‘A Night at the Tarn House’ – George R.R. Martin (From ‘The Book of Magic Part II’)

The ‘Great Book Tidy Up’ continues at pace although I’m starting to suspect that all this will mean is that everything just goes under my bed which will be left teetering on top of a massive pile of books. I guess I’ll just have to learn to lie really still when I’m sleeping… 😉

As ever, my tidying up brings up books that I’d put to one side, meaning to read later, only to have them form the basis of brand new TBR piles that I keep meaning to get to and… you know the rest. I’d enjoyed Scott Lynch’s entry in ‘The Book of Magic’ and meant to check out a couple more stories that looked intriguing. Four (and a little bit) months later and I’ve finally got round to reading George R.R. Martin’s ‘A Night at the Tarn House’, a tale that originally appeared in the ‘Songs of the Dying Earth’ collection but can be found here as well. You can also read the story, in its entirety, over Here.

The Tarn House; come for the hissing eels, stay for… Three travellers are about to find out that even in these last days of a dying Earth, life can still throw a surprise or two in their direction.

Would now be a good time to admit that I’ve never read anything by Jack Vance (even though I have a few of his books on my shelves)? I know, I know… So many books to read and only a little time in which to read them all. It’s definitely something that I need to address but right now? I couldn’t tell you if GRRM hits the target as I’m basically watching a game of darts where I can’t see the board or hear the commentary; I’m just watching someone throw darts into thin air…

Actually, it’s not that bad. Yes, I have no basis for comparison and that’s not cool but ‘A Night at the Tarn House’ is still just a story and I can take it on its own merits, maybe even hazard a guess or two on how well GRRM does, writing in a setting that isn’t his own. Here goes…

‘A Night at the Tarn House’ is GRRM at his twisty, turny best and if that’s what Vance did, in his tales, then GRRM has absolutely hit the spot. What we have here is that classic setting where travellers arrive at the Tarn House and absolutely nothing is as it seems, just nothing. GRRM even has the Twk-Men tell you that it’s not going to go how you think it is but if you blink then you’ve missed it. I really enjoyed seeing Lirianne, Chimwazle and Molloqos the Melancholy reveal more and more of their natures, as the story progresses, and watching how this drives the plot as a result. At the risk of repeating myself, this is not the tale that you think you are reading and GRRM does well to keep the ‘real plot’ under wraps, doling out little hints as and when the time is right.

And all of this is set against a richly detailed world that is slowly starting to unravel as its end draws near. Even knowing as little about the ‘Dying Earth’ series as I do (it’s an Earth that’s dying, erm… that’s all I’ve got); it’s really obvious that GRRM is spot on with the background, melancholy and slightly grey but with just enough spark that you know that life is still struggling to beat the inevitable and keep going, even if that is an ultimately forlorn hope. You can’t ask for a lot more than that, I certainly couldn’t.

‘A Night at the Tarn House’ is a read that grabbed my eyeballs and wouldn’t let them go until it was done with me, both in terms of the stakes raised in the plot and just experiencing the setting through the eyes of GRRM. And the little vein of humour that runs through it as well. I’ve got a feeling that Jack Vance approved ;o)