Grander than the Sea
by T.A. Pratt
T.A. Pratt’s offering in The Solaris Book of New Fantasy is a charming, sarcastic romp of an Urban Fantasy. Chief sorcerer of the city of Felport, Marla Mason, and her partner Rondeau take an interesting and humourous approach to overcoming a loony, fatalistic sorcerer’s attempt to resurrect a non-existent God of the Sea who’s hellbent on destroying the world.
Pratt’s tongue-in-cheek approach to Urban Fantasy was a nice breath of fresh air and, though I’ve never read anything else by the author, I felt myself immediately drawn in to his world and comfortable with his characters. Sharp dialogue helped to flesh out the characters and gave just enough of a hint at the relationships and history between the characters that I’m curious to learn more.
Most importantly, however, Pratt manages to inject serious, moral undertones to the story that hint that there’s more going on than he’s letting on. Particularly interesting is a revelation into the past of Dr. Husch, near the end of the story, that left me with a deeper appreciation for her character. Pratt did well with the pages given to him, injecting as much life, character and humour as I could reasonably expect from a short story and I’m definitely glad that Solaris decided to include his story in the anthology.
