Now Donald, this is how you do the WEAVE

Douglas Lumsden introduces Shade the Collector into his previous world of Alex Southerland series in a book that transitions seamlessly into a connected universe while fleshing out elevated stakes in a masterclass in storytelling & plotting weaving long-standing threads into a tremendously crafted series opener

Douglas Lumsden’s Alexander Southerland series has been one of my discoveries of the year. It is a fabulous noirish urban fantasy set in a world that seemingly resembles ours but has a host of other magical species. This was a highly entertaining series with some of the catchiest titles as well. It was also a series where Alex got increasingly tangled with forces way beyond his ken. A series that started rather low stakes but by book 7, the stakes had seemingly escalated beyond Alex himself. At this juncture, authors usually power up lead characters significantly to cope with the stakes. While Alex does kind of get “help” through the series, from a character perspective, it just didn’t make sense for Alex, a proper gumshoe noir PI to become the character who would be the Vin to this world’s Lord Ruler

(Yes, I know the Sanderson-valanche is coming and I am trying to re-read the series before the drop of Wind & Truth, the 5th book of the Stormlight Archives clocking a remarkable 1344 pages on Dec 6 & each of the 4 previous books are over 1000 pages – a lot to catch up by December)

“Fuck stability. Fuck it sideways.” Shade’s smile broadened. “Where’s the fun in it? It’s chaos that makes the world go ‘round.”

In Alex’s place, we get to follow Shade, a “procurement” specialist of exotic objects (a thief basically) and a werecat (made up of 12 cats) who lands up in Yerba City to “collect” an unusual dagger headed for Alex. Little does Shade know that he isn’t the only interested party for this dagger and assassination squads following the dagger are the least of his worries. As things heat up, Shade and his buddy Dwayne realize that Yerba City is home to an assortment of powers (some whom we have seen in Alex’ series) that make this procurement mission anything but simple and what we get instead is a fascinating descent into the fragile balance of power that these events are likely to disrupt

“Alkwat’s balls, We’re sure piling up a body count”

It is difficult to “kill” your darlings and Alex is no exception for Douglas Lumsden. While this is a new book in the world, Alex looms large for the first 40% of the book. In hindsight, this is a smart move. By placing this book in Yerba City and co-existing Shade with Alex, the momentum of the book is set. There is no time wasted allowing us to get right into Shade’s mind and character. Some setting does happen along the way but the author crafts the story with such fine balance with respect to Alex, that even though it’s Shade’s book, it is Alex’s world that we are living in and that is something familiar for long-term readers of this series.

“You can’t change the past. You can only change the way you remember the past.”

Claws of the Collector is a MASTERPIECE in storytelling & plotting in the larger scheme of the series. Douglas Lumsden weaves together a lot of the threads from Alex’s story to stunning payoffs in this book. We are all aware of how a certain political figure gesticulates his rambles into what he calls a weave but he has got nothing on the author here. There are a bunch of jaw-dropping revelations and developments that make so much sense if you are tuned into this world through the Alex series of books. It’s like as Thor intones in Avengers – that the realm has signalled itself for a higher form of war. Given the forces Shade encounters/ thwarts and the alliances he is forced to broker coupled with his characteristics (that are so markedly different from Alex’s), the direction this series is going to take fits in right with Shade’s point of view more than Alex

“Combat is all about dealing death and dealing with death. And if that second thing ain’t the harder of the two, then I don’t want to know you”

CotC’s biggest strength is also the chink in its armor. While technically, this is a new book and a new stepping point for readers, it is difficult to judge how big the impact of this book is in isolation. The significance of the revelations hit harder if you had read the previous series & that is possibly my only quibble with this book. Also, Alex does play an outsized role till about the midpoint of the book before we see Shade truly stand apart. I am not complaining about Alex’s role but I did feel around that point that this was Alex #7.5 than Shade #1.

“Your contingencies fall apart, too, dude. We always wind up flying by the seat of our pants.”

Shade’s moral ambiguity while still wanting to do the right thing is something that the author deals with rather well. His shapeshifting abilities and the uniqueness of each of his cats were also quite well described but I think that’s just scratching the surface. An area that I thought was very well done was the relationship with Shade and his buddy, Dwayne. While on the surface, it seemed rather easy-going and without much depth, there are a few quieter moments that truly make this relationship shine. The Indian mythology element is also something I genuinely enjoyed (even if it’s not expected to be fully faithful) – but by having Indian names and characters and mannerisms peppered through the book, I enjoyed the book even more. I truly had a blast when Shade’s hex materialized into something concrete and it made sense for that character to be named thus. All these were some of the cute touches that went a rather long way in how much I enjoyed the book

“What I really wanted to tell you is that war is shit. Anyone wanting a war has either never seen it, or they are seriously scared in the nogging. And anyone trying to start a war is evil. Evil to the fuckin’ core.”

CotC absolutely elevates the stakes of the world that Douglas Lumsden has built. The playing field is significantly stratospheric as compared to what Alex was playing in and builds a lot of anticipation for the inevitable clash and the rebellion to follow. But at the same time, he does keep the series relatively grounded. While the climatic struggle involves significant levels of power, Shade & Alex solve problems at their level rather than at the powers keeping the series relatively grounded for now. I had a lot of fun with this book and looking forward to how this particular series shapes up (& how Shade powers up).

CotC is in the running for one of the best series openers of the year for me. It builds on an already imaginative world and elevates the stakes propelling the narrative toward an inevitable conflict between reigning superpowers and long-forgotten hidden superpowers. A must-read but your enjoyment will be even higher if you pick the Alex series up first

Book Rating – 4 Werecats on 5

Series/ World Rating – 4.5 Wererats on 5