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qalminator's review against another edition
3.0
The first part of this book was promising. The ending part was quite good. The part in the middle? Needed to be cut down by at least half, if not two thirds. Heck, maybe even 90%. That section just dragged on and on and on and on and on until I considered giving up on the book entirely. I was very surprised when, somewhere around the 80% mark, it actually became engaging and interesting.
Other reviewers indicate that this book is atypical of Morrow, and I do have another of his works on Kindle to see if I agree, but this one really needed to be cut down a lot to be workable. The best way I can recommend it is to read Part I, find an online summary of Part II, then go to Part III. In that way, you would skip over the worst part of the book and get the good parts.
A few other comments:
One of the more bizarre things was the choice of names for far-future things. The names are mostly comical, leading one to expect something on the order of a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy style romp. If it was intended to be this, it did not work at all for me. There were occasional amusing snippets, surrounded by lengthy diatribes and nonsensical action.
Another bizarre thing was in the author's afterword, where he claims that the book was to caution against the danger of nuclear weapons. I've been trying to wrap my head around that for half a day now, with no real luck. My best guess is that they are a sort of, oh, bad dream of reality. Even that doesn't really work. So... yeah.
Other reviewers indicate that this book is atypical of Morrow, and I do have another of his works on Kindle to see if I agree, but this one really needed to be cut down a lot to be workable. The best way I can recommend it is to read Part I, find an online summary of Part II, then go to Part III. In that way, you would skip over the worst part of the book and get the good parts.
A few other comments:
One of the more bizarre things was the choice of names for far-future things. The names are mostly comical, leading one to expect something on the order of a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy style romp. If it was intended to be this, it did not work at all for me. There were occasional amusing snippets, surrounded by lengthy diatribes and nonsensical action.
Another bizarre thing was in the author's afterword, where he claims that the book was to caution against the danger of nuclear weapons. I've been trying to wrap my head around that for half a day now, with no real luck. My best guess is that they are a sort of, oh, bad dream of reality. Even that doesn't really work. So... yeah.
metaphorosis's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews
Decades ago, I read This is the Way the World Begins, by J.T. McIntosh, which I quite liked, mainly on the strength of the characterization. More recently, I saw an opportunity to download some free books, including This Is the Way the World Ends, by James Morrow. Aged as I am, I confused the names, and thought, "This must be a sequel, or I remembered the title wrong." I downloaded a bunch of James Morrow books. All unsuspecting, I started in on this one.
Obviously, it wasn't what I was expecting. McIntosh and Morrow have different styles. Equally obviously, different doesn't mean bad. The book kept my interest, though I wish it had been stronger. Overall, it reminded me of a Jack Vance mystery, with its baroque atmosphere and odd characters. Unfortunately, while Vance pulls that off through whimsy, verbal acrobatics, and no real pretense at depth for supporting characters, The Continent of Lies tended to bog down in its own conceits. I followed along, but was neither drawn in enough by the environment to be swept away, nor engaged enough by the characters to follow in their wake.
The protagonist is engaging enough, though his backstory consists of only a few layers, and his interactions with other characters are hindered by those characters' shallowness. The plot is plenty baroque, and interesting in its own way, though it dispenses a little too readily with reality and logic, without humor to paper over the cracks. The tone is dry, but too clever for its own good without being funny.
Some of the settings, while gothic and extreme, aren't as clearly described as they might be, and the mechanics are sometimes vague. At least one of the subquests feels like a long and fairly pointless detour. While there are hints of the Odyssey mixed in, Morrow never really makes enough of it to matter. While the dream apples (cephapples/dreambeans, if you want to be correct) are intended to take the user through a carefully designed dream setting, Morrow seems to forget some of that when it comes to the resolution, creating a need for props and tools that were otherwise unmentioned. More worryingly, the creation of the dangerous fruit is strikingly simple - something that Morrow acknowledges late, and which undermines the story as a whole. The title is clever, but has little to do with the plot.
Overall, the book was interesting, but came across as a less charming Vance.
Decades ago, I read This is the Way the World Begins, by J.T. McIntosh, which I quite liked, mainly on the strength of the characterization. More recently, I saw an opportunity to download some free books, including This Is the Way the World Ends, by James Morrow. Aged as I am, I confused the names, and thought, "This must be a sequel, or I remembered the title wrong." I downloaded a bunch of James Morrow books. All unsuspecting, I started in on this one.
Obviously, it wasn't what I was expecting. McIntosh and Morrow have different styles. Equally obviously, different doesn't mean bad. The book kept my interest, though I wish it had been stronger. Overall, it reminded me of a Jack Vance mystery, with its baroque atmosphere and odd characters. Unfortunately, while Vance pulls that off through whimsy, verbal acrobatics, and no real pretense at depth for supporting characters, The Continent of Lies tended to bog down in its own conceits. I followed along, but was neither drawn in enough by the environment to be swept away, nor engaged enough by the characters to follow in their wake.
The protagonist is engaging enough, though his backstory consists of only a few layers, and his interactions with other characters are hindered by those characters' shallowness. The plot is plenty baroque, and interesting in its own way, though it dispenses a little too readily with reality and logic, without humor to paper over the cracks. The tone is dry, but too clever for its own good without being funny.
Some of the settings, while gothic and extreme, aren't as clearly described as they might be, and the mechanics are sometimes vague. At least one of the subquests feels like a long and fairly pointless detour. While there are hints of the Odyssey mixed in, Morrow never really makes enough of it to matter. While the dream apples (cephapples/dreambeans, if you want to be correct) are intended to take the user through a carefully designed dream setting, Morrow seems to forget some of that when it comes to the resolution, creating a need for props and tools that were otherwise unmentioned. More worryingly, the creation of the dangerous fruit is strikingly simple - something that Morrow acknowledges late, and which undermines the story as a whole. The title is clever, but has little to do with the plot.
Overall, the book was interesting, but came across as a less charming Vance.
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