Over the weekend Matthew Hughes dropped me a line letting me know that his latest book is finally out in the world, and this is indeed great news for me, as out of all the SF/Crime hybrids we’ve seen put out over the last several years, I think his Tale of Henghis Hapthorn novels are probably my favorite. Definitely not as visceral as some Richard Morgan offerings, but the mix here leaves something very identifiable and dare I say a welcome quality of quaintness for fans of either, as I think some – even those I enjoy – tend to try to go overboard in efforts to prove how they aren’t either or. In other words, it’s really an SF/Detective series, and not so much an attempt at noir, which I tend to (oddly) find to be the chosen vehicle of overbearing excess (which sometimes does lead to awesome!).
Henghis admires Sherlock Holmes, but thinks he’s a little too emotional. — Matthew Hughes to Jay Tomio, pondering the mind of Old Earth’s foremost freelance discriminator, 2010
I thought that the previous Henghis Hapthorn novel, The Spiral Labyrinth, was one of the better books I’ve read over the last couple of years (though I’d recommend reading Majestrum first). We have a review of the first novel in the series, Majestrum, that was written up in 2008 and an interview I conducted with him from waaaay back in ’05. If you want to get another, more recent, opinion on the work of Hughes, last year BSC re-presented a review by Kurt Buisek (he of Marvels and Astro City) of Template.
As magic continues to reassert its ancient dominion, replacing rationalism as the fundamental underpinning of the universe, Old Earth’s foremost freelance discriminator, Henghis Hapthorn, and his intuition (now a separate person named Osk Rievor) are living apart, though they remain on good terms.
But now into Hapthorn’s life comes a woman of mystery. Who is Hespira? Who has sent her to lure Hapthorn on a quest across the Ten Thousand Worlds? And to what final, fateful choice will she bring him?
