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Vermilion: The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp
The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp
Gunslinging, chain smoking, Stetson-wearing Taoist psychopomp, Elouise “Lou” Merriwether might not be a normal 19-year-old, but she’s too busy keeping San Francisco safe from ghosts, shades, and geung si to care much about that. It’s an important job, though most folks consider it downright spooky. Some have even accused Lou of being more comfortable with the dead than the living, and, well… they’re not wrong.
When Lou hears that a bunch of Chinatown boys have gone missing somewhere deep in the Colorado Rockies she decides to saddle up and head into the wilderness to investigate. Lou fears her particular talents make her better suited to help placate their spirits than ensure they get home alive, but it’s the right thing to do, and she’s the only one willing to do it.
On the road to a mysterious sanatorium known as Fountain of Youth, Lou will encounter bears, desperate men, a very undead villain, and even stranger challenges. Lou will need every one of her talents and a whole lot of luck to make it home alive…
From British Fantasy Award nominee Molly Tanzer comes debut novel Vermilion, a spirited weird Western adventure that puts the punk back into steampunk.
Gunslinging, chain smoking, Stetson-wearing Taoist psychopomp, Elouise “Lou” Merriwether might not be a normal 19-year-old, but she’s too busy keeping San Francisco safe from ghosts, shades, and geung si to care much about that. It’s an important job, though most folks consider it downright spooky. Some have even accused Lou of being more comfortable with the dead than the living, and, well… they’re not wrong.
When Lou hears that a bunch of Chinatown boys have gone missing somewhere deep in the Colorado Rockies she decides to saddle up and head into the wilderness to investigate. Lou fears her particular talents make her better suited to help placate their spirits than ensure they get home alive, but it’s the right thing to do, and she’s the only one willing to do it.
On the road to a mysterious sanatorium known as Fountain of Youth, Lou will encounter bears, desperate men, a very undead villain, and even stranger challenges. Lou will need every one of her talents and a whole lot of luck to make it home alive…
From British Fantasy Award nominee Molly Tanzer comes debut novel Vermilion, a spirited weird Western adventure that puts the punk back into steampunk.
376 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 417 reviews
May 4, 2015
When boys from Chinatown vanish mysteriously, psychopomp Lou Merriweather gets drawn into the mystery, leading her into the Colorado mountains, to the sanatorium of the mysterious Doctor Panacea. What is Doctor Panacea's connection to the missing Chinese men and what is his true goal?
I've made no secret to the fact that I have a weakness for fiction from the strange wavelengths of the spectrum. When I caught wind of a weird western mystery featuring a half-Chinese psychopomp passing as a man, I was medically unable to pass it up.
Lou Merriweather is a psychopomp, a person who helps reluctant undead on their way to the afterlife by giving them a metaphysical kick in the ass. Lou hooked me right away with her attitude. She's got much more in common with the wisecracking PI of noir books than she does most supernatural characters. Her conflict with her mother, feelings for her friend Bo Wong, and grief for her deceased psychopomp father make her a very well rounded character.
I don't want to give away too much about the plot. I will say that I loved that Lou met people of all stripes on her journey, including talking bears, a lesbian, a hermaphrodite, and various other interesting beings, supernatural or otherwise.
The first thirty percent of the book was dynamite. I thought the middle bogged down a bit but things picked up near the end. I wasn't completely happy with the end but I'm glad the opening for future Lou Merriweather books was left open. The writing was even better than I expected. I enjoyed the modern dialogue and the story, while dark at times, was peppered with humor.
While it wasn't as pants-shittingly awesome as I was hoping, it was still a fun read and I'll be thrilled to revisit Lou Merriweather in another book. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
I've made no secret to the fact that I have a weakness for fiction from the strange wavelengths of the spectrum. When I caught wind of a weird western mystery featuring a half-Chinese psychopomp passing as a man, I was medically unable to pass it up.
Lou Merriweather is a psychopomp, a person who helps reluctant undead on their way to the afterlife by giving them a metaphysical kick in the ass. Lou hooked me right away with her attitude. She's got much more in common with the wisecracking PI of noir books than she does most supernatural characters. Her conflict with her mother, feelings for her friend Bo Wong, and grief for her deceased psychopomp father make her a very well rounded character.
I don't want to give away too much about the plot. I will say that I loved that Lou met people of all stripes on her journey, including talking bears, a lesbian, a hermaphrodite, and various other interesting beings, supernatural or otherwise.
The first thirty percent of the book was dynamite. I thought the middle bogged down a bit but things picked up near the end. I wasn't completely happy with the end but I'm glad the opening for future Lou Merriweather books was left open. The writing was even better than I expected. I enjoyed the modern dialogue and the story, while dark at times, was peppered with humor.
While it wasn't as pants-shittingly awesome as I was hoping, it was still a fun read and I'll be thrilled to revisit Lou Merriweather in another book. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
August 22, 2015
This book is bizarre. The first third is fun, engaging, and provocative. The story is infused in interesting ways with issues related to gender identity. The settings (SF and its Chinatown in the late 1800s) are great, the supernatural stuff is silly and entertaining, and the protagonist is competent, interesting, and charismatic. Some spooky stuff happens, which itself is ghoulishly cool, and then the protagonist sets off on her adventure. The introduction of bears and other creatures as part of the world seems unnecessary and is distracting, but the protagonist's travels continue the gender-bending themes from the start of the book and stretch them to include another character. There's skulduggery and cowboy adventure and burgeoning friendship and it's still all pretty good fun. It's when the book comes to the meat of the story that the writing begins to get pretty shaky, the story gets increasingly ridiculous, the protagonist seems to lose all of her wits and abilities and good sense, and, by the time the book winds itself up, the really interesting parts have been entirely subsumed under layers of just unutterably dumb devices and terrible writing. It's like the last half of the book was written by an entirely different person. All the intriguing gender-bending things vanish; nothing holds together; the characters no longer seem like themselves. Very disappointing.
April 29, 2015
Earlier this year, I read an advance copy of Elizabeth Berg's The Dream Lover, which is a novel about author George Sand. In it, Sand says "I find I don't wish to be either man or woman. I wish to be myself."
I found Molly Tanzer's heroine, Elouise Merriweather, reflected this idea, too, as people Lou encounters regularly and often mistake her for a boy. Lou dresses in trousers and (to the chagrin of her ma) wears her hair short, and (oh good gosh) smokes cigarettes (after rolling them!). But Lou is always just Lou; she is never trying to be anyone else--just herself.
Lou is a young, no-nonsense, foul-mouthed, in love--with people and the world at large--psychopomp. She helps ease dead sprits out of this world and into the next--whatever may be lurking there. A request from her ma sends her across the country, to investigate the mystery of why Chinese boys are turning up dead, and naturally Lou finds herself in over her head as she explores a sanatorium in the wilds of Colorado.
This book is full of wonderful things: journeys, ghosts, action scenes, a super spectacular thing I will not spoil (argh!), but the best thing is maybe Lou herself. She has such an authentic and honest voice--she is courageous and scared at the same time; she is uncertain and still walks across chasm on the invisible bridge to get to the treasures, to do the right thing. Tanzer also does a wonderful thing across the board when it comes to genders and sexuality; this is a world where all people exist and are allowed to be exactly who they are--whoever that may be.
The writing is also grand, and if you love Westerns, you will love this: "the weather had looked fine as cream gravy." There is something magical about this book.
I found Molly Tanzer's heroine, Elouise Merriweather, reflected this idea, too, as people Lou encounters regularly and often mistake her for a boy. Lou dresses in trousers and (to the chagrin of her ma) wears her hair short, and (oh good gosh) smokes cigarettes (after rolling them!). But Lou is always just Lou; she is never trying to be anyone else--just herself.
Lou is a young, no-nonsense, foul-mouthed, in love--with people and the world at large--psychopomp. She helps ease dead sprits out of this world and into the next--whatever may be lurking there. A request from her ma sends her across the country, to investigate the mystery of why Chinese boys are turning up dead, and naturally Lou finds herself in over her head as she explores a sanatorium in the wilds of Colorado.
