#Veranix Calbert

[effervescentnonsense]

Alright Book Lovers

I have a series recommendation for all of you.

If you like:

- Second World fantasy (as in, not our world)

- Magic

- Edwardian/Victorian aesthetics

- Complex stories that will have you cracking out the Red String Board

- Canonically/explicitly Queer characters (including Shield Lesbians, Ace detectives, Bisexual retired spies, healthy polyamorous relationships involving 7 or more people, and even trans characters!)

- So many female characters that one of the books even fails the Reverse Bechdel Test

- a wide array of sub-genres

Then may I present to you,

The Maradaine Saga

The Maradaine Saga is 14 core books that take place in the city of Maradaine, plus two novellas and one full length novel taking place in other parts of the same world. AND COUNTING (this series is still ongoing!)

The core 14 books contain Four main casts and their respective genres:

The Thorn of Dentonhill stars Veranix Calbert, magic student by day, vigilante hero by night, determined to rid his neighbourhood of efitte, the toxic drug sold by crime lord Willem Fenmere, who killed Veranix's father, and deliberately overdosed his mother. Aided by Kaiana, whose father also succumbed to efitte, and Delmin, his fellow magic student, and his cousin Colin, the street gang member.

A Murder of Mages follows Minox Welling, an inspector for the Maradaine Constabulary, a genius, if socially awkward, and considered a jinx around the station, because he is secretly an untrained mage. Assigned to be his partner is Satrine Rainey, mother of two, struggling to make ends meet with her husband who was gravely injured in the line of duty. Formerly of Druth Intelligence, she is 15 years out from her time as a spy, and forges her paperwork to get the only job she can do that will pay the bills- becoming the first woman inspector on the force.

The Holver Alley Crew- when Holver Alley goes up in flames, killing dozens of people and destroying the homes and businesses of many more, brothers Asti and Verci Rynax discover it was arson, and are determined to use their skills as thieves to track down who destroyed their neighbourhood. Asti, a former spy for Druth Intelligence, retired because of his recent escape from an enemy prison where he was tortured until it broke his mind, and Verci, husband and father and inventor of all sorts of gadgets. Recruiting old friends and new, they set to perform daring heists to make the arsonists pay.

The Way of the Shield- Dayne Heldrin is easy to spot in a crowd- towering at 7ft tall, and in his blue Tarian Uniform- he is a veritable Knight of the Modern era. He is a candidate in the Tarian order, a historic organization upholding values of Chivalry and Defending the Innocent, Shield on arm. He has just returned from being overseas, where his mentor was killed by the Gearbox Killer, a maniacal murderer who builds elaborate clockwork contraptions, designed to kill. Dayne barely survived, and his advancement to an Adept Tarian is in doubt. He befriends a young Initiate, Jerinne, and begins to mentor her, pushing her to be stronger, and uphold the values of the Tarians. Political Conspiracy is afoot, however, as a shadowy organization has fashioned themselves after the Grand 10, ten historic figures that helped turn the country of Druthal into what it is today.

All of these books take place in the same city, at the same time, and as the series goes on, recurring characters and crossovers begin to appear as these ragtag bunch of do-gooders find allies in each other.

I cannot stop talking about this series, its so good! The worldbuilding is immaculate (after all, the author, Marshall Ryan Maresca, is one of the hosts of the podcast Worldbuilding for Masochists), the pacing will keep you gripping your seat for dear life!

[elise-nic]

Verci "I broke my leg so it's handwalking time" Rynax and Veranix "God I hope this assassin isn't from my circus" Calbert are going to get along so well, eventually.

[maradainemaresca]

PEOPLE OF THE CITY comes out in less than FIVE WEEKS. Which means you have time to check out all the Maradaine books and get to know all the champions of Maradiane, starting with today's entry: Veranix Calbert, aka The Thorn.

[velvetblush]

Not your Maradaine!Anon but I want to know more about these. Do I start at Thorn of Dentonhill? It seems like there's three Book Ones!

aaahhhh i’m so happy you want to read it!!

there are 3 series set in this universe; maradaine, the maradaine constabulary and the streets of maradaine.

maradaine is about a teen vigilante named veranix calbert. this is the series we’re currently discussing about. the first book is the thorn of dentonhill

the maradaine constabulary is about 2 inspectors. i can’t say much about this one because i haven’t read it. but maradaine!anon said this series is also good

the streets of maradaine is about a heist lead by the rynax brothers. i’ve read this one and it’s pretty good!

you can read one of the series without reading the others. but i’m sure at one point all of them will collide so I suggest you read all!

