Ken Scholes
Well, I really should have read this work before Canticle. Very impressive stuff, took awhile to get into and the frequent jumps among characters is still overly jarring but I found a level of basic connection and awareness that I didn't reach in the sequel, and it made for a very strong debut fantasy. Great worldbuilding, intense and interesting story, and a wonderfully imagined theme connected to both these involving the acquisition and loss of knowledge. The characters weren't quite as good, and at times proved a little flat, but they were competent enough and their variety and gradual transformation over the course of the story worked well. What was less effective were the romance elements, which came across as fairly rushed and unconvincing, a way to attribute changed motivation to a couple key characters that never came across clearly. Another criticism I had for much of the book was Sethbert, and just how flat, stupid and relentlessly evil he was. I still feel that could have been done a lot better (I had similar thought with regards to Banks' Matter and the medieval villain in that) but the ending disclosure of him being merely a dupe for other forces worked to remedy that somewhat. It still could have been better though, and there still seems some contrivance in a major politcal player being as overtly evil as he was--at times he went out of the way to emphasize his cruelty and erratic violence in a way that alienated his forces. Overall this book was everything that high fantasy should be doing, showing a great talent for worldbuilding, plot and the intersection of the two. For full effectiveness I suppose I should reread Canticle to see how it better flows with a stronger grounding, but think I'll probably pass for the moment, although I might skim it or read a number of reviews. Given this series is announced for three more upcoming I'll make an effort to pick up the new elements, with an eye both to my own enjoyment and a possible Hugo watch.
Better than: Canticle by Ken Scholes
Worse than: The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
Showing posts with label scholes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scholes. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Canticle
Canticle by Ken Scholes
Rather hard to get into or follow. To an extent I brought this on myself, as I started with this the second volume of a larger series. Undoubtedly I missed a lot understanding of the setting and character relationships with this. Beyond that, though, I think there is a basic frustrating factor in this--there are a half dozen characters and the perspective jumps from one to the other every five pages. Still, getting through all that there's a strong story in here. Not the strongest, but pretty good, lots of rich setting details, interesting ideas and nice plot twists. As well, the specific quality of prose was enough to keep me going. Overall an interesting work, although still somewhat self-limiting. I'll be interested in checking out other things by the author, I believe I've read a short story by him last fall, but that's it. As well, manages a pretty effective blend of SF and fantasy.
Difficult to assess in greater length, but it does benefit from some standout individual description and moments of strong character assertion. What's most attractive about this book is the presence of simultaneously effective prose, an engaging and innovative world, and a strong story that invests in its characters in moving along. What's most problematic is the sense that a lot of characters are in themselves pretty flat, and the layout of perspectives that makes tracking what's happening disorienting. Scholes is willing to put in fairly high stakes in the book, and isn't afraid to demolish and reform his intricately constructed world. This approach makes for some major draw to the narrative, but also risks moving too fast at points--I felt I could have benefited from a slow approach at times, giving more of a chance to figure out these people and have them approach the larger situation. Above everything I'm interesting in the setting, and feel that perhaps it would be better to investigate it with a narrative committed to only a single viewpoint for a bit.
It's interesting to contrast this review with Hylozoic since it's a similar situation in some ways--coming in with the sequel, facing a story that at times seems incoherent. I suppose a major distinction is that I give a lot more trust to Scholes that there is a coherent and well-developed picture that I didn't fully understand, while with Rucker it seemed to be all laid out sufficiently--it was just badly designed. The difference in quality of the prose and the creativity of ideas really makes a difference as well. It also points to a refuting of my old bias on science ficiton relative to fantasy--showing that in fact much of contemporary fantasy is less conventional, better grounded and more plausible than a certain order of science fiction. For a variety of reasons I never intend to read anything by Rucker again but am rather interested in picking up the other volumes by Scholes (particularly the Psalms of Isaac series that Canticle is part of).
Better than: Green by Jay Lake
Worse than: The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan
Rather hard to get into or follow. To an extent I brought this on myself, as I started with this the second volume of a larger series. Undoubtedly I missed a lot understanding of the setting and character relationships with this. Beyond that, though, I think there is a basic frustrating factor in this--there are a half dozen characters and the perspective jumps from one to the other every five pages. Still, getting through all that there's a strong story in here. Not the strongest, but pretty good, lots of rich setting details, interesting ideas and nice plot twists. As well, the specific quality of prose was enough to keep me going. Overall an interesting work, although still somewhat self-limiting. I'll be interested in checking out other things by the author, I believe I've read a short story by him last fall, but that's it. As well, manages a pretty effective blend of SF and fantasy.
Difficult to assess in greater length, but it does benefit from some standout individual description and moments of strong character assertion. What's most attractive about this book is the presence of simultaneously effective prose, an engaging and innovative world, and a strong story that invests in its characters in moving along. What's most problematic is the sense that a lot of characters are in themselves pretty flat, and the layout of perspectives that makes tracking what's happening disorienting. Scholes is willing to put in fairly high stakes in the book, and isn't afraid to demolish and reform his intricately constructed world. This approach makes for some major draw to the narrative, but also risks moving too fast at points--I felt I could have benefited from a slow approach at times, giving more of a chance to figure out these people and have them approach the larger situation. Above everything I'm interesting in the setting, and feel that perhaps it would be better to investigate it with a narrative committed to only a single viewpoint for a bit.
It's interesting to contrast this review with Hylozoic since it's a similar situation in some ways--coming in with the sequel, facing a story that at times seems incoherent. I suppose a major distinction is that I give a lot more trust to Scholes that there is a coherent and well-developed picture that I didn't fully understand, while with Rucker it seemed to be all laid out sufficiently--it was just badly designed. The difference in quality of the prose and the creativity of ideas really makes a difference as well. It also points to a refuting of my old bias on science ficiton relative to fantasy--showing that in fact much of contemporary fantasy is less conventional, better grounded and more plausible than a certain order of science fiction. For a variety of reasons I never intend to read anything by Rucker again but am rather interested in picking up the other volumes by Scholes (particularly the Psalms of Isaac series that Canticle is part of).
Better than: Green by Jay Lake
Worse than: The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan
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