Friday, 12 July 2013 12:55 pm
Book Review: Shadowplay
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deckardcanineAs I mentioned before, it had been too long since I finished Shadowmarch. Not only did I have difficulty piecing together everyone's situation at the start of the sequel, but I now have trouble comparing the two books in terms of quality. For this and other reasons, I suspect that my memory for trivia is fading, which may or may not be a good sign.
From what I do remember, Shadowplay feels about the same. Sure, there's more danger for the heroes, more travel, more characters to meet, a few more important deaths, and more fantasy premises, but the atmosphere is unchanged. There's still basically none of the comic relief I used to enjoy from Tad Williams. It still resembles a gloomier rewrite of his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, tho I didn't expect that to let up before the series resolution. It doesn't seem like much happened in the course of 640 pages: You could summarize each focal character's story progress in a simple paragraph. I dunno; maybe other Williams books are just as slow, but I didn't notice because I enjoyed the events more. Again, this may have more to do with changes in my own priorities.
I will give Shadowplay credit for the greatest presence of females in a Williams book, with the possible exception of Otherland volumes. It handily passes the Bechdel Test in many chapters. If only I could take more interest in the characters' personalities! Several of my favorites were villains, and even they tended to be either familiar archetypes or frustrating enigmas.
Speaking of frustrating enigmas, this volume raises more questions than it answers, and the answers we do get are seldom satisfying. Brief revelations about the pseudomedieval world's gods and other sapients remind me of disagreeable other stories. I retain some curiosity as to how the series ends, but it's unwise to read a tome for the destination rather than the journey.
One last complaint: DAW Books appears to have fired its copy editors. Yes, it's a long book with lots of made-up names and words, but that doesn't excuse many of the dozens of errors I found.
If I read another sequel to a downer fantasy, it'll be The Wise Man's Fear, continuing from The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. In the meantime, I've picked up Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel -- the first time I'll have read two volumes of an adult series out of order.
From what I do remember, Shadowplay feels about the same. Sure, there's more danger for the heroes, more travel, more characters to meet, a few more important deaths, and more fantasy premises, but the atmosphere is unchanged. There's still basically none of the comic relief I used to enjoy from Tad Williams. It still resembles a gloomier rewrite of his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, tho I didn't expect that to let up before the series resolution. It doesn't seem like much happened in the course of 640 pages: You could summarize each focal character's story progress in a simple paragraph. I dunno; maybe other Williams books are just as slow, but I didn't notice because I enjoyed the events more. Again, this may have more to do with changes in my own priorities.
I will give Shadowplay credit for the greatest presence of females in a Williams book, with the possible exception of Otherland volumes. It handily passes the Bechdel Test in many chapters. If only I could take more interest in the characters' personalities! Several of my favorites were villains, and even they tended to be either familiar archetypes or frustrating enigmas.
Speaking of frustrating enigmas, this volume raises more questions than it answers, and the answers we do get are seldom satisfying. Brief revelations about the pseudomedieval world's gods and other sapients remind me of disagreeable other stories. I retain some curiosity as to how the series ends, but it's unwise to read a tome for the destination rather than the journey.
One last complaint: DAW Books appears to have fired its copy editors. Yes, it's a long book with lots of made-up names and words, but that doesn't excuse many of the dozens of errors I found.
If I read another sequel to a downer fantasy, it'll be The Wise Man's Fear, continuing from The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. In the meantime, I've picked up Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel -- the first time I'll have read two volumes of an adult series out of order.
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