This book is full of wonderful things: journeys, ghosts, action scenes, a super spectacular thing I will not spoil (argh!), but the best thing is maybe Lou herself. She has such an authentic and honest voice--she is courageous and scared at the same time; she is uncertain and still walks across chasm on the invisible bridge to get to the treasures, to do the right thing. Tanzer also does a wonderful thing across the board when it comes to genders and sexuality; this is a world where all people exist and are allowed to be exactly who they are--whoever that may be.
The writing is also grand, and if you love Westerns, you will love this: "the weather had looked fine as cream gravy." There is something magical about this book.
July 21, 2022
"How Lou hated dealing with the living. The dead were so much easier to manage." loc 256 ebook.
Lou Merriwether is a psychopomp, or someone who assists spirits from the world of the living to the world of the dead. She doesn't get along all that well with the living, including her mother, whom Lou had a falling out with around the time that her father passed away.
But when her mother asks her to investigate a series of disappearances, Lou feels like she can't refuse and begins an adventure across the country and into danger, more danger than she realizes.
"She'd hoped a personal visit to the Oakland office would yield better results than her telegram to Cheyenne, but it seemed no one wanted to talk. loc 863, ebook
In addition to her personal drama, Lou has to deal with racism almost all the time as a half-Chinese, half-white person. She finds all of this easier to deal with by dressing as a man.
I loved the character of Lou- she was so feisty and willing to stick her neck out to help her friends and, sometimes, people she just met. She occasionally uses colorful language, so be warned if that sort of thing bothers you.
This world has so many curious fantasy elements to it. There are talking walruses who ferry people from one place to another. There are talking bear tribes alongside Native American tribes in the west.
The author Molly Tanzer has such a huge imagination. The world she has created is dangerous but also fun to explore.
Highly recommended for fantasy and steampunk fans. I really enjoyed this one.
Lou Merriwether is a psychopomp, or someone who assists spirits from the world of the living to the world of the dead. She doesn't get along all that well with the living, including her mother, whom Lou had a falling out with around the time that her father passed away.
But when her mother asks her to investigate a series of disappearances, Lou feels like she can't refuse and begins an adventure across the country and into danger, more danger than she realizes.
"She'd hoped a personal visit to the Oakland office would yield better results than her telegram to Cheyenne, but it seemed no one wanted to talk. loc 863, ebook
In addition to her personal drama, Lou has to deal with racism almost all the time as a half-Chinese, half-white person. She finds all of this easier to deal with by dressing as a man.
I loved the character of Lou- she was so feisty and willing to stick her neck out to help her friends and, sometimes, people she just met. She occasionally uses colorful language, so be warned if that sort of thing bothers you.
This world has so many curious fantasy elements to it. There are talking walruses who ferry people from one place to another. There are talking bear tribes alongside Native American tribes in the west.
The author Molly Tanzer has such a huge imagination. The world she has created is dangerous but also fun to explore.
Highly recommended for fantasy and steampunk fans. I really enjoyed this one.
June 17, 2018
I had seen Molly Tanzer’s name kicking around various weird fiction anthologies and I had made a mental note to check her out when I came across her debut novel: a supernatural steampunk story set in the old West, featuring a mixed-race androgynous, gun-slinging psychopomp, uh? How could I resist that?
Lou Merriwether took over her father’s psychopomp business, which means she is called upon when ghosts and other supernatural entities are reluctant to leave our plane of existence: she eases them into the other world, sometimes more or less against their will. But one day, she takes on a different kind of strange investigation: a number of young Chinese men from her home neighborhood go missing, lured to the Rockies with promises of good-paying jobs, but they never come back. Or if they do, they are in several pieces. Lou feels duty-bound to follow their trail and figure out what is going on.
I really enjoyed Tanzer’s prose, unpretentious and flowing, and I fell in love with her setting and with Lou. What an original creation that young “lady” is! I have infinite sympathy for a character who feels like she doesn’t fit anywhere and who just want to be herself – instead of being forced to fit into other people’s expectation. Lou’s story of growing up never accepted by the Chinese or the white people of San Francisco, and of wearing what she wants despite the femininity standards of the day were expressed with great sensitivity by Tanzer, and made the character wholly believable… and lovable!
The alternate-historical context in which Tanzer set the story is also a great opportunity to explore very real prejudices people had to deal with at the time, especially racism against the Chinese community (how eager people are to get rid of them!). There is quite a lot of emphasis on diversity, especially in terms of sexual orientation and gender fluidity... perhaps even too much emphasis... It just ends up feeling a little ham-fisted, but its also definitely better than if there wasn't any representation at all.
I did have an issue with some of the language she used, which occasionally sounded too modern for the setting. “Dude”, really? I would have felt more immersed in the world she created had her characters stuck to a period-appropriate way of talking. I have more alternate-historical fiction by Tanzer waiting on my shelf: I’m crossing my fingers she has gotten a bit better with that since “Vermilion”. Despite that flaw, the ideas in here are so original and refreshing that I can't give it less than 3 and a half stars rounded up. I'd be happy to read more of Lou's adventure should Miss Tanzer ever get around to writing a sequel.
Lou Merriwether took over her father’s psychopomp business, which means she is called upon when ghosts and other supernatural entities are reluctant to leave our plane of existence: she eases them into the other world, sometimes more or less against their will. But one day, she takes on a different kind of strange investigation: a number of young Chinese men from her home neighborhood go missing, lured to the Rockies with promises of good-paying jobs, but they never come back. Or if they do, they are in several pieces. Lou feels duty-bound to follow their trail and figure out what is going on.
I really enjoyed Tanzer’s prose, unpretentious and flowing, and I fell in love with her setting and with Lou. What an original creation that young “lady” is! I have infinite sympathy for a character who feels like she doesn’t fit anywhere and who just want to be herself – instead of being forced to fit into other people’s expectation. Lou’s story of growing up never accepted by the Chinese or the white people of San Francisco, and of wearing what she wants despite the femininity standards of the day were expressed with great sensitivity by Tanzer, and made the character wholly believable… and lovable!
The alternate-historical context in which Tanzer set the story is also a great opportunity to explore very real prejudices people had to deal with at the time, especially racism against the Chinese community (how eager people are to get rid of them!). There is quite a lot of emphasis on diversity, especially in terms of sexual orientation and gender fluidity... perhaps even too much emphasis... It just ends up feeling a little ham-fisted, but its also definitely better than if there wasn't any representation at all.
I did have an issue with some of the language she used, which occasionally sounded too modern for the setting. “Dude”, really? I would have felt more immersed in the world she created had her characters stuck to a period-appropriate way of talking. I have more alternate-historical fiction by Tanzer waiting on my shelf: I’m crossing my fingers she has gotten a bit better with that since “Vermilion”. Despite that flaw, the ideas in here are so original and refreshing that I can't give it less than 3 and a half stars rounded up. I'd be happy to read more of Lou's adventure should Miss Tanzer ever get around to writing a sequel.
June 2, 2015
This book started out really strong. Loved the protagonist, the world, psychopompery. Then we left San Fran. It seemed to me like everything after leaving slowed the book down. Which, in most books, that is the start of the adventure. I would have been perfectly happy to stay in town with Lou and follow her around while she worked.
I'm not sure if it was the introduction of too many characters and too many storylines, but the book just couldn't hold my attention. I kept reading hoping that a point was just around the corner where the action and adventure would pick up, but was then introduced to yet another character.
A note about the characters. I am glad to see an author explore race, gender and sexuality. However, at some point when the author starts using sexuality as characterization for EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER it stops being inclusive and starts feeling gimmicky.
Lou's main antagonist was well done. I love sympathetic villains, and this one kept me wondering for the whole book.
Overall not a bad book, but the plot and characters could have been a bit more focused for my taste.
I'm not sure if it was the introduction of too many characters and too many storylines, but the book just couldn't hold my attention. I kept reading hoping that a point was just around the corner where the action and adventure would pick up, but was then introduced to yet another character.
A note about the characters. I am glad to see an author explore race, gender and sexuality. However, at some point when the author starts using sexuality as characterization for EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER it stops being inclusive and starts feeling gimmicky.
