The Thousand Names

The Thousand Names by Django Wexler, The Shadow Campaigns #1

In the desert colony of Khandar, a dark and mysterious magic, hidden for centuries, is about to emerge from darkness.

Marcus d’ Ivoire, senior captain of the Vordanai Colonials, is resigned to serving out his days in a sleepy remote outpost, when a rebellion leaves him in charge of a demoralised force in a broken down fortress.

Winter Ihernglass, fleeing her past and masquerading as a man, just wants to go unnoticed. Finding herself promoted to a command, she mut rise to the challenge and fight impossible odds to survive.

Their fates rest in the hands of an enigmatic new Colonel, sent to restore order while following his own mysterious agenda into the realm of the supernatural.

Ever since finding out about The Thousand Names I just wanted to read this book. Having been termed with “flintlock fantasy”, the beautiful cover and the interesting synopsis, this book just had to be great. And you know what it is! The Thousand Names surpassed my expectations a 100fold or even more. It’s great, it’s amazing, it’s awesome, are there any more superlatives I can use?? You really have to have read this book, asap!

The Thousand Names is written by Django Wexler and is the first book in The Shadow Campaigns. Django Wexler has graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, in creative writing and computer science and has worked for the university artificial intelligence research. Afterwards he found himself working for Microsoft and living in Seattle. Django Wexler has let me know that he will do his utmost best to release one book of the Shadow Campaigns each year. So that will be one thing to look forward to!

Ok, enough chatter about that. On to The Thousand Names!

The storyline of The Thousand Names focuses on telling the trek across the desert by the Vordanai Royal Army led by Colonel Janus Valnich, set with the task of retaking the village of Ashe-Katarion. Ashe-Katarion has been re-taken by a rebel group, the Redeemers. Janus has quite a name for himself and is viewed upon with quite some awe by the other soldiers. Janus’ campaign isn’t without set any set-backs. Having to traverse part of the desert, fighting of rebels and if that isn’t enough the supernatural also takes a quick look around the corner…

In The Thousand Names you follow the story of two main protagonists, Marcus d’Ivoire and Winter Ihernglass. The story itself is being told through their perspectives and they alternate each other as the chapters fly by. Next to Marcus and Winter there are also several secondary characters that you follow quite closely but their adventures are being told in either Winter’s or Marcus’ parts. Other important players are Jaffa and Colonel Janus. The first thing that I really liked about following these characters is that they (Marcus, Winter and Janus) have a different role in the army. Janus is the Colonel and leads the campaign, Marcus is his righthand man and senior sergeant leading a division and Winter is a soldier (in the beginning). Telling the story by Marcus and Winter and a viewing on Janus as well gave this great sense of highlighting the general movement of the campaign and the army itself as it sets to march across Khandar, showing the organization that is required and how it is plotted. With Marcus’ viewpoint you step down a bit and see how he has to face his own problems, soldiers that are slacking or even fellow officers that he has to get under control again, and taking one step down even more there is Winter’s story, who starts of as a soldier and see how (s)he is navigating through the fighting ranks of the army, even more so when (s)he is getting through a set of promotions and again faces a lot a trouble that is accompanied by that. All in all telling the story by these different people produced, for the campaigning part and fighting part, alone already a greatly rounded story, both in the birds eye view as in the very fine details.

Next to have the story told by each of these characters; Django Wexler also invests a lot of time in each of the characters alone. Like I said above the focus is really on Marcus and on Winter and in particular you really see Winter developing as the book progresses, its not only through the promotions that (s)he gets but also by the problems that are in the way. Being “bullied” by fellow soldiers and officers and being thrown into the deep water and given control over the Seventh Company. I really like the transition that Winter underwent. Marcus also grows more in his part in the army though be it in a different way. I found his character a bit naïve in the beginning and by all that he learns, most by how Janus’ personality is, that you have to strict and have to dare take risk, else you will never get to your destination and your goals. But its not only the main characters that make up the story, there is a great set of secondary characters that are just as lively. They each add their own mark on the story. From those I really like Jen Alhundt, a clerk in charge to record Janus’ campaign, though she might not seem to be much in the beginning your in quite for a surprise in the last 30 pages. Also I liked the involvement of Feor from early on in the book, allowing the reader to already get a glimpse of what the Redeemers are up to and also by her Django revealed some other pretty cool stuff that of the naath.

Another great part of the book is the setting in which The Thousand Names takes place. It’s a fictional world, taking place in a Middle Eastern inspired setting. Taking largely place in a desert area and forted cities. Next to this there is the mentioning of several dates and even the months of May and April, and did give me a curious feeling of what more could be part of this world. And then there was even the mentioning of clockwork pieces and got my interests up even more. Though there isn’t really a steampunk setting, it might be that several clockwork pieces maybe explored later on in the series? And if that wasn’t enough, Django Wexler creates his own magic system, naath, in the book. Which is pretty amazing on its own. In the beginning of the book you read in the prologue what one sorcerer is capable of but it isn’t explored further at that point. Only later in the book, partly by Feor and partly by Janus do you get more of just how powerful this is. I was hoping when this would be shown again, but Django Wexler pushes it partly in the background of the story, only making it that much more cooler once it happens again! In the last 30 pages of the book you are really into a treat as you see this power blossoming to the fullest!

There is also a nice feat in how all the battle scenes were plotted out. From forming up the defensive squares with the infantry towards horse-backed warfare and setting up and using artillery. It really gave a great sense that Django Wexler might have staged this campaign out on a large board. Moving troupe for troupe. It’s not only that you see the moves of the Vordanai Royal Army, there are also a few moment where you see the enemy plotting out there next moves.

If you are thinking that The Thousand Names is just about an army campaigning across the desert to retake Ashe-Katarion, you’re wrong. At the halfway point, Django Wexler takes The Thousand Names to a completely other level, that just comes to show that the Redeemers weren’t really the threat that Janus came to quell. There is the introduction of what The Thousand Names are really about that is explained in the last few pages of the book. This part really put a huge smile on my face finally getting what the names are really about. It is just so cool!

I think you can understand that with my words above, that The Thousand Names is a pretty cool book. You really, really have to have read this book this year, and the sooner you do the sooner you wish that Django Wexler will write that bit faster. The Thousand Names is a very impressive book that really leaves you with an empty feeling wanting to fill it up with another book in this amazing universe. Django Wexler already shows in The Thousand Names a great story that is viewed from several levels, and really manages to transform the campaigning part into a completely different setting taking the storyline that much further and leaving this book on a part cliffhanger moment. And well the magic, the naath, in the book… I just don’t know what too say about that other that that it is just so cool to see it embodied! Read. This. Book.