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mirandadarrow 's review for:
The Flight of the Silvers: The Silvers Book One
by Daniel Price
I try to be an eclectic reader, bouncing from genre to genre, reading all types of books. I write up reviews of most of the books I read, but not the kid-lit books I read out loud to my young kids (what is there to say, really, about 13 different books by Lemony Snicket?). Also, I don’t review the romance books, because my mom is on Goodreads, following my reviews. Hi Mom – it’s safe; this isn’t a romance. But if I had a wheelhouse, a book genre that I’ve read a decent percentage of the body of such books, it would be sci-fi / fantasy with a focus on dystopian and alternative realities. So Flight of the Silvers is right up my alley, book genre-wise.
I think four tent poles, the fundamentals of sci-fi / fantasy genre books are: 1.) universe, 2.) plot / story, 3.) characters, and 4.) relatability/ connection to the reader. On these four criteria, I think it is ultimately successful, but does perform better in some areas than others.
1. The Universe – The “world-building” or universe of the novel is probably more important than sci-fi/ fantasy/ alternative reality books than any other genre, and what can pull in its readers the most. Done well, it can be a world that readers actually want to live in, causes readers to rail against theatrical productions that don’t match their visions, and can lead to lively debates in book club meetings. I’ve seen folks in my book clubs argue about the feasibility of mining for hydrogen on the surface of Mars, thanks to Red Rising, and other such debates about the believability, quality, visions and depth of the universe. Even so-so books can have a rich and wonderful universe, such as Dark Eden (I can still picture the world with the weird poisonous plants).
The Universe in this book is decently drawn. It’s an alternative reality for current United States, so set on Earth, but with different science, politics, currency, pop culture, etc. because of some deviation years ago from the timeline of the United States that we (American) readers call home. Our main six protagonists get only fleeting views of the universe of Alt. America in the beginning of the book while they are at the facility in South California. They see more of it in their road trip across the country, but it’s rather haphazardly introduced and I don’t even get a really coherent view of Alt. America.
The facility at the beginning is itself a “universe” but all of the protagonists know that there is a larger world out there different from their home, so it was probably intentional that we readers shared their frustration about not getting a good glimpse of the world. That’s fine as a plot device (which was worked in spectacular effect in Room where a huge chunk of the book is set entirely in a very confined space with no contact with the outside world outside of a tv), but the part we missed was the six Silvers’ moments of discovery after leaving the facility. Some of the protagonists read some history books, but otherwise there is no explanation of how everyone else doesn’t seem to notice or care about the changes. There are some interesting tidbits. For example, entertainment and pop culture all suffered in this Alt. America because of protectionist cultural restrictions that prevented George Lucas from seeing “The Seven Samurai” so instead everything is terribly boring. The description of the music was similar to the popular music from “The Lego Movie”. But in such a world, characters coming from our world would notice more, comment on more, and it would have more details, I would think. A better literary example of Alt. America as the universe is The Man In the High Castle, which although written 50 years ago was just last year made into a tv series and the Alt. America universe is definitely a huge factor – visually stunning images of the German Nazi and Japanese occupation of the United States. On the whole, the premise is a good start to a compelling universe, but we could have definitely used more telling details.
2. The Plot / Story – I’m a sucker for a compelling plot, and will forgive a lot in the line of plot, dialogue, characters, and even universe for a really good story. Heck, I read all of the Twilight books, as the story was unique in its time. It’s hard to believe it, but young adult paranormal romance wasn’t a genre with its own section at Barnes & Noble before Twilight. Anyway, how was the plot? The set up was quite excellent, and the first chapter’s prequel of the action set 20 years before the apocalypse was an excellent hook. I’ve been suckered in before with an interesting premise and starting chapters, like I was with Undertow, but what happens after we get going?
Even though it is sometimes hard to track the action in a novel when there are multiple main characters (there really are six in here – see below for a discussion about them and the huge rest of the cast), this was decently clear. For the most part, the plot is pretty strong. These Silvers were brought from their dying world to a parallel universe for some reason, and then a bunch of groups are coming after them, wanting to use them or kill them or something. Spoilery theory, but it isn’t exactly clear so I could be wrong
There are also a couple other things which don’t make any sense, seem like plot-holes, or seem out of character for our characters, so this could have been a little tighter.
• Why do they mentioned “golds” as well as “silvers” as there is no explanation of what next level of special-ness does it takes to be a gold?
