House of Open Wounds
If I don’t read another book that I deem worthy of 5* for the rest of the year, I’d still be happy because to read the House of Open Wounds so early in the year and for it to be the best book I think i’m going to read for the year is already astonishing.
This is a very lightly tied sequel to City of Last Chances in that only one character from the previous book shows up. Its a bonus if you know who the person already is, but the author doesn’t use much of the previous books events. You just have to know that this person has access to some special healing.
The book is set in a military hospital, where the Pels of the last book who were oppressing the namesake city is back here trying to bring their enlightenment or perfection to other less enlightened/perfected cultures. If that sounds familiar, its probably because empiricism always uses the same tact for the entirety of human civilization. The military hospital theme has been done elsewhere as well, like mash, but nothing quite like this. The premise of the book is all about magical healing and as with every Tchaikovsky book, he takes it to its logical conclusion, warts and all.
there’s the healer who can heal by taking wounds into her future self, cutting her own very long lifespan short, but leaving herself and her patient completely untouched. there’s the protagonist from the last book, who is beholden to a god of healing but comes with very interesting consequences, such that anyone healed by that god cannot ever harm anyone else, directly or indirectly (you can see the consequences of this quickly in an army hospital…), there’s the potion creator, whose potions can either cause instant death, or anesthetize a patient enough for surgery to happen. there’s other god-touched people, whose gods can cauterize wounds and sterilize tools or delay infection, and then there’s the ultimate cure for folks who cannot be cured. turn them into zombies.
its such a refreshing take on the fantasy genre that you almost have to think why no one else has done it, and if the stories was just about the motley crew of magic healers and their healing exploits, one would be satisfied. But that’s never what Tchaikovsky does. He takes things to its logical conclusion. In the Pel’s worldview, such healing is merely a curiosity, as they believe science to be the ultimate savior and things like gods and magical healing are only things to be understood eventually or rooted out and destroyed immediately. they’re also highly practical, so they’ll use things during a war but not want it to actually be part of the culture afterwards. In this scenario, you can see how they’d take a dim view on a healer whose patients can never fight again, lest they suffer the same wound they had before being healed. They will also see how they can exploit healing magic where you can redirect wounds to either the future, or maybe somewhere else. Why stop at zombies if you can maybe catch souls instead and use them as ghosts? the military application of such healing magic is also explored, and is really what takes this book from an interesting take on mash in a fantasy world, to something more akin to a thesis on military philosophy and how far you can take things.
There’s also a damn good story of family and interpersonal relationships here.
Again, another great Tchaikovsky book. Not to be missed. Highly recommended.