Review: Suicide Run (Engines of Liberty, Book 2) by Graham Bradley
When the American Harry Potter meets the Running Man….
It was mages abusing his parents and neighbors that drove Calvin into the Technomancer Army. But now the Technomancers have double-crossed him, giving him false orders to report to Camp Liberty, a hidden TechMan base beneath the burned-out remnants of Youngstown. A little observation soon leads Calvin to a disgusting revelation: The Technomancers want the mages gone, certainly.
But they also want the current laws and customs to stay in place. This includes arranged marriages, many of which do not end happily. Fifteen-year-old Amelia McCracken, the bride in one such arranged marriage, is betrothed to a twenty-year-old TechMan captain named Eustice Hamilton.
Hamilton is Calvin’s superior, an ambitious and “violent” young man with plans – both for his betrothed and for the war against the mages. If Calvin wants to return to Amelia, then he is going to need all his courage and no small amount of determination. Before that, however, he must find a way to escape the Camp and the Technomancers.
Meanwhile, Godfrey Norrington seeks some help with his own dilemma….
The Story
As Calvin languishes in Camp Liberty, where his new squadron tries to help him settle in, Godfrey Norrington heads to Louisiana in search of a sangromancer. Sangromancers are blood mages – that is, their magic is powered by the blood of their victims. They can use their own blood for their magic, certainly, but that could put their lives at risk. Better to use a victim’s lifeblood instead to cast their spells.
Bargaining with a sangromancer, especially a voodoo sangromancer from the bayous of French Louisiana, is a bad idea. Godfrey knows it, but he also truly wants to be one of the elite British Lords. He wants to be greater than his father, a mid-level bureaucrat too afraid to reach higher and too staid to appreciate his son’s ambition. Finding the duffer who killed his superiors and is working with the Technomancers should give Godfrey enough prestige to win the high status he deserves, as if he finds this upstart Merykan in time, discovering the other Technomancers and their base should be easier. He will be able to capture the Technomancers, thus ending the second War for Independence before it can start. First, though, he must impress the sangromancer – and survive the encounter!
While he looks for an opportunity to escape, Calvin learns that most of his fellow Technomancers were also sent to Camp Liberty under false pretenses. He is not the only one who was tricked by Technomancer command to go where he did not wish to be sent, nor is he the only one who must answer to the whims of the officers. The entire Technomancer army is being directed by people who are rebelling against the current order out of revenge and/or in an effort to set themselves up in the mages’ place.
As Calvin and Godfrey pursue their separate desires, they become caught in the epic clash between titans. But for true liberty to win, Calvin must survive the abuse of the Technomancers AND the vengeance of the Royal Mages. Luckily, it is not just humans on the Merykan continent who seek to have more liberty….
The Characters
Calvin is single-mindedly driven to return to Amelia in this novel, which costs him dearly as the story progresses. He is much angrier in this book than in Rebel Heart and not without just cause, but he could have been more cautious in his approach to various decisions. Still, Calvin does recognize when he has made a mistake and may yet be able to find a way to repair the damage. But during the novel his choices are not entirely logical or rational, which may cause readers some headaches when they see him make his decisions.
For his part, Godfrey falls further into darkness as the book progresses. While he also chooses poorly, his narcissism increases by the page, making what eventually happens to him read as all the more believable. This is a young man obsessed with gaining power in any way that he can. If the price is his life – or his soul – then he will pay it to achieve his goals. For him, the alternative is not worth contemplating.
Kalfu LeVeau, the voodoo blood mage Godfrey seeks out, is mysterious and blind. Kalfu is a potent force within the tale, showing readers not only how dangerous his type of magic is but the danger posed by a skilled user of it. Captain Eustice Hamilton, meanwhile, proves to be every bit as nasty as Kalfu despite possessing no magic. The squadron that Calvin joins at Camp Liberty is sketched quite well, and the hint that a member of the squadron also has a secret adds more interest to this dynamic cast.
The World
Expanding on the world built in Rebel Heart, Bradley demonstrates how different cultures’ magics diverge from one another, deepening the picture he presented in the earlier novel. The French have magic that differs from Kalfu’s voodoo sangromancer sorcery, while another mage is a pictomancer of no mean skill. Further, readers learn what generates British magic in this world and how far that power extends, explaining in part why the map has not moved past the boundaries it possessed in the 1770s. Amerindian magical animals are also introduced in the novel, and there are hints that the Spanish colonies are restive under their Crown’s yoke, too, though their magicians remain absent for the moment.
Politics
It’s the American War for Independence 2.0, with magic and arbitrary laws like arranged marriages thrown in. If any of that upsets you, you would likely be happier not reading this book.
Content Warning
Suicide Run is darker than it’s predecessor. There is a bomb that must be driven into the heart of the victim so it will have the power to kill the person to whom it is attached, and the surgery to put it in is rather explicit. Necromancy, blood magic, and discussions of life-draining spells are present as well. Miscarriage is also broached, and torture features in this novel, too. Where Rebel Heart was readable for mature middle graders, Suicide Run is decidedly more YA in content level.
Who is it for?
Those who read Rebel Heart and wanted more will wish to pick up this book to further explore the world they fell in love with. Fans of history and alternate history will enjoy this novel for certain. Mythology and folklore lovers will like it for the depth and breadth of magic which Bradley puts on display in this novel, as well as his ingenious solutions as to how these separate powers rub shoulders (or don’t). Action readers will find this a heart-pounding, engaging read, while anyone still wondering how mages would handle guns and machines will find plenty to satisfy their curiosity. Parents who hope to encourage their teens to explore history will want this book along with the prior installment, and those who want some ideas to bring to Harry Potter discussions will discover Suicide Run has solutions that can be promulgated in such forums to further stir the participants’ imaginations.
Why buy it?
It is a fun alt-history novel for teens that will entertain adults as well. If you enjoyed the original 1980s The Running Man, then you will love this book. Buy it now and see for yourself!