Whisper in the Wind (Fetch Phillips #4) by Luke Arnold
The character tribulations of Fitz ChivalryFarseer meets Godfather 3 and the Dark Knight in a 4th instalment of a series that shakes up the status quo
I am thankful to Little, Brown Book Group, NetGalley and the Author for the ARC of this book - Below are my honest thoughts on this wonderful book
Robin Hobb sets the gold standard for writing beautifully about characters being put through a dastardly wringer, mentally and physically. The trials and tribulations of Fitz ChivalryFarseer span 9 books, and there are many moments in the books where you laugh, cry, and mourn with Fitz, and it is all written incredibly beautifully and movingly. Luke Arnold runs a very close second to Robin Hobb. Fetch Phillip is a man wracked by guilt and remorse even before we pick up book 1 in this series, and every further instalment nails the pain down for Fetch even further as he confronts the cost of the past weighing down on this present and the future. All of this set in a world in which magic has disappeared, with Fetch playing a not-so-insignificant if involuntary role in that disappearance.
“At a certain point in life, you can no longer be told to run in one direction with a pointy stick and poke anyone who comes the other way. You need a simple, youthful mind for that. A certain kind of corruptible innocence. The more you start thinking for yourself, the less useful you become. Unfortunately, for most of us, that independence of thought happens too late and I was living proof that dressed-up delinquents in positions of power could do ungodly amounts of damage to the world around them”
There is naturally only so much dourness and only so much guilt a book can hold before it weighs down a series. A Foot in the Fade, the previous instalment, started particularly dour and bleak before the author wisely concocts a road trip to brighten things up. While the ending of the major storyline of A Foot in the Fade is again pretty sad, it also puts Fetch onto a different path, a more mellow, contented path that has him kind of out of the business of pain. However, as the refrain goes, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in” - this holds true for Fetch (obviously it has to, else there is no book to go on). The Fetch of Whisper in the Wind is leading a pretty contented life when he sees a pair of youngsters in trouble and saves them. What Fetch doesn’t realize is that in a few months, this act becomes the snowball to the avalanche that rocks Sunder City through a spate of high-profile murders. Fetch is coerced into working the murder investigation even as whispers abound on the corrupted nature of Sunder City - the very things that Fetch fought for in his earlier days before leading his current life.
“Fear of failure and fear of embarrassment all crushed up against the strange new possibility of gaining outside approval. Fighting not for a cause but for validation. That’s how they get you. That’s how the bastards convince you that their desires are worth your life”
For long-term readers of this series, what immediately stands out is the cadence of this book. Fetch is no longer at war with himself, even as he wrestles with his guilt and regret for his actions previously. He takes on more of a mentorship role for the young people and comes across as the voice of reason, and to an extent, cynical apathy, given his history of trying to do the right thing and failing. Nonetheless, there is no escaping his past, and he gets painful reminders of it when people from his past end up in Sunder City. Fetch is wise enough to ignore their aggravations but still human enough to be hurt by the things of the past. His anger, always simmering, is tempered with acceptance of his powerlessness. However, in typical narrative style, Fetch is the fulcrum upon which things turn, and boy, they do turn devastatingly.
“I can still remember believing that my cause was righteous. That it was my inarguable duty to slaughter the monster who’d hurt the people I loved. It has only taken a few encouraging voices to make the horrific sound reasonable. The unconscionable acceptable. The selfish selfless. The true power of men like Niles is how they make their own agenda sound like rational solution”
The beauty of this series has been how Luke Arnold has made Sunder City an integral part of the narrative, a living, breathing city that once housed magical creatures, but post the disappearance of magic, merely holds the shadow of regality. There is, of course, corruption that rots the city whose influence has grown through the series, but this book also brings to light other nefarious elements that live in the shadows - religion as well as certain creatures that have made parts of the city extremely dangerous. A city that bows down to the power amassed from money, authority, and danger while maintaining a facade of equality, industry, and progress. Sunder City has always been the other protagonist of this tale, and Whisper in the Wind exposes the cracks in a one-time regal structure.
“I’m not going to deny the fact that you fucked things up. But maybe it’s time you stopped asking for forgiveness for what the boy did to the world and ask yourself if you’re ready to forgive the world for what it did to the boy”
The Fetch Phillip archives have always been about pain, loss, grieving, and belonging - themes that we see etched in both Fetch and in Sunder City. The loss of magic is a devastating act that has ramifications that aren’t just visible but affects everyone at a primal level, and Fetch struggles through these internal impacts the most right through the series. Whisper in the Wind again hammers home those themes, but adds on a layer of acceptability and responsibility on Fetch. This is a book that moves away from an angry Fetch of A Foot in the Fade to a more mature, accepting, responsible, and yet grieving and simmering Fetch. The series is richer for the growth and development that Fetch goes through. This is the closest that I have seen a book get to Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy and its successors. The book is also punctuated with statements that are relevant to the world that we currently live in as especially the unholy nexus of power and media
“Knowing you, you’ll team up with the murderer, go underground and create twice as much trouble as you were hired to stop”
Underneath the character journey of Fetch, the author doesn’t let us forget that this is a detective story as well, and Fetch has to employ his “Man for Hire” skills to solve the murder. That leads him down the rabbit hole of questionable choices, flaky acquaintances, and untrustworthy, arrogant adversaries. While Fetch hides his pain and past well enough, the scars are still fresh below the surface, and some of the writing during this journey is spectacular. While not a light book, the author peppers it with enough of the bureaucratic nonsense that Fetch has to endure, even as he goes through his catharsis, to bring a sardonic smile to your face as you read certain elements of the story.
“I always was susceptible to the will of the mob”
The ending of the story seems truly well realised - there is a frisson of hope that Fetch latches onto even as he has to make status quo-changing decisions. I would say the ending was a bit telegraphed, but it is still immensely satisfying to see Fetch arrive at this decision. The why of the ending seemed pretty well done, but the how of it was possibly a bit rushed - I also had a minor quibble with ending the book on a suspenseful cliffhanger. That has never been the style of this series, but then, given the journeys we had through Fetch’s past, it is a pretty fantastic tease for the next book
“During these young men’s formative years, I was in a position of power. I knew too well the whiplash of seeing an old mentor after many years. The people I’d worked for and served under retained a mystical place in memories, larger than life figures that - even after I witnessed their fallibility, mistakes and flaws - I had trouble removing from the pedestals I’d built beneath them”
Whisper in the Wind is another fantastic addition to the Fetch Phillip Archives and hews to the strengths of the series so far. It takes Fetch through significant character growth while shaking things up for both Fetch and Sunder City. Whisper in the Wind is once again beautifully written with a sense of tragedy and nostalgia permeating the atmosphere of the book that deals with loss, regret, belonging, and acceptance in a world that has seen magic disappear. It’s criminal how underrated this series is - pick it up and lose yourself in the magic (pun intended) of Sunder City
Rating - 4 Magic Destroying Apocalypses on 5