Lou's main antagonist was well done. I love sympathetic villains, and this one kept me wondering for the whole book.
Overall not a bad book, but the plot and characters could have been a bit more focused for my taste.
January 28, 2025
"gender-defying heroine named Lou Merriwether, exorcist by trade, banishing unruly spirits in a gritty, supernatural version of the Wild West. There's unique folklore and classic Western tropes with a dash of steampunk flair... unlike anything else in the genre."
August 28, 2024
Paranormal investigator aka Psychopomp is hot on the trail of missing people from Chinatown. All the clues lead to a doctor selling an elixir that cures almost any injury or sickness. Which takes us on a cross-country adventure featuring multiple acts of murder, cross-dressing, hermaphrodites, vampires, ghosts, plucky sidekicks, circular flirtations, discussions of racism and high school bullying and unrequited love. And the politics of talking bears.
Because WHY NOT.
If someone told me this book had 8 different writers I would totally believe it. Some parts feel like Tsutomu Nihei's Biomega. Other parts feel like All the Pretty Horses. And then there's this weird Alan Moore-ish almost steampunk Victorian paranormal investigator stuff. And the ending goes straight from torture horror into sidekick comedy. EGAH.
Tonally this book was like driving with my Uncle. Where hitting the brakes was less a matter of stopping for red lights and more like an attempted decapitation. The shifts in this story are so sudden it's like I flew out of the window of the book I was reading, bounced off a tree and landed in a Go-Kart heading towards another book with all the same characters, but now for some reason there was talking bears.
Molly Tanzer is a hilarious and talented writer and when she's at her best she easily juggles fun characters, diabolical comedy, kinky sex and smart plotting (see: Creatures of Want and Ruin). This one got away from her.
She has a ton of interesting concepts but she loses quite a few of them while concentrating on constantly shifting plot elements.
I liked what she was writing (especially the character chemistry), but I kept wanting to go back to other elements and I was distracted by them, so I had trouble getting invested in what was going on.
I also feel like the plucky sidekick should have been at the beginning of the book as a way to introduce us to the whole mythos of the Pscyhopomp. And not just a character that drops in the protagonist's lap in the final chapters.
STILL. Tanzer is a hell of a writer, and for people who have been enjoying her Diabolist's Library and her short story work this book has a lot of interesting ideas and some great character dynamics.
It speaks volumes that flaws and all if she wrote a sequel to Vermilion I would be excited to pick it up.
Because WHY NOT.
If someone told me this book had 8 different writers I would totally believe it. Some parts feel like Tsutomu Nihei's Biomega. Other parts feel like All the Pretty Horses. And then there's this weird Alan Moore-ish almost steampunk Victorian paranormal investigator stuff. And the ending goes straight from torture horror into sidekick comedy. EGAH.
Tonally this book was like driving with my Uncle. Where hitting the brakes was less a matter of stopping for red lights and more like an attempted decapitation. The shifts in this story are so sudden it's like I flew out of the window of the book I was reading, bounced off a tree and landed in a Go-Kart heading towards another book with all the same characters, but now for some reason there was talking bears.
Molly Tanzer is a hilarious and talented writer and when she's at her best she easily juggles fun characters, diabolical comedy, kinky sex and smart plotting (see: Creatures of Want and Ruin). This one got away from her.
She has a ton of interesting concepts but she loses quite a few of them while concentrating on constantly shifting plot elements.
I liked what she was writing (especially the character chemistry), but I kept wanting to go back to other elements and I was distracted by them, so I had trouble getting invested in what was going on.
I also feel like the plucky sidekick should have been at the beginning of the book as a way to introduce us to the whole mythos of the Pscyhopomp. And not just a character that drops in the protagonist's lap in the final chapters.
STILL. Tanzer is a hell of a writer, and for people who have been enjoying her Diabolist's Library and her short story work this book has a lot of interesting ideas and some great character dynamics.
It speaks volumes that flaws and all if she wrote a sequel to Vermilion I would be excited to pick it up.
February 11, 2021
Rep: gnc Chinese mc, gay Moroccan side character, gay side characters, gay Chinese side character, Chinese side characters
CWs: racism, racial slurs, cannibalism, graphic depictions of torture
this is the kind of book where the author could have stood to read this post and decide not to write it. the only way tanzer seems to know how to make it clear lou is chinese is to have characters around her be massively racist (also interesting to note a lack of homophobia at the same time), not to mention the little fact of having basically replaced native americans with actual bears. it's a book that feels like the main character was written as white all along and then changed at the last minute. it's also (and this is probably the least of its worries) really fucking boring.
CWs: racism, racial slurs, cannibalism, graphic depictions of torture
this is the kind of book where the author could have stood to read this post and decide not to write it. the only way tanzer seems to know how to make it clear lou is chinese is to have characters around her be massively racist (also interesting to note a lack of homophobia at the same time), not to mention the little fact of having basically replaced native americans with actual bears. it's a book that feels like the main character was written as white all along and then changed at the last minute. it's also (and this is probably the least of its worries) really fucking boring.
August 4, 2015
I wanted so much to love this book - alt history, Chinese zombies, not to mention the wonderful attempt to bring the word 'pscyhopomp' back into everyday use. It starts off well, but that heroine Lou - sheesh, none of her motivations and decisions made any sense once she left San Fransisco. I had no idea why she did anything that she did, and really, I was just hanging about for the last half of the book waiting for the talking bears to come back.
And I admit to actually getting angry when (slight spoiler) Lou gets tortured near the end of the story, and her injuries aren't mentioned again during the whole final battle. I actually thought I must have misread the whole (slight spoiler) tooth pulling/ finger breaking scene as there was no impact at all on her ability to climb ladders, fight vampires etc. it wasn't until the aftermath when her fingers were being reset that I realised it was the plot line, not me, which had forgotten the whole sorry incident for a few chapters.
The Bears should have their own book
And I admit to actually getting angry when (slight spoiler) Lou gets tortured near the end of the story, and her injuries aren't mentioned again during the whole final battle. I actually thought I must have misread the whole (slight spoiler) tooth pulling/ finger breaking scene as there was no impact at all on her ability to climb ladders, fight vampires etc. it wasn't until the aftermath when her fingers were being reset that I realised it was the plot line, not me, which had forgotten the whole sorry incident for a few chapters.
The Bears should have their own book
January 5, 2019
An interesting alternate history of 1870s San Francisco. Chinese labourers have gone missing, and young psychopomp Lou Merriweather’s mother enlists Lou’s help in finding the men. Lou heads east to the last known locations of the men, and stumbles upon a complicated situation at a sanitarium, including a possibly duplicitous young man working there, and the doctor in charge of the place.
Lou is a brash, tough, and hardworking young woman who chooses to dress like a man and prefers people to perceive her competence rather than her gender. She’s been working on her own as a psychopomp since her father died, and is still grieving and nursing a resentment towards her mother since his death.
Lou uses her ability to forge relationships and her determination to deal with the problems she encounters (some of which she causes because of her tendency to speak and act without thinking).
I liked the way Molly Tanzer used a biracial young woman who preferred to be seen as a young man to poke at and question the nostalgia that is so often evoked with a western story. I liked Lou and some of the other characters (including the talking bears and sea lions (!!)) and would like to know how the Merriweather agency fared afterwards with Lou and her new partner.
Lou is a brash, tough, and hardworking young woman who chooses to dress like a man and prefers people to perceive her competence rather than her gender. She’s been working on her own as a psychopomp since her father died, and is still grieving and nursing a resentment towards her mother since his death.
Lou uses her ability to forge relationships and her determination to deal with the problems she encounters (some of which she causes because of her tendency to speak and act without thinking).
I liked the way Molly Tanzer used a biracial young woman who preferred to be seen as a young man to poke at and question the nostalgia that is so often evoked with a western story. I liked Lou and some of the other characters (including the talking bears and sea lions (!!)) and would like to know how the Merriweather agency fared afterwards with Lou and her new partner.
April 26, 2015
A fun, full-of-heart, imaginative, smart, romp through a steampunk west with talking bears, undead, and more. You'll want to follow Lou Merriweather, psychopomp, to the very end.
