Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell · 8 August 2007
Crystal Rain is Tobias Buckell's first novel and also the first in a series of novels set in the same world. The second, Ragamuffin is already available, and the author is currently working on the third, Sly Mongoose.
I ended up liking this book far more by the end than I thought I would at the beginning (a pleasant change as the last handful of novels I've read have started out strong and finished less so).
One of the things that really tripped me up in the beginning was Buckell's inconsistent use of grammar. He has set his story in a planet colonized by people of Earth, and many of the people are descendents of the modern Caribbean cultures.
There are two major factions, the Aztecas (based on the Aztec culture) and the Nanagadans (everyone else). The Nanagadans are further divided into several villages, often grouped together by common ancestry. The capital city meanwhile, is a cosmopolitan melting-pot of all the cultures. Sounds fine, right? It is, and the world building that Buckell develops over the course of the novel really pans out.
The barrier to entry for me though was the language. After taking a linguistics course this Spring, language has been heavily on my mind. There are a few terms that Buckell consistently threw around that grated on me. The first was “accent.” An accent is a way of pronouncing the words. I say “tahmaytoe” and you say “tomahtoe.” It's the difference you hear when people are “pahking” the “caw” and saluting the “flague.”
A dialect is a different version of the language, one that's understandable by native speakers, but uses a slightly different grammatical structure. When Buckell said accent, most times he meant dialect. He didn't change the way the words sounded so much as he changed the way they were put together. This misnomer of terms wouldn't have bothered me much, except it was accompanied by Buckell voicing characters with an unsettling mix of standard and non-standard grammar.
I don't envy Buckell his task of trying to create a dialect. It's hard to write in English and use a consistently different grammar than the one you speak. Buckell does manage to capture the feeling that people are speaking a different dialect than the Standard English dialect, and he does highlight the power dialect of the government as drastically different from the village and bush dialects. There were moments in which I felt the dialogue flowed and I could hear the sound of the islands in the voices of the characters. There were also moments that made me stop in my tracks due to inconsistencies.
For example in one sentence the prepositional phrase is intact, so you'd read “coming down the mountain” and in another sentence the prepositional phrase has been truncated to “pull you up out the water” (instead of up out of the water). In the one sentence, the verb would be included, “They have no supplies with them.” In the next, it would be deleted “They moving light, moving quick.”
At this point you may be doubting that I liked the book. Don't. After about page 50, I abandoned my detail driven analysis of the language and just started enjoying the plot. It also helped that the story began to be narrated by the main character, John deBrun, the prime minister of the capital city (appropriately named Capitol City), Dihana and one of the Aztecas, Oaxyctl. These people all used a dialect similar to the standard dialect of English, and so the inconsistencies melted into the background.
Left to enjoy the plot, I found myself immersed in the story that had been set up during the first part of the book. The Aztecas have breached the Wicked High Mountains and centuries of successful defense to invade the Nanagadan territory. Driven by their gods, the Teotls, they have honed their warrior skills and the art of human sacrifice, and now they march on Capitol City to subdue it. A simple enough plot so far, and one that fares well under Buckell's decision to tell the story of the advancing army through a few key sets of eyes of those on the side being invaded.
Complicating the story is the character of John deBrun, a man who can't remember his past. John washed up on the shore of Brungstun almost three decades ago. He built a family there and there he searches for fragments of his missing memory.
I found the setting intriguing. The level of technology is a cross between that of the early Industrial Revolution period and of a future period we have yet to achieve. Semi-automatic weapons are readily available, yet electricity is not. This seeming contradiction in technological development is explained by the history of the planet, in which a great war was fought by the All Fathers (ancestors). During the war their great machines and technology were mostly destroyed. It seems plausible, and reminds me of the later books in the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. People are aware that high technology existed, but they've lost the ability to produce and use much of it.
What interests me about such a setting is that it bypasses much of the grimier sections of Earth's own technological advancement. For example, even though the prime minister is advocating investigation of lost technology and has just completed a railroad project, the worker exploitation and degradation in quality of life that accompanied the Industrial Revolution are not present on this planet. Instead, the common people are represented as generally agrarian, living quiet and local lives with some slight comforts afforded to them by technology. Buckell touches on a biologically-based technology movement that’s advocated by the “friendly” gods the Loa, but doesn't comment on it much. Although the story in no way suffers from the brief treatment of this topic, I'd be interested in reading more about it in a future installment of the series.
After the Aztecas invade, one of their spies encounters a Teotl who charges him with finding John deBrun. Although we've had reason to expect that John is special before, this confirms it. Soon John is swept up in the chaos of the invasion. In the course of his adventures, he runs into an old friend and is recruited as part of a last-ditch effort to save Capitol City from the invading hordes.
