Review: The Valde: Water by Astrid Amara

Like a huge tidal wave this book sucks you in and drags you under right from the start. It begins with two men, Joel and Charlie on a boat. It's Joel's birthday and Charlie is giving him a celebratory blow job. They are both so caught up in the moment that they fail to notice how bad the weather has become and soon both are fighting for their lives as the boat starts to capsize. Charlie pulls Joel out from inside the cabin and throws him a lifebuoy before getting dragged away by the stormy waves, leaving Joel to be rescued and suffer the guilt of knowing that Charlie died trying to save him.

It's an explosive opening full of drama and excitement. But it's also a time when we find out much about Charlie: his love of life, laughter, passion and warmth. Fast forward a year and Joel is still suffering a dreadful grief over Charlie's death. It's his birthday and the anniversary of that dreadful night so he holes himself up in a bar with several whiskey sours. In the bar he spots Charlie or someone who looks exactly like him. However, instead of the warm, loving, romantic man that Joel know and loved there is a cold stranger who appears not to recognise him. Later in the book Charlie explains that his human self did drown in the sea that day, but in doing so a latent spirit which lies dormant in a human's body was released and took the place of Charlie. He has Charlie's memories, plus those of many of the other bodies he has lived in throughout the thousands of years he has existed, but he is not the Charlie that Joel loved: He's a member of the Valde.

I have to admit I was rather confused as to what the Valde actually were. From what I can gather they are sentient spirits connected with the four elements air, water, fire and earth. Millions of years ago the elements of fire and water became allies and fought with the air and earth. They lost this battle and as punishment they were forced to reside in the bodies of humans, a dormant force unless the human died from either drowning (for the water Valde) or burning (for the fire Valde). It actually gets more complicated than that because there is a band of renegade fire/water Valde who want to fight the air Valde and regain their spirit-like state. Charlie is one of those rebels.

There were a number of issues about this world building which puzzled me. Firstly, if the battle took place millions of years ago before humans how could they be punished by being placed in human bodies? Secondly, I was a bit vague as to what forms the air/earth Valde take - are they invisible or particles in the air - I just couldn't get my head around that bit. Finally, I couldn't understand how this battle was going to take place if the Valde were essentially weak in their human form. All the air Valde have to do is to suck the breath out of their lungs and they're dead and replanted into a new human body as a dormant Valde. I've been told that this is a series, so maybe some of my questions will be answered in later books. Of course, this is assuming I can be bothered to read the rest of the series - the author is taking a big risk leaving so much to be carried onto subsequent books.

I really liked Joel at the beginning of the book. I sympathised with his situation and felt the pain and grief of his bereavement for Charlie. This went some ways towards me forgiving him when he continued to view Charlie as the man he had fallen in love with before the drowning. However, the romance was soured for me by the knowledge that the man who Charlie became after the drowning wasn't actually Charlie, but another being in Charlie's body. He may retain Charlie's memories and look like Charlie, but it wasn't him - that man died in the accident. This fact is reinforced by the constant reference to the coldness in Charlie. His eyes have a cold look to them, his skin feels constantly cool and his expression has lost most of its former life and animation, leaving him with a stony expression most of the time. Joel, however, still insists on searching out any of the residual traits of his former lover, focusing on them and ignoring the Valde that lives in Charlie's skin. At first it was understandable that Joel does this, but after a while I became annoyed with him and couldn't understand why he clung so desperately to a man who wasn't his former lover. If he had loved Charlie, then he shouldn't love this stranger in Charlie's body. The romantic in me found this perplexing and rather disappointing. The twist at the end left me even more disappointed, especially as I saw it coming and was hoping I was going to be wrong.

One positive thing to say about this book is that it made me think. I had to think through the implications of the world building and the relationship between Joel and Charlie, which has meant that the book has stayed with me since finishing it. Astrid Amara writes eloquent prose: Her descriptions are vivid; her characterisations solid - there were no cardboard cut outs here, even in the secondary characters; the whole story was compelling and I couldn't put the book down. However, the problems that I've outlined above were such that I don't think I can wholeheartedly recommend this book so this gets a grade of 'Good'. It will be of interest to those who enjoy complex UF world building as well as fans of the author. As for me, I'm going to reserve my final judgement until after I've read the sequel.