(no subject)

[skygiants]

As previously mentioned, I have been rereading Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January books. I have not yet quite reached the point where I run out of 'reread' and just hit 'read' -- there were nine published books when I first read the series in 2010, and now there are fourteen -- but I am halfway through, so it's probably a decent time to stop and take stock.

For the unfamiliar, the titular Benjamin January is a free black pianist/music teacher/surgeon who also finds himself frequently fighting crime in 1830s New Orleans. In the long-form hypothetical HBO television series of my heart, he is played by a slightly-older Okierete Onaodawan, who has proven through his pitch-perfect rendition of both Hercules Mulligan and James Madison that he can do all the instantaneous code-switching that Benjamin January requires to survive and walk the lines between the world of the wealthy free colored inhabited by his mother and sister, and the slave quarters where he is frequently required to go undercover for crime-fighting purposes.

...and it looks like I outlined the other major characters on here back in 2010, so I'm just going to link to that instead of doing it all again.

Books I have reread to date include:

A Free Man of Color, in which Benjamin January comes home as a grieving widower after many years away in Paris and is like "oh shit not that Paris wasn't racist but I FORGOT New Orleans was really racist D: D: D:" An excellent place to start and includes my favorite side romance in the series (featuring, to this date of my reading, the only happy and sympathetic explicitly queer characters in the series so far iirc); my giant crush on Augustus Mayerling is undimmed from when it first blossomed in 2009.

Fever Season, in which Historical Cameo from Delphine LaLaurie, and which contains a terrible plague AND a kidnapping conspiracy AND the introduction of series love interest Rose Vitrac AND the introduction of the series' very first secret agony attic. (Barbara Hambly is very enthusiastic about the number of secret agony attics in 1830s New Orleans.) I think I have realized why I was so ambivalent about Rose in 2009, by the way; due to combination of the name and the bluestocking sensibilities, my brain keeps jumping from Rose Vitrac to the character of Rose in Mercedes Lackey's The Fire Rose, which is a SIGNIFICANTLY WORSE BOOK than any of the Benjamin January novels. The Fire Rose is not Barbara Hambly's fault and therefore I like Rose better now (and more as the series goes on), though I still find her a little custom-designed for the assumed twenty-first century reader to identify with.

Graveyard Dust, in which Ben's sister, voodooiene Olympe, is accused of voodoo murder. Contains secret New Orleans agony attic #2, an interesting and as far as I can tell fairly respectful portrayal of voodoo in the 1830s, and some fairly weird handling of child sexual abuse about which I found myself making a few dubious faces.

Sold Down the River, in which Ben goes undercover as a slave to discover the saboteur on a plantation belonging to the terrible old man who used to own him and his mother. Both Ben and the reader are aware that this is an INHERENTLY TERRIBLE IDEA, which makes this a very tense book! Probably one of the best in the series (and also features my favorite murderer in the series.)

Die Upon a Kiss, in which Phantom of the Opera homage! Obviously, I love this book. It's as over-the-top as Fever Season and features about twelve different plots going kabloom up against each other (plagiarists! smugglers! scorned opera singers! angry Italian nationalists! AN EXPLODING FAKE VOLCANO!) I can't even remember now why half the murders or attempted murders were committed and I don't even care.

Wet Grave, in which Historical Cameo from Jean Lafitte, and in which there is a slave rebellion AND a typhoon AND a hunt for secret pirate treasure all happening at once. Contains secret New Orleans agony attic #3 and also contains an extraordinary amount of excellence from Ben's other sister Dominique, the sweet fluttery gossipy wealthy man's mistress, who spends much of this book tromping heroically through a swamp while hugely pregnant and then going 'what, like it's hard?' when anyone questions her fortitude. Dominique is my favorite, so I'm very fond of this one.

Days of the Dead, in which Historical Cameo from Santa Anna, not to mention a straight plunge into Gothic, imprisoned nuns and dead wives in the secret agony attic (or in this case the secret agony cave) and ghostly whispers and all. There's even a shout-out to The Monk. Barbara Hambly's portrayal of 1830s Mexico reads to me as significantly more exaggerated/exoticized than her portrayal of 1830s New Orleans (and, again, I could happily go another decade without reading another book in which THE HUMAN SACRIFICE OF THE AZTECS!!!!!!! featured as a major plot device.) On the other hand, the murder method is ingenious enough that this is quite literally the only book out of the nine I read in 2009 for which I remembered who the murderer actually was. This was actually fairly surprising to me. I expected to at least remember the broad outlines of some of the plots! BUT NOPE.