• We need to get across the country to Peter as he has all the answers, but then let’s just screw around for weeks and weeks along the way. Why in the world are they jacking around so much on this trip rather than trying to find out what Peter knows?
• Spoilery
• Some of the stuff happening that was so confusing, I just decided to move on. To quote the book itself: “Theo shook his head in hopeless perplexity.”
The plot was interesting, but it seemed that it was overly complicated just for the sake of being complex. A little editing to tighten up the action might have helped, which brings me to another point. If they ever make a movie, they are going to need to trim down the number of characters.
3. Characters – The main six characters are all unique and compelling. Unlike some books with large casts, all of these main characters have their own voices and are easily distinguishable, even on audiobook (which sometimes leads to character confusion, in my experience anyway). Like Mia, I also wanted to slap the sisters when they were bickering about stupid shit, completely insensitive to the fact that all of their companions lost their entire families. But that seemed believable. One part that was annoying and distracting was the repeated use of weird titles of the main six characters – the orphans, the cartoonist, the actress, the widow – which was the worst. Seriously, Amanda was a nurse, but no, she is constantly called “the widow” as if Derek deserved that type of credit for her identity on a recurring basis in a new universe after he was such a dick.
I also agree with some of the other reviewers who felt like the author dwelled a little too much on certain of the physical characteristics of the female characters, and I say this as a woman who reads books. It’s one thing to have a misogynstic characters (let’s call him Evan) who calls two sisters “Tits McGee” and “A-cup” (in Chapter 34) as those could be the words of a jerky character. However, it isn’t just Evan who fixates on Hannah’s breasts, other women’s inferior breasts, and Mia’s weight. There seems to be unnecessary physical descriptions of women’s anatomy in every single chapter. I found it distracting and a sign of immaturity or lazy writing. Every time I read yet another description of Amanda complaining about Hannah picking out the tightest tank top from the available clothes, or about how Melissa’s rack is sub-par but she has rock hard abs, etc., it completely took me out of the story and made me picture a juvenile author typing on a computer in his parents’ basement. This opinion was reinforced when I read some other reviews mentioning this same criticism on Goodreads and saw the author jump in to defend his “art” rather than either just stay quiet and letter readers have their say, or else, oh I don’t know, learn and grow and become a better writer who doesn’t alienate half the world with these frequent and distracting flights of fantasy. I wouldn’t have mentioned this for more than one sentence if I hadn’t seen that ludicrously defensive response to well-founded criticism.
Other than that, the main six characters are rather great. They seem very real, and their interactions ring true. It gets a little muddier because there is so much detail about all of the groups of “others” that our Silvers encounter. Let’s count, shall we: 1.) the trio of god-like characters that run around handing out silver bracelets, 2.) a cadre of physicists who run the research center in South California (including one who gets Theo off alcohol and two who are having an affair), 3.) an entire family of security guards working for the research facility, 4.) the group of Gothams lead by Rebel / Richard who attach the Silvers at the research center – tons of characters and background and details here, 5.) the splintered off group of Gothams lead by Peter (who also has a kid that we meet), we think (whom we hear about for the whole darn book, but hardly ever see), 6.) the government agency looking for the Silvers that start tracking them in South California, lead by Melissa, 7.) the rival governmental agency called Integrity wanting to horn in on the investigation, 8.) Evan, pretty much the only faction that doesn’t have a dozen different people to track, but he does come with his own backstory cast of thousands, including his dad, the convenience store guy, a Silver lady who married a pro athlete, and who knows who else, 9.) the family and important back-story characters for all 6 of the main characters, and then 10.) everyone else they encounter along the way. It’s too many people to care about, so I started to just not care. I got character overload. I can only care about Melissa and hate Evan and have empathy for Rebel/Richard and worry about Asrial for so long – I can’t possibly also care that Melissa’s government agency has a rival agency and there is a guy there who wants to ask her out. Seriously, stop already. This book could be shorter and make a lot more sense with some editing.
4. Relatability -- Can I identify with these characters, this universe, the action in this novel? Yes, for the most part. There wasn’t anyone that I could say “oh wow, that would be me” in this situation, but they didn’t seem like a pack of whiney millenials, so that is always a good thing. I’m debating right now whether I nominate this book for my bookclub, which is all about this genre, as I’m sure it would be: 1.) controversial, and 2.) a conversation starter, two things which lead for an interesting book discussion. I thought the premise was thought provoking and the characters and plot were interesting, but I find myself not avidly stalking the next installment in this series (despite lots of open issues at the end of this book). This is one of the longest reviews I’ve written in a long time, so it is a thought-provoking book – I just don’t know if it’s very good.
