24) Vellum, by Hal Duncan
Yeah, I know, I’m behind the times, I should have read this two years ago – most particularly because I bought it when the author was at MeCon and then I forgot to get him to sign it.
It was tough work – this is not light reading – but I found it unusually rewarding for such an ambitious book. The plot doesn’t really resolve – I may even get the sequel to find out if it does – but I really admired Duncan’s delicate handling of linguistics and culture. So many authors get the language thing partly (Stephen Baxter) or completely (Robert Jordan) wrong; but Duncan does have an ear for words and how they may change and re-form over the centuries. Likewise, I was impressed with his confident handling of MacLean’s Socialist Glasgow, revolutionary Dublin and the southern Caucasus – not quite at expert level in the latter two cases, but at least free of obvious howlers and successfully engaging my interest to keep me reading.
And I love the basic concept of the Book – indeed, my most serious complaint is that the book wanders away from the Book at the end. No doubt this is resolved to a certain extent in the sequel.
Anyway, a fascinating, rewarding read.
I think that SJW was looking for a modern equivalent to the fanzine writing of yore, and a lot of critical reviews which have paid close attention turn up in the blogosphere, including LiveJournal. However, SJW didn’t understand the etiquette particular to LJ – and I found the extracts from blog entries overlong as well, especially given that the original authors were not contacted at any point before publication.