1993; 408 pages. New Author? : No. Genres: Historical Fantasy, Alternate Timelines, Science
Fiction. Overall Rating: 7½*/10.
Something rotten is going on at the Devonshire
dump, located in the northern part of Angels City. We know that indirectly, based on the sudden increase in the number of birth defects in the surrounding neighborhoods.
The EPA—that acronym stands
for Environmental Perfection Agency—
higher-ups have instructed their local agent, David Fisher, to start an
investigation. Pay a friendly visit to
the dump, find out who the major dumpers are, then call on those
companies and find out exactly what they’re disposing.
Inspector Fisher has been
instructed to keep his probing low-key and non-threatening. And especially not to communicate anything he
finds to anyone except the EPA higher-ups.
Because whatever is causing those birth defects is almost certainly
magical. What makes the EPA think that?
Three of those cases
involve newborns with an extremely rare disease called apsychia, a term no mother wants to hear. It means her baby has been born without
a soul.
What’s To Like...
The Case of the
Toxic Spell Dump is a standalone novel set in a parallel world to our own. The geography is the same, but that
world has two realities: a mundane dimension like we have, imaginatively called
“This Side”; and a magical dimension,
called the “Other Side”, where all
sorts of spells, hexes, potions, gods, and otherworldly creatures that go bump
in the night exist.
The two Sides are
interconnected, which means magic-containing things can be imported into This
Side, bought and used, but that inevitably generates waste which needs to be
properly disposed of a dump. As is true
in our reality, the key word is “properly”.
The story is set in what we
call Los Angeles, which over there is called Angels
City. Harry Turtledove gleefully
renames/reinvents all sorts of nations, religions, places, and other items; as
one would expect in an alternate world with an alternate timeline.
So here, the Aztecian nation still survives; as
does Carthage. The Mithraism religion
still exists, so does a Zoroastrian one.
In the Angels City area, you can visit Saint Ferdinand’s Valley via the
Saint Monica Freeway. To get there, you
hop on your flying carpet; but you still do your airborne “driving” on
designated streets, since without them, three-dimensional travel would be
dangerously chaotic. And as you might guess, a “spellchecker” has an
entirely different function.
For most of the book the
reader tags along with David as he tries to figure out what is causing the
increase in birth defects. Lots of
companies use the Devonshire dump for magical waste disposal, all of them
resent them being suspected of improper dumping. Things build to a tense, two-stage
ending (Chapters 10 and 11), where magic and deities are invoked to take
corrective measures.
Kewlest New Word ...
Geas (n.) : an obligation or prohibition
magically imposed upon a person.
Others: Curandero (n.), Burin (n.).
Ratings…
Amazon:
4.4/5
based on 256 ratings and 66 reviews.
Goodreads: 3.87/5 based on 937
ratings and 87 reviews.
Excerpts...
“You may accompany us if you like, Miss
Adler.”
“How generous of you,” Judy said. I knew she’d have accompanied us whether
Kawaguchi liked it or not, and gone off like a demon out of its pentacle if he
tried to stop her. The irony in her
voice was thick enough to slice. If the
legate noticed it, though, he didn’t let on.
I wondered if the Angels City constabulary wizards had perfected an
anti-sarcasm amulet. If they had, I
wanted to buy one. (loc. 1119)
“Listen, let me call you back. I think somebody’s at the door.”
I went out to see who it was: most likely
one of my neighbors wanting to borrow the proverbial cup of sugar, I
figured. But somebody wasn’t at the
door, he was already inside, sitting on a living room chair. I could still see the chair through him, too,
so it was somedisembody. (loc.
2337)
The trouble with
technology is that, as soon as it solves a problem, the alleged solution
presents two new ones. (loc.
1476)
The profanity in The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump is pretty light;
I noted just five instances in the first 10% of the book, all of which were mild, “four-lettered” terms. Later
on, the “female dog” expletive gets used a couple times, plus a strong cuss-phrase in
Spanish which I thought was kewl. There
are also a few rolls-in-the-hay, but tastefully done.
There were a few typos,
such as care/cares, now/not, ration/ratio, were/where, though/thought, and
knew/know, but not enough to be a distraction.
For me, the mystery-solving
angle was pretty blah. David visits the
main customers of the dump, one by one, but it’s not until about ¾ of the way
through the book that he catches a lucky break, and e even that one felt
forced. The ending was so-so as
well. Chapter 10 saw deities duking it
out, which was rather exciting, but then David squares off against the Ultimate
Evil, and emerges victorious with remarkable ease.
But hey, I read Harry
Turtledove for his fabulous alternate-world-building,
not for over-the-top, superhero-type excitement. And I also read Harry Turtledove for his
witty repartee, suitable-for-YA storylines, and groan-inducing puns. The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump did
not fail in any of these areas, plus it was a treat to see the quantity and the
diversity of mythical creatures that the author works into a tale as he combines both Alt-History to Alt-Fantasy.
7½ Stars. One last thing. My favorite character in The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, was David Fisher’s coworker and EPA lab analyst, Michael (don’t call him Mike) Manstein and his Laboratory Field Testing skills. Quality Control ROOLZ!!
