Having read only some short-stories by Mr Davoust's hand, which were published in [b:Fées et Automates - Anthologie des Imaginales 2016|29848394|Fées et Automates - Anthologie des Imaginales 2016|Jean-Claude Vantroyen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460013912s/29848394.jpg|50209665] (2016; see my review here) and [b:Destinations - Anthologie des Imaginales 2017|35004321|Destinations - Anthologie des Imaginales 2017|Stéphanie Nicot|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493381757s/35004321.jpg|56282674] (2017; see my review here), and the republished and enhanced version of [b:Les Questions dangereuses|43231975|Les Questions dangereuses|Lionel Davoust|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1544791608s/43231975.jpg|61513229] (2018; see my review here), I found it time to finally read one of his novels.

As his most current work is a series (of which part 3 will very soon see the light of day), I wanted a stand-alone novel. Port d'âmes (Haven of Souls, roughly translated) was my only option.

It's a story in which corruption and political power are central, next to friendship, love, fighting for your beliefs, ... It's also a story about growing up, finding your way in life, ...

The events take place a long time ago, a steampunk-setting, a (neo-)victorian setting, I would say, judging by the descriptions of the world, the characters' clothes, and so on.

Rhuys ap Kaledán (this reminds me of the Italian metal band Kaledon, one of my favourite bands) is the son of Brevel ap Kaledán, a baron who seems to have accumulated a lot of debt towards Armitán Gheze, a wealthy entrepreneur with eyes and ears across the country, in a manner of speaking. To pay off the debt, Brevel has no other option than to send his son, Rhuys (then 8 years old, if I'm not mistaken), on a ship and works his a** off for ten years. After this period, Rhuys would be a free man, Mr Gheze promised. This sort of debt repayment reminds me of [a:Andreas Eschbach|40381|Andreas Eschbach|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1200336594p2/40381.jpg]'s excellent [b:Die Haarteppichknüpfer|1864677|Die Haarteppichknüpfer|Andreas Eschbach|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1189407892s/1864677.jpg|622728] (English version: [b:The Carpet Makers|171125|The Carpet Makers|Andreas Eschbach|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1376431574s/171125.jpg|622728]), which I reviewed back in 2012.

And so it begins. Much spoiling coming up.
After his experience at sea, having learned a lot and worked hard, Rhuys is now free to seek new endeavours... in Aniagrad, a city where everything can be traded, even your memories. Aniagrad is a place where one must be careful, for deception and danger lurk around every corner. One of his shipmates, a veteran and long-time visitor of the city of Aniagrad, shows him around a little, including the Market. There, the less fortunate (or rather, poor) people have set up their tents and booths to sell their creations, souvenirs, and anything that can be sold, no matter how qualitative.

When Rhuys meets a woman who offers him a deal, he decides to take his chance and try this kind of "trade". She sells her own memories in return for a large sum of money per session. It doesn't take long for Rhuys to become a regular client and even have feelings for this woman, even if he doesn't even know her. It won't be the last time that Rhuys's doings cause some frustrations.

Because that's, at least for me, the main problem with this book: the character of Rhuys ap Kaledán. He's very young when he has to bust his a** off to repay his father's debt towards Armitán Gheze, who seeks to destroy, or rather, take over the House of Kaledán, including its estates, its name, its influence, everything. Rhuys won't have any of this, even vows to restore his House's name and integrity. The kid has a lot of imagination to suddenly set all this as a goal. He's naive in his decisions and actions. One example being falling in love with a woman selling her soul (pieces of memory) for money. Another is trying to restore his House (Kaledán) without even knowing what it takes to do this, since he was taken away at a too young age.

How does Rhuys survive in Aniagrad? He has some money left over from his work on the ship, and as luck is on his side, despite Gheze's people chasing him whenever they can, he/Rhuys meets up with Edelcar Menziel, also an entrepreneur and an old friend of Rhuys's father. He made sure that, as House Kaledán was ceasing to exist, a small fortune could be stored away at the one bank in Aniagrad. This money would then be transferred to Rhuys.

However, the idea was that Rhuys would invest a portion of the money in Menziel's project: converting a specific substance/plant/dug (the process being very ancient, yet forgotten as time passed by) to create magical machines. All this is not really a secret, but Menziel and the other investors and participants are careful with their actions and meetings. The city's governing power has eyes and ears in every corner.

