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A review by radioactiv
The Eighth Guardian by Meredith McCardle
3.5
I enjoyed reading the book in a the way someone enjoys a sugary dessert - all fluff, no nutrients. It's fun but I wish there was more substance underneath. Hard to rate... enjoyment-wise? Pretty good. But parts start to unravel when you think about them.
If you think about McCardle's approach to Time Travel, there is a paradox issue... The way the book is set up, it seems like the people who "enhance" the past can remember the previous history (their memories move into the parallel universe unchanged) while everyone else essentially has their memories changed to fit the new reality. Spoiler How, then, does Alpha remember what the previous history and the mission of each trip was?
Beyond this, what happens when things change dramatically (over 50,000 Americans were killed in Vietnam. Soldiers who might get married and have kids... who is to say that it wouldn't alter a guard member or EI person's life by changing that? They might never have been born). This would also be an issue if someone were to, I don't know, give penicilin to someone who would otherwise die young. Because that person ("A") might marry "B" who was otherwise going to marry "C". And "B" and "C" could have been the ancestors of someone important (or be YOUR ancestor or someone who saved one of your ancestors!), who now won't exist.
And how is the bribery issue happening?
Let's say I was the person who wanted to change the Boston Massacre. I contact Alpha to set it up.
- If I am supposed to pay him after the fact/only give a down payment and he collects the full later, it won't work. History will be rewritten and I will never have contacted him (since there would have been no reason to), so I'm not going to pay him off.
- Who the fuck is going to give someone large sums of money (up to $10M for the JFK assassination) without assurance that it will happen? Doesn't seem likely. And it's not like Alpha could prove it worked, as history completely changes itself when they go back, so the I would believe the event had always been that way once altered.
(aside: how the hell did she not realize the JFK one went through when her own failure was angrily crossed out. Dontcha think she would've realized he would have angrily crossed out the $10M if it didn't happen?!)
And, on a different note, I'm a little surprised that McCardle's editor didn't step in to tighten up the set-up of the plot/novel.
In particular, more time should have been spent establishing Amanda/Iris and Abe at Peel Academy. This would:
A) give me a sense of the character when she isn't out of her element. Also, the author might have been able to establish Amanda as having some authority issues despite Peel's curriculum, since that stood out as a WTF thing to me. She's in a military-esque school that trains kids for the CIA and yet she can't obey orders?
B) lead me to care about Abe, who we only know for a brief second before Amanda is taken for Annum Guard. Seriously, she's taken away at the end of the 2nd chapter and the 1st is dedicated to her test. As it is, Amanda's moping about her relationship doesn't raise sympathy within me. Instead, I feel like Yellow, Violet, etc. - annoyed with Amanda's whining.
C) provide the author with an opportunity to establish Amanda's motives for being at Peel early on, including introducing her family situation.
D) Introduce the Headmaster more thoroughly.
E) Allow us to see Tyler earlier
(possibly also let us see that Peel has crap history classes because who doesn't know that the Emancipation Proclamation only applied to slaves in seceded states?)
In my opinion, the best idea would be to introduce Amanda during her Sophomore year, during which we witness Tyler's 2nd Testing Day. This briefly establishes Tyler AND the idea that Juniors don't pass. It also gives us time to warm to Abe and learn about Amanda's family (since Amanda's testing day was in October, just a few months after Tyler's, we can see Amanda & Abe planning their Thanksgiving plans, giving us information on Amanda's mom & Amanda's relationship with Abe's family)
Because, honestly, while Amanda's focus on Abe is realistic, it's frustrating that we're simply being told why Abe is wonderful, etc. Despite this, it was pretty clear that he was going to show up again in the plot.
I wish the other characters were better fleshed out. All of the characters except Amanda/Iris are quite flat - I don't know nearly enough about them to predict or understand their actions. Hell, I can't tell you anything about Orange than he is mid-20s and has orange-y hair, or anything about Green other than he's a bit skeevy and his dad was Beta. Even Indigo and Yellow, the most fleshed out 3rd gens, are a mystery.
