Karsa Orlong
Unchained
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2006
- Messages
- 201
Just finished.
I think you're right, Somebloke, to an extent. For starters, Bishop sometimes falls into that trap of giving her philosophising too much space at the expense of furthering the storyline. If you're going to effectively flood a piece of fantasy with philosophical musings, it must be subtle and ingrained entirely into the story, and occasionally the philosophy seems to take up too much of the foreground. Then again, there's an argument for saying the *story* of this book revolves around the internal, rather than external events. Perhaps the musings had to take centre stage at times. There's a build up and climax of sorts, but it's all rather small-scale, and because of the ambiguous morality littering the book and the detached nature of the characters it follows there's a sense that nothing too important ever happens events-wise - the focus is on internal, mental and spiritual considerations. It's all rather cyclic too - I thought the ending (POSSIBLE SPOILER: the way the two move on to somewhere else just as they were at the start) was extremely fitting for both characters, typifying their attitudes and the mood of the book in general.
A more pressing flaw for me was that at times she used ambiguous, philosophical dialogue but at times failed to keep it sounding natural and unpretentious. This happens with a lot of experienced authors, so this criticism isn't a severe one, but it's something for her to improve upon in the future. Another possible flaw is that Gwynn gets so much more focus than Raule once things get going - I wonder if this was meant from the outset or if she initially intended more of a balance between the two of them.
Enough picking at negatives! Despite its flaws, I think this was a cracking read. Packed full of surreal imagery, thrown about almost carelessly at times, the writing is unusually free-roaming and unpredictable - gives the impression that it's floating on the wind. A reflection of this is found in the central characters Gwynn and Raule, two fascinating people totally devoid of sentimentality, letting themselves drift through life with no clear purpose in mind, often acting upon whims and morbid fascinations, surprised by little and moved by even less.
They find themselves in the surreal, somewhat dystopic city of Ashamoil (which for me has no clear comparison points - always a good thing), and through the events which unfold compelling internal conflicts and paradoxes are examined rather beautifully; notable examples include Gwynn's honest and rational mind conflicting with his longing for the ambiguous and the divine, whilst Raule devotes herself to a compassionate purpose when she herself is apathetic. Bishop considers a wide range of metaphysical, aesthetic and ethical issues, frequently offering unusual, intriguing and often insightful and refreshing perspectives on the world. For those less interested in this and more interested in a riveting story, I'm sure you won't come away disappointed by this either even if you'd probably prefer the philosophising to be thinned out. There's treachery, intrigue, mystery, romance, atmosphere - everything you could want. All in all, a grand debut.
