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dsrtao_Version 43_, Philip Palmer
_The Magician King_, Lev Grossman
Two failures, for me.
_Version 43_ is about a Galactic Policeman sent to the most corrupt human planet in the galaxy. The setting is complex and not particularly cliched, but the plot is a horrible mess. The Galactic Policeman is a cyborged serial clone, with a last-ditch memory dump that generally means a quick resurrection in a new body, with factual memories intact but lacking all emotional context. (I strongly suspect that human minds don't work that way.) There are problems with power density, but that's a mere peccadillo compared to the 0.10 c tramlines used for in-city transport (hello, acceleration?) which is a mere peccadillo compared to the total abandonment of physics later on in the novel. Spoiler: in the end, quantum magic wishing can make it so.
_The Magician King_, sequel to _The Magicians_. So Grossman has to come up with a plot that means something after his protagonists become kings and queens of a magical parallel universe in the last book. So random things occur, there is a quest which looks like it is going somewhere, but in the end, no, it's a different quest. Also, tragedy occurs randomly because, I assume, the author wanted the reader to know that the universe is not fair. As a B-story, we get the tale of how magic is learned by everyone with aptitude didn't go to Hogwarts, err, Brakebills. I suspect this book of attempting to be highly symbolic, but not in a way which is either decipherable (by me) or fun to argue about.
Currently reading: vampire ninjas in Boston. At least he gets the Boston bits right.
_The Magician King_, Lev Grossman
Two failures, for me.
_Version 43_ is about a Galactic Policeman sent to the most corrupt human planet in the galaxy. The setting is complex and not particularly cliched, but the plot is a horrible mess. The Galactic Policeman is a cyborged serial clone, with a last-ditch memory dump that generally means a quick resurrection in a new body, with factual memories intact but lacking all emotional context. (I strongly suspect that human minds don't work that way.) There are problems with power density, but that's a mere peccadillo compared to the 0.10 c tramlines used for in-city transport (hello, acceleration?) which is a mere peccadillo compared to the total abandonment of physics later on in the novel. Spoiler: in the end, quantum magic wishing can make it so.
_The Magician King_, sequel to _The Magicians_. So Grossman has to come up with a plot that means something after his protagonists become kings and queens of a magical parallel universe in the last book. So random things occur, there is a quest which looks like it is going somewhere, but in the end, no, it's a different quest. Also, tragedy occurs randomly because, I assume, the author wanted the reader to know that the universe is not fair. As a B-story, we get the tale of how magic is learned by everyone with aptitude didn't go to Hogwarts, err, Brakebills. I suspect this book of attempting to be highly symbolic, but not in a way which is either decipherable (by me) or fun to argue about.
Currently reading: vampire ninjas in Boston. At least he gets the Boston bits right.