January 27, 2020
3.5 stars. This book started well- really well- I was convinced I had a 5 star read before me. But the author and story kind of lost their way, I feel.
June 11, 2015
There's so much to say about Vermilion, and I am in the grips of a summer cold right now, and so probably can't do it justice. When I learned that Molly Tanzer's debut novel was coming out, I was already suitably excited, as Molly is a friend and one of the best writers working in our field right now, but when she described it as "taking place in past of Big Trouble in Little China," I was all kinds of hooked, and the end result didn't disappoint.
Other reviewers have certainly covered most if not all of what I'd like to say about this book, but it's fun and smart and diverse and daring and adventurous, with a world that feels at once fully-formed and begging for more exploration. If I have one complaint, it's that I wanted to see more of Lou's pyschopompery, which was just utterly fascinating from top to bottom, but with any luck this will just be the first of many adventures with Lou and company, so I'll get more in future books!
Maybe I'll write a more cogent review when I'm less sick, but for now, this book comes about as highly recommended as books can come from me.
Other reviewers have certainly covered most if not all of what I'd like to say about this book, but it's fun and smart and diverse and daring and adventurous, with a world that feels at once fully-formed and begging for more exploration. If I have one complaint, it's that I wanted to see more of Lou's pyschopompery, which was just utterly fascinating from top to bottom, but with any luck this will just be the first of many adventures with Lou and company, so I'll get more in future books!
Maybe I'll write a more cogent review when I'm less sick, but for now, this book comes about as highly recommended as books can come from me.
July 31, 2022
Molly Tanzer’s debut novel, weird western Vermillion: The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp was a lot of things. Was it good? Yes, at least it started out that way. I really liked the first part of the book, when we get to know Lou doing her psychopomp business in San Francisco. But as soon as she hits the road to Colorado in search of the missing Chinese men the tone changes and it begins to bog down. I guess something that often happens in a debut novel, it took way too long to get to the ultimate show down. Tanzer has really grown as an author since then.
Plenty imaginative, buckets of blood and guts, a whole host of gay characters, rampant racism, cannibalism, and a lot of the outdoors awaits.
3.5 Stars
Plenty imaginative, buckets of blood and guts, a whole host of gay characters, rampant racism, cannibalism, and a lot of the outdoors awaits.
3.5 Stars
April 17, 2016
Vermilion begins in Victorian San Francisco. A lot of readers say the book lost interest when the main character leaves San Francisco. For me it was much earlier, with the main character's relationship with her mother. It really felt like I was reading an imitation of Amy Tan. This is not a good thing. Growing up Chinese American, I never met anyone who acted like the stereotyped mother-daughter relationships Amy Tan sold to white people. A lot of white people really bought the stereotype. It's really not true to life in any way. It's a racial caricature. Tanzer swallowed it whole and regurgitated it as though it's some essentialist truth about Chinese mothers. I'm 1,000% certain that Molly Tanzer has no idea what it's like "inside my house" or the house of any other Chinese American woman.
The fantasy was interesting at first. There's magic based on Chinese beliefs, and the lives of Chinese American workers in San Francisco. Unfortunately, the story completely abandons any pretense of interest in Chinese culture, Taoism, and Chinese American people. It starts with geung si but it ends with a very cliched European vampire. The "Chinese dragon" bears no similiarity to anything from Chinese mythology. It's really just a European dragon wearing a cheongsam.
The research that went into Vermilion is so cursory that I suspect the author spent five minutes on wikipedia reading about Chinese rituals and another ten minutes reading wiki pages about immigration history. The brutality of racism receives lip service. The "Chinese" culture here is all so superficial that I wound up finding it rather offensive.
Vermilion portrays Chinese people as oppressed and mystical. There's really nothing more to her portrayal, we're only a colorful backdrop of mystical, oppressed people. It reminds me of Dances with Wolves because they both want to appear respectful and caring, but they both demonstrate such lack of interest in the actual people they're supposed to be about that they wind up really disrespectful and uncaring. Our victimhood is really just a plot device that allows the main character to show sympathy for our plight. It allows the white author and her white readers to embrace their racism while telling themselves they oppose racism. On the one hand, Vermilion is condescending, racially stereotyped, and shows a total lack of interest in the people it pretends to be about. The other hand is busy patting itself on the back for how not-racist they are.
I really admire the inclusion of LGBT elements, but it's all done so superficially that it feels like off ticking off items on a checklist. This is how the book approaches everything, just a mess of quirky ingredients thrown together to pander to every current trend. Talking bears and other animals are stand-ins for Native Americans. There are sexual libertines and steampunk imagery. Nothing is committed to, nothing is realized. It's just pandering. It's another reason I find Vermilion's representation of my culture offensive and somewhat racist. Chinese culture is only there to add an exotic spice, just another quirk for the character to wear when she feels like it and take off at the end of the day, like steampunk goggles. Lou Merriweather is supposed to be half-white and half-Chinese, but really she's just the white lady who wears chopsticks in her hair. The experiences and feelings of minorities are written superficially, without any depth or insight. It's just exploitation.
I'm focusing on this because it makes me really angry, but it's Vermilion is really bad in many other ways. The pacing feels like trudging through quicksand. The writing is very amateurish. The characters are one-dimensional. It's a terrible book.
The fantasy was interesting at first. There's magic based on Chinese beliefs, and the lives of Chinese American workers in San Francisco. Unfortunately, the story completely abandons any pretense of interest in Chinese culture, Taoism, and Chinese American people. It starts with geung si but it ends with a very cliched European vampire. The "Chinese dragon" bears no similiarity to anything from Chinese mythology. It's really just a European dragon wearing a cheongsam.
The research that went into Vermilion is so cursory that I suspect the author spent five minutes on wikipedia reading about Chinese rituals and another ten minutes reading wiki pages about immigration history. The brutality of racism receives lip service. The "Chinese" culture here is all so superficial that I wound up finding it rather offensive.
Vermilion portrays Chinese people as oppressed and mystical. There's really nothing more to her portrayal, we're only a colorful backdrop of mystical, oppressed people. It reminds me of Dances with Wolves because they both want to appear respectful and caring, but they both demonstrate such lack of interest in the actual people they're supposed to be about that they wind up really disrespectful and uncaring. Our victimhood is really just a plot device that allows the main character to show sympathy for our plight. It allows the white author and her white readers to embrace their racism while telling themselves they oppose racism. On the one hand, Vermilion is condescending, racially stereotyped, and shows a total lack of interest in the people it pretends to be about. The other hand is busy patting itself on the back for how not-racist they are.
I really admire the inclusion of LGBT elements, but it's all done so superficially that it feels like off ticking off items on a checklist. This is how the book approaches everything, just a mess of quirky ingredients thrown together to pander to every current trend. Talking bears and other animals are stand-ins for Native Americans. There are sexual libertines and steampunk imagery. Nothing is committed to, nothing is realized. It's just pandering. It's another reason I find Vermilion's representation of my culture offensive and somewhat racist. Chinese culture is only there to add an exotic spice, just another quirk for the character to wear when she feels like it and take off at the end of the day, like steampunk goggles. Lou Merriweather is supposed to be half-white and half-Chinese, but really she's just the white lady who wears chopsticks in her hair. The experiences and feelings of minorities are written superficially, without any depth or insight. It's just exploitation.
I'm focusing on this because it makes me really angry, but it's Vermilion is really bad in many other ways. The pacing feels like trudging through quicksand. The writing is very amateurish. The characters are one-dimensional. It's a terrible book.
