Contrarian – L.E. Jr. Modessit

“Gaslamp political fantasy” is a good characterization. There are hints that the book is placed on another planet (white sun, greenish sky) but this has no effect on the story. Even the existence of empaths (and isolates and susceptibles) could be removed without changing the story much. What is left is a society - not ours, but recognizable - trying to find its balance in a modernizing age.

The structure in which the story is embedded becomes annoying after a while. Every morning we are told what day it is. Every mid-day we are told what the protagonist has for lunch. Every evening we are told what he has for supper. I can see why the author might have done this: Much of the important plot advancement proceeds at the blinding pace of committee meetings.

The ‘Contrarian’ subplot is wasted. Or, to put a positive spin on it, it represents a different book that the author chose not to write. The book he did write would not be much different without the Contrarian.

And yet, three books after the start of the trilogy, it was worth reading. The pages kept turning. The author is doing something difficult - portraying people who are fighting a political battle for incremental change - and he doesn’t cheat. (Well, okay, he cheats a bit. The lawyers keep turning up obscure-but-useful laws that just happen to fit the circumstances perfectly.)