Review: Best series so far
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 16, 2012
This is the author's best series so far. My review here is of the series as a whole. It's very entertaining. And every time I get annoyed with the author over a plot point or style choice, he generally comes up with an explanation or nuance that helps make things right. Definitely one of the strongest artists in this self-publishing/small press era, someone with true talent. Some of the artistic techniques are quite sophisticated, like the use of the "unreliable (and non-omniscient) narrator" technique.But some of the problematic areas are found in his other series as well, and so I hope he'll keep working on them.1. Characterization: The main character Tor starts out as an uber-geek, an engineering genius who single-handedly reinvents most 20th-century technology using magic, in far-future North America. In my opinion, the trick with fantasy novels is to set believable characters in a fantasy environment. The superhero-geek theme tends to get taken a bit too far, here and in other books. As this series continues, Tor realizes his limits and starts cooperating with other people, much more maturely and realistically, which is a reason it's the best series so far. But it was annoying in the beginning.As other reviewers have said, there's also some issues with Tor's emotional portrayal. In the beginning, he's so emotionally clueless that it makes him seem not just a geek but semi-autistic. The problem is consistency.  If Tor is just a typical geeky guy, then it's not too consistent for him to have occasional flashes of great relational understanding in the early part of the series.  If he's autistic, it can explain some of his rational takes on relationships (hyper-rationality), but autism is not something you just grow out of, as Tor seems to do.  The point is the author should make up his mind and stick with one consistent explanation.  He leans more in the geek direction, a lot of the series is a geek how-to manual for growing up (very commendable and compassionate towards geeky guys, I loved it!), but be consistent.(Small spoiler warning: the author also uses the idea that Tor's behavior is partly genetic. But I always think that type of explanation is a cop-out, since it can be used to explain away *any* holes in the writing. It brings back bad memories of George Lucas saying wielding the force had a genetic basis, undermining the whole premise of the series.)2. Some other plot points: this is personal opinion, but perhaps something other readers will want to be aware of.  There is some pretty hard-core porn and "free love" in a series that seems aimed at a young adult audience, especially in the 4th book. The author qualifies it by setting it in a specific cultural context, showing that not everyone has the same system or tendencies including Tor, and taking a firm stance against abuse of young children (thank goodness). But it is still the dominant culture portrayed, teens get involved in it *quite* young even before they are supposed to (nudge, nudge, wink, wink), and there is a lot of pressure on Tor to assimilate. I think the author's heart is in the right place, but it is an artistic choice to cross boundaries, and boundaries have definitely been crossed. It's not clear that all this is socially plausible, either (and there better not be a genetic explanation lurking in the background!)Similarly, it's implausible that societies would be totally lacking in religion, except for one continent. The aesthetic challenge is to portray humans as they really are, some spiritual, some not, not just the way the author might like the world to be.3. Editing: this is one of the hardest-working authors I've ever seen, in terms of sheer volume and creativity and adapting to the styles of multiple genres. But some of that energy needs to be put back into editing. Aside from the atrocious spell-checking, it's just obvious that the text is not given a final deep re-reading to make sure it is all consistent. One example that really stuck out is whether Tor's original house was Wilderness Station or Wildlands Station. Characterization is another. Don't be afraid to cut excessive verbiage, either.To sum up, this author is extremely talented and has strong break-out potential. I wouldn't spend so much time reviewing these books if I didn't think it was worth it.  I'm definitely going to keep following him.