It cannot be boring with such a team
The action of the novel begins dynamically: the princess is soon to be recaptured from the hands of bandits, demanding a ransom from a magnate who has no intention of spending money on stupidity. During the rescue operation we get to know the entire ring team … Sorry, the Cauldron team, the special task team. Some mercenaries, but not. The team consists of six friends chaired by Edmund called the Cauldron. The nickname of the main character comes from his first, more decent profession: he is a cook, he runs an inn with his wife – a character, strong and wise woman with whom he has three children. During the war, he worked for Prince Stefan, fighting in his units, but most of all cooking for the soldiers. The company also includes: a wise and secretive sorcerer, a crazy drunkard dwarf, a sociopathic elf, a friendly, though obnoxious goblin and a brave and soulful knight of Doli. It cannot be boring with such a team. And it absolutely isn’t.
“Quickly, quickly, before it reaches us that it makes no sense”
The action of the novel is fast-paced and full of interesting twists. For Edmund, family and safety are the most important things, but he is also committed to his friends. This causes his deepest quandaries when his wife demands that he end his adventurer career. After a sleepless night, he finally tells his beloved that he has found a way to keep the wolf full and the sheep whole, that is, to ensure the safety of his family and business without disappointing his friends.
We are waiting impatiently at this place for the development of events and we want to find out what such a genius came up with the Kociołek. And how we are disappointed when it turns out that he did not come up with anything … He decided only to go with his team to Prince Stefan and talk to him. After he has assured everyone – his wife and companions – that he has a great plan and they must trust him, the company goes on a journey. During it, the hero almost panics himself and does not know what to do when he reaches the ducal court. A solution worthy of King Julian from the Madagascar animation .
Adventure will find you by itself
Fortunately, our hero doesn’t have to worry about it for long. Stefan, to his great surprise, whenever he learns about his arrival, he wants to talk to him himself. He gives him the task of helping his own sister, by the way, he hates him, ruling in a distant court, and not sexually exhausted Princess Yanna. Help is not meant to be of a sexual nature. But our heroes will find out about it only in the city of Smoke, where the duchess rules.
The title of the book, There is No Evil , is not only a well-known saying, but also a secret play on words. The events of the story unfold around this Evil – not the evil – story. Evil is a multi-level, complicated, not fully explained and incomprehensible phenomenon for the heroes. It is a kind of dark demonic-power. Thanks to the mystery in which Evil is stuck throughout the story, the author made them very intriguing and left a lot to the imagination. It is partly known how he manifests himself and what forms he takes. It is not known, however, what causes him, what he is looking for, or why he descends from the Whistling Mountains and attacks. It is definitely known, however, that it is evil and destructive.
Too good to be true
The ending of the novel is extremely unusual. Theoretically, everything ends well: the victorious team returns to the Cauldron’s house to settle in it forever, start a happy life together, away from politics, conspiracies, the Evil One and other dangers. To end your adventures and start a normal, peaceful life. Though they used to live with expeditions, dangers and adrenaline, now suddenly a bizarre batch of friends wants to settle down. Following the protagonist’s dilemmas, we have no problem understanding The Cauldron and his longing for a safe idyll. But what about the rest? Will the adventurous hikers find happiness in their homes? It comes to your mind that their calm, though cleverly worked out, cannot last very long. This feeling is reinforced by the fact that they did not destroy the Evil One eventually, although they dealt with him locally. We also take into account that maybe the Evil One does not need to be finally overcome, although we do not know everything about him. Either way, it all looks too good to be true. We would believe it if it were a fairy tale for children.
For adults or for children?
And that would not be surprising. Marcin Mortka is also the author of short stories for children. I must admit that it was disappointing for me that the whole core of the novel with its plot, narrative, and strangely happy ending despite all the adversities, has the resonance of a story for children. If not for the occasional curses, dead bodies, brawls in pubs, a promiscuous princess and descriptions of elves’ sexual habits (Chędożynki is the name of their holiday, respect for the author for a great wordplay), this could be a book for children.
This is confirmed by the strong division between good and evil in the novel. All characters, though some morally questionable, are in the end either good or bad. This makes their show very shallow. And although some, like the sorcerer Żychłoń, are broad and complex, they always end up in one of the two sacks.
When mentioning Żychłonie, I must point out that the presence of a sorcerer instead of a wizard on the team is innovative. Magicians also appear in the novel, but we don’t get to know any of them directly. The sorcerer differs from the magician in that although he senses and can, to some extent, wield magic, he is not educated in this direction. Guślarz Żychłoń is probably – apart from the main character – the most complex and multidimensional character of the book. At first, we sense that it hides some secrets and does not want to share them. It changes and evolves over the course of the action, although it only lasts a little over a week. Nevertheless, it is a well-constructed character.
Although at first I sensed some artificiality, as if the author wanted to forcefully and briefly prove that he had written a true fantasy with all its classic elements, soon I was positively surprised. I read the book in almost the same breath, because as the action unfolds, it also becomes more and more intriguing. In the end, I almost couldn’t put it down impatiently to find out how it would end. However, I can not fault the text proofreading, which in many places lame, as if it had been done carelessly.
If you are not a fan of long descriptions of nature and places, the chance that you will like No Evil is even greater. Descriptions are few, they are short and illustrative. And maybe it’s strange, but I missed them nevertheless. Wider descriptions would allow for a better outline of the action locations, and thus it would be easier to feel the atmosphere of the novel. And I missed this atmosphere a bit.
