Factotum by D.M. Cornish

Factotum

By D.M. Cornish 

So here we are at the end of the series: The Monster Blood Tattoo. Factotum by David M Cornish, an Australian born illustrator, was published in 2010. The entire series was born out of a set of illustrations and notes of a fantasy world that Mr. Cornish had been writing down for ten years before his editor found out and demanded he write some stories set there. Mr. Cornish wrote and published three novels (all reviewed here), a book with two short stories, and some additional stories on the internet. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any other work in this world coming. In the unlikely event that Mr. Cornish reads this review, I would encourage him to return to this world and grace us with more stories set in it. Before I get started there is no way to review this book without spoiling Foundling or Lamplighter which are the first and second books of the series. So I would encourage you to seek out those books first and give them a read.

Factotum takes place on the Half-Continent, a setting that can be best explained as merging Oliver Twist with a Dungeons and Dragons game where the Dungeon Master is either a genius or a drug-fueled mad man (Warum nicht beide?). Of course, speaking from personal experience there are times where there doesn't be much of a difference (Indeed!). On the Half-Continent, the most powerful state is the Haacobin Empire; a sprawling Holy Roman Empire like state of semi-independent cities, feudal domains, and princely states, with a powerful Emperor and a weak central government (Hang the parasites, all power to the workers!). I will note here for upcoming writers that a Holy Roman Empire style state is a fantastic setting for many stories and allows for a lot of variations of government and traditions within the same country (Communism aside, this is definitely true.). The Empire is beset by enemies within and without, not just human enemies but a vast array of creatures called monsters. The various creatures that are counted among monsterdom are wildly varied in size and form, but many of them are dangerous to humanity and see them as a simple food source. Meanwhile, there are those monsters who would live in peace with humanity but the humans of the Empire have decided better safe than sorry. That said, I do have to point out that humanity has its own array of sins to account for (Well...yes). Such as trying to create their own monsters through dark experiments (to be fair, these are illegal but that doesn't stop a lot of people) and using captive monsters for fighting pits against specially bred dogs or in some of the more twisted places human fighters. As you can imagine a sense of grievance and righteousness is common through humanity and monsterkind meaning that it's hard to get anyone interested in peace.

Our main character Rossamund Bookchild is a citizen of the Empire and in Lamplighter just managed to avoid being tried for the crime of being a monster. I found the charge a bit ironic since one of the arguments his accusers used was that he was to good at killing monsters to be anything but one of them. Rossamund was saved by this when Europe, aka the Duchess of waiting of Naimes, invoked a feudal privilege to simply cancel a trail on account of her being one of the most important people in the Empire. This is on top of Europe being a professional monster hunter and a lahzars. A lahzar is a person who through having a set of artificially created organs implanted gains powers and abilities beyond that of mortal men. This doesn't come without a price, as they must at regular intervals drink fairly complicated potions called treacles to keep their body from rejecting the organs in question. On top of that Society's relationship with Lahzars is a complicated one, on the one hand, lahzars make the majority of professional monster hunters and without them, settlements outside of massive fortress cities might not even be possible as they roam the land slaying monsters who prey on humanity. They are paid handsomely for their labors as well as often being the stars of stories and plays. That said, they are often looked down upon as living beyond the bounds of polite society and many prefer that they do the dirty work and move on quickly. I'm honestly pretty sympathetic to the lazhars here, as I've had some experiences like that myself. Europe manages to dodge a lot due to being heir to what is practically a head of state however and can rub elbows with Arch Dukes, Barons and the vastly wealthy whenever she feels like it and she feels like having Rossamund serve her as her factotum. Europe isn't Rossamund's only ally, as his old teachers from the orphanage where he was raised reappear, determined to protect him to the last. They're both old retired sailors and honestly, I enjoyed reading their dialogue as it is full of salty sailor nonsense. Despite being in their old age, they're both rather talented and skilled men and are willing to make sacrifices to protect Rossamund. Which honestly adds to the burden Rossamund feels about his situation, it's all worked together rather well.

