In retrospect I have mixed feelings.
Having already conquered and come to love the world(s) that S.P. Somtow weaves in the first novel of his Riverrun Trilogy, (which is also entitled Riverrun,) I find myself wondering about where the river brought me in book two. Armorica kept the same kind of drinking-from-the-metaphysical-firehose feel as the first one but added some new elements that I am unsure of.
Vaugeness. Phooey. Let's begin again.
The Riverrun Trilogy is made up of what I have fondly described to my friends and family as "everything ever." They will be familiar with the line "if you thought of pretty much anything in science fiction or fantasy, it gets at least a passing mention in Riverrun." This is true. The list includes but is by no means limited to vampires, weredragons, soul-sucking scepters, lizardmen, cyborgs, avians, robots, flying citadels, sacred man-women, and King Lear. Oh, and of course multi-universe travel.
My only lingering question is: why does everything I read end up having some huge overarching sexual theme?
I think that's what confused me in the end. Armorica kindof beats you over the head with the symbolism, even analyzes itself, points out everything that you think "oh, maybe they mean this," and then tells you "yeah. yeah, we mean that." It got a little tiresome.
Then again maybe the tedium was part of the confusion of it all. (Confusion is the trademark of this series, I think: if you're not scratching your head and not caring when you don't understand, moving on because you just can't help but keep reading there's something wrong.) Or maybe my confusion and uncertainty are crafted through the narrative to put me in Theo's (the protagonist's) shoes. Or maybe the transition in the narrative is supposed to parallel the transition in Theo's mind as he grows up. Or maybe it was there all along. Who knows anymore? I certainly don't. All I do know is that I am anxious to move on to Yestern, the third and final installment, even if it's just to figure out what (for goodness' sakes!) just happened in Armorica.
That, and it's a whole lot better than Anthropology homework.
Farewell for now, I'm off to paddle up the River with the Fisher-King and his Fool, and may your journeys be less convoluted!
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Just saying "the Fisher-King" and "the Fool" hints at the symbolism kitchen sink that must be in there. Once you finish that third book, I have an author for you:
ReplyDeleteDan Simmons. What he writes is best described as "literary sci-fi" because, just as an example...
The "Ilium/Olympos" duology deals with, variously, the Iliad, the Odyssey, post-humanism, the Tempest, the Voynich manuscript, and quantum physics.
The Hyperion Cantos do the same thing except with the Canterbury Tales and quantum physics and Teilhard de'Chardin and MORE quantum physics. Oh, and time travel.
It does sound like something I'd like, since I love it when a work of fiction does a wink-and-nod thing with otherwise non-related works. King Lear? lolwut?
"That and it's a whole lot better than Anthropology homework."
ReplyDeleteThat just cracked me up. I love you.
So, do you recommend reading it or do you just feel obligated to finish it?
ReplyDeleteI do recommend it, I'm just desperate to find out what the heck just happened. XD;
ReplyDelete