Book Review: Wolf of the Tesseract by Christopher D. Schmitz
Claire Jones is excited about her upcoming marriage to hot movie star James, who she’s known since they were in high school together in Duluth, Minnesota. Her best friend and bridesmaid to be Jackie is also pretty enthused. Not so happy is the other bridesmaid, Vivian, James’ half-sister, who once paid a dude to put a snake in Claire’s locker. But when a homeless man who appears to be yet another high school acquaintance, Rob, shows up and warns Claire of danger, the wedding might have to be put on hold.
It seems that Earth is actually a backwater world in the tesseract-shaped multiverse, and there’s been an invasion of the Prime world. Princess Bythia has been captured by the renegade sorcerer Nitthogr, who wants to get the key to a multiverse-controlling device from her. Failing that, he’ll get the key by marrying Bythia’s only remaining dimensional counterpart, Claire. Or if neither of those plans work out, there’s always summoning the agod Sh’logath to destroy everything.
Opposing Nitthogr and his forces is Zabe, as far as he knows the last survivor of the Guardian Corps, and sweetheart of Bythia. He’s a wolf-shifter, and since he can’t get to Bythia right now, Zabe (whose dimensional counterpart is or was Rob) must concentrate on protecting Claire. This is made more difficult since Claire is wearing a magical device that makes her fear wolves and feel affection for James, who has at some point been killed and replaced with dimensional counterpart Nitthogr.
The good: Some nice worldbuilding, and there are a couple of good callbacks late in the story. I especially like that Sh’logath points out that from its point of view, the god that replaced it and created reality as the characters know it is the agod. (Except that Sh’logath may not have non-existed before it was called into non-being. Long story.)
I also enjoyed that there were multiple enemy factions with slightly differing long-term goals.
Less good: Jackie feels for most of the story to be the wacky best friend who’s a bit less attractive and more man-hungry to make Claire look better by comparison. (Vivian’s a bit more complex.) Claire is rendered effectively useless for a long section of the story. All Earth spirituality turns out to be a mask for the true Prime world magic, and this is how an Ojibwe shamaness gets involved briefly, which feels a bit shady.
Nitpick: All the versions of the cover I’ve seen have Claire with a horizontal face wound, while in the story itself, the wound is vertical.
Honestly, I became distracted by logistics. Several of the Earth characters grew up together and attended the same high school, and their dimensional counterparts could be the same age, but Nitthogr is far older than the other characters so how does that match James? And when precisely did the kill/replace happen so that no one noticed? Also, Nitthogr/James is running an invasion army and doomsday religion in the Prime plane, while simultaneously leading a doomsday cult on Earth, having a movie star career, and romancing Claire. Where does he find the time? (Much the same could be said of another character with similar issues.)
The back cover blurb on my edition gives away an important plot development late in the story, so beware. Also, while this volume is self-contained enough to stand well on its own, you should be aware it’s the first of a series.
Recommended for those that like a little paranormal romance in with their fantasy adventure.
