Let's begin with the tl;dr. Is NEVER KNEW ANOTHER worth buying? If you like nontraditional fantasy--and you know who you are--then yes, you want to buy this novel. You'll be glad to have read it, even if it doesn't become one of your favorites. But for those of you who prefer happy-go-lucky Hero's-journey tales of farmboys with magical swords who save the world from great evil? Might not be your cup of tea.
NEVER KNEW ANOTHER is, at its core, a love story. The lovers in question, Rachel and Jona, both have demonic ancestry, an attribute much hated in this secondary fantasy world. Worse, they're cursed with conspicuous physical manifestations of their nature, so they must be vigilant in maintaining their disguises. When Rachel and Jona finally run into each other, they bond over the shared difficulties of their secretive lives.
NEVER KNEW ANOTHER is also about a married pair of religious fanatics who hunt and kill people with demon blood at the behest of their god. These hunters, known as Walkers, are shapeshifters bound primarily to wolf forms. In their travels, they discover what is apparently Jona's corpse, from which they take his skull. The wife accepts the burdensome task of extracting Jona's memories from his skull. These memories further yield Rachel's story and the story of a third demon. The Walkers use this information in an attempt to track down the surviving demons.
The narrative then proceeds with alternating sections from the past, those being the various demon-stories, and the present, that being the Walker-story.
Naturally, the back-cover copy focuses on the story of Rachel and Jona to the exclusion of the Walkers, but that's misleading. The Walker-story frames the the narrative, and the characters of the Walkers have the most room for growth. In fact, I suspect that in later books, the female Walker in particular (depicted on the cover) will change as she becomes ever more acquainted with the better qualities of her quarry.
McDermott draws his characters with nuance. Too much nuance, fans of traditional Tolkien-style fantasy might say. Aside from Rachel, very few of the characters can be described as good with a straight face (for some definition of good). Indeed, for some readers, Rachel may be the only character with whom they can identify. On the other hand, those readers who enjoy the pseudorealism of the literary-fiction genre will love this aspect of the novel. The characters are "realistic" in another sense: Rachel and Jona go through life with no unusual goals or ambitions. Their personal conflicts revolve around bettering themselves while not getting exposed as demons. None of this is bad, but for certain readers, the novel's entertainment value then becomes a function of McDermott's skill as a prose stylist.
So, is he a good stylist? He certainly shows promise. His sentences are often short and declarative. He avoids obscure diction. Adverbs are rare. His ungrammatical overuse of commas sometimes interrupts sentence rhythm. He avoids the worst of the irrelevant, nonsensical similes that so many similar writers adore. For the most part, he does affected prose right.
Moreover, McDermott doesn't hold the reader's hand. Sometimes, he presents italicized dialog without attribution, and figuring out who's saying what can take a bit of thought. This dialog can come from any of the storylines at any time. He jumps around in the chronology of the stories with no warning. He switches perspectives abruptly on at least one notable occasion. For those who enjoy nonlinear storytelling, this is fun exercise.
Every book has typographical errata, but this book has more than I expected. This isn't so much the writer's fault; rather, the copyeditor appears to have been asleep on the job. I wouldn't mention this except that I had to stop on occasion to puzzle out what McDermott meant. Fortunately, these episodes didn't meaningfully detract from the text.
For me, NEVER KNEW ANOTHER hasn't been an easy book to review. I've wanted to do this since I read it in February, but the right words never came. I'm still not able to articulate my thoughts and feelings as accurately as I'd like. However, I thought it best to get something out there sooner rather than later. I wanted to be honest, and I hope I've done the book justice.
Finally, a disclaimer. JM McDermott is an AW user. He goes by badducky. If you wish to buy his book, you should not do so out of a desire to support fellow AW members. Instead, you should buy it because it's a rather decent book.
NEVER KNEW ANOTHER is, at its core, a love story. The lovers in question, Rachel and Jona, both have demonic ancestry, an attribute much hated in this secondary fantasy world. Worse, they're cursed with conspicuous physical manifestations of their nature, so they must be vigilant in maintaining their disguises. When Rachel and Jona finally run into each other, they bond over the shared difficulties of their secretive lives.
NEVER KNEW ANOTHER is also about a married pair of religious fanatics who hunt and kill people with demon blood at the behest of their god. These hunters, known as Walkers, are shapeshifters bound primarily to wolf forms. In their travels, they discover what is apparently Jona's corpse, from which they take his skull. The wife accepts the burdensome task of extracting Jona's memories from his skull. These memories further yield Rachel's story and the story of a third demon. The Walkers use this information in an attempt to track down the surviving demons.
The narrative then proceeds with alternating sections from the past, those being the various demon-stories, and the present, that being the Walker-story.
Naturally, the back-cover copy focuses on the story of Rachel and Jona to the exclusion of the Walkers, but that's misleading. The Walker-story frames the the narrative, and the characters of the Walkers have the most room for growth. In fact, I suspect that in later books, the female Walker in particular (depicted on the cover) will change as she becomes ever more acquainted with the better qualities of her quarry.
McDermott draws his characters with nuance. Too much nuance, fans of traditional Tolkien-style fantasy might say. Aside from Rachel, very few of the characters can be described as good with a straight face (for some definition of good). Indeed, for some readers, Rachel may be the only character with whom they can identify. On the other hand, those readers who enjoy the pseudorealism of the literary-fiction genre will love this aspect of the novel. The characters are "realistic" in another sense: Rachel and Jona go through life with no unusual goals or ambitions. Their personal conflicts revolve around bettering themselves while not getting exposed as demons. None of this is bad, but for certain readers, the novel's entertainment value then becomes a function of McDermott's skill as a prose stylist.
So, is he a good stylist? He certainly shows promise. His sentences are often short and declarative. He avoids obscure diction. Adverbs are rare. His ungrammatical overuse of commas sometimes interrupts sentence rhythm. He avoids the worst of the irrelevant, nonsensical similes that so many similar writers adore. For the most part, he does affected prose right.
Moreover, McDermott doesn't hold the reader's hand. Sometimes, he presents italicized dialog without attribution, and figuring out who's saying what can take a bit of thought. This dialog can come from any of the storylines at any time. He jumps around in the chronology of the stories with no warning. He switches perspectives abruptly on at least one notable occasion. For those who enjoy nonlinear storytelling, this is fun exercise.
Every book has typographical errata, but this book has more than I expected. This isn't so much the writer's fault; rather, the copyeditor appears to have been asleep on the job. I wouldn't mention this except that I had to stop on occasion to puzzle out what McDermott meant. Fortunately, these episodes didn't meaningfully detract from the text.
For me, NEVER KNEW ANOTHER hasn't been an easy book to review. I've wanted to do this since I read it in February, but the right words never came. I'm still not able to articulate my thoughts and feelings as accurately as I'd like. However, I thought it best to get something out there sooner rather than later. I wanted to be honest, and I hope I've done the book justice.
Finally, a disclaimer. JM McDermott is an AW user. He goes by badducky. If you wish to buy his book, you should not do so out of a desire to support fellow AW members. Instead, you should buy it because it's a rather decent book.
Last edited:
