Review copy provided by the author, who’s a convention/online buddy.
There are many things we’d like to cut: legislation, pork, cake. At the same time, there are many cords we fear to sever. Yet sometimes inaction is the greatest catalyst of all. So whether we slash, parry, or even draw blades becomes a weighty decision. In the 1839 play, Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy Edward Bulwer-Lytton coined the phrase, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Marissa Lingen, In her new novella DUBIOUS CLAMOR, asks whether it’s time to let the sword speak its mind.
I came into this novella expecting cake, but Lingen’s DUBIOUS CLAMOR is not a cake of a book. It is a melting pot of a book. It employs a universe of sweet, bitter, rich, velvety, tart, light, and even bitter ingredients and manages to value each. In that way, it isn’t a melting pot book either. For the purpose of a melting pot is to blend all the ingredients. Instead, Lingen has created a marvelous stew. Every ingredient gets to keep their individual flavor and texture and at the same time, each addition seasons the whole.
I fear I’m being too abstract so let me just say that for me, Dubious Clamor’s recipe includes swords, harpies, immigrants, magicians, family, friendships, and opera stars. Some of these ingredients turn out to be downright rotten. Others, bind the stew and add zest. More wonderfully, Marissa Lingen celebrates the virtue of doubt and does battle against obstinant legislation and closed mindedness in Dubious Clamor.
And in a world where everyone is so loud, argumentative, and dogmatic, a narrative about the virtues of doubt feels charming and necessary. Let’s be dubious.
