Out of the Waters: A struggle and a half

Out of the Waters by David Drake

David Drake’s Out of the Waters continues his new BOOKS OF THE ELEMENTS series set in Carce, a quasi-historical Rome. In my review of book one, The Legions of Fire, I called the novel a “mixed bag” in terms of pace and character and said I was actually more engaged by the historical setting and action rather than the fantastical elements. It was a bit of a struggle to finish, but left me curious enough to pick up book two. Out of the Waters is less mixed, but unfortunately it tips to the wrong side of the balance sheet.

We return to Carce and the main characters: Corylus, the surprisingly philosophical soldier; his friend Varus, failed poet turned prophet and son of Senator Gaius Saxa; Varus’ sister Alphena, who feels trapped by the strictures of society and urgently wants the respect that so easily comes to men in this society; and the siblings’ stepmother Hedia, whip-smart, tough, decisive, and highly effective.

The book opens when Senator Saxa’s opulent public spectacle, which he’s put on to celebrate his promotion to provincial governor, turns into a sprawling image of a strange city defending itself via flying ships against a gigantic multi-limbed monster from the sea. The crowd thinks this is all stage scenery, but our main characters realize they are witnessing an actual event from the past, which turns out to be the destruction of Atlantis by the monster Typhon. And it seems Typhon is soon to be coming for Carce. Of the characters, however, only Alphena sees Typhon as a man, not a monster.

As before, the group works — sometimes together, sometimes alone, sometimes in partnership with new characters — to prevent the prophesied destruction of Carce, by water this time, from coming to pass. We shift back and forth between viewpoints and settings as the characters split up into their own journeys and adventures, trying to stop Carce’s destruction but also trying to figure out the true nature of Atlantis, of Typhon, and who or what might be behind the stages of this attack.

There are some strong ideas here and there, some nice images, some neat fantastical elements (I particularly liked how he melded in some Native American myth), but overall the book just didn’t hold me. If the first book was a struggle to get through, this was a struggle and a half. One major reason was that while in The Legions of Fire I was captivated by the historical detail and storylines, here there was far less of this, and what was there was much more static and less engaging. The characters’ quests felt pretty perfunctory; they evoked the occasional flash of interest, but I never was really invested. This was especially disappointing with regard to Hedia, one of the few standout characters in the first book. I did finish the novel, but it was mostly out of a sense of reviewer obligation rather than keen interest in what would happen to the characters. If you liked The Legions of Fire, you may indeed enjoy Out of the Waters. If you didn’t care for book one, I doubt very much you’ll want to pick up book two. And if you haven’t started the series, much as I wish I could, I can’t recommend doing so as there is so much out there that is better.