Review - Tides Universe Stories by Lee Benoit

The Tides Universe stories by Lee Benoit are a two-part sequence consisting of the novelettes Master of None (Eight of Pentacles) and Polyphony (Two of Cups). Each novelette is about 50 pages and they're what I'd call m/m epic fantasy, which is one of the hardest genres to do in the short form.

Each novelette is told in third-person viewpoint. Master of None features the hero, Adiun. Polyphony alternates Adiun's viewpoint with those of characters Devi and Matti. For those who absolutely must know, the sex-scenes are a 3 on the much-consulted 1-to-5 sex scene scale.

The author's site classifies the Tides Universe stories as "low fantasy." I had to think about that, but then remembered that high fantasy tends to deal with absolutes of good and evil. Low fantasy is more realistic in its setting and its morally ambiguous characters. I'd agree with this classification for the Tides Universe stories.

You might be wondering about the titles' connection with the Tarot deck of divination cards. This is because these two stories were published as part of a huge ongoing fiction line at Torquere Press written to explore Tarot themes. Torquere authors pick whichever Tarot card they would like to focus on and then delve into its meaning, expressing themselves in short fiction of all genres.

Master of None (Eight of Pentacles) opens in a prehistoric fishing village with Adiun standing next to the funeral pyre of his lover Melle and their infant. He knows that his people are starving and will soon scatter to the four winds.

This isn't the first time he's lost a lover. He still mourns the absence of Melle's brother Devi who allowed himself to be sold into prostitution last autumn in exchange for enough food to see the village through the winter. Now Adiun, with nothing left to lose, decides to go into the world to track down Devi and rescue him.

Adiun leaves home and falls in with a traveling group of entertainers: jugglers, singers, dancers, and fortune-tellers. With their help, he re-traces Devi's route through the grim underbelly of the flesh trade. They do find Devi – but he's no longer the same person that Adiun fell in love with. What is Adiun going to do?

Polyphony (Two of Cups) continues the story of the psychological healing of Adiun and Devi while they and their friends search for a new home in a landscape torn by war, famine, and oppression. It adds the viewpoints of Devi and Matti, a young eunuch who tells fortunes with a Tarot deck.

In this story, the mini-tribe comprised of Adiun's traveling companions becomes even more close-knit as the young men are able to share each other as lovers despite all-too-human tendencies towards jealousy and insecurity. Polyphony fits the Menage-Themed fiction I here at Obsidianbookshelf.com have been putting on a list (see Labels below).

The negatives? I think in the case of both stories, the material may have been too complex for the short novelette form. The world-building is massive and ornate; it almost overwhelms the plot. My biggest problem is the surplus of characters and the fact that all seem interchangeable to me except for Adiun. In, say, a 400+ page-length more typical of epic fantasy, I think some of the other characters would have had room for their personalities to develop more.

The positives? The world-building is intricate and believable. The writing is pared-down and graceful. Adiun's quest is compelling and his reconciliation with Devi is realistically complicated.

I don't think that the two stories are entirely successful in the short novelette length, but I do think they're worth reading. Plan on buying them together and reading them back-to-back because Part 2 (Polyphony – Two of Cups) doesn't stand on its own without Part 1 (Master of None – Eight of Pentacles). They are both available at Torquere Press through these links: Master of None (Eight of Pentacles) and Polyphony (Two of Cups).

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