The Last ADVENTURE of CONSTANCE VERITY by A Lee Martinez
Posted in My ParSec reviews, Reviews published in ParSec, Science Fiction at 12:00 on 1 February 2023
Jo Fletcher Books, 2022, 373 p. Reviewed for ParSec 3.
Sometimes all a reader wants is something undemanding. Nothing heavy. Just a light-hearted romp through all the clichés of the speculative fiction universe, and a few more besides. (Universes, as well as clichés.)
Well, for that reader, Constance (Connie) Verity, a woman to whom adventures simply happen, could be just the ticket. While the phrase “soon to be a major motion picture” (in this context are there never any minor motion pictures?) emblazoned on this book’s front cover might make the heart sink, the conceit speaks for itself. But it has to be handled well. And Martinez does so. Hitch yourself up, strap yourself in and go along for the ride. Suspension of disbelief is not necessary. It’s all a game, after all. Here be goblins, ogres and elves, the fae, monsters of all kinds, humans included. Especially humans. No dragons, though.
We start with Constance (pseudonymous since she wants to keep a low profile) at a job interview but her fame is such that she is too easily recognised and it ends with her being forced to a pit housing a many-toothed God rising up from the centre of the Earth where she has to deal with her captors – and the God. It’s a final straw for Connie. Too many times has she been drawn into such escapades without her consent. As she tells her friend Tia, “‘It’s not really up to me. It’s out of my hands. Always has been.’” But now she wants out.
In the meantime she meets Byron, the brother of Dana, the woman in the flat across the landing, and sets out to have a normal relationship with him: not easy when you’re constantly having adventures or your exes die in unfortunate ways. I note here that Martinez’s straightforward treatment of the fact of sex as simply part of normal life is not too common in fantasy.
Connie resolves to try to break the spell put on her at birth by her fairy godmother, Grandmother Willow (Thelma) – by killing her. Constance was one of many treated in this way, but it took with only a few and of the rest only Connie has survived to keep saving the universe. To break the spell is not in Thelma’s power, though. It turns out the Engine in control of the universe – or whoever controls that – is the key.
On Thelma’s death her consciousness gets trapped in a pen (which is a pretty good metaphor for limbo when you think of it) though she can still speak. Now and again Connie clicks her off to shut her up, but several times Thelma later speaks up without having been clicked on again. Still, this is all magic anyway. What has continuity got to do with it?
Tia, who has Constance to thank for the several times she has been rescued from danger, “‘That’s your thing, isn’t it Connie? Always in the nick of time,’” demands to be taken along as a sidekick. Constance hums and haws but later admits, “‘There’s a dynamic. You don’t make it far in the adventuring game as a lone wolf. Even the Lone Ranger had a partner.’” Tia makes a good foil, especially when they encounter Connie’s old flame, Hiro, sneaker up on people extraordinaire – and serial betrayer, once leaving Connie suspended over a crocodile pit. (Many such past adventures are alluded to in the text.) Tia takes it on herself to obstruct Hiro’s attractions for Connie, “‘You’re not the first woman to have a thing for drama and bad boys,’ said Tia, ‘Doesn’t mean you can’t change,’” by being more obviously available.
Somewhat belying its lightness of touch, The Last ADVENTURE of CONSTANCE VERITY nevertheless has useful things to say about relationships, friendship, betrayal and what constitutes a normal life as well as commenting on the practices of fantastical fiction writing.
Finally, you may disregard the book’s title. This is not Verity’s last adventure. Constance might initially have wanted it to be and Martinez may even originally have intended it to be, but two other books featuring Connie have been published in the US.
Pedant’s corner:- “didn’t get always get along” (get rid of first ‘get’,) claxon (klaxon,) “it spurt” (spurted,) imposters (I prefer the spelling ‘impostors’.) “‘What’s the hell’” (‘What the hell’.) “None of the other pedestrians were interested” (None … was interested,) staunch (stanch.) “‘I’ve known more beautiful woman’” (women,) Leningrad (has for about thirty years now been known as St Petersburg,) Columbia (that South American country is Colombia.)
