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A review by thegoodmariner
The January Dancer by Michael Flynn
3.0
3.5, actually. This is the most ambivalent I've felt about a book lately. Flynn writes beautifully, but both he and his characters slip in and out of a planetary patois that gets distracting at times. The worlds are so well-developed, using traces of Earth-bound cultures that he imagines as precursors to intergalactic societies, but he also goes so far into explaining the science of landing a jet or cross-spatial communication that parts of the book become burdensome. The plot is exciting, twisting more than the Dancing Stone around which the story is set, but it twists maybe one or two times too many, leaving the final chapter pay-off a little anti-climactic and the final-page twist so esoteric I had to read it three times to make sure I understood.
Having said all of these things, good and bad, I will say that it is the first book in a series of three (the third due out next week) and I fully intend to come back to the arc, sooner than later. The characters are engaging and the set-up for book number two intrigues me. I'll probably read another book or two first before I return, but it feels at least good enough to return to at this point.
Having said all of these things, good and bad, I will say that it is the first book in a series of three (the third due out next week) and I fully intend to come back to the arc, sooner than later. The characters are engaging and the set-up for book number two intrigues me. I'll probably read another book or two first before I return, but it feels at least good enough to return to at this point.