9.05.2016

Together to be Apart

The goal of most writers is to construct a cohesive world.  They work hard to create believable characters that evolve in ways that make sense given their environment and the challenges they face.  If the world they build isn't the same as ours (as in many fantasy and sci fi novels), the author works to be consistent in the way that magic and/or technology functions.  History, backstory and supporting cast are all constructed in such a way to shore up the main characters and the story arc.

So what if an author built up a cohesive world and then deliberately starting yanking out the support beams one by one?  No need to speculate.  Read Viciconium. The world and characters get built.  They make sense.  Then, character's names start changing.  Street names change.  Character's personalities and backstories shift.  People disappear and reappear.  Timelines get ripped apart and sewn back together in new ways.  The world itself seems unsure of how it should be.

The marvelous thing is that the reader (me, in this case) still tries really hard to put things together.  Why?  Because that's what humans do with stories.  They try and make sense of them.  Even when the author is dismantling, rearranging and renaming his world page by page, the reader still tries desperately to find the heart and meaning within.

As a drawing of a pipe is not a pipe, so the words on a page that make a story are not a story.  What a beautiful read.  In addition to the dismantling, the book is filled with amazing shifts in tone that perfectly match the mood of every scene.  The author's use of color adjectives is particularly impressive.  Every scene is a painting and the whole book feels like touring a massive museum while each room burns behind you.

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