Review: Interesting plot, but didn't care for the characters
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 19, 2014
Xanadu follows Nicolas, a scoundrel of sorts, on his adventure to Afghanistan to acquire ivory carvings to swipe and sell. Along the way, he encounters hostile police, tense Mahjong games, and endless trouble. The book does somewhat remind me almost of a Clive Cussler book interlaced with a little of Casino Royale, which the book itself draws comparisons to. Yet I wouldn’t say it quite reaches either, or even aspires to, instead eking out its own path in the adventure genre.However, one of my problems with this book is the main cast of characters. I’m not above having an antihero thief as the main character. That accounts for about half of adventure books after all. And I encourage giving characters flaws to make them really human. But it’s a fine line between likeable and unlikable and Nicolas falls into the latter category. It was just the wrong combination for me, from his infidelity nature to becoming more and more of a full-on jerk as the story went on and everything else in between. I just couldn’t ever sympathize or root for him. Some of the villains were more sympathetic than him. In fact, I think I’d be more inclined to root for one of the villains rather than Nicolas. And that he concedes to calling himself a jerk doesn’t help. The rest of his crew isn’t any better in my eyes. They’re either just as unlikable or leave no lasting impression, such as Hepzibah, who I can only recall is in the French army. The informant Chen is just a cowardly apologist, Nicolas’ friend Estrade chases anything on two legs, and the less said about Bibi and her grating faux-slang speech, the better. Except for maybe Chen or Hepzibah in spots, I didn’t care for any of them.That’s not to say that all the characters are bad. Surprisingly, most of the side characters are quite varied and even though many have short scenes, you still remember them. Mind you, I didn’t like all of them, but many were interesting. The ones that impressed me the most were the villains. They’re not given much time in the book, but they’re built up so well and their parts are written effectively, using every bit well enough that you end up hating them, in a good vs. evil kind of way. It really seems like much of the color and variety one would expect in the rag-tag motley main crew went instead to these side characters.Yet, as good as many of the side characters are, a lot of them feel unnecessary. There’s this large group of them, paraded through the story, but given nothing to do. They just sort of show up and go, like Pierre, who Hepzibah just brings around now and then, or the lawyer who is offended by porn that Estrade sold him. These side excursions seem to muddle the story and make it meander off the path. The aforementioned lawyer shows up in one scene, is introduced, then the entire situation is resolved in a short scene a few chapters later, never to be heard of again. And this is a problem, as many of these side plots are brought up, swiftly solved, and then dropped, leaving one to wonder what the point of them were.This happens with side notes as well, as annotations are made in the text to the back of the book, rather than weaving the annotated text into the narrative. And there are strange parenthetical aside as well, most confusing of which was a mention of a Japanese video game during a discussion on bachi-bazas before the characters jump to another topic.However, I didn’t make that adventure book comparison at the beginning of this review idly. The main plot of the Mahjong game and the overall goal is where the story shines. The writing is excellent in conveying tension during Mahjong games or by keeping up a swift pace when it’s staying on track with the plot. And the fact that it’s a sequel that I was able to read and understand without any prior knowledge of the first book is a testament to Deng’s skill.I’d say it’s a shame that I didn’t like the characters. With a different cast and a protagonist at least more likable than the villains, this would be a thrilling, adult adventure. As it stands, I can only award it three stars.