Review from Tenacious Reader: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2014/10/08/the-broken-road-by-teresa-frohock/

I’ve been meaning to read something by Teresa Frohock for years, but her books have unfortunately remained in that large and looming list of books I really do want to read, but just haven’t managed to yet. When I saw she had a new novella coming out, and one that looks to be the start of a new series, I figured this was the perfect chance to finally add her to my “authors read” list.

I love horror, I love fantasy and I always love when the two combine for a dark fantasy story. For those not familiar with the term that is essentially how dark fantasy is defined, the blend of horror and fantasy elements. But, as opposed to most of the popular grimdark works, this has magic as a stronger and more central feature. It is also more of a good versus evil, or good overcoming evil than a shades of grey book with lots of moral ambiguity. But it is well done and an engaging read. To give you some idea of what Frohock has managed to pack in this novella, it manages to incorporate a zombie like threat, mirror worlds, mysterious water people/souls, betrayal, magic, fallout from some cataclysmic event in what appears to be our world, and more. This last one really took me by surprise because I had assumed it would be a standard medieval fantasy setting. Definitely not the case. I love to be surprised like that.

I also love the tone that Forhock creates, her words just cut straight to the chase and tells you how it is in a very striking and powerful way. Here's just one example:

"Famine was a dirty bitch with rotten fangs, but the hunger she put in a belly bit sharp nonetheless."

Another aspect of this that was very well done is the protagonist. Travys is a twin that is challenged to overcome a disability, one that should prevent him from using magic. But he is able to prove everyone wrong and demonstrate he is not incapacitated by his disability, he just has to go about conjuring his magic in a different way from most people. He is different, not broken. I love this aspect of the book, I love seeing that he is able to still use his power, he just has to do so in a unique way.

The Broken Road delivered a very entertaining, enjoyable story that left me wanting more. Always a great sign. Frohock’s writing is dark, imaginative and full of magic and I look forward to reading on when the next one comes out and hopefully going back and reading some of her previously published books as well. ( )

“T. Frohock” is Teresa Frohock, the author of the well-regarded fantasy debut Miserere: An Autumn Tale. The Broken Road is a novella that belongs to the “grimdark” genre: it is dark and gritty and there is no happily ever after. Frohock herself calls it “gothic horror,” and that description works, too. It’s good.

Travys du Valois is the younger of Queen Heloise’s twin sons. He is mute, and therefore unable to work the magic inherent in the nobles of his land except by using the voice of another or the sounds surrounding him. His world is in trouble: demons stalk the woods, famine and drought plague the crops, and the common people are desperate — so desperate that they have begun praying to dead gods. Travys is one of only a few among the nobility who care at all what happens to the lowborn, and he knows that a revolution will come soon if they are not delivered from their plight. Travys’s mother used to care, but no longer, and Travys has few allies.

The trouble takes on a specific shape as Travys travels through the land. His visions show him a noble-born man who drools vicious white wasps, creatures of magic with no apparent use. Perhaps, he reasons, they come from another dimension, separated from the world when “they crashed the god Boson” and “a Black Swan event” occurred. With those references, we’re no longer entirely sure we’re exclusively in the realm of fantasy or of science fiction, but one thing is clear: this cross-genre mash-up works.

As the plot develops, we see the intrigue at the palace, the rivalry between Travys and his brother, Josué, and the problem of politics. Mia, the woman Josué loves, is betrothed to Travys by his mother, against the wishes of all three of them. In fact, his mother wants Travys to be the next king, not Josué. Travys is convinced that it is possible to persuade his mother to reverse her decision, to give Mia and the throne to Josué, but his lover, Gabriel, does not think his queen can be swayed. And he is right: she thinks Josué is emotionally unstable and unfit for the throne.

But Josué is worse trouble than the queen knows, as Travys soon finds. The novella takes flight as Josué attempts to kill his brother, making him a sacrifice to open the way to other dimensions as the boundaries between the worlds fray. Travys is stunned to see a white wasp crawl from his brother’s mouth as they talk, and then grapple, and soon he is falling into the sea.

And all this happens in the first chapter.

The Broken Road proceeds apace from there. Frohock’s invention never flags; each new page gives us a new creature, a new environment, a new idea. Travys’s journeys following his brother’s attempted fratricide involve dealing with the dead, negotiating with the transformed, traveling to other dimensions. There are fights, loyal friends, math and magic. You won’t want to stop reading once you start.

My only complaint about The Broken Road is that Frohock deploys too much imagination for so short a book. It is dense reading. The characters are not given room to grow and develop as they should, and the story ultimately feels rushed. This novella should have been a novel. I hope Frohock’s next work will be the epic fantasy she clearly has in her.

Originally published at http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/the-broken-road/#comments. ( )