It is sometimes hard to put into words a proper representation of a mostly cerebral and emotional experience. I think that sometimes sitting down to read a book engages both the right and left brain in a similar way to the way music does. A good book engages the mind on two simultaneous levels. The logical and the emotional. Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin accomplishes this task by composing a symphony of suspense, violence, and grandeur.

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Fever Dream centers around the relationship between Abner Marsh and Joshua York. Joshua is a rich man who is a stranger to the rough and rugged world of the riverboat culture in the pre-civil war south but will soon learn how harsh it can get when he hires Abner Marsh to design and captain the fastest and most lavish steamboat the South has ever seen. It might even be able to beat the reigning champion The Eclipse if only she got a chance. Boats are she's by the way.

Abner is probably the ugliest steamboat captain that the South has ever sent but he's not stupid. He has a slow but steady mind to offset his quick temper and bad luck. He had five boats all destroyed by a recent winter storm and after the events that befall the Fevre Dream, he might just be the unluckiest man on the river as well as the ugliest. The Fevre Dream is his second chance to make his name in the steamboat world and his hopes are high until he starts to suspect that Joshua York isn't exactly what he says he is.

Joshua is a strangely pale and charismatic man. He sleeps by day without exception and takes random trips off the boat for sometimes days at a time without a word of when he will be back. Abner Marsh wants to make a name in the steamboat trade and all the delays Joshua causes irks Abner to the point of confrontation but when he finds out the meaning of Joshua's nighttime excursions he is not assured. If anything the truth simply makes things worse and potentially more dangerous for everyone involved.

Everything comes to a steamy head when Joshua invites Damon Julian and his friends for a dinner aboard Abner's beloved Fevre Dream. Damon Julian is another pale oddity with ageless hypnotic eyes and a rueful smile. Damon does not like the peaceful proposition Joshua York offers him and like the ferocious river itself, Damon tries to take control of the Fevre Dream away from its loving owners. What ensues after the fateful dinner is nothing short of a rollercoaster of violence and mayhem. It's all so much fun.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that likes dark fantasy thrillers. It has such richly developed characters and perfectly crafted momentum that all lead toward an intricate climax that is as exciting as it is satisfying. George R. R. Martin writes with a combination of down-to-earth language and mindful poetry. It is a verbose text that meanders as much as the mighty rivers do in the story but like an unknown river it all leads downstream to somewhere unexpectedly glorious.

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