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So, I realized I was pretty uncomfortable writing a mostly negative review, and tried to figure out why. I think in this case it's mostly that I know people who know the author.
The easiest and often most interesting things to review are media where there are moments of both excellence and total failure. They put each other in sharp contrast; you can really see how the thing works by examining where it breaks (That's why I think Dragon Age 2 is such an interesting video game to discuss -- it has wonderful aspects, awful aspects, and moments of "Oh, that was SO close!", without even touching on low-hanging fruit like reused environments).
So, in the interests of picking the machine apart to see how it works... I just finished Jay Lake's Mainspring.
It is a book that went almost entirely downhill.
First off, his actual writing, the way he strings words together, is fantastic. If it wasn't, I would never have kept reading. Through-out the first half of the book he nails the sweet-spot of description, where there's enough to provide color and immersion without bogging down. I know that particular spot varies from reader to reader -- some people like Dickens, for fishes' sakes -- but Lake's balance worked for me. I saw his world in full color*, and it was interesting.
Unfortunately, despite lots of interesting teasers into the world, we never get to sink our teeth into it. There isn't any payoff, any "Oh, that's what's going on!" moments. Everything that was a mystery at the beginning is still a mystery at the end, including how the hero got to the end, why he's a hero, and how/why he had his fantastic revelation. Some of this is because of a huge reliance on "God did it", which is very much not my cup of tea. I'm trying to leave my personal dislike of the religiosity out of the equation when reviewing the story, but it's difficult, as miracles seem to provide all the plot advancement.
It's basically the Hero's Journey -- developing from the lost youth to the world-saving hero -- managed without much character development. I cared about the protagonist more on page five than I did on page 100. Hethor never does anything -- at least, he doesn't do anything until he gets magical-divine powers. He gets dumped out of the frying pan and into the fire so often through the course of the book that by the time he reached the airship I was just waiting for the next catastrophe to befall him. And they do befall him; he's not proactive in the least. Members of a never-explained shadow organization rescue/kidnap him; members of a never explained species rescue/kidnap him; a never-explained enemy-wizard rescues/kidnaps him, etc.
I also feel very sorry for the fifty or so "young male" correct people, who seemed to exist only to be killed off as a cheap way of showing that the journey was dangerous. None of them ever got to have personalities or identities of their own. They were like the protagonist's whipping boy -- can't have the hero die to emphasize the severity of the situation, so kill off some of his nameless entourage.
I have no desire to read the next in the series, but some of the failures of Mainspring actually make me interested in reading his short stories, especially since I find his writing to be very readable.
*Books come across to me in a variety of visual ways. Some are vague watercolor (McKillip, de Lint), some realism (G. R. R. Martin). Some use the big crayola 64 pack and some haven't gotten beyond primary and secondary colors (The Wheel of Time series was only colored in 8-crayon-pack vivids for me, and it hurt).
The easiest and often most interesting things to review are media where there are moments of both excellence and total failure. They put each other in sharp contrast; you can really see how the thing works by examining where it breaks (That's why I think Dragon Age 2 is such an interesting video game to discuss -- it has wonderful aspects, awful aspects, and moments of "Oh, that was SO close!", without even touching on low-hanging fruit like reused environments).
So, in the interests of picking the machine apart to see how it works... I just finished Jay Lake's Mainspring.
It is a book that went almost entirely downhill.
First off, his actual writing, the way he strings words together, is fantastic. If it wasn't, I would never have kept reading. Through-out the first half of the book he nails the sweet-spot of description, where there's enough to provide color and immersion without bogging down. I know that particular spot varies from reader to reader -- some people like Dickens, for fishes' sakes -- but Lake's balance worked for me. I saw his world in full color*, and it was interesting.
Unfortunately, despite lots of interesting teasers into the world, we never get to sink our teeth into it. There isn't any payoff, any "Oh, that's what's going on!" moments. Everything that was a mystery at the beginning is still a mystery at the end, including how the hero got to the end, why he's a hero, and how/why he had his fantastic revelation. Some of this is because of a huge reliance on "God did it", which is very much not my cup of tea. I'm trying to leave my personal dislike of the religiosity out of the equation when reviewing the story, but it's difficult, as miracles seem to provide all the plot advancement.
It's basically the Hero's Journey -- developing from the lost youth to the world-saving hero -- managed without much character development. I cared about the protagonist more on page five than I did on page 100. Hethor never does anything -- at least, he doesn't do anything until he gets magical-divine powers. He gets dumped out of the frying pan and into the fire so often through the course of the book that by the time he reached the airship I was just waiting for the next catastrophe to befall him. And they do befall him; he's not proactive in the least. Members of a never-explained shadow organization rescue/kidnap him; members of a never explained species rescue/kidnap him; a never-explained enemy-wizard rescues/kidnaps him, etc.
I also feel very sorry for the fifty or so "young male" correct people, who seemed to exist only to be killed off as a cheap way of showing that the journey was dangerous. None of them ever got to have personalities or identities of their own. They were like the protagonist's whipping boy -- can't have the hero die to emphasize the severity of the situation, so kill off some of his nameless entourage.
I have no desire to read the next in the series, but some of the failures of Mainspring actually make me interested in reading his short stories, especially since I find his writing to be very readable.
*Books come across to me in a variety of visual ways. Some are vague watercolor (McKillip, de Lint), some realism (G. R. R. Martin). Some use the big crayola 64 pack and some haven't gotten beyond primary and secondary colors (The Wheel of Time series was only colored in 8-crayon-pack vivids for me, and it hurt).
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no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 03:10 am (UTC)From:Mainspring definitely has its flaws. I do love Childress, though, and she gets her own point of view in the next two books. Science fiction/fantasy has far too few older female heroines.
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Date: 2011-12-30 06:07 am (UTC)From:I absolutely agree about older female heroines. In fact, a scrap of a novel idea is busy fermenting in the compost pile of my brain, and so far the only really defined part is an older female veteran who's playing music in space-station bars. I want to see more non-twenty-something-able-bodied characters, and I want to write more. Might as well combine them. :)
It's funny -- I have no trouble panning something that's really distant from me (like a big budget movie or a video game) or giving critique person-to-person. It's just the intermediate level that feels so awkward.
I also know not getting defensive at criticism is something I had to really consciously work on, and I know I'm not always there. Still, it's presumably a job-skill in writing, just as in design. I suppose technically it's an important professional skill anywhere, but it's not often taught as such.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 06:23 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 06:26 am (UTC)From:EDIT: Also, I hadn't followed his LJ in the past, but I think I will if only for the link lists. He posts some really interesting stuff!