The Baba Yaga is the third novel in the Weird Space setting that was created by Eric Brown for Abaddon Books. While Brown wrote the first two novels – The Devil’s Nebula (review) and Satan’s Reach (review) – Una McCormack is stepping into the fold for this third novel. I was initially drawn to the Weird Space books as a big fan of Eric Brown’s work despite not being entirely convinced about a shared universe series, and it’s only now that the series is fulfilling its promise with the introduction of a new author to it. While I had obvious worries about The Baba Yaga due to this, I really shouldn’t have – McCormack brings a fresh voice to the setting that only builds upon Brown’s foundations.
From the publisher:
The growing threat of the dimension-invading Weird has driven the Expansion government to outright paranoia. Mandatory telepathic testing is introduced, and the colony Braun’s World – following reports of a new Weird portal opening – is destroyed from orbit, at an unimaginable cost in lives.
Delia Walker, a senior analyst in the Expansion’s intelligence bureau and a holdout of the pragmatic old guard, protest the oppressive new policies and is drummed out. Sure there’s a better way, she charters the decrepit freighter the Baba Yaga and heads into the lawless “Satan’s Reach,” following rumours of a world where humans and the Weird live peacefully side by side.
Hunted by the Bureau, Walker, her piolet Yershov, and Fait – a Vetch child stowaway, fleeing slavery – will uncover secrets about both the Weird and the Expansion; secrets that could prevent catastrophic war…
By the time we join the events of The Baba Yaga the Weird have been covertly invading human and vetch space, their mind parasites controlling those it invades to meet their ends. However, on human worlds psychic screening can identify the infected, but at the cost of the individuals privacy – an aspect those against screening hold dear. But with the news that Braun’s World, a bustling planet well inside human space and far from previous incursions, the latest victim of a Weird portal, the authorities take a hard line: bombing from orbit, killing everyone and everything on the surface, and the introduction of mandatory screening.
While the general mentality of the human Expansion authorities is all-out war on the Weird, Delia Walker wants to see if there is another way to tackle the situation. It’s with this in mind that, after being told her services are no longer required, she heads to Satan’s Reach in order to try and find the mysterious planet where humans, vetch, and the Weird are said to live in peace and harmony. It is with this goal that she enlists the help of Yershov and his ship, the Baba Yaga, to quietly escape the Expansion that is monitoring her. Meanwhile we follow Maria, her child, and her husband as they escape Braun’s World and the devastation wrought on it. But with the Expansion determined to find anyone who has slipped past them and may hold the true version of events, they can only run and hide…
As the third book in this setting, The Baba Yaga can easily be read as a stand-alone novel – Brown and McCormack lay enough information within the narrative for a newcomer to pick up and not feel lost. It’s also helpful that each book so far has a new cast of characters and relatively self-contained story. Saying that, it was nice to see events turn more towards the Weird, the threat they pose, and the way the Expansion plans to deal with it rather than the more individually focused story we saw in Satan’s Reach. However, while The Baba Yaga begins with the bigger picture taking the forefront, it doesn’t stay that way for long as we follow Delia and Maris out of Expansion Space and into Satan’s Reach. This does work though, and the issues introduced at the start are continually brought up as we progress through the story.
I very much liked Delia Walker and the way she deals with the situation she’s in: pregnant and on the run. Her no-nonsense personality and drive to find out what she needs makes her sections move rapidly, and always manage to raise questions. While Maria initially comes across as being out of her depth, things turn around enough that I warmed to her more than I thought I would. However, Failt, a vetch child that comes on the scene, is very interesting and allows a somewhat different view of events through his eyes. Both Brown and McCormack have managed to deliver a varied and diverse cast of characters, all of which bring something extra to the page.
Are there issues with it? Of course, but they’re not deal breakers. However, the ending really did annoy me for not giving closure to the plot threads of the novel. Suffice to say that the door has not only been left open, but rather blown clean off its hinges for more stories in Weird Space.
Nevertheless, The Baba Yaga is an enjoyable novel, and feels like it steps up to the challenge of adding detail to the bigger picture for the Weird Space setting, and certainly more than in Satan’s Reach.
Publisher: http://www.abaddonbooks.com/
Author: http://ericbrown.co.uk/ & http://www.unamccormack.com/
July 2015, 320 Pages
Paperback, ISBN: 9781781083635
Review copy received from the publisher
© 2016 Mark Chitty