In fact, I just tried to remember who the murderer actually was in A Free Man of Color, and once again I have forgotten it entirely. Don't read these books for the murders, I guess. Do, however, read them for the detailed, in-depth historical world-building (for the most part); the complexity and care with which Barbara Hambly builds her side characters, all of whom contain a number of wonderful inherent human contradictions, and almost any one of whom could fill a whole novel to themselves; and, if you like, the plots that are only getting more gonzo as the series comes along. I had really forgotten how delightfully over-the-top they start to get once Barbara Hambly starts to run out of plausible reasons for the main cast to be accused of murder in New Orleans. SECRET PIRATE TREASURE!!!!

Comments

[snickfic]

the titular Benjamin January is a free black pianist/music teacher/surgeon who also finds himself frequently fighting crime in 1830s New Orleans.

...do you know what, I have been hearing about these books for literally years, and I did not a single part of this sentence except for the "fighting crime" part. I just knew they were mystery-ish novels. I feel like all my sources have failed me, but now I know and I might need to investigate.

[skygiants]

Ha! Yeah, most of those are moderately significant bits of information, yeah. :D I would encourage investigation!

[kore]

The prose is also really great -- they're really beautifully written in a lot of places.

[lizbee]

SAD NEWS: the latest book's plot is HARDLY GONZO AT ALL, and could almost pass for serious.

[skygiants]

What?? BETRAYED!!!

[lizbee]

IT IS FRANKLY OUTRAGEOUS, AND I SHALL WRITE TO COMPLAIN.

[sovay]

In the long-form hypothetical HBO television series of my heart, he is played by a slightly-older Okieriete Onaodawan, who has proven through his pitch-perfect rendition of both Hercules Mulligan and James Madison that he can do all the instantaneous code-switching that Benjamin January requires to survive

I still haven't managed to see Onaodowan acting, but he has a great face.

Barbara Hambly's personal mental casting (authorcasting?) for Ben was Louis Gossett, Jr. at the appropriate age, which meant that even by the time she was answering the question, he was too old for the part, but I always find that sort of thing neat to know.

and some fairly weird handling of child sexual abuse about which I found myself making a few dubious faces.

In which direction? (Graveyard Dust is the book after which gaudior asked me, "Does every rich white family in New Orleans have a torture attic?")

therefore I like Rose better now (and more as the series goes on), though I still find her a little custom-designed for the assumed twenty-first century reader to identify with.

I don't identify with Rose; I just like her. The fact that Ben and Hannibal can have the following (non-spoilery) exchange about her in Drinking Gourd makes me really happy:

Fortunately Hannibal agreed with him, and found nothing timid or unreasonable in the suggestion that they investigate the woodland path together. "Should anything befall you I would be obliged to marry your beautiful Rose," explained the fiddler, as they followed the dusty Springfield Road out of town. "And dearly as I love her—and I hope I would serve as a worthy stepfather and mentor to your children—I fear I would live in daily dread of being blown sky-high by one of her chemical experiments."

"You can't think about things like that," replied January serenely. "I never do."

I mean, that exchange makes me happy for a bunch of other obvious reasons as well, but the image of the January household as a site of casual semi-mad science is a strong frontrunner.

Barbara Hambly's portrayal of 1830s Mexico reads to me as significantly more exaggerated/exoticized than her portrayal of 1830s New Orleans

I really think she's at her best in New Orleans and associated surroundings; when she ventures into other settings, she's most successful with Haiti in Crimson Angel. I am not entirely sure why this should be true, but the books taking place in the Rockies and in Washington, D.C. are the two I have found least convincing. The book which is half flashback to 1820's Paris, on the other hand, works great.

(and, again, I could happily go another decade without reading another book in which THE HUMAN SACRIFICE OF THE AZTECS!!!!!!! featured as a major plot device.)

I did like the way Greek myth kept cropping up in the middle of the Aztec Gothic shenanigans. Dude, you already named your house "Hacienda Mictlan"! Invoking the House of Atreus is not going to improve matters!

[skygiants]

Oh, interesting! Louis Gosset, Jr. wouldn't be how I would imagine Benjamin -- my mental image is someone bulkier with more of a brawler's physique -- but I can sort of imagine that interpretation.

