Fortune's Wake, by C. L. Clark
The Book
Synopsis:
Kill the beast.
Earn some coin.
Get the girl.
Or at least, that’s how it was supposed to go. Kova of Stormwatch made a promise when she left her mother and sweetheart weeping on the shore back she’d earn her fortune slaying the beasts that haunt the woods and the horrors that lurk in the shadows, or she would die trying. But to do that, she needs an apprenticeship with a master monster hunter. The best of the Sayre Boarbane.
Pity that Sayre works alone.
When Sayre drags Kova home by the ear, they’re both in for a rude awakening. Kova’s mother? Missing. Kova’s lover? Taking long walks on the beach with a stranger.
And all those monsters Kova wanted to slay? They’re back in Stormwatch, dragging villagers into the ocean.
My Review
Fortune's Wake is a kinda simple dark fantasy novella, but which shows all the strengths that make novellas one of my favourite lengths to read: an excellently paced plot that goes straight to the meat, a worldbuilding that hints more of the world but focusing on the slice and a set of characters that show a lot of heart while portraying one of the classic role relationships on fantasy: grumpy and (kind of) sunshine.
Kova had a simple plan when she left home: become a monster hunter, earn enough coin, and come back to get the girl; however, she's being dragged back to Stormwatch after failing to get accepted by the legendary Sayre Boarbane. In Stormwatch, the situation is certainly dire: her mother has disappeared and more villagers are being pulled into the sea; together with Sayre and her ex-girlfriend, she will have to go deep into the caves and find how to stop all.
Sayre and Kova are a duo of contrasts: while Kova is stubborn and impulsive, trying to save the people she left behind, as she still values some of her roots, we have a Sayre that is a lone wolf, a hardened person who struggles to work with others and that's part of why this relationship is so stormy. During their adventure together with Ta'aliya, Kova's ex-girlfriend, their growth towards each other is remarkable, always as a result of the dangers they are facing, eventually allowing Sayre to show more of the person inside the figure.
The antagonists are a bit more difficult to pinpoint, as while I understand them as morally grey, with their own set of reasons for what they are doing, I didn't manage to connect with their reasonings.
The setting is shown as a slice of a much bigger world, putting the emphasis on that coastal aspect, weaving an atmosphere that draws from horror, especially regarding the claustrophobia and thalassophobia that can be ascribed to the sea caves our characters explore trying to rescue the others.
Pacing is simply superb, with Clark's writing being especially sharp, in particular during fight scenes; I also appreciated how, despite everything, there's also space for our characters to express their feelings.
Fortune's Wake is another great example of why I love novellas; a dark fantasy/almost grimdark proposal that is perfect if you want a taste of Clark's writing. I can't wait to read what they writes in the future!
The Author/s
C. L. Clark
C.L. Clark is a BFA award-winning editor and Ignyte award-winning author of several books, including The Unbroken (Magic of the Lost trilogy), Fate’s Bane (a novella), and Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf (an Arcane novel). She graduated from Indiana University’s creative writing MFA and was a 2012 Lambda Literary Fellow. She’s been a personal trainer, an English teacher, and an editor, and is some combination thereof as she travels the world. When she’s not writing or working, she’s learning languages, reading about war and [post-]colonial history, or trying not to throw her kettlebells through the wall. Her work has appeared in various SFF venues, including Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Tor.com, Uncanny, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies.