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alexxkayWell, it's finally over. While I greatly enjoyed a lot of the pieces, I don't think the "Company" series as a whole can be said to be an artistic success.
As a whole, the series suffers from a problem many first-time authors face: it includes everything *and* the kitchen sink, often getting bogged down in just how many ideas it has to reconcile: time travel, immortal cyborgs, temporal paradox, fairies-under-the-hill, paranormal radiation, clones with shared memories, satirical social SF... each of these ideas is Cool, but fitting the into a universe that feels coherent is a very tall order indeed. Curiously, this problem, often seen in an author's early novels, is *not* visible (except in hindsight) in Baker's first few novels. It's as if she sensed how difficult a job she had set herself, and deliberately restricted which plot elements she would focus on until the series was well underway. It's clear that she knew all of those elements *would* be there, as they are skillfully and subtly foreshadowed in the very first book. But when it comes time to answer the mysteries, and bring them into sharp focus, even her increased skill as a writer is not (imho) up to the challenge of making all these disparate plot elements cohere well.
The main characters for the bulk of the series have become remarkably passive in this book. Mendoza, Joseph, and Alec are all dominated by the plans of the strong males around them. Of all people, it's *Lewis* who comes closest to being proactive, and he is blind and crippled! Alec manages to become even *more* whiny, remarkably, through another baroque plot development that turns him into a toddler.
The espionage elements of the plot have also become baroque. As The End Of Recorded Time approaches, I count at least ten different factions vying to control what happens. Even the best informed of these is only aware of a few of the others. And I say "at least ten", because even these factions are factionalized, with schism and/or betrayal a constant possibility.
Not that any of it matters, really. All these plots either cancel each other out, or are rendered moot by a truly massive Deus Ex Machina in the end. In the final pages, one of the now-omnipotent characters waves his magic wand, and everyone (who deserves it) gets a reasonably happy ending. To me, it feels quite arbitrary and unconvincing.
The short stories and novellas in this series range in quality from OK to Highly Recommended. The mainline novels, however, have an increasingly fractured tone and are Not Recommended.
As a whole, the series suffers from a problem many first-time authors face: it includes everything *and* the kitchen sink, often getting bogged down in just how many ideas it has to reconcile: time travel, immortal cyborgs, temporal paradox, fairies-under-the-hill, paranormal radiation, clones with shared memories, satirical social SF... each of these ideas is Cool, but fitting the into a universe that feels coherent is a very tall order indeed. Curiously, this problem, often seen in an author's early novels, is *not* visible (except in hindsight) in Baker's first few novels. It's as if she sensed how difficult a job she had set herself, and deliberately restricted which plot elements she would focus on until the series was well underway. It's clear that she knew all of those elements *would* be there, as they are skillfully and subtly foreshadowed in the very first book. But when it comes time to answer the mysteries, and bring them into sharp focus, even her increased skill as a writer is not (imho) up to the challenge of making all these disparate plot elements cohere well.
The main characters for the bulk of the series have become remarkably passive in this book. Mendoza, Joseph, and Alec are all dominated by the plans of the strong males around them. Of all people, it's *Lewis* who comes closest to being proactive, and he is blind and crippled! Alec manages to become even *more* whiny, remarkably, through another baroque plot development that turns him into a toddler.
The espionage elements of the plot have also become baroque. As The End Of Recorded Time approaches, I count at least ten different factions vying to control what happens. Even the best informed of these is only aware of a few of the others. And I say "at least ten", because even these factions are factionalized, with schism and/or betrayal a constant possibility.
Not that any of it matters, really. All these plots either cancel each other out, or are rendered moot by a truly massive Deus Ex Machina in the end. In the final pages, one of the now-omnipotent characters waves his magic wand, and everyone (who deserves it) gets a reasonably happy ending. To me, it feels quite arbitrary and unconvincing.
The short stories and novellas in this series range in quality from OK to Highly Recommended. The mainline novels, however, have an increasingly fractured tone and are Not Recommended.
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Date: 2007-08-11 09:50 am (UTC)Whereas I found it well supported and amusingly self-aware. To me, it was a great finale to the delight of all the other novels and assorted stories.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-11 11:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-11 04:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-11 05:22 pm (UTC)