reMix by Jon Courtenay Grimwood

[Vertigo]

I find Grimwood’s books very hard to evaluate; I have given each of the three ‘Cyber Noir’ books, of which this one is the third, just three stars, which normally would mean that I have had enough of this author and would be unlikely to return to them, and yet I know I will return. I’m not absolutely sure what keeps bringing me back to him but I think it might be that I simply love his stories, characters, settings and action; they are brilliant, dynamic, punchy cyberpunk. So why aren’t I giving them 4 or 5 stars? The problem is that the finishing is poor; the details are messy and often don’t add up or don’t make sense. There are frequent consistency and continuity errors. For example the following two extracts occur within 10 pages of each other and are describing the same rotating wheel habitat:

“…a fat fifty-kilometre silver ring that spun twenty times an hour around the spindle, like a vast wheel rolling around a hub.”

“At a speed of one revolution every twenty seconds, any decent pilot could dock without trouble.”

Now maybe I’m being picky but the trouble is that I can’t help noticing this sort of thing and, even if I’m prepared to shrug it off (as I do), it has already pulled me out of my immersion in the story and that spoils it for me. A great shame because otherwise I do love Grimwood’s work.

I did have one other complaint with this book. The ending was very rushed and abrupt and many strands were left unresolved. To be honest it felt like it was being left open for a fourth book, however 14 years on that now seems unlikely!

 

[Gramm838]

I agree with your comments about his cyber-noir trio...but given the time that they were published, maybe he trying a variation on the Gibson theme, and nearly did it, but not quite.

However his next trio - the Arabesk trio - are fantastic books that I go back to time and again, although you do have to concentrate to follow the story lines. The central character Ashraf is ultra cool and troubled, just as a lead character should be, and the alternative-history Ottoman Empire is completely believable too.

That's the good stuff; the other stuff - Nine Tail Fox and Stamping Butterflies - just went right over my head and I just didn't get them.

I won't comment on his Venetian Vampire efforts as I've only read part of the first volume.

 

[Vertigo]

I'll probably be leaving his urban fantasy stuff alone as it's not my cup of tea. However I do have my eye on his Arabesk trilogy so it's good to here you think it's better! To be fair these books were his first novels and were I think very much inspired by Gibson. And actually I've just noticed that there is a fourth cyber noir book - Red Robe - which I will probably read first though it looks like a much more stand alone book.