February 21, 2018
Firstly, I want to say that I'm not of Chinese descent. So, I can't say anything about the correctness of the portrayal of Chinese culture in Vermilion. Of course, diversity in books is very important, but I find it a little weird when an author from one culture tries to represent someone from another culture. As you can read in the acknowledgements and other notes at the end of the book, Molly Tanzer did a lot of research on Chinese culture. However, I just can't believe she'd ever get the "feeling" of the culture as right as when someone originally from Chinese culture would have written it. We've discussed "voices" and minorities a lot in uni and that was something that really opened my eyes as a white person - but I'll leave it with this. (please, correct me if I'm wrong)
In my review I'll focus more on the actual story, which I really loved! I thought it was very original, but also very diverse when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. At first I really had to get used to the world Vermilion took place in: Victorian San Francisco with a fantasy twist. There were talking bears and sealions and of course Lou's profession - psychopompery. At first I didn't really know what this meant, but I got to know it soon enough. The story starts off with a psychopomp case where Lou has to help a spirit, that's lingering in the human world, pass over to the spirit world. That's basically it. Lou deals with ghosts and other undead and she has all these steampunk tools to help her get rid of these spirits. I thought it was pretty awesome! Nevertheless, it was kind of a let down when European vampires got involved. They're just not as interesting as ghosts *shrugs*
Still, I loved the story. The book has three parts and after I finished reading Vermilion, it actually kinda felt like I'd read three different stories on Lou Merriwether. I really liked her character, mainly because she just does what she likes (without bothering others too much of course). She was a real toughass woman!
Can't wait to read more about Lou and her world!
4.25/5 stars!
In my review I'll focus more on the actual story, which I really loved! I thought it was very original, but also very diverse when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. At first I really had to get used to the world Vermilion took place in: Victorian San Francisco with a fantasy twist. There were talking bears and sealions and of course Lou's profession - psychopompery. At first I didn't really know what this meant, but I got to know it soon enough. The story starts off with a psychopomp case where Lou has to help a spirit, that's lingering in the human world, pass over to the spirit world. That's basically it. Lou deals with ghosts and other undead and she has all these steampunk tools to help her get rid of these spirits. I thought it was pretty awesome! Nevertheless, it was kind of a let down when European vampires got involved. They're just not as interesting as ghosts *shrugs*
Still, I loved the story. The book has three parts and after I finished reading Vermilion, it actually kinda felt like I'd read three different stories on Lou Merriwether. I really liked her character, mainly because she just does what she likes (without bothering others too much of course). She was a real toughass woman!
Can't wait to read more about Lou and her world!
4.25/5 stars!
put-aside
May 25, 2015Original review:This sounds too good to be true?
After getting through about 30% of the novel: I liked the book, but I can't seem to really get into it. The premise is absolutely amazing and unique, but it doesn't live up to my own hype. The seemingly random racism towards Chinese people annoyed me to no end, and it bothered it me a lot. I like it enough, and may come back at another time, but I just can't read it right now.
After getting through about 30% of the novel: I liked the book, but I can't seem to really get into it. The premise is absolutely amazing and unique, but it doesn't live up to my own hype. The seemingly random racism towards Chinese people annoyed me to no end, and it bothered it me a lot. I like it enough, and may come back at another time, but I just can't read it right now.
May 2, 2015
I feel really uncertain what I want to say about this book. On the one hand, there's a great deal that delighted me about it. I never felt sure where the story was going to end up, which I love. It was interesting, character-wise and in world-building and if Tanzer makes it a series--as I hope she will--I'm definitely on-board.
But, for as much as I enjoyed the book, it falls short of being completely satisfying, so I liked it a lot, but I don't love it. If pressed to a number, it's a 3.5.
There's a lot that's really interesting about Vermillion. Lou, our heroine, is a genderqueer, half-Chinese psychopomp. That is, she lays the unrestful dead, whether they want to go or not. Lou struggles--with her gender, her racial identities, with her past, with her future.
Lou's also not the only interesting character. We have sentient, talking bears and sea lions, responsible for massive changes in the history of America and Western expansion. We have the mysterious Dr. Panacea and his right-hand, the equally enigmatic Shai. The love of Lou's past, Bo Wong and his band of monster-hunters and the delightful, irrepressible Coriander. It's a great cast of characters and there's a a broad range of sexual and gender expression to go with it.
But I think that, in the end, I like the ideas and the possibilities of the story better than I like the actual execution. Lou is an interesting protagonist, but she's often not smart and she bumbles her way through the investigation and, while that is a COMPLETELY VALID writing choice, I really prefer stories about smart, competent protagonists. I also feel like, although Lou feels like a fairly complete person, most of the other characters do not feel as full or textured. I spent a lot of the book not feeling sure how I was supposed to take the characters, because on the one hand, there was a certain amount of face value information given...but at the same time, the trappings of the story are those of a murder mystery and surely I wasn't supposed to take so much at face value? Except at the end of it all, I'm pretty sure I was. Which is just less real and less fun (for me).
And then there's Shai. Shai and his relationships with Lou and Lazarus are, in my opinion, the most interesting parts of the book. To use a fandom term, the three of them are weird about each other in really interesting ways, ways I wanted the book to dig into more deeply than it did. But Shai feels weirdly incomplete or maybe fractured as a character. The Shai we see with Lou in the trek to Estes Park and the sanitarium feels VERY different than the Shai we meet later on, and I don't feel like there was enough groundwork to satisfyingly marry those two different presentations. It felt like something big and important was missing from the narrative to explain how Shai could be so different, from part A to part B.
As well, the world building felt like it needed a little more padding. The idea of sentient bears and sea lions, and their subsequent effect on the history of the time, is fun and cool, but it didn't ever quite ground itself or create a strong foundation for the rest of the story to spring from. To compare and contrast, Seanan McGuire's Incryptid series posits a number of supernatural creatures living alongside and barely out of sight of the regular population. Gorgons have jobs at zoos and strip clubs. A dragon lives under NYC. But it's all grounded in a certain 'realism' (for a given value) that colors the entire world. Whereas this felt more like George RR Martin, in that so much of the world is mundanely ordinary that I never know HOW seriously to take it when magic or the supernatural is presented or how far it can be extended. Okay, Lou is a psychopomp, she handles the restless dead...but that doesn't mean that vampires or dragons or werewolves are a natural extension of that world. I don't know what the rules of Tanzer's world are and she doesn't give any real warm up to the pitch. It's just "here you go!" It doesn't feel complete, it doesn't have the heft of something I can entirely buy as 'real'.
So it's good, but I want it to be BETTER. That being said, I do feel it's entirely worth reading and, as I said, if Tanzer goes on with Lou's adventures, I'm in for the long haul.
But, for as much as I enjoyed the book, it falls short of being completely satisfying, so I liked it a lot, but I don't love it. If pressed to a number, it's a 3.5.
There's a lot that's really interesting about Vermillion. Lou, our heroine, is a genderqueer, half-Chinese psychopomp. That is, she lays the unrestful dead, whether they want to go or not. Lou struggles--with her gender, her racial identities, with her past, with her future.
Lou's also not the only interesting character. We have sentient, talking bears and sea lions, responsible for massive changes in the history of America and Western expansion. We have the mysterious Dr. Panacea and his right-hand, the equally enigmatic Shai. The love of Lou's past, Bo Wong and his band of monster-hunters and the delightful, irrepressible Coriander. It's a great cast of characters and there's a a broad range of sexual and gender expression to go with it.
But I think that, in the end, I like the ideas and the possibilities of the story better than I like the actual execution. Lou is an interesting protagonist, but she's often not smart and she bumbles her way through the investigation and, while that is a COMPLETELY VALID writing choice, I really prefer stories about smart, competent protagonists. I also feel like, although Lou feels like a fairly complete person, most of the other characters do not feel as full or textured. I spent a lot of the book not feeling sure how I was supposed to take the characters, because on the one hand, there was a certain amount of face value information given...but at the same time, the trappings of the story are those of a murder mystery and surely I wasn't supposed to take so much at face value? Except at the end of it all, I'm pretty sure I was. Which is just less real and less fun (for me).
And then there's Shai. Shai and his relationships with Lou and Lazarus are, in my opinion, the most interesting parts of the book. To use a fandom term, the three of them are weird about each other in really interesting ways, ways I wanted the book to dig into more deeply than it did. But Shai feels weirdly incomplete or maybe fractured as a character. The Shai we see with Lou in the trek to Estes Park and the sanitarium feels VERY different than the Shai we meet later on, and I don't feel like there was enough groundwork to satisfyingly marry those two different presentations. It felt like something big and important was missing from the narrative to explain how Shai could be so different, from part A to part B.
