The Blacksmith’s Circus

A small band of Americans fight for control over Automatons created by gods in this SF fantasy novel collection credited to two of its characters: B.L.A. and G.B. Gabbler.

While out walking in the city, library assistant Odys Odelyn has a run-in with an umbrella-carrying stranger who strikes up a conversation, gives him a coin, and then fatally shoots himself. The coin then transforms into a humanoid Automaton named Maud who designates Odys as her new soul-sharing Master. In due time, a group of fellow Masters and their Automatons show up; the stranger’s deadly act—apparently the only way he could sever his bond with Maud—has them all worried that “something bad” is on the horizon, and it involves Odys and his twin sister Odissa’s family, as well as a missing Automaton that, as far as anyone knows, has no Master. Their search for answers will most definitely involve tracking down the “vacant” Automaton, and maybe even conferring with gods that created Automatons. The anonymous author stylizes the narrative as two people’s work: narrator B.L.A. and an equally mysterious, footnote-scribbling editor, Gabbler. Their intermittent, snarky back-and-forth banter provides humor in this self-referential novel, as Gabbler thinks B.L.A. is bizarre and possibly insane. In the main story, Odys and other Masters, including Dorian—who’s sightless and uses his Automaton, Fletcher, to see for him—try to figure out if, and from whom, they might face a threat. The narrative offers unexpected relationships, quirky characters (including a Master who’s decidedly older than his 10-year-old appearance), and shocking deaths. Considering the book’s epic length, however, very little action unfolds as discussions carry on for pages, revealing little pertinent information. (Indeed, some of Gabbler’s more critical footnotes—such as “not enough plot”—ring true.) Even though this novel collects two previous volumes, its ending hints at yet another sequel.

A delightfully unorthodox tale of gods and immortality that might have benefited from a stronger edit.