This book picks fairly quick from the end of Lamplighter, with Rossamund serving as Europe's factotum, which is a catch-all term for the men and women who handle the affairs and supplies of wealthy lazhars so they can focus on killing monsters. Among his duties is brewing and serving Europe treacles, something he proves to be rather skilled at due to his prior training as a Skold. A Skold being someone who makes and uses various potions and chemicals for healing and warfare. Before the creation of Lazhars, Skolds did most of the monster hunting but they can't match the sheer killing power of someone who can shoot lightning from their fingers. A good chunk of the book takes place in the city of Brandenbrass, where Europe makes her headquarters much to the dismay of the current city's Duke. Rossamund finds himself having to navigate an unfamiliar society as he's been elevated to new heights while fending off rumors that he is a monster birthed from magical mud pits in the image of man. The problem being, what if the rumors are right? Even if Europe decides she doesn't care that one of the people she's closest to is a monster, can she fight the entire world to keep him safe? While Rossamund makes friends and enemies of his own while trying to find out the truth of his origin, he increasingly has to ask an important question. Is staying with Europe worth the price she'll have to pay? Because while he is growing into abilities of his own, he is not a fully grown man yet and it is Europe who will have to fight, be it socially, legally or with her amazing abilities to keep him from literally being thrown to the dogs.

Brandenbrass is fairly interesting but the first part of the book where we are introduced to the setting is honestly the slowest. Much of it is set up for the plot and main conflict of the book, which is well done but I honestly found myself wanting to get to it. I don't think this is a failure of the book but I do think it's because we have an unfinished conflict boiling from Lamplighter that I wasn't that interested in more set up. Brandenbrass, a large powerful walled city with an ancient forest that no one dares go into at its very heart is a great idea and Mr. Cornish does labor to give a good view of it. Additionally, the most interesting characters in Brandenbrass are the ones we see the least of. For example, a fellow aristocratic woman who is also a monster hunter that only gets about 2 scenes. Much here is hinted at but given the book's complete devotion to only showing Rossamund's point of view, we don't get to explore these characters or their relationships to each other. That said D.M. Cornish does give us payout for all this build-up and hinting. When Rossamund enemies decide to make their move the result is an explosive and deadly fight. Additionally, we get to see Europe at work when she takes Rossamund out on a monster hunt and it's there we learn that not every human has set their hand against monster kind. Some would live peacefully with them whenever possible and some outright worship monsters. Those who worship monsters are no friend to their fellow man and you can imagine how they feel about monster hunters. So when Rossamund and Europe find themselves the focus of such a cult while monster hunting in addition to other enemies circling them. It makes for a dramatic confrontation, I am somewhat disappointed that some of the villains from the last book are handled off-screen in favor of dealing with new enemies but the battle that we do get do make for that.

This book is the end of Rossamund's story in a lot of ways and I don't want to spoil it. I will say that it's in this book that Rossamund learns who he is and what that means. It's here that he also decides his place and relationship to society at large. While his childhood has been over for quite some time at this point, this book really does mark his final steps into adulthood and because of that and the decisions he faces there is a bittersweet tone to it. Europe and he share real admiration and affection for each other, an unlikely friendship that makes both of them better people in the end. While I would love to see more stories set in the half continent or even other foreign lands away from the half continent, I do think this book ends Rossamund's story fairly convincingly. The entire series is set in an incredibly well-realized and vividly imagined world, helped with illustrations and a formidable appendix in the back of the book (where appendixes belong I remind you). While it started slow, it finishes well and brings everything together fairly decently. I'm honestly glad I read this series and I'm sorry to see it come to close. If nothing else D.M Cornish joins writers such as Garth Nix in making a strong argument that Australia can produce some very good fantasy writers. Factotum by D.M. Cornish gets an A- from me.

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Red text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen

Black text is your reviewer Garvin Anders