As well, the world building felt like it needed a little more padding. The idea of sentient bears and sea lions, and their subsequent effect on the history of the time, is fun and cool, but it didn't ever quite ground itself or create a strong foundation for the rest of the story to spring from. To compare and contrast, Seanan McGuire's Incryptid series posits a number of supernatural creatures living alongside and barely out of sight of the regular population. Gorgons have jobs at zoos and strip clubs. A dragon lives under NYC. But it's all grounded in a certain 'realism' (for a given value) that colors the entire world. Whereas this felt more like George RR Martin, in that so much of the world is mundanely ordinary that I never know HOW seriously to take it when magic or the supernatural is presented or how far it can be extended. Okay, Lou is a psychopomp, she handles the restless dead...but that doesn't mean that vampires or dragons or werewolves are a natural extension of that world. I don't know what the rules of Tanzer's world are and she doesn't give any real warm up to the pitch. It's just "here you go!" It doesn't feel complete, it doesn't have the heft of something I can entirely buy as 'real'.
So it's good, but I want it to be BETTER. That being said, I do feel it's entirely worth reading and, as I said, if Tanzer goes on with Lou's adventures, I'm in for the long haul.
April 16, 2015
I am a sucker for interstitial characters: those literary beings who work the borderlands and thresholds, guiding other characters and the reader from one state of being to another. In Vermilion, her first novel, Molly Tanzer introduces us to Lou Merriwether. Lou is half Chinese and half English; she is a female who dresses as a male and she is a psychopomp, a magical artisan whose skill is to guide spirits of the dead across the threshold into the afterlife — even if they don’t want to go. You want your interstices? Lou can help you with that.
Lou lives and works in 1870s San Francisco, in a world different from ours. With a Chinese mother and an English father, now dead, Lou doesn’t fit comfortably in either culture. She is making a living as a psychopomp when her mother volunteers her to explore a Chinatown mystery. Several young Chinese men have followe... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
Lou lives and works in 1870s San Francisco, in a world different from ours. With a Chinese mother and an English father, now dead, Lou doesn’t fit comfortably in either culture. She is making a living as a psychopomp when her mother volunteers her to explore a Chinatown mystery. Several young Chinese men have followe... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
January 14, 2018
Vermilion is such a strange, odd, bizarre, unique novel and that’s what I absolutely loved about it. Lou Merriweather is unlike any character I have read about before and the aspects of Chinese culture and pyscopomp work was so interesting.
I loved the beginning of the book set in Chinatown in San Franscio during an alternate universe in the 1800’s. The middle of the book when Lou leaves to begin her journey I still liked but there were less elements of pyschopompery and that’s what I really enjoyed. The end of the book, however, felt like it didn’t fit with the rest of the novel and some aspects of the world (like talking bears and sea lions I didn’t enjoy as much), that’s where it didn’t end up being a 4 or 5 star read for me. I would actually probably give this novel a 3.5.
I still had a wonderful time reading this and would definitely pick up more books about Lou or others written by Molly Tanzer!
I loved the beginning of the book set in Chinatown in San Franscio during an alternate universe in the 1800’s. The middle of the book when Lou leaves to begin her journey I still liked but there were less elements of pyschopompery and that’s what I really enjoyed. The end of the book, however, felt like it didn’t fit with the rest of the novel and some aspects of the world (like talking bears and sea lions I didn’t enjoy as much), that’s where it didn’t end up being a 4 or 5 star read for me. I would actually probably give this novel a 3.5.
I still had a wonderful time reading this and would definitely pick up more books about Lou or others written by Molly Tanzer!
February 4, 2016
Lou Merriwether is a psychopomp ,someone who helps put ghosts to rest before they turn into wrathful spirits.Since her mother is a chinese woman and her father was an englisman she is part of both worlds and yet stuck between them.
When she is told her estranged mother Ailien has requested her help she has no choice but to go and visit her.
Her mother tells her that several young chinese men has vanished after being offered work in Wyoming. After a gruesome package is delivered to one of the missing mens mother. There is a lead - a bottle of Dr Panaceas Elixir of life.
Lou decides that since the authorities doesnt particularly care to investigate what happened to some stupid useless "chinks" she will have to go to Dr Panaceas sanatorium herself to find out the truth.
Posing as a chinese man looking for work she takes the train to Cheyenne where she meets a strange young man named Shai who is to take her on to the sanatorium.At times spooked by his at times violent and at other times sad nature,Lou comes to think of him as maybe not precisely a good person but someone who understands and doesnt judge her.
But things are never that easy as she comes to realize when she finally arrives at the Sanatorium...
Up to halfway through the book I was finding this book pretty darn great but the exact moment when this stopped being the case was not the whole character dedicated to exposition but that was when it all started to go downhill for me.
It just revealed a bit too much of what Lou was there to find out and the rest of the book was just her running around and trying to convince other people of the truth. Lou is reduced from a plucky heroine to someone who is mooning over an unrequited love interest and let down by friends.
I have to admit I was a bit confused about the ethnicity about Shai as I thought he was also chinese and wondered more than once at peoples reaction to Lou being a "chink" but not until it was explained did I get that he was darkhaired and darkeyed but not chinese.
I kept waiting for Shai to redeem himself after his horrible behavior towards Lou but he never did.He might have been way older than her but instead he turned out to be rather immature and weak.
Quote from before he became useless
The setting is what I would like to call the weird west and for the most part it was an interesting setting even if I am still am not on the clear with the whole sealions and bears being able to talk and run buisnesses,but I didnt mind that as much as the other things in this book.
The gender bending main character was an interesting touch but the books increasing focus on it started to get annoying when every other character was characterized by their sexual preference. I dont believe that building a character on what gender they like can exchange actual character building.
Furthermore description of the hmmm lets just call it unusual hotel Lou and Shai stays at during their journey to the sanatorium had me vaguely uncomfortable. Unless you are specifically into that sort of sexual roleplay it doesnt really progress the plot its just a weird thing.
This book started out reminiscent of another steampunk book I like Shanghai Sparrow but after that specific chapter It all started to remind me of Glassbooks of the Dreameaters.
How can a book at the same time have such great writing and at the same time have the worst writing. I just dont understand.
When she is told her estranged mother Ailien has requested her help she has no choice but to go and visit her.
Her mother tells her that several young chinese men has vanished after being offered work in Wyoming. After a gruesome package is delivered to one of the missing mens mother. There is a lead - a bottle of Dr Panaceas Elixir of life.
Lou decides that since the authorities doesnt particularly care to investigate what happened to some stupid useless "chinks" she will have to go to Dr Panaceas sanatorium herself to find out the truth.
Posing as a chinese man looking for work she takes the train to Cheyenne where she meets a strange young man named Shai who is to take her on to the sanatorium.At times spooked by his at times violent and at other times sad nature,Lou comes to think of him as maybe not precisely a good person but someone who understands and doesnt judge her.
But things are never that easy as she comes to realize when she finally arrives at the Sanatorium...
Up to halfway through the book I was finding this book pretty darn great but the exact moment when this stopped being the case was not the whole character dedicated to exposition but that was when it all started to go downhill for me.
It just revealed a bit too much of what Lou was there to find out and the rest of the book was just her running around and trying to convince other people of the truth. Lou is reduced from a plucky heroine to someone who is mooning over an unrequited love interest and let down by friends.
I have to admit I was a bit confused about the ethnicity about Shai as I thought he was also chinese and wondered more than once at peoples reaction to Lou being a "chink" but not until it was explained did I get that he was darkhaired and darkeyed but not chinese.
I kept waiting for Shai to redeem himself after his horrible behavior towards Lou but he never did.He might have been way older than her but instead he turned out to be rather immature and weak.
Quote from before he became useless
“So, what’s your story, Lou? Why the disguise I mean, the trousers, and everything else?”
Lou shrugged; winced. “It’s not a disguise. I don’t keep a spare sock rolled up in my drawers or anything. I mean, I grew up wearing pants, you know— Chinese women often wear them, if not this style. They’re a sight more comfortable when you walk around all the—”
“No,” interrupted Shai. “I understand well enough the many virtues of pants, Chinese or American. I was asking why you wore them— American pants. I wouldn’t be asking if you were dressed like a traditional Chinese woman.”