I'm going with 3.5 stars right now. In some ways it seems generous, in other ways a low ball (I did fly through the book, plus I'm looking forward to reading a follow-up. I just don't know if this version of time travel will be sustainable, given the paradox issues & I am disappointed in the lack of depth among the characters)
If you think about McCardle's approach to Time Travel, there is a paradox issue... The way the book is set up, it seems like the people who "enhance" the past can remember the previous history (their memories move into the parallel universe unchanged) while everyone else essentially has their memories changed to fit the new reality. Spoiler How, then, does Alpha remember what the previous history and the mission of each trip was?
Beyond this, what happens when things change dramatically (over 50,000 Americans were killed in Vietnam. Soldiers who might get married and have kids... who is to say that it wouldn't alter a guard member or EI person's life by changing that? They might never have been born). This would also be an issue if someone were to, I don't know, give penicilin to someone who would otherwise die young. Because that person ("A") might marry "B" who was otherwise going to marry "C". And "B" and "C" could have been the ancestors of someone important (or be YOUR ancestor or someone who saved one of your ancestors!), who now won't exist.
And how is the bribery issue happening?
Let's say I was the person who wanted to change the Boston Massacre. I contact Alpha to set it up.
- If I am supposed to pay him after the fact/only give a down payment and he collects the full later, it won't work. History will be rewritten and I will never have contacted him (since there would have been no reason to), so I'm not going to pay him off.
- Who the fuck is going to give someone large sums of money (up to $10M for the JFK assassination) without assurance that it will happen? Doesn't seem likely. And it's not like Alpha could prove it worked, as history completely changes itself when they go back, so the I would believe the event had always been that way once altered.
(aside: how the hell did she not realize the JFK one went through when her own failure was angrily crossed out. Dontcha think she would've realized he would have angrily crossed out the $10M if it didn't happen?!)
And, on a different note, I'm a little surprised that McCardle's editor didn't step in to tighten up the set-up of the plot/novel.
In particular, more time should have been spent establishing Amanda/Iris and Abe at Peel Academy. This would:
A) give me a sense of the character when she isn't out of her element. Also, the author might have been able to establish Amanda as having some authority issues despite Peel's curriculum, since that stood out as a WTF thing to me. She's in a military-esque school that trains kids for the CIA and yet she can't obey orders?
B) lead me to care about Abe, who we only know for a brief second before Amanda is taken for Annum Guard. Seriously, she's taken away at the end of the 2nd chapter and the 1st is dedicated to her test. As it is, Amanda's moping about her relationship doesn't raise sympathy within me. Instead, I feel like Yellow, Violet, etc. - annoyed with Amanda's whining.
C) provide the author with an opportunity to establish Amanda's motives for being at Peel early on, including introducing her family situation.
D) Introduce the Headmaster more thoroughly.
E) Allow us to see Tyler earlier
(possibly also let us see that Peel has crap history classes because who doesn't know that the Emancipation Proclamation only applied to slaves in seceded states?)
In my opinion, the best idea would be to introduce Amanda during her Sophomore year, during which we witness Tyler's 2nd Testing Day. This briefly establishes Tyler AND the idea that Juniors don't pass. It also gives us time to warm to Abe and learn about Amanda's family (since Amanda's testing day was in October, just a few months after Tyler's, we can see Amanda & Abe planning their Thanksgiving plans, giving us information on Amanda's mom & Amanda's relationship with Abe's family)
Because, honestly, while Amanda's focus on Abe is realistic, it's frustrating that we're simply being told why Abe is wonderful, etc. Despite this, it was pretty clear that he was going to show up again in the plot.
I wish the other characters were better fleshed out. All of the characters except Amanda/Iris are quite flat - I don't know nearly enough about them to predict or understand their actions. Hell, I can't tell you anything about Orange than he is mid-20s and has orange-y hair, or anything about Green other than he's a bit skeevy and his dad was Beta. Even Indigo and Yellow, the most fleshed out 3rd gens, are a mystery.
I'm going with 3.5 stars right now. In some ways it seems generous, in other ways a low ball (I did fly through the book, plus I'm looking forward to reading a follow-up. I just don't know if this version of time travel will be sustainable, given the paradox issues & I am disappointed in the lack of depth among the characters)