Review of Painted Flock by Claudie Arseneault

If I claimed to remember anything of Baker Thief, Claudie Arseneault’s aspec mystery romp involving a genderfluid baker, I would be lying. Five years is too long for this reader to remember details of books. Nevertheless, when Arseneault announced a sequel to this story, I jumped at the chance to read a review copy. Painted Flock is just as enjoyable and fun as my review of Baker Thief tells me I found that book. With new main characters and slightly different themes, this novel delivers similar vibes but with a brand-new story.

Spoilers for Baker Thief but not this book.

In Baker Thief, we learned that the exocores, Val-de-Mer’s power source, were in fact the rendered souls of imprisoned witches. Exposed, the corporation that developed the exocores is in liquidation, and their chief scientist is in high-security witness protection until ol can testify for the state. However, that leaves the problem of how to free the living witches from their incorporeal prison. This unenviable task falls to Emmanuelle Duclos. A powerhouse scientist in her own right, Emmanuelle nevertheless realizes that if she is to succeed, she will likely need the help of that chief scientist, Clémence. But ol isn’t looking to trust anyone new any time soon.

As with all of Arseneault’s work, the quiet queernormativity of Painted Flock is such a joyful respite. This book depicts such a multiplicity of relationships and orientations—not to mention neurodivergent characters as well—with very little comment on it. Beyond this sliver of worldbuilding, however, lurks an even wider and more creative world. Grounded in inspiration lifted from francophone Quebec, Val-de-Mer is a wonderful setting so full of vigour. At one point, Arseneault describes in detail the premise and setting of a romance historical fiction series Emmanuelle is reading, and I experienced a kind of vertigo peering down at the depth to which Arseneault had to build out her world to create such fleeting references to a story-within-this-story. I really appreciate the intricate layers of craft on display.

The same can be said for the characters themselves and their relationships. As I have reflected in my reviews of Arseneault’s Chronicles of Nerezia series, she is so skillful at compassionate conflict. As with many of the Nerezia novellas, Painted Flock is not what I would call cozy—people die; there’s threat to life and limb here, not to mention the longstanding persecution of witches hanging over the entire plot. Yet Arseneault is so good at pausing throughout the novel. Taking a break for some bread. Celebrating a birthday. She demonstrates how her characters are actively living their lives in the middle of these thorny and threatening times, and that’s really powerful.

I wasn’t expecting Clémence to grow on me so much as a protagonist. I don’t remember much of ol from Baker Thief, but ol receives much more backstory and development here, all to the good. Clémence is a wonderful example of a protagonist who seeks redemption for possibly irredeemable acts. The delicate dance between Clémence and Emmanuelle, the gentle, queerplatonic tug of their nascent friendship, the spectre of transactionality lurking beneath it all like a bitter aftertaste … it’s a rich, fascinating part of this story. Painted Flock is not a mystery, though it has mystery elements, and it is only barely a thriller. It is instead a story of found family, redemption, and redefining what it means to be safe.

I also greatly enjoyed how Emmanuelle’s earnest belief in Clémence’s ability to be redeemed set her at odds with Livia and Zita, at least briefly. The way that these friends navigate their friendship with this level of conflict is very valuable to me: it’s not exactly low stakes or unimportant, yet it’s never a question that they will still be friends, just a question of how to reconcile their friendship with their differing experiences of this person. Painted Flock, though at times slightly saccharine in its resolutions to these moments, refuses to provide easy answers or easy outs.

Do I have critiques? Sure. I thought the eventual villain was pretty obviously telegraphed and none-too-subtle in motivation or manner of dirty deeds. I have a lot of questions about the quality of life for reincarnated exocore witches in their manufactured bodies. Claude’s absence—mentioned but not appearing—was also keenly felt. Yet these are all really minor issues. At the end of the day, I got into Painted Flock from the first page and really didn’t want to put it down.

Oh, and there’s so many cats!!