Some authors are an automatic read for me, even if I don’t know what the book is about. Any work by Daniel Polansky will catch my attention. Ever since I read Low Town, I’ve tried to read Polansky’s work. Each time I pick up a book by him, I know it’ll be good. The Seventh Perfection was an outstanding novella in an imaginative world; The Builders was a gritty Western with animals for the main characters. March’s End by Daniel Polansky continues in that tradition. It features a wounded family seeking healing in duty while trying to save the fantastical world they rule.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
March’s End is Polansky at peak form; he’s a writer who improves with each book; and he’s a writer you should be reading. Highly Recommended
From the Publisher
March’s End is a multi-generational portal fantasy of strange magics, epic warfare, and deadly intrigue, in which the personality conflicts and toxic struggles of the Harrow family are reflected in the fantasy world they’ve sworn to protect.
The Harrows are a typical suburban family who, since time immemorial, have borne a sacred and terrible charge. In the daylight they are teachers, doctors, bartenders and vagrants, but at night they are the rulers and protectors of the March, a fantastical secondary world populated with animate antiquated toys and sentient lichen, a panorama of the impossible where cities are carried on the backs of giant snails, and thunderstorms can be subdued with song.
But beneath this dreamlike exterior lie dark secrets, and for generation after generation the Harrows have defended the March from the perils that wait outside its borders – when they are not consumed in their own bitter internecine quarrels.
In the modern day the Harrow clan are composed of Sophia, the High Queen of the March, a brilliant, calculating matriarch, and her three children – noble Constance, visionary, rebellious Mary Ann, and clever, amoral Will. Moving back and forth between their youth, adolescence, and adulthood, we watch as this family fractures, then reconciles in the face of a conflict endangering not only the existence of the March, but of the ‘real world’ itself.
March’s End is a book about growing up, in which the familial struggles of the Harrows are threaded through the mythic history of the fantastical land they protect. It is a story of failure and redemption, in which the power of love is tested against forces that seek to break it, and the necessity of each generation to recreate itself is asserted.
File Under: Fantasy [ Not Narnia | Secrets will out | Growing up | Love is all ]
Review: March's End by Daniel Polansky
Before getting to the review proper, I have to get it out of the way. March’s End by Daniel Polansky is a descendant of The Chronicles of Narnia. But it is much more than that. It’s more adult in that it deals in moral grays; things are complicated, complex, and much more interesting. It seems to me to be an homage to Narnia while also pointing out its flaws and shortcomings. While March’s End stands on its own, I kept coming back to the Narnia comparison. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a fantastic book, and March’s End is better.
The Harrows protect the March, a fantastical land that they travel to at night when they should be sleeping. At least, according to the Harrows, the protect the March. Some residents of that land disagree. In addition, the End, a mysterious force that seems to infect March residents, drives people from their homes toward the center, the Tower, which is the seat of the Harrow. Constance, Sophia’s oldest child, is the most responsible. She feels a duty to the March and to her family. Mary Ann, the middle child, is haunted by guilt and a drinking problem. John, poor, scarred John, is broken inside and out. Like all families, the three fight, hurt, and protect each other. But some fights just keep happening and may get pushed below the surface without resolution. As the three age, Constance stays near her parents while Mary Ann moves to Hollywood and John to New York City. The petty jealousies of childhood, amplified by the March, persist between the three even when Constance lets them know their mother is dying. With Sophia’s illness, Mary Ann and John begin to notice the borders between the real and the fantastical world are blurring. Can the three siblings reunite to save the March and possibly the real world as well?
March’s End by Daniel Polansky is a third person point of view novel mainly from the perspective of Sophia’s three kids: Mary Ann, John, and Constance. Though there plenty of chapters in which they’re adults as well. Polansky also gives readers some chapters from Sophia’s perspective. While these chapters were essential, they weren’t as effective as the kids. March’s End flits back and forth through time. It’s timeline is nonlinear, flashing back and forth, which was a little confusing, at first, but readers will adapt quickly. Once adjusted to the structure, reader’s won’t want to put the book down.
The March
The March is a neat place. Polansky fills it with imaginative creatures, some of whom make for fun characters. While describing the creatures of the March, Polansky taught me several new words, like xerophile. There are creatures that wear masks, and when they trade masks, they trade souls.
The March can be a little cutesy, like the Merrilings of Toyland. But it has a darker side as Constance learns when she and her father battle a monster from the depths. Overall, Polansky walks the line between creating an interesting realm and making it so neat that you skip all the non-March passages. While I wanted to explore the March, I wanted to explore it through the Harrow characters. Or, in other words, the setting is fantastic, but it doesn’t outshine the characters.
I’ve always wanted Polansky to write a sequel to The Builders. I think the March is as close as I’m likely to get. Also, if you haven’t, check out The Builders.
The Harrow Family
I loved and hated the Harrow family; so, Polansky hit the right notes on character creation. Each of them have such responsibility riding upon them as the ruling family of a land. Part of their childhood is dedicated to preparation to protect a land of fantastical creatures. They have a book that as children they have to memorize; it contains the various factions and peoples of the March. At night they visit the land with all its delights and its dangers. Despite it being a fantasy land, the dangers are quite real and injuries sustained in the March are permanent.
It’s hard to say which of the three I liked best. First it was a toss up between John and Mary Ann, but as the book progressed, Constance grew on me. Each of the three are flawed, conflicted, and uncertain. Sophia, their mother, had an iron will throughout the book. She was certain that what she was doing was the right thing for her family and for the March. That type of certainty is something I’ve learned to be wary of. If we don’t have the ability to ask ourselves if we’re wrong, then we don’t have the ability to ask how things can be better. After all, Sophia is certain that rule by the Harrow is good for the March. Those who disagree are simply rebels to her; she does not, even once, consider that they may have a point. But then colonizers always believe their rule benefits everyone whether it’s wanted or not. Sophia’s certainty didn’t sit right with me. But the kids, they questioned themselves, and I like that in the characters I read. We often dismiss that uncertainty in ourselves as a flaw. We think everyone else has it together, knows what they’re doing, or just has a better life than us. Of course, that’s not true. Everyone’s doing the best they can with the situation they were born into. We don’t know if any decision we make is the right one, and I like characters that feel the same. It allows them to exist in a morally gray area, but it also allows them to challenge themselves and grow, as the Harrow kids do. Whether for the better, I leave that up to you.
The Storytelling
March’s End by Daniel Polansky has a nonlinear timeline. Readers flit back and forth between the three Harrow kids’ childhood and adulthood. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s worth it. The timeline reveals bits and pieces of the story while relying on the reader to piece it together. Polansky tells the story smoothly enough that it’s not work, it’s an enjoyable puzzle.
Conclusion
Daniel Polansky’s March’s End is a wonderful family drama built against the background of a portal fantasy. The world, the characters, the story, all fit together to make a special novel. From Daniel Polansky, I would expect nothing less. Highly recommended.
March’s End by Daniel Polansky is available from Angry Robot Books now.
© PrimmLife.com 2023