I think four tent poles, the fundamentals of sci-fi / fantasy genre books are: 1.) universe, 2.) plot / story, 3.) characters, and 4.) relatability/ connection to the reader. On these four criteria, I think it is ultimately successful, but does perform better in some areas than others.
1. The Universe – The “world-building” or universe of the novel is probably more important than sci-fi/ fantasy/ alternative reality books than any other genre, and what can pull in its readers the most. Done well, it can be a world that readers actually want to live in, causes readers to rail against theatrical productions that don’t match their visions, and can lead to lively debates in book club meetings. I’ve seen folks in my book clubs argue about the feasibility of mining for hydrogen on the surface of Mars, thanks to Red Rising, and other such debates about the believability, quality, visions and depth of the universe. Even so-so books can have a rich and wonderful universe, such as Dark Eden (I can still picture the world with the weird poisonous plants).
The Universe in this book is decently drawn. It’s an alternative reality for current United States, so set on Earth, but with different science, politics, currency, pop culture, etc. because of some deviation years ago from the timeline of the United States that we (American) readers call home. Our main six protagonists get only fleeting views of the universe of Alt. America in the beginning of the book while they are at the facility in South California. They see more of it in their road trip across the country, but it’s rather haphazardly introduced and I don’t even get a really coherent view of Alt. America.
The facility at the beginning is itself a “universe” but all of the protagonists know that there is a larger world out there different from their home, so it was probably intentional that we readers shared their frustration about not getting a good glimpse of the world. That’s fine as a plot device (which was worked in spectacular effect in Room where a huge chunk of the book is set entirely in a very confined space with no contact with the outside world outside of a tv), but the part we missed was the six Silvers’ moments of discovery after leaving the facility. Some of the protagonists read some history books, but otherwise there is no explanation of how everyone else doesn’t seem to notice or care about the changes. There are some interesting tidbits. For example, entertainment and pop culture all suffered in this Alt. America because of protectionist cultural restrictions that prevented George Lucas from seeing “The Seven Samurai” so instead everything is terribly boring. The description of the music was similar to the popular music from “The Lego Movie”. But in such a world, characters coming from our world would notice more, comment on more, and it would have more details, I would think. A better literary example of Alt. America as the universe is The Man In the High Castle, which although written 50 years ago was just last year made into a tv series and the Alt. America universe is definitely a huge factor – visually stunning images of the German Nazi and Japanese occupation of the United States. On the whole, the premise is a good start to a compelling universe, but we could have definitely used more telling details.
2. The Plot / Story – I’m a sucker for a compelling plot, and will forgive a lot in the line of plot, dialogue, characters, and even universe for a really good story. Heck, I read all of the Twilight books, as the story was unique in its time. It’s hard to believe it, but young adult paranormal romance wasn’t a genre with its own section at Barnes & Noble before Twilight. Anyway, how was the plot? The set up was quite excellent, and the first chapter’s prequel of the action set 20 years before the apocalypse was an excellent hook. I’ve been suckered in before with an interesting premise and starting chapters, like I was with Undertow, but what happens after we get going?
Even though it is sometimes hard to track the action in a novel when there are multiple main characters (there really are six in here – see below for a discussion about them and the huge rest of the cast), this was decently clear. For the most part, the plot is pretty strong. These Silvers were brought from their dying world to a parallel universe for some reason, and then a bunch of groups are coming after them, wanting to use them or kill them or something. Spoilery theory, but it isn’t exactly clear so I could be wrong
Spoiler
Asrial and his parents brought them there because these folks are needed to breed with others on this world to create the future generation specials which include Asrial and his parents, very self-serving, but otherwise, why?.There are also a couple other things which don’t make any sense, seem like plot-holes, or seem out of character for our characters, so this could have been a little tighter.
• Why do they mentioned “golds” as well as “silvers” as there is no explanation of what next level of special-ness does it takes to be a gold?
• We need to get across the country to Peter as he has all the answers, but then let’s just screw around for weeks and weeks along the way. Why in the world are they jacking around so much on this trip rather than trying to find out what Peter knows?
• Spoilery
Spoiler
Why is the South California group pulling Silvers from around the country, but Asrial and company seem completely unaware (if what Rebel / Richard told Zack the cartoonist about killing his brother in New York was accurate) that there are other groups pulling from the same universe as our Silvers? Who is doing this if not Asrial and family? Why bring other Silvers from “our” world into this same parallel universe as the Givens sisters, as aren’t there infinite other parallel world they could go?• Some of the stuff happening that was so confusing, I just decided to move on. To quote the book itself: “Theo shook his head in hopeless perplexity.”
