Epic fantasy of the last ten years or so often seeks to subvert
many of the tropes I just mentioned. Heroes are grey, often not quite so
heroic. The worlds and people within them are often now ‘gritty’, darker and
more dangerous. The term ‘realistic’ often comes about, regardless of just how
absurd the concept of reality is to whatever the term graces. Perhaps some
change is sought, or maybe the good guys don’t win, or maybe the world is set
in a place where the bad guy has already won, or just maybe no real victory is
won at all. But with the Acacia Trilogy
David Anthony Durham goes in a different direction. Real, fundamental change
occurs. Realization of the evils that the rule of the ‘good guys’ inflict is a
key component. Class divisions, drugs, slavery, political elite, political
movers and shakers, the corruption of power and magic, invading barbarians,
ethnic tensions, and real ethical concerns dominate both the words of the
trilogy and what’s written between those words. And there is actual discussion
of whether outright slaughter/genocide of the ‘bad guys’ should be the goal.
However, the politics and ethics that I describe above are
integrated seamlessly into the plot that drives the trilogy. They are often
fairly subtle and things are never didactic. The trilogy is still epic fantasy –
there are cool beasts and monsters, there are dragons (of sorts), there is
magic, there are vast armies that meet in battle and single combat between
champions. Acacia embraces many of
the essential elements of epic fantasy, only through a different moral and
ethical lens.
The trilogy follows a group of four brothers and sisters from
childhood to adulthood and (in some cases) to death. The Akarans are the
children of the King of the Known Lands and are the latest in a long ruling
dynasty from the island and ethnic group of Acacia. The Akaran dynasty rules
over what is essentially an empire of many subjected small nations and the
reader soon learns that they rule through very disturbing means. Selected
children of the population are sold into slavery in a distant and unknown land
in exchange for a drug that the ruling elite use to mollify the population. After
the initial set-up and introduction to the Akaran children, we follow them as
they grow, as Akaran rule is usurped and regained, as magic is rediscovered and
as people from the distant Other Lands invade and the world grows larger.
The second, The Other Lands
(Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound, my review), and third, The Sacred Band (Book Depository, Powell’sBooks, Indiebound, my review), books are each better than what comes before.
The series evolves in scope as it moves beyond the Known Lands and implications
become even greater as the moral and ethical challenges grow in importance through in
time. And, the series has another triumph to boast about – a great ending. All
too often the end of a series just doesn’t work as well as the build-up would
imply. While I can see a case for disagreeing with me, I think that Durham
pulled off the ending in a near-perfect fashion. The ending is idealistic – the
good guys win, though not necessarily survive. Hope for the future is real.
Systemic societal problems actually seem to be solved. I think many may
complain that the ending is too neat and pretty, too unrealistic. But I think
this is the point – Durham wants to show what a progressive message in epic
fantasy can look like. Not the conservative, nostalgic end so common and not a
cynical response to that conservatism. He presents a truly progressive move
forward rather than backward or a simple reestablishment of a status quo – a vision
of hope that could translate into our own lives and society.