If you want to read in chronological order, here’s the order:

The Thorn of Dentonhill (maradaine #1)

A Murder of Mages (the maradaine constabulary #1)

The Holver Alley Crew (the streets of maradaine #1)

The Alchemy of Chaos (maradaine #2)

An Import of Intrigue (the maradaine constabulary #2)

Lady Henterman’s Wardrobe (the streets of maradaine #2) *

The Imposters of Aventil (maradaine #3)

A Parliament of Bodies (maradaine constabulary #3) *

* come out next year

let me know if you still have any questions!

[sapphicunicorn]

The Thorn of Dentonhill by Ryan Marshall Maresca (fantasy)

Veranix Calbert leads a double life. By day, he’s a struggling magic student at the University of Maradaine. At night, he spoils the drug trade of Willem Fenmere, crime boss of Dentonhill and murderer of Veranix’s father. He’s determined to shut Fenmere down.   With that goal in mind, Veranix disrupts the delivery of two magical artifacts meant for Fenmere's clients, the mages of the Blue Hand Circle.  Using these power-filled objects in his fight, he quickly becomes a real thorn in Fenmere's side.   So much so that soon not only Fenmere, but powerful mages, assassins, and street gangs all want a piece of “The Thorn.” And with professors and prefects on the verge of discovering his secrets, Veranix’s double life might just fall apart. Unless, of course, Fenmere puts an end to it first.

I don’t have many (or maybe any) vigilante stories, so when I spotted The Thorn of Dentonhill’s interesting cover--and the promise of wizards--I snatched it up. The set-up is so good but as the story goes on it just becomes predictable.

Veranix has devoted his life to being the thorn in Fenmere’s side. Fenmere killed Veranix’s father, addicted his mother to a drug called effitte, and now Fenmere has no idea Veranix is even alive, not to mention destroying his drug operation.

The book starts out so good! It’s action packed, it’s fast paced, Veranix’s struggle between getting enough sleep for school or spending all night fighting drug lords is fun--it’s all pretty fun in the beginning. The action scenes are well written and constantly moving. The introduction of street gangs, of the divide between the university students and everyone else, was interesting. But the characters absolutely can’t carry the story in the second half and it crawls to a snail’s pace.

Veranix, when he’s not busting drug lords, is boring. He’s the typical “Has too much power and doesn’t know how to/can’t use it properly” trope, and of course he’s failing his classes. The mystery of his past is also typical. At this point it’s nearly expected. There’s just a small spin on it this time because we have a character who knows his past. He’s intentionally lying about it, and it’s nice that he doesn’t immediately dump it all on the reader. We learn about his past when other characters do. But it doesn’t help him avoid that Gary Stu territory. While it’s nice that he does get beat up in his fights, he magically makes a great escape, or kills the person, and makes it home. Every time.

Colin was maybe the best character. He had more going for him than Veranix, being an orphan and captain of a street gang, and I started to wish the book would stop playing with the magic school idea and focus more on the street gangs. Colin was definitely more interesting--actually, all of the street gangs were more interesting than the little bits we got to see about the university! I can’t even say why I enjoyed following Colin more than Veranix. Maybe it was Colin’s level-head, his common sense, and the way he hustled for the information he needed or whatever needed done. Veranix just kind of had what he needed handed to him.

I just really wanted less magic school, more street gangs.

My biggest problem--besides Fenmere being an evil stereotype--was with Kaiana’s character. She’s the only woman in the entire book that actually speaks. The rest of the unnamed women mentioned in passing are drug-addicted whores, naturally. Veranix claims Kaiana is his friend, but really, she’s just a tool for him. She keeps all of his gear, she treats his wounds, she takes the fall for him multiple times. There’s no substance to her character besides “Plot convenience that helps Veranix” and there’s never anything that proves otherwise. This book was published in 2015, not the 80s where these problems ran unchecked, so I really see no excuse for her horrible treatment. Oh wait, did I mention Kaiana is a WOC?

While the book started out great, and I loved the idea of Spiderman (there are a lot of comparisons to Batman, but Veranix definitely moves more like Spiderman) meets Harry Potter, I wanted to skip through a majority of the book to find Colin’s next chapter or just get it all over with. It became boring and predictable. When the action went away, it was all on the characters to move the story and they just couldn’t do it. Honestly, I can’t even tell you how it ends. It was just... mediocre.