As the book progresses, Buckell slowly changes its nature from that of a technologically-rooted epic-fantasy to a full-on punk style science-fiction. The transition is smooth, mainly because as Buckell reveals more of the world, the reader comes to realize that both visions of Nanagada exist in concert. Part of the craft of this book is illustrating to the reader how Nanagada is at once ruled by its people and at the same time by its history.
In moving through the different layers of the culture, Buckell covers a lot of ground. The relationship between the Teotls and the Aztecas, the Teotls and the Loa, the Nanagadans and the Loa, and even the Nanagadans and the Teotl are explored. John deBrun must wrestle with the life he has lived since being pulled out of the ocean and the life that he lived before. Dreams are discovered - and shattered. Leaders are tested and judged according to their mettle. Buckell sprinkles the plot with concepts that could easily fill novels, and while he doesn't stray from the conflicts in the main plot, he doesn't gloss over the depth and complexity of this truly multi-cultural planet.
And once I realized the depth of the genesis of this series, and where this book could lead, I was willing to forgive Buckell his linguistic mish-mash.
Adventure
,
Aliens,
Caribbean Culture
,
Science Fiction,
Steampunk,
Tobias Buckell
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling · 25 July 2007
Even though many of the blogs I regularly read have already posted their reviews of Harry Potter, I decided to review it too.
As Ken over on NethSpace points out, the book deserves a nod based solely on the cultural phenomena it created. He’s already addressed the incredible pressure that this must have put on J.K. Rowling to deliver a work that lived up to the hype, so I won’t readdress it here.
I considered writing an entirely spoiler free review, but ultimately felt that in order to speak about the book more than superficially, I would have to discuss a few things. Spoilers are on the light side, but they are here nonetheless. There are also necessarily spoilers for the previous books, as I make references to the past plot.
At the end of Book 6 (The Half Blood Prince) Dumbledore charges Harry with a mission: find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes. Rowling begins Book 7 (The Deathly Hallows)) with no less of a daunting mission: wrap up a series that has left little mysteries sprinkled throughout its six-book history and satisfy her fans’ rabid curiosity for how these mysteries will turn out.
She begins to do so by drawing on tradition. We greet Harry in the familiar setting of the Dursley’s home, as he is packing in preparation of leaving. Harry is just days away from his 17th birthday, at which point the protective charm over the Dursley’s home will be broken and everyone living there will be in danger. The key difference in this departure is that instead of being escorted safely to Hogwarts to start a new term, Harry is being whisked away to a safe house where he will be protected by one of the members of the Order of the Phoenix. As Harry takes leave of the Dursley family, he (and the reader) say the first of many goodbyes.
The book can be divided into three major segments. The first segment is Harry’s preparation for the quest to find and destroy the Horcruxes, the second is the actual process of the quest, and the third is the final showdown. Though Harry is outside his normal setting of Hogwarts, this is a very similar formula to the one that we’ve become accustomed to in the previous six books. The key difference is that instead of the “quest” of the book being set against the cheery backdrop of school, this book is set against the grim backdrop of war. Instead of Harry being surrounded by supportive friends and teachers, he is basically alone. His sense of isolation is highlighted each time Harry is unable to bring anyone new into his confidence, reminding several people that Dumbledore has instructed him that only Ron and Hermione may be told the truth of his mission.
Rowling’s choice to isolate Harry struck me as a parallel to old stories in which great warriors rode out to the wilderness and prepared themselves for battle via ritual fasting and self-reflection. While this could have led to a boring interlude in the book, it didn’t. Rowling ensured that Harry had just enough contact with the outer world in order to keep the plot advancing, while still giving Harry the space he needed to examine his character. I believe it was this trying isolation that gave Harry the insight needed to make a major decision about which path he would follow in the ultimate goal of defeating Voldemort.
The book felt a bit like the series finale of a popular TV Show. Many, if not all, of the characters of note from the previous books made appearances. As they popped in, or were mentioned in passing, I couldn’t help getting the “Let’s see what so-and-so is up to now!” feeling. In some cases (Dolores Umbridge) this worked nicely with the plot. In other cases (Stan Shunpike) I felt it was a somewhat cumbersome attempt to get everyone into the story. In one notable case (Percy Weasly) I felt that Rowling missed the mark and didn’t provide the proper background for the end of his character development. I think in this case, the pressure to provide a conclusive ending and to address all the characters that fans have come to love may have influenced her decision to structure the book as she did.
After all, we have no reason to believe there will ever be another book set in the Potterverse, so we’re not only saying goodbye to the characters that die in the book, we’re saying goodbye to the ones that live too. Despite Rowling’s attempting to give the reader a final glimpse of everyone before the exited the story forever, there were many questions left unanswered at the end of the book.
