Fantasy Book Critic: Casthen Gain by Essa Hansen (reviewed by Adam Weller)

Buy Casthen Gain here

OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: Fifteen prisoners. One prize. Only one survivor allowed.

A wayward culinarian investigates the wrong secret and finds himself dropped on the strangest and most dangerous planet in the multiverse. He’s here alongside murderers, exiles, and adrenaline-seekers to participate in a battle royale race, forced to hunt for an eons-buried mystery or die trying. The prize? Being allowed to live…and join the cruel organization that put them all here, which might just mean the creative freedom Sentace has craved all his life.

FORMAT/INFO: Out now via Grimdark Magazine in kindle, hardcover and paperwhite formats

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Rules can be stifling, especially for artists. How can an artist fully express their creativity if the environment limits their options? Many projects don’t reach their full potential due to unavailable resources, conservative oversight, or a lack of trust. But if you can’t change the rules… then one must change the environment.

In Casthen Gain, a companion novella to Essa Hansen’s “The Graven” trilogy, Sentace Ketch is a chef living on an isolated planet of Trow. While he is extremely skilled at his craft, Trowan society does not allow any recipes to deviate from the norm. All recipes need to be followed to the letter; all slices need to be exactly measured every time a dish is made, and no deviance or unapproved experimentation is allowed.
t is due to these strict societal rules that a fellow Trowan, an anarchist named Evi, decides to quite literally burn it all to the ground. She becomes the most wanted fugitive on the planet, and Sentace is selected to find her and bring her to justice.

But why Sentace? The answer is what makes Hansen’s books so thrilling and unexpected. Her stories are set in a bubble multiverse, and each bubble has its own universal properties and laws of physics. Think of sea foam in a crashing wave: each bubble a different size; some are incomprehensibly massive, while others may be as small as a bullet hole. The ‘rind’ is the layer that separates these bubbles, and due to varying physical circumstances, passing through the wrong rind can be quite deadly, depending on your physical and chemical makeup.

As a transuniversal chef, Sentace is skilled at identifying the properties of bubble universes and utilizing them to create feasts of unmatched quality. By passing meat, plants, fruit, nuts, and other flora and fauna through the right type of bubble universe, he can mix and meld their properties to produce mouth-watering meals that can appeal to almost any life form. The Trowan leaders believe that Sentace’s environmental knowledge and resource versatility makes him the ideal hunter to chase down the fugitive Evi across the multiverse.

It doesn’t go well. The story opens with Sentace captured amongst a ship full of prisoners, who are then dropped onto the dangerous Casthen planet. The Casthen rule over the majority of the multiverse; they are dangerous, technologically advanced, and of questionable moral value. Sentace must hunt for Evi on this unforgiving planet full of dangerous bubble universes, while fighting to survive a deadly Casthen social experiment.

Casthen Gain packs an impressive amount of story into a novella. It was exciting and often shocking to see Sentace evolve and fulfill his potential. His journey is reminiscent of the Amish rite of passage Rumspringa, where he leaves a restrictive society to experiment with the social freedoms of the modern era.

And the food. THE FOOD. Much like The Graven trilogy, I’ve never felt so hungry reading about meal preparation with ingredients that don’t exist. Hansen is extraordinary at tantalizing your senses with the written word. Her descriptions are so appetizing, I could almost smell and taste the food right off the page. The reading experience invokes a reaction akin to synesthesia.

CONCLUSION: Reading Casthen Gain is like a theme park ride. It assaults your senses, it’s blisteringly paced, and its unique environment will leave a lasting impression. While it is not necessary to read The Graven trilogy before diving in, there are some easter eggs for fans of the saga. Essa Hansen is already a ‘buy it on release day’ author, and this novella solidifies this decision. It is highly recommended to anyone looking for a thought-provoking, original story with innovative creations and exciting locales.