Aniagrad is a city of freedom, everyone can undertake business, but there are unwritten, severe rules that can ruin one's business in the blink of an eye. The local militia (police) is very watchful, will intervene when necessary, but will not punish or write a ticket, so to speak. When you violate the unwritten laws, you will be arrested and taken out or offered the alternative punishment: become an informant/reporter. Become part of Big Brother and betray your fellow-citizen: your friends, your family, your colleagues at work, ..., because you will have no other choice when being an informant.

Anything can be bought and sold, not only with money, but also with lies and deceit. Rhuys was warned for the city's treacherous nature. And he will soon enough experience the wrath of the governing power.

As Rhuys invests in the conversion project of Menziel, both become good friends. Menziel sees him as the son he never had, or rather, the one he lost, but loved dearly. Rhuys has many more meetings with key persons in the project. And that's when he realises something's wrong, but what? Correction, having undergone several Transfers (with the seller of souls mentioned above - I forgot her name, sorry. No, wait... Vibeka. Oh yes, she's apparently a famous poet in Rhuys's country; this little secret is uncovered when she read one of Rhuys's few books he took with him so many years ago)., these memories survive inside Rhuys and influence his thinking and acting.

As push comes to shove, and keeping up appearances is a heavy undertaking, Rhuys finds out that Menziel isn't completely honest with him, nor are the others. Menziel's partner in crime is involved in drug-trafficking, especially if it's used in an illegal way. The man is arrested, which leaves just Rhuys and Menziel to continue the project. Not much later, Rhuys finds out that Menziel as well was in the know of this trafficking.

When Rhuys finally is free again, that is, no longer associated with the project (as the governing power sent out its swat-teams to undo all of the work, destroy the underground laboratory and supplies, he can't enjoy this new freedom for long. Armitán Gheze has tracked him down again and sent out his people to get hold of him. Rhuys and Gheze meet again and surprisingly enough, Menziel is also present, next to Gheze. Gheze's power is endless, judging by this final confrontation.

But, deus ex machina (no?), Rhuys has taken his precautions on an administrative level (whilst continuing the visits to his so-called girlfriend, although the feelings aren't mutual, not on a love-level). He didn't only secure his money at the bank, but also, one way or another (my memory fails me at this point, because it's been a little too long, since I finished the book, to remember it all), managed to sell/transfer his participation in the conversion project to someone else. In other words, Armitán Gheze is indeed powerless with regards to Rhuys and the Kaledán name. Rhuys is free for all eternity. In fact, he's so free and so self-sufficient that he managed to liberate Vibeka from her sorry enterprise (selling her soul/memories for money, to lead a life away from civilisation, to be ignored, as past experiences have had a dramatic effect on her). He brought her to an older couple, where she would be able to recover and regain strength and vigour. Rhuys would make sure she was taken care of. And so the story ends on a romantic note, with two souls having found each other.

Theme-wise, this is a wonderful story, although it's not exactly a happy one, what with all this deceiving, betraying, poverty (physically and spiritually), and so on. Aniagrad is a hard place to live in, despite its "false" freedom to do business and lead a fulfilling, "successful" life. While the book ends on a positive note, it's overall very dark and discouraging. But well-written, of course. The first half was pretty good. The second half was not as satisfying, mainly because of Rhuys ap Kaledán.

My biggest issue, like a few other readers, was with the characters of Rhuys and Vibeka, whose role was minor, yet important for Rhuys, as she helped him see light at the end of the tunnel, despite all the problems and difficulties. Rhuys, being the main character (protagonist), isn't the most believable character. Very naive in his beliefs, knowing nothing about politics, about leading a House. He's also very sloppy, as he believes no one will find out he broke in by using certain tools, for example. Another such problem: all of a sudden, our little son of a baron has found the right shops for this or that tool or other product. All of a sudden, the lad has acquired the skills of Sherlock Holmes. How he did it, is not mentioned. Not that an author should mention everything, not at all. But Rhuys can do, purchase and acquire many things in a very short period of time. While remaining naive and at times annoying.

But I repeat, this was a good story... aside from Rhuys's character. ( )