“Oh,” said Lou, feeling more than a little self-conscious. What business was it of his? “It’s just how I am, I guess. Who I am. I mean, why are you such a dude even out here in the wilderness? It’s just how you are, right?”
“Fair enough,” said Shai, settling his derby over his face to shade his eyes from the sun.
The setting is what I would like to call the weird west and for the most part it was an interesting setting even if I am still am not on the clear with the whole sealions and bears being able to talk and run buisnesses,but I didnt mind that as much as the other things in this book.
The gender bending main character was an interesting touch but the books increasing focus on it started to get annoying when every other character was characterized by their sexual preference. I dont believe that building a character on what gender they like can exchange actual character building.
Furthermore description of the hmmm lets just call it unusual hotel Lou and Shai stays at during their journey to the sanatorium had me vaguely uncomfortable. Unless you are specifically into that sort of sexual roleplay it doesnt really progress the plot its just a weird thing.
This book started out reminiscent of another steampunk book I like Shanghai Sparrow but after that specific chapter It all started to remind me of Glassbooks of the Dreameaters.
How can a book at the same time have such great writing and at the same time have the worst writing. I just dont understand.
January 14, 2019
December 2017 Previous Release in the Nocturnal Readers Book Box.
This was my 'bedside table' book for 2018. The book that is placed in this position is doomed to be read a few pages at a time throughout the year.
I saw this one labeled as 'steampunk' but it was missing that certain je ne se qua (or whatever) that I would expect from steampunk. It was a bit more of an 'alternate reality western'. Even with my aversion to westerns this wasn't an unpleasant read.
Lou was a fascinating MC. She didn't fit any of the standard troupes that are used in nearly all the books written. She isn't necessarily attractive (per her opinion and honestly others) she isn't outrageously talented and has no special powers. This makes her sound like an entirely uninteresting MC when put this way but she is just so relatable. She makes mistakes, so many mistakes, but she does her best.
Lou has traveled to the Colorado Rockies (my side of town) to find her missing kinsmen. I am still a little confused by her decision. She is a 'half breed' (aren't we all?) and isn't readily accepted by anyone. She is also a Psychopomp, having to do with the dead and little to nothing to do with the living. Her motive was the one glairing hole in this entire plot line for me.
The story drags us across the highland deserts to the Fountain of Youth high up in the mountains. The action picks up quite a bit toward the end and leaves an opening for future installments.
Overall a likeable story with a refreshingly unique MC.
Thanks for the ride Lou, happy trails.
This was my 'bedside table' book for 2018. The book that is placed in this position is doomed to be read a few pages at a time throughout the year.
I saw this one labeled as 'steampunk' but it was missing that certain je ne se qua (or whatever) that I would expect from steampunk. It was a bit more of an 'alternate reality western'. Even with my aversion to westerns this wasn't an unpleasant read.
Lou was a fascinating MC. She didn't fit any of the standard troupes that are used in nearly all the books written. She isn't necessarily attractive (per her opinion and honestly others) she isn't outrageously talented and has no special powers. This makes her sound like an entirely uninteresting MC when put this way but she is just so relatable. She makes mistakes, so many mistakes, but she does her best.
Lou has traveled to the Colorado Rockies (my side of town) to find her missing kinsmen. I am still a little confused by her decision. She is a 'half breed' (aren't we all?) and isn't readily accepted by anyone. She is also a Psychopomp, having to do with the dead and little to nothing to do with the living. Her motive was the one glairing hole in this entire plot line for me.
The story drags us across the highland deserts to the Fountain of Youth high up in the mountains. The action picks up quite a bit toward the end and leaves an opening for future installments.
Overall a likeable story with a refreshingly unique MC.
Thanks for the ride Lou, happy trails.
January 5, 2016
Out of the large stack of books recently sent to us by horror publisher Word Horde, Molly Tanzer's Vermilion is the first full-length novel of theirs I've gotten to read (the rest so far have been story anthologies); and it certainly does not disappoint, a sprawling and epic steampunk tale with supernatural elements and lots of strange little details in its world-building (such as the intelligent bears who live in the Rocky Mountain region, who like Native Americans have negotiated a territory-based peace with the US government). It's a big book to be sure, and you'll need to be an existing steampunk fan to make it through the whole thing; but this is also a great challenge for those who like contemporary urban fantasies, and who would like to see such storytelling run through the filter of Victoriana from 150 years ago. Strongly recommended.
Out of 10: 8.9, or 9.7 for steampunk fans
Out of 10: 8.9, or 9.7 for steampunk fans
March 1, 2018
"I’m very glad to have met you. I never knew there was anyone like you in the whole world."
I loved this book.
Anything this unique makes description difficult but here goes: Early Anita Blake set in an unfamiliar paranormal post Civil War America with a je ne sais quoi of The Sky Is Yours.
I never had any idea what would happen next. That is so rare. This book was fluid and erotic, violent and intelligent.
This was one of one.
Vermilion was part of the December 2017 Nocturnal Readers Book Box.
On a purely physical note this was a beautiful book: paper, font, art, oh so touchable cover - much love was given. Thank you Word Horde!
February 22, 2018
Actual Rating: 3.8
This book was surprisingly entertaining considering I had never heard about it before. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of LGBTQ+ characters represented. The protagonist was a Chinese American non-binary individual with no preference for pronoun, Lou’s character also kind of reminded me of Mulan (which is always a plus, #amiright?).
The character Dynamics were refreshingly new and often developed in a way that I did not expect but was still realistic to their background.
The reason I gave it a 3.8 rating instead of a full 4 star rating is because the writing style was a little bit difficult to get through halfway through the book and because I was displeased with Lou’s focus on certain matters more than others. Also, not everything is resolved by the end of the book. I’m still deciding whether I am intrigued enough to pick up the sequel.
This book was surprisingly entertaining considering I had never heard about it before. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of LGBTQ+ characters represented. The protagonist was a Chinese American non-binary individual with no preference for pronoun, Lou’s character also kind of reminded me of Mulan (which is always a plus, #amiright?).
The character Dynamics were refreshingly new and often developed in a way that I did not expect but was still realistic to their background.
The reason I gave it a 3.8 rating instead of a full 4 star rating is because the writing style was a little bit difficult to get through halfway through the book and because I was displeased with Lou’s focus on certain matters more than others. Also, not everything is resolved by the end of the book. I’m still deciding whether I am intrigued enough to pick up the sequel.
May 7, 2019
She might not like her client much, but no psychopomp worth her salt ever mocked the grieving.
Lou Merriwether is what's known as a psychopomp, a person aimed at helping the ghosts realize they are ready to leave the world of the living. When she hears that some men have gone missing from Chinatown, the real adventure begins.
I was so bummed with this book! It was set in San Francisco in the 1800's with a steampunk/western vibe. It was strange and glorious. Lou, half-Chinese, was young, witty, and a bit of a badass. Until she embarked on the journey to find the lost men. The love interest seemed out of place and Lou turned into this whole mess of a character. I would probably still pick up another Molly Tanzer book but sadly not continue in the series. Unless there's a series about the Bears that I don't know about, I would consider that ...
March 25, 2016
A true 3.5 stars, in that I really can't decide whether to round up or down, and I change my opinion based on the day, the alignment of the stars, etc etc. The prose here gets the job done: Tanzer's pacing is a little slow, since the five days I spent reading Vermilion felt a bit longer. I said this in comments, but it's less like action-packed urban fantasy, and more of a sedate Western, meandering its way onwards throughout the plot and a vivid setting. The humour isn't laugh-out-loud funny, but you might smile a wry smile down at the page. It's really the characters and worldbuilding that I love: characters accept the speculative elements and the author delivers them without batting an eye nor tedious exposition (seriously though, TALKING BEARS); I loved the mechanics of Lou's psychopompery and magic; the characters and friendships are good (Bo as a handsome and sexually attractive Asian male! DO U KNOW HOW RARE THIS IS IN FICTION) (Coriander is SO GREAT) (Miss Foxglove!!!).