I think what weirds me out in specific in Graveyard Dust is the fact that Benjamin feels more pity/sympathy, in the end, for the sad molester uncle than for many of the other people involved in the case, including the honey trap child, about whom there is this weird sense that the fact that she's complicit in the scam erases the fact that she's also a victim.

Ha, I do like Rose best in the moments where she's doing wildly unwise scientific experiments while onlookers are like @_@ @_@ @_@ I FEEL ... LIKE SOMEONE MIGHT DIE ...?? Mad scientist Rose is my favorite Rose, basically. (And I'd forgotten how sad I was about the death of her baby scientist partner-in-crime in Wet Grave!)

I am really looking forward to the DC book because it's a Chloe and Dominique book and I have been waiting for another one of those since Wet Grave, but, that said, I am in no way surprised to hear that it's not particularly convincing.

I did also laugh at the Greek mythology, though! Poor Hannibal -- I too would be resorting to extra doses of narcotics if I'd had to have the SAME conversation about Helen of Troy and La Malinche twelve times.

[hannah]

I keep looking for copies of these at new and used bookstores, hoping to grab one off the shelf and take with me. Nothing yet, which is deeply disappointing.

[skygiants]

Aw, too bad! (Though I guess that means people want to hold onto them? Which says something for the series, at least. :D) I hope you have better luck soon!

[dhampyresa]

These books are great! I love them a lot -- and Days of the Dead does have the best murder method.

[skygiants]

For the record, I didn't remember who the actual murderer was, but since I remembered the murder method I got to the point ten pages in where they're like 'oh, by the way, whatsisface has an interest in peanut farming' and I'm like AHA, YOU VILLAIN!!!

[dhampyresa]

The murderer is like the brother-in-law or something? But the murder method is hella distinctive and clever.

[kore]

I loved these a couple of years ago, but kind of ground to a halt at Sold Down the River, which sounded like nightmare fuel (a particular actual nightmare for me is being trapped again in a place you got out of in the past), especially the setting. But I know I should go on with the series, it was great. I just wasn't in the right place at that time to read that one.

[brigdh]

You could easily skip that one and just go on to the following book; there's no major continuing plot points or character changes in Sold Down the River that you need to know.

On the other hand, if you do choose to read it, I've always found it has gloriously redeeming ending that makes up for the darkness of the earlier part of the book. But of course the impact of that sort of thing varies a lot from person to person.

[kore]

Oh, that's good to know! I do love her writing, it's really beautiful.

[skygiants]

I really do love the ending -- I hadn't remembered it at all, and was kind of grimly braced for everything to return to the horrible status quo because I couldn't see how it could be anything else. It's so unexpected, and, yeah, so redeeming.

[skygiants]

It is a very tense book! And honestly, yeah, quite difficult to read -- even without having that be a specific trigger for me the whole scenario is horrifying. On the other hand, as mentioned below, if you skip it and go on to the next one, it's VOLCANO NIGHT AT THE OPERA!

[kore]

I honestly might skip it for right now, altho she's a beautiful writer, because of the upcoming election. /o\ I feel in need of VOLCANO and OPERA!

[brigdh]

I adore the Benjamin January series! And yet I had never considered Okierete Onaodawan as a Ben fancast, but I am very pleased by this idea. In the interviews I've seen of him he shows yet a third personality (soft-spoken intellectual), which also seems to be a perfect fit.

I could happily go another decade without reading another book in which THE HUMAN SACRIFICE OF THE AZTECS!!!!!!! featured as a major plot device
This bothered me too. On the other hand (or so I tell myself), the two sources of information about the Aztecs in the book are 1) the homicidal crazy man obsessed with violent myths, and 2) the other homicidal man who is invested in enabling character #1. So I'm not sure we're meant to take either of them as an objective or even remotely accurate source. But it would have been nice if Hambly could have included someone with a differing viewpoint.

[skygiants]

I need to watch some of his interviews! I have a little bit of a actor-crush on him just from the Mulligan-Madison switch, it's so impressive.

Yeah, I mean, I guess it's ... probably less offensive to have all the AZTEC SACRIFICE!!!!! stuff be coming from a dude who has no actual connection to the original religion/culture and has just appropriated it for his own weird issues, but usually I feel like Hambly would balance that out with a number of other layered perspectives, and here she doesn't really; our main lenses on Mexico are a.) the Gothic weirdness of that whole Spanish family, and b.) that entertainingly judgy but really quite distant take on Santa Anna.