Quickie Book Review: The Silver Hearted by David McConnell

In an unnamed part of the world, a young man is hired to transport a cache of silver from a port city about to be torn apart by rebellion. Shortly after loading the silver, the inevitable happens as a violent and bloody battle begins in the city of B. The young man and what remains of the crew and passengers watch the horrors from the supposed safety of the Myrrah before the captain hastily sets the ship sailing. As the Myrrah journeys down the river, the young man tries to get suss out what he can about those left aboard ship, from the curious Van Loon who seems to have a finger in all the different activities within B to the grossly overweight captain of the ship to the young sailor Topher Ammidon Smith who helped him carry the boxes aboard.

Topher intrigues the young man, who wants to trust him, to care for him, but not sure if he can because of the threat behind the silver and its rightful owners. Yet he tries to get closer to Topher once they reach Alejandrina, allowing him to be the only one to know where the silver is being hidden and being allowed into part of Topher's personal life. But everything for the young man leads back to the silver, and with the threat of the rebellion heading toward Alejandrina, he needs to find a boat heading to the city of Z as soon as possible.

When I first started reading The Silver Hearted, I found the time period and location confusing, not quite sure if was in South America or Asia (until the narrator mentioned the Mandarins) nor when it was taking place (until the narrator mentioned the helicopters). Perhaps that was only to add to the confusion created by the rebellion and the fighting going on during the first few chapters, but it slowed my getting into the story. But once past that, it's an interesting read, and to me, focused more on the character of the unnamed narrator. I felt his subtle paranoia and distrust of everyone throughout the story, even when he showed some kind of interest (or lust) for Topher. The narrator is an interesting character in a world of interesting characters, and they each do their part to create a grimy, seedy, untrustworthy world in and around Alejandrina and the river.

It's definitely worth checking out.

The Silver Hearted
by David McConnell
Alyson Books
trade paperback, 213 pgs.

purchased book

Image from Chroma.