I also kinda-specifically picked this up because Cinder, while a FANTASTIC book, was such a disappointment on the Asian cultural representation front. Meanwhile, Molly Tanzer much more successfully evokes the feel of historical San Francisco Chinatown, the culture that Lou was raised in, and her fierce, unrelenting protectiveness of the Chinese. Really, that was one of the elements that swelled my heart the most: Lou's stalwart defense of the undefended victims, her sticking up for the voiceless minority because no one else would do so, her getting angry on her people's behalf. Lou's experience with racism was just on-point -- and her resistance of it brazen -- and I loved it.
I especially liked Tanzer's language note at the end of the book, which explained her various choices for Romanisation etc and included this little disclaimer:
So I just love her approach, that she's humble and respectful and she sincerely tried to represent this faithfully, and I think those efforts truly paid off -- as opposed to, again, the name-dropping in Cinder. This was exactly what I wanted.
My first instinct was to round up my star rating because it's different and a breath of fresh air, even if the prose isn't astounding. Pretty much all of the main characters are women, people of colour, and/or queer, and the diversity didn't feel forced to me. I shelved this as "urban fantasy" because of the first section of the book, where she's operating as a psychopomp in San Francisco -- and in a genre rife with sassy, snarky, competent lone wolves who eschew assistance, Lou was believable to me because you really understand why she's so lonely: coming from an immigrant society without a lot of other kids to grow up with; not fitting into the gender mould so she dresses as a man; being mixed-race so she's not accepted by either people, being both too white but also too Chinese; being a psychopomp, she also exists at the intersection of life & death. I just love stories about liminality, y'all.
Lou's cast of supporting characters, once you meet them, are also great -- and if there are sequels, I would happily read them for future adventures dealing with the undead in this setting. To sum up, it's a nice, progressive urban fantasy Western with a likeable main character; it's also very adult in terms of sex & violence, though not gratuitously gritty or hardbitten (because any novel featuring a talking bear named Victoria who wears a bow is just a little warm and cute at heart, too). The narrative voice is... not precisely snarky, but definitely wry throughout. I liked it a lot -- though honestly, it's really more of a 3 in execution, but I'm rounding up because I'd just like to see more fantasy like this.
Random sidenote: this book also gets a big ole thumbs up from me for being, I think, the only genre novel I've ever encountered where the main character has her period, as just a matter of course and part of existence, like 'holy shit not only do I have to deal with the undead BUT NOW I HAVE CRAMPS.' Again, do you have any idea how rare it is???? It's not a plot point or anything either (e.g. in ASOIAF where it signifies a character being of marriageable age), which I appreciate, because it doesn't have to be a plot point; it's just a part of everyday existence for women and I am weirdly appreciative to see that acknowledged, for once.
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Favourite quotes below:
I also kinda-specifically picked this up because Cinder, while a FANTASTIC book, was such a disappointment on the Asian cultural representation front. Meanwhile, Molly Tanzer much more successfully evokes the feel of historical San Francisco Chinatown, the culture that Lou was raised in, and her fierce, unrelenting protectiveness of the Chinese. Really, that was one of the elements that swelled my heart the most: Lou's stalwart defense of the undefended victims, her sticking up for the voiceless minority because no one else would do so, her getting angry on her people's behalf. Lou's experience with racism was just on-point -- and her resistance of it brazen -- and I loved it.
I especially liked Tanzer's language note at the end of the book, which explained her various choices for Romanisation etc and included this little disclaimer:
Learning about the history of Chinese immigration to San Francisco was one of my favorite parts of researching Vermilion, but research is fundamentally humbling. I have tried my best to be accurate and respectful, but I know too well that sometimes one's best is not good enough. All this to say, I apologize for any errors in Vermilion, and I hope in spite of any inaccuracies it proved an enjoyable read.
So I just love her approach, that she's humble and respectful and she sincerely tried to represent this faithfully, and I think those efforts truly paid off -- as opposed to, again, the name-dropping in Cinder. This was exactly what I wanted.
My first instinct was to round up my star rating because it's different and a breath of fresh air, even if the prose isn't astounding. Pretty much all of the main characters are women, people of colour, and/or queer, and the diversity didn't feel forced to me. I shelved this as "urban fantasy" because of the first section of the book, where she's operating as a psychopomp in San Francisco -- and in a genre rife with sassy, snarky, competent lone wolves who eschew assistance, Lou was believable to me because you really understand why she's so lonely: coming from an immigrant society without a lot of other kids to grow up with; not fitting into the gender mould so she dresses as a man; being mixed-race so she's not accepted by either people, being both too white but also too Chinese; being a psychopomp, she also exists at the intersection of life & death. I just love stories about liminality, y'all.
Lou's cast of supporting characters, once you meet them, are also great -- and if there are sequels, I would happily read them for future adventures dealing with the undead in this setting. To sum up, it's a nice, progressive urban fantasy Western with a likeable main character; it's also very adult in terms of sex & violence, though not gratuitously gritty or hardbitten (because any novel featuring a talking bear named Victoria who wears a bow is just a little warm and cute at heart, too). The narrative voice is... not precisely snarky, but definitely wry throughout. I liked it a lot -- though honestly, it's really more of a 3 in execution, but I'm rounding up because I'd just like to see more fantasy like this.
Random sidenote: this book also gets a big ole thumbs up from me for being, I think, the only genre novel I've ever encountered where the main character has her period, as just a matter of course and part of existence, like 'holy shit not only do I have to deal with the undead BUT NOW I HAVE CRAMPS.' Again, do you have any idea how rare it is???? It's not a plot point or anything either (e.g. in ASOIAF where it signifies a character being of marriageable age), which I appreciate, because it doesn't have to be a plot point; it's just a part of everyday existence for women and I am weirdly appreciative to see that acknowledged, for once.
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Favourite quotes below:
May 23, 2019
Vermilion is the worst kind of book imaginable-one that starts great, but gets worse and worse the more it goes on. The inklings of a great world are there, but never explored. Instead of the interesting look at the spirit world, the dead, life as a psychopomp, and the spiritual Chinese lens that it's all filtered through, we instead get talking bears. I don't know why there are talking bears in this book, or why there aren't other talking animals, or how its even remotely related to the plot, it's never explained.
And instead of seeing what it means to be a psychopomp, or dealing with racism in 19th Century America in a Chinatown ghetto in San Francisco, we get a half-baked mystery plot that turns into a cliche romance novel for about a quarter of the book. We see the tough-as-nails heroine who can handle herself repeatedly get flustered and defeated by the smallest thing, always need the help of someone else to save her.
But the biggest flaw with the book is the plot. Story threads are foreshadowed so much as their sign-posted. The new character who turns out to be hiding a dark secret, the kind man who wants to help everyone who's secretly the villain, the best friend who's mentioned at the start of the novel but isn't there until suddenly appearing out of nowhere to give their help at the perfect time, the main character finding out the villain's secret and their life-long friend refusing to believe them for no explained reason, and I could go on all day. But the cliche's aren't the worst of it, as the plot itself goes straight down batsh*t crazy avenue, and keeps going about halfway through.
If you're interested in this book, maybe only read the first 70 pages or so, and make up the rest of the story yourself.
And instead of seeing what it means to be a psychopomp, or dealing with racism in 19th Century America in a Chinatown ghetto in San Francisco, we get a half-baked mystery plot that turns into a cliche romance novel for about a quarter of the book. We see the tough-as-nails heroine who can handle herself repeatedly get flustered and defeated by the smallest thing, always need the help of someone else to save her.
But the biggest flaw with the book is the plot. Story threads are foreshadowed so much as their sign-posted. The new character who turns out to be hiding a dark secret, the kind man who wants to help everyone who's secretly the villain, the best friend who's mentioned at the start of the novel but isn't there until suddenly appearing out of nowhere to give their help at the perfect time, the main character finding out the villain's secret and their life-long friend refusing to believe them for no explained reason, and I could go on all day. But the cliche's aren't the worst of it, as the plot itself goes straight down batsh*t crazy avenue, and keeps going about halfway through.
If you're interested in this book, maybe only read the first 70 pages or so, and make up the rest of the story yourself.
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