Prior to reading the ridiculously entertaining The Deer and the Dragon, the last time I’d thought about the Phoenicians was in ninth grade in our study of the world’s early civilizations. Nor had I given much thought to Jainism or Ba’al and his consort Astarte. Not so Piper CJ–thank the gods. Fluent in myriad ancient religions, she also has a firm grasp on Christian theology. All are marvelously jumbled up in this novel, the first of her No Other Gods series.
I really don’t want to tell you anything about this tale–just read it. But since this is a review, I’ll try to give you a sense of the book without spoiling any of its fun.
Our narrator, Marlow, a wildly successful author of a series based on differing mythological pantheons, misses her lover terribly. Why has he left her?
Well, Marlow grew up in a super religious home with a nutso mother. (Bear with me.) The women in her family have what the church calls the gift of sight, the ability to see gods, angels, demons, or whatever we call those beings that exist outside of the realm of human perception. Her mother, for REASONS, spent her life convincing Marlow that the visions weren’t real but rather a symptom of severe mental illness. So, after years of being involved with one such being, Marlow, never sure whether or not she’s crazy, has told him she never wants to see him again. Even though he is absolutely the best boyfriend in any realm ever.
So, now she’s miserable and self-medicating dangerously. Then, if her severe depression isn’t enough, someone breaks into her impenetrable condo and tries to kill her. If it were not for Caliban, said fabulous boyfriend, plus an unbelievably handsome Nordic god both of whom apparate into her living room and save her, she’d be dead. But for REASONS, Marlow gets even madder at Caliban and banishes him. Bad idea. Hottie Nordic man tells her, honey, you screwed up. Your boyfriend is actually THE PRINCE OF HELL and, yes, of course gods are real. Now he’s gone and the balance between heaven and hell, who have been at war for eons, is tipping dangerously in heaven’s favor which is not a good thing.
Marlow, after taking several beats to accept this, listens to hottie warrior dude explain that the real world is stuffed with gods of all kinds–pretty much every pantheon ever believed in still exists. Most of them are pretty minor in terms of their universal–and I use that term loosely–impact, although, there’s a town out West run by the Phoenicians one should avoid at all costs. But Heaven and Hell are heavy hitters and virtually every other god/demon/angel does not want Heaven to get the upper hand. (As a devotee of His Dark Materials, this made perfect sense to me.)
Thus Marlow, with the help of a grouchy fallen angel and an extremely snarky Nordic goddess, sets out to unbanish Caliban which involves, well, I’m not going to get into it. But it is a DAMN good time.
Marlow is a riot of a narrator. She’s a bit of a brat, with a background one rarely sees in heroines of any kind, let alone in romantasy. As she and her literally supernatural new pals try to outsmart Heaven, the Phoenicians, and a–haha–host of other hallowed beings, she comments on everything and, really, I could listen to her all day long. Equally entertaining are just about every deity she encounters–if, like me, you grew up snarfing down every mythology you could find, you’ll love her take on the stories you read about–Piper’s writing is inventive, smart, and intricately true to the original stories.
This book is also wonderfully sex, queer, you-be-you positive. The author is adamant that any religion that doesn’t want you to think for yourself, shames you for your desires, tells you who you can canoodle with, or forces its denizens into subservient roles is unequivocally, morally wrong. If you’ve been looking for a progressive read that celebrates all kinds of relationships, cis, het, or poly, you’ll enjoy the hell out of this book.
It does end on a cliffhanger and I’ve no idea how long it will be before book two graces our lives. But, even with that, I recommend it big time. It’s–wait for it–divine.