The plot was interesting, but it seemed that it was overly complicated just for the sake of being complex. A little editing to tighten up the action might have helped, which brings me to another point. If they ever make a movie, they are going to need to trim down the number of characters.
3. Characters – The main six characters are all unique and compelling. Unlike some books with large casts, all of these main characters have their own voices and are easily distinguishable, even on audiobook (which sometimes leads to character confusion, in my experience anyway). Like Mia, I also wanted to slap the sisters when they were bickering about stupid shit, completely insensitive to the fact that all of their companions lost their entire families. But that seemed believable. One part that was annoying and distracting was the repeated use of weird titles of the main six characters – the orphans, the cartoonist, the actress, the widow – which was the worst. Seriously, Amanda was a nurse, but no, she is constantly called “the widow” as if Derek deserved that type of credit for her identity on a recurring basis in a new universe after he was such a dick.
I also agree with some of the other reviewers who felt like the author dwelled a little too much on certain of the physical characteristics of the female characters, and I say this as a woman who reads books. It’s one thing to have a misogynstic characters (let’s call him Evan) who calls two sisters “Tits McGee” and “A-cup” (in Chapter 34) as those could be the words of a jerky character. However, it isn’t just Evan who fixates on Hannah’s breasts, other women’s inferior breasts, and Mia’s weight. There seems to be unnecessary physical descriptions of women’s anatomy in every single chapter. I found it distracting and a sign of immaturity or lazy writing. Every time I read yet another description of Amanda complaining about Hannah picking out the tightest tank top from the available clothes, or about how Melissa’s rack is sub-par but she has rock hard abs, etc., it completely took me out of the story and made me picture a juvenile author typing on a computer in his parents’ basement. This opinion was reinforced when I read some other reviews mentioning this same criticism on Goodreads and saw the author jump in to defend his “art” rather than either just stay quiet and letter readers have their say, or else, oh I don’t know, learn and grow and become a better writer who doesn’t alienate half the world with these frequent and distracting flights of fantasy. I wouldn’t have mentioned this for more than one sentence if I hadn’t seen that ludicrously defensive response to well-founded criticism.
Other than that, the main six characters are rather great. They seem very real, and their interactions ring true. It gets a little muddier because there is so much detail about all of the groups of “others” that our Silvers encounter. Let’s count, shall we: 1.) the trio of god-like characters that run around handing out silver bracelets, 2.) a cadre of physicists who run the research center in South California (including one who gets Theo off alcohol and two who are having an affair), 3.) an entire family of security guards working for the research facility, 4.) the group of Gothams lead by Rebel / Richard who attach the Silvers at the research center – tons of characters and background and details here, 5.) the splintered off group of Gothams lead by Peter (who also has a kid that we meet), we think (whom we hear about for the whole darn book, but hardly ever see), 6.) the government agency looking for the Silvers that start tracking them in South California, lead by Melissa, 7.) the rival governmental agency called Integrity wanting to horn in on the investigation, 8.) Evan, pretty much the only faction that doesn’t have a dozen different people to track, but he does come with his own backstory cast of thousands, including his dad, the convenience store guy, a Silver lady who married a pro athlete, and who knows who else, 9.) the family and important back-story characters for all 6 of the main characters, and then 10.) everyone else they encounter along the way. It’s too many people to care about, so I started to just not care. I got character overload. I can only care about Melissa and hate Evan and have empathy for Rebel/Richard and worry about Asrial for so long – I can’t possibly also care that Melissa’s government agency has a rival agency and there is a guy there who wants to ask her out. Seriously, stop already. This book could be shorter and make a lot more sense with some editing.
4. Relatability -- Can I identify with these characters, this universe, the action in this novel? Yes, for the most part. There wasn’t anyone that I could say “oh wow, that would be me” in this situation, but they didn’t seem like a pack of whiney millenials, so that is always a good thing. I’m debating right now whether I nominate this book for my bookclub, which is all about this genre, as I’m sure it would be: 1.) controversial, and 2.) a conversation starter, two things which lead for an interesting book discussion. I thought the premise was thought provoking and the characters and plot were interesting, but I find myself not avidly stalking the next installment in this series (despite lots of open issues at the end of this book). This is one of the longest reviews I’ve written in a long time, so it is a thought-provoking book – I just don’t know if it’s very good.