pro libertate net

First things first. It’s a page turner.

Dan Brown’s sequel to Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code was a little bit over-hyped (a reason for not reading it) and it follows the law of sequels, it is not as “good” as its forerunners (this can be expected, ergo another reason for not reading it). Yet, I am a sucker for mystery novels, so I read it.

In hindsight the plot is rather transparent and seems quite engineered. A few phrases turn up again and again and the flashbacks are not really helping in fleshing out the characters and explaining their motivation. In some parts of the novel the plot and backdrop drift off to the supernatural. Though I like this kind of, let’s say, fantasy genre in general I am not so fond of it when reading a mystery novel.

Brown is a skilled writer. This saves the novel. You just cannot put the book down. Unfortunately, in the meantime he also got maybe a little too professional…

Al in all, my feelings about The Lost Symbol are mixed. The novel is tantalizing and, yet, flawed. I’ll guess the movie – due in 2012 – will share these features.

I read Terry Brooks’ Landover series some years ago – more like a decade ago actually. I liked the witty humor, the cross over from the real world to the fantasy realm that reminded me a little bit of Rick Cook’s Wizardry series that I just loved. Then I read Running with the Demon that was … different.

A Knight of the Word continues what began in Running with the Demon. It is a rather dark fantasy novel in which fairy creatures populate our world. A world in which the ultimate struggle between good and evil is causing a lot of collateral damage among the unsuspecting “normal” people.

En passant Brooks dedicates his novel to a worthy cause as the backdrop of the story deals with a fight to end homelessness.

This is all fine. The novel is tantalizing, the unveiling of the real evil is not too obvious. Brooks focuses on just a few characters, he builds the plot slowly and allows for sufficient space and time to depict the emotional distress his protagonists have to endure. All very skillful. Yet, I am still a bit upset. I am upset because I just learned that the Word and Void trilogy is not just a that: a trilogy. It is a part of Brooks’ Shannara series. And I do not like the idea to stop after finishing the third novel of the Word and Void trilogy when it is a just small part of a much larger work. The problem is, I did not want to start yet another series that will take forever to finish.

Rhetoric is a craft that seems to be the natural talent of some, most (including myself) have to train to achieve any level of proficiency. Williams and Colomb’s textbook The Craft of Argument is a wonderful complement to Williams’ Style – Lessons in Clarity and Grace and Booth, Colomb and Williams’ The Craft of Research.

While the Craft of Research shows how to structure, plan, and execute the more general task of pursuing one’s research, The Craft of Argument advises on how to structure, plan, and write one’s articles (or report, or books …), and Style, finally, advises on how structure, plan, and write single paragraphs and sentences.

Good, persuasive and ethical writing is a hard task. This task is somewhat alleviated by Williams and Friends. Their textbooks are always a pleasure to read adducing evidence that they master[ed] their craft.

Pratchett’s third Discworld novel, Equal Rites, is delightfully distinct from the first two novels, especially from the second that tried a little too hard to be funny.

First, it’s plot is driven by a completely new cast, introducing the magical professions. Second, it addresses – in its own particular way – a pressing societal problem, gender differences and discrimination in the professional world starting with vocational choice and training. Third, the rhetoric changed. It is now more subtle, inducing every once in a while a quiet chuckle. Even the pace and structure changed. The story line is more linear, different plot elements build on each other and are more interwoven than before.

I consider this the real take-off of the Discworld series. From now on, Pratchett successfully published most years two or even more Discworld novels. Only recently he slowed down a bit.

This is it: The final Riverworld novel. Though the novel ends with the proclamation of a new adventure, providing every possibility for a sequel, there will not be any Riverworld sequels by Philip José Farmer. He died earlier this year.

Yet, already Gods of Riverworld is not really a Riverworld novel any more. The story does not take place on the River. The whole plot proceeds within the Tower at the headwaters. Here, the new occupants have almost god-like powers provided by the vastly advanced technology. And they us their powers to build their own private little worlds and raise their favorite companions from the temporarily without-a-living-body.

This gives ample room for a deeper look into the psyche of Farmer’s protagonists instead of the cursorily glance at their characters he provided in the immediate prequel. There is plenty of action and a few surprises.

At the end, Farmer even frees himself from the esoteric / mystic / religious connotations of his earlier Riverworld novels. Or does he? Nevertheless, this results in an interesting development of the whole series on several levels: The technological (from stone age, steam punk like technology to advanced futuristic technology including FTL), the societal and religious, and, of course, his literary characters. I liked the creative use of historical figures. At least I liked it most of the time… Let’s see how much I will like Farmer’s other series, The World of Tiers.

The Magic Labyrinth is the second volume of the two volume conclusion to the Riverworld series. It is still not the final novel as it was supposed to be, though, there is a fifth one. Farmer just could not stop.

In The Magic Labyrinth the quest for the headwaters of the Riverworld continues. In lieu of the character development that made the first volumes so compelling this volume is dominated by unnecessary lengthy descriptions of air combats and private wars on the River, superfluous duels and plain murders that just kill off most of the cast.

All, or rather most mysteries are solved when the band of survivors arrives at the Tower at the end and the beginning of the River. This band of survivors is by now decimated to less than a dozen River dwellers including a new companion who is killed just before the rest of them finally is enlightened.

I did not really like the religious / esoteric connotations of this “conclusion”. (This is also the reason why I struggle with some of the Ender-novels.) However, Farmer offers a rather scientific solution for the nature of the immortal soul, or wathan as his characters call it. So he saves the day, at the end his novel is still science fiction. Science fiction with aliens, space ships and everything.

This being said, I feel a bit like I was cheated. This whole “conclusion” was kind of anti-climatic. Well-written, mostly quite suspenseful: yes; yet, anti-climatic. Nevertheless, I just cannot stop. There is still this fifth novel…