Book Review: Gabriel’s Road by Laura Anne Gilman
Gabriel Kasun was born in the Territory, gifted with the Touch in the form of water-sense. Not fully understanding what this meant, he went East and became a lawyer for a time, only to increasingly grow ill as the Territory called him back. Not content to settle, Gabriel became a Rider, following the Dust Roads and tried to put his past behind him. But of late, he was mentor to Isobel, who is now the Devil’s Right Hand. During one of their adventures, Gabriel rode off, vanishing into the night. This is the story of what happened next.
This is a side story to the Devil’s West trilogy, set in a fantasy alternate Wild West where demons and magicians coexist uneasily with natives and settlers. In that trilogy, Isobel was the main character, a young woman growing into her powers and responsibilities. The author’s notes say that she realized that Gabriel had a lot of unresolved trauma that he needed to work through, so spun him off here where he doesn’t take focus off Isobel and can be his own protagonist.
After going off to ask for release from his obligation from the river called Mudwater, Gabriel finds himself in the middle of nowhere some time (days? weeks?} later, with no memory of what passed in between. Rather than retrace his steps to Red Stick and Isobel, he and his horse Steady travel into the high desert country.
As he wanders, Gabriel encounters signs and wonders, most of which he understandably views with suspicion. Even friendlier spirits have a dangerous air to them in the Territory.
Eventually, Gabriel is brought to the village of Rabbit Mound, a peaceful community blessed with water in the desert. The local bandits sure would like to own that water, and are trying to find a way to steal the town. (It’s not quite as simple as just shooting enough people and cowing the rest, due to a vague magical contract known as the Devil’s Agreement.) The villagers may be peaceful, but they are willing to resort to foul means to keep Gabriel in town to help them.
Can Gabriel save the village with minimal bloodshed? Does he even want to?
This is the sort of book that’s really meant more for fans of the original series than for newbies. A lot of the vocabulary is never adequately explained, and some important history is missing that presumably was told in the trilogy. But if you are the sort of reader that enjoys piecing together your own guesses about what’s going on there’s plenty of raw material to work with.
Gabriel’s a fairly interesting character, if stock in some ways; I’d probably be more attached if I’d read the other books. His journey is about healing, in both the physical and mental senses. He’s doing much better at the end than the beginning.
The other characters are so-so, another person from the main books turns up and has decent characterization, but this is very much Gabriel’s story.
Recommended to fans of the trilogy, and in a more general sense to fans of Weird West stories.