Rowling does, however, address all the big questions. The showdown between Harry and Voldemort is conclusive, and we get a very detailed and satisfying answer to the question of whether Snape is good or evil . (For the record, my sister predicted Snape’s story spot on, including all his motivations and one of the key scenes that should have tipped the reader off).
The epilogue must have been very challenging to write. After the final showdown, I was left with so many questions, namely, “What happens now?” The entire focus of the series has been the inevitable battle between Harry and Voldemort. Now that it’s over, the wizarding world needs to adjust to the outcome. After providing a definitive ending to the final battle, Rowling leaves the aftermath basically untouched. I thought that the combination of a conclusive ending with a non-conclusive new beginning was just the right combination for a series of this magnitude. It allows each reader to imagine for themselves what will happen next in the Potterverse. I know I’ll enjoy the speculation.
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A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin · 26 June 2007
A Clash of Kings is Book 2 in the series A Song of Ice and Fire. This review assumes the reader is familiar with the plot of A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1). If not, fair warning, there may be some Book 1 spoilers contained in this review.
Martin continues the second book of the series where the first left off. The King is dead! Long live the Kings! As I feared it would, this book involved a lot of war strategy, but despite that Martin has not yet fallen into the trap of making the story revolve around war.
The beginning of the book brings in a clash of religions in addition to the clash of power that continued from A Game of Thrones. Since religious differences were a non-issue in the first book, careful work is required to make it seem feasible now. Martin is up to the challenge, creating a character ripe for conversion and a religious order that tolerates no competition.
The initial chapters also introduce the several men who would call themselves king. Even though I understand that Martin is setting up the motivations of several camps in the first few hundred pages, I thought the plot was too fragmented at the beginning of the book. The first segment of A Clash of Kings just didn’t have the seamless flow that the first chapters of A Game of Thrones did.
Even though the beginning of the book didn’t grab me, I was glad to note that the human backdrop on which the war is set continues to be a focus of the plot. Our understanding of many characters deepens in this book, as Martin takes pain to illustrate the impact of war through the eyes of mothers, children, servants, nobility, and soldiers. In Book 2, Martin continues to use the device of telling the story from multiple perspectives. The major narrators are joined by some new voices, names we heard in Book 1 but never heard from.
One thing I thought very interesting is that although the book’s title is A Clash of Kings, and kings are definitely clashing, we don’t hear the story from the perspective of any of the kings. The narration throughout the book is performed by those nearest and dearest to the kings, but never the kings themselves. There is one notable exception, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s a foreshadowing of plot to come.
This device also makes for some interesting plot choices. Robb Stark is quiet in this book, and not for lack of action surrounding him. Interestingly enough, I think that Martin choose to leave Robb out of the focus of the story because the people that would talk about him are not with him during this interlude.
It’s a long book, and there is a cast of thousands. I’ve been soured on long books with tons of characters that we rarely hear from or see again by Robert Jordon, so I’m not very forgiving of anything that smacks of “here’s a brief tidbit and you’ll see this guy again in 300 pages (if not later).”
There were two characters given short shrift in this book, Daenerys Targaryen and Theon Greyjoy. When jumping through the different perspectives, Daenerys is a strong enough character that a snippet of her story interspersed into the larger story is enough to make the reader still feel intimately involved with her life but the character of Theon suffered under the same treatment.
People who have read the first book will remember Theon as a supporting character, mostly referred in conjunction with one of the Stark children. Aside from saving Bran’s life, he did little to distinguish himself from the many other supporting characters. His character was hinted at through side-comments of the main characters, but Theon himself didn’t say much in Book 1.
When his character developed in this book, I felt it deviated from my impression of him so much that I needed a better explanation. His motivations were clear enough, but his actions at times were at odds with how I interpreted his character. While not a book killer, it was enough that the chapters from Theon’s perspective were ones I least looked forward to.
This is a middle book in the series and it feels like one. Martin planted the seeds for many stories, and only a few of them germinated by the end of the book. Unlike the first book, the resolution at the end of A Clash of Kings was obviously merely a pause in the larger story. Because so many stories were started, and not finished, and because so many characters were introduced in this book, I’m a little concerned that Book 3 (A Storm of Swords) at over 1100 pages is even longer than Book 2. I really hope the series doesn’t become ungainly.
I will continue to read A Song of Ice and Fire (especially since it has dragons!), but I didn’t enjoy Book 2 as much as I did Book 1. It’s my hope that A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3) will shift the focus back to what Martin has set up as the major conflict, the coming Winter and the hardships it will bring. This was one plotline relatively abandoned by the characters due to the political turmoil, and my feeling is that it needs to be addressed, even if the characters are unwilling to address it.
A Clash of Kings,
A Game of Thrones,
A Song of Ice and Fire,
George R.R. Martin,
Epic Fantasy,
High Fantasy,
Fantasy,
Political Intrigue,
Warfare,
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