Books: Majipoor, Darwinia, the Dark Tower, and Buffy

[woodwardiocom]

Majipoor Chronicles by Robert Silverberg

This is the second book set on Silverberg's alien world of Majipoor. Colonized by humans (mostly) and a variety of aliens (who are apparently not allowed into the higher reaches of government, nor to be POV characters) the world mostly gets by at a pre-Industrial Revolution level of technology, with many quirky exceptions. This book is a collection of short stories, wrapped in a (predictable) framing story. Some of the stories are about artists living alone in the wilderness, some are about young princes fighting wars against the aboriginal Metamorphs, and some are origin stories for elements of the Majipoor government. It's overall an entertaining book, though Silverberg shows his usual sensitivity in handling female characters (i.e., not much). I'm also surprised that none of the stories were from the POV of aliens, though two feature prominently as companions to protagonists. Mildly recommended.

Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson

In the year 1912, quite suddenly, most of Europe and Asia was replaced by a slice of an alternate Earth, one with a very different ecology, and no intelligent life. Thousands of people lose their relatives in an instant. Society declares this an Act of God, the equivalent of the Biblical flood, and science (bereft of any other explanation) quietly goes along. Our hero, a photographer, is part of one of the expeditions into the new Europe, sarcastically dubbed "Darwinia". Then he starts having dreams of a man exactly like himself, except this man is dying in a trench somewhere in France... This is not Wilson's best, but the final explanation isn't bad, and there are some nice setpieces (though he doesn't do nearly enough with the Lost City). Mildly recommended.

The Dark Tower & Other Stories by C.S. Lewis

This is a collection of short stories and story fragments by Lewis, collected after he died. The title fragment is about a group of Oxford dons who learn how to peer sideways in time, and catch a glimpse of a world where the Devil is ascendant. The other stories include a tale of a man blind since birth, who is cured but can't understand what is meant by "light", since no one can point to it; a man who gets a glimpse into how his friend's girlfriend sees the world; a story that might have been titled "Mars Needs Whores"; and a tale of the end of the Trojan War, when Menelaus sees what has become of Helen. Several of the tales are good, but you end up with the uncomfortable impression that Lewis didn't like women much (and I would have been much happier not knowing what he thought of tan lines). Not particularly recommended.

Buffy Season 8, Volume 8: Last Gleaming by Whedon, Jeanty, Allie

The big story of S8 concludes in apocalyptic battle. Heroes die, worlds are changed, and if you haven't been reading the Angel and Spike comics, you won't have a clue why Spike is commanding a spaceship full of bugs. There's a lot of sound and fury in here, but I got a bit lost, and the ending was too pat. The early volumes made a lot more sense, and were a lot more fun. I'm not sure I'm going to pick up Season 9. Very mildly recommended.

Comments

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, my take on Darwinia was nearly the opposite; I liked a lot of the setup, but found the final explanation nearly a wallbanger, to the point that it made everything that had come before less interesting and less satisfying.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

if you haven't been reading the Angel and Spike comics, you won't have a clue why Spike is commanding a spaceship full of bugs

In their defense, this is made clear when Spike and the bug ship appear.

Do the other comice make it clear it's a full blown spaceship? I thought it was more of a very robust zeppelin.