Book one in the fantasy/crime trilogy Tales of Fenest by D.K. Fields – pen name of Katherine Stansfield and David Towsey – Widow’s Welcome introduces a vibrant, unconventional world in which stories hold great power. In the Union of Realms, a “collective of six different peoples with their own customs and traditions”, political control is determined in an election every five years by carefully-chosen storytellers and the popularity of their stories. The city is always hectic during an election year, as people from across the Union descend on the central city of Fenest to hear each realm’s story. When a Wayward man is found dead in an alley with his lips sewn shut, however, Detective Cora Gorderheim starts to realise that there’s more going on than general unrest.
This is a book about the power of storytelling, about stories within stories, and like the best stories – mysteries, especially – it has layers and secrets that are only gradually revealed in the telling. There’s a richly detailed world on display here, with an expansive pantheon of gods – known as the Audience – to whom offerings are given in the form of stories, and a vibrant mix of cultures across the six realms and the theoretically neutral city of Fenest. It’s primarily shown through Cora’s eyes and her tired, cynical viewpoint makes for an interesting window onto proceedings, although there’s a lot to take in with all this world building. A fascinating sense of this world develops as the story builds, layer by layer, into a tale of mystery, political intrigue and inequality, but this all takes place by way of an unconventional narrative structure that definitely rewards the patient reader.
While the investigation provides the drive and momentum for the plot, it’s interspersed with two election stories, as Cora listens to the Casker and Lowlander storytellers tell their tales. At first these stories seem entirely unrelated to the main plot, but over time the connections start to become apparent, and with four more still to be told over the following books there’s plenty of time for more to be revealed. They’re not short either, so they take up a large part of the book, but they expand the world beyond the bounds of Fenest and provide bleak but powerful insights into life for those who live outside of the city. This structure, with election stories breaking up the ongoing narrative, is central to both this novel and the series as a whole, and while it can take some time to adjust to it’s what really makes the book work, both stories proving sad but deeply compelling.
If there’s a criticism, it’s perhaps that the elements of the story dealing with Cora’s investigation are somewhat overshadowed by the election stories. Cora herself makes for an interesting protagonist, with plenty of the usual detective tropes present and correct but sufficiently fleshed out to be more than the sum of her parts, however there’s not quite enough time to really warm to her. The signs are good (and there’s more of Cora and the wider mystery in book two), but the election stories are definitely the main selling point here. They provide the broadest view on the wider world, and while Widow’s Welcome as a whole feels a bit like it’s laying the groundwork for the rest of the series to come, these two individual tales offer satisfyingly complete stories. All told, this is a smart and unusual book that might not be to everyone’s taste, but is likely to pique the interest of readers looking for something different, and willing to be patient as they explore a genuinely fresh fantasy world.
See also: my interview with D.K. Fields about book two in this series, The Stitcher and the Mute.
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