REVIEW: The Adventures of Horus and the Motherf***er

What can I say about E. Rathke's new novel bluntly titled "The Adventures of Horus and the

Mockup of "The Adventures of Horus and Motherfucker", cover by Kelby Losack

Motherfucker?

Well...

For one: it's kind of wild.

I am not familiar with the writings of this literary mad man. Looking at his bibliography, outside of self-published works, he has a number of short stories in print. Of the publications, Old Moon Quarterly and Cosmic Horror Monthly are th emost familiar to me. A quick perusal suggests that Rathke writes a number of genres that get thrown into a blender with "Weird". Most notably, Rathke is a Baen Fantasy Adventure finalist and his website displays some glowing compliments from none other that Steve Erikson of Malazan fame.

NOTE: I WAS INITIALLY MISTAKEN. THE AFFORMENTIONED STEVE SON-OF-ERIK IS NOT, IN FACT, OF MALAZAN FAME. IT IS A DIFFERENT DUDE ALTOGETHER. MY BAD.

Author e. Rathke, from author Blog

But what exactly can you expect from his upcoming release?

Horus and the Motherfucker are unique protagonists to Sword & Sorcery, at least in my experience. This is a pair of almost feral young women, both escaped slaves. They are brutal and violent and brimming with hatred for their world. Likewise, the characters seem ingnorant to much of reality. Not by choice, but by the very nature of their indentured unbrining. These are not heroes. Not even close. An early opening chapter, which is free to preview so not really a spoiler, has the pair outright murdering a random family and leaving their sole child an orphan. I'll admit that it was a lot for me as a reader to process outright. They are also brash and crude. I imagine this is in part due to a sort of stunted maturity from their life in captivity. That said, the characters are also endearing in their affection toward one another. These are individuals whom no one else in the world can understand but the other. There are a few moments that display a beautiful tenderness between these tragic figures.

One of the more interesting bits about the protagonists is their opposing relationships to the gods of this world. Horus is a skeptic at best. Motherfucker on the other hand, is an outright devotee of a "green god", which seems to be a comet blazing its trail across the sky. Some of the discussions/arguments the characters have over faith and the divine are more than just flavor. This novel, I believe, is in sort of a new tradtion of S&S where the trappings of Weird Fantasy are used to explore deeper philosophies. Right now, the only other example I have to mention is David C. Smith's "Sometime Loft Towers". That is not to say these books read similarily or even feel like kin.

They don't, not really.

Rathke writes in a brisk, modern style that feels (once again) influenced by Joe Abercrombie. I can't say for sure, of course, at least not without asking, but the prose is crisp and sometimes minimalist. To me, "The Adventures of H&M" feels like it was written by Clark Ashton Smith if he grew up in the 90's and probably did some acid. I'm a 90's kid and felt a lot of the edge that the protagonists exude. I don't want to make it sound like the book is edgy for the sake of being so. I sincerely do not believe that to be the case. Instead, there are times where I almost felt pity for Horus and Motherfucker. Like they were stuck in a bloodsoaked fantasy version of my teenage angst years. I'm probably not doing it justice here, or any favors, but I promise the whole thing really works. Even then, the whole work does have something of a shock-jock attitude that feels modern and relatable to my Millenial subconsious.

Art by Tony Tran

A lot of the violence is played fast and brutal, leaning into the shock of it all. That isn't to say that the novel is devoid of true action. At about the midway point, H&M encounter a snake-like monster (its more than that but I don't want to spoil the weirdness) and the battle/pursuit lasts a substatial amount of time, taking place over the course of days in the novel. Even with the prolonged scenario, the swift prose and pacing makes the combat fly by. In a way, this scene reminded my of the film "Princess Mononoke" in that these human-sized protagonists stand off against a much larger and monstrous opponent. I could envision this playing out in that iconic Haoyo Miyazaki art style.

H&M is also a pretty short read, my PDF version clocking in at 126 pages. For a fast reader, this could easily be knocked out in an afternoon. Some of the chapters are very short, consisting of only maybe a handful of lines. This reminded me a lot of Dan Brown's in/famous wiriting style, especially in the "Angels and Demons". While Rathke is much less utilitarian than Brown (who is, in fact, one of my favorite authors), I really like this sort of style. Though I can understand that mileage may very.

There are some minor quirks to the book that didn't really work for me. I did read the introduction, hoping to glean some info about an author otherwise unknown to me. It did not meet that expectation. I am also unfamiliar with the author who wrote it, so perhaps that is part of it. Also, each chapter begins with what seems to be a part of a poem from maybe a made up poet or something? Either these were too deep for me or I missed some connection. I'll admit that I found myself skipping them where that is usually not the case for me. I've read every "stave of Thongor's Saga", afterall.

My PDF copy did not include art, but there appears to be blank placeholders for it. Looking at the Kickstarter page, I very much like the art style used by artist Tony Tran and look forward to seeing the finished product. Kelby Losack has also provided a unique and striking cover for the work.

Art by Tony Tran

Overall, this is a strangely literary work of Sword & Sorcery that eschews most well-trod conventions of the S&S genre. The characters are interesting and sometimes relatable while simultaneously maintaining a grotesque quality that feels sort of watching a train wreck that you want to happen. This book is absolutely for readers who want to explore the bleeding edge frontier of what Sword & Sorcery can do and be. But it is not for the squeamish, pearl clutchers, of the faint-of-heart. This is a sometimes, often times, shockingly weird read that doesn't shy from ultra-violence and cannibalism. While the author does state that there is no sexual violence present in the novel, and that is true in that it is not in screen, I feel like I took note that it is implied to have happened in the past of one of the protagonists. Again, this may be me mis-reading. Just what I thought in the moment. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this book and I will be on the lookout for more S&S from author E. Rathke.

E. Rathke's crowdfunding campaing has 10 days to go and is already more than doubled its goal. That Horus and the Motherfucker will see the light of day is inevetiable now. I'm not sure what the plan is for post-KS distribution, but if the author's comments on this work being too outlandinsh for Amazon and the Algorithms is to be beleived, this might just be your only chance. If I find out otherwise, I'll update. For more about the author, check out the links below.

LINKS

• Kickstarter Page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erathke/horus-and-motherfucker-illustrated-novel

• Author website: https://erathke.com/

• Author Blog: https://radicaledward.substack.com/

• Author Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3s3uW7cpgcQoD1YwC5QbYM?si=96e2c00922b54f6c&nd=1&dlsi=4cb582ef26b54884