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Book Review: Lucifer's Odyssey - Rex Jameson

Right What You No: Book Review: Lucifer's Odyssey - Rex Jameson

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Book Review: Lucifer's Odyssey - Rex Jameson

Some people love reading their friend's books, others loath it. I can understand some people's reticence in reading a friend's work; what if the book sucks? I've found that the best way to have friends who are writers is to choose them on the strength of their writing. That way you can't be disappointed by their subsequent books. Plus, free books!

Rex is much like me: a nerd. As a result it isn't particularly surprising that Rex has come up with a very interesting melding of speculative fiction, fantasy and sci-fi (the sci-fi element could actually be described as part of the fantasy element, from a certain point of view). This novel reminded me at times of some of Heinlein's work. Earlier in the book I was especially reminded of Heinlein's Job: A Comedy of Justice.

Now I have an annoying habit. My friends and family will attest to the fact that I inadvertently spoil movies, TV shows and books by giving away key aspects of what is about to happen. My brother recently complained about me spoiling The Wire for him when I mentioned Stringer Bell dies. So I'm not going to go into too many details about the Odyssey of the title, whether there is more to the initial story of betrayal and conspiracy, whether Jehovah was the messiah or just a naughty boy who is b....... Almost. The plot builds upon itself as the book continues and keeps you involved with the layers of the Odyssey. Suffice to say you will be rooting for Lucifer as he pulls his swords to go Conan on....... Almost did it again.

I'm hoping to have a bit of chat with Rex in the near future, so stay tuned for a future guest blog post.

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posted by Tyson Adams @ 7:37 PM   2 Comments

2 Comments:

At September 27, 2011 at 12:20 AM , Blogger Rex Jameson said...

Thanks for reading the book, Tyson! Spoilers honestly don't bother me. They're a byproduct of excited or disappointed readers having the book stuck in their mind and not being able to think about anything else. And a good spoiler can honestly spark my interest even more than a solid "you'll like this book." After all, a plot point doesn't tell a reader anything about the quality of the book, its exposition, dialogue, or character development. That being said...

My favorite spoiler of all time was committed by an old girlfriend of mine who was an English Professor. She took on some tutoring jobs on the side, and she had this one foreign exchange student from Southeast Asia for about nine months. Anyway, the little dude was being an annoying jerk one day and refusing to properly conjugate a verb or something, and my ex said "Oh yeah? Well Dumbledore dies!"

The kid just sat there with his mouth agape. "Really?"

Best spoiler ever. I challenge anyone to beat that.

She wasn't really reviewing the Harry Potter books; she was just being evil. That's probably why we were together for a while.

Anyway, reviews are meant for the reader and not the author. If it's difficult to talk about the pros or cons of the book without divulging details, well, as a reviewer, you've got to do what you've got to do. Doesn't bother me one bit, especially in a series. Characters, themes, and overall story arc are what attract me to a series--not the main event of one of the books. Dumbledore dying won't stop me from checking out Rowling. Lord Eddard biting the bullet won't stop me from picking up Martin. Neither of these characters dying tells me about the journey that brought about their finales. I'd have to pick up the book to figure them out.

As for the Primal Patterns series, I'll drop a warning to readers: a lot of characters die. This is an unfortunate consequence of a multiverse-wide struggle between diametrically-opposed supernatural beings. Millions of immortals actually die in the first book. Many more than that die in the second book. You'll only be introduced to a handful of them, but the realities of a war between creatures that can control nearly infinite amounts of energy is that when things blow up in their wars--those things tend to be planets, solar systems, and galaxies. eBookWorm, who did a sneak peak of the series, worried that the next book might suffer from the inevitable need to blow up something bigger and then where would the series go from there? Well, you let me worry about that, but he was certainly correct in anticipating larger fireworks ;).

Additionally, by the end of the series, you'll see the multiverse through different types of omniscience and omnipotence (not both simultaneously and limited by the interactions of other primal pattern factions). You'll dabble with resurrection mechanisms and alternate physics based on manipulating invariants like the speed of light in the host universe. And you'll have some fun with a series of prophecies (including alternate readings of the Bible) that nullify and interact with each other.

Suffice to say that I'm having fun with the series, but I'm also the kind of person that can be left in a room with a tube of glue and some toothpicks for hours and be happy as a lark. So take that with a grain of salt. Whether or not others will be excited about upcoming books in the series is yet to be seen. Regardless, thanks for discussing the book, and I look forward to talking with you more about... well, whatever we end up mulling over in the upcoming blog post.

 
At September 27, 2011 at 10:09 AM , Blogger Tyson Adams said...

So you're saying I could have mentioned the decapitation in the middle and the cool ending scene that reminded me of the Conan and Thulsa Doom final confrontation.

Rex and I will set up a chat some time soon. Stay tuned!

 

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