    
Firelands
hunter
Username: Firelands
Post Number: 256
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, April 09, 2005 - 6:27 pm: |     |
Don't know if anyone else has read RC Wilson but just finished his latest, SPIN. I've read several other books by him--Darwinia, The Chronoliths, Blind Lake--and have found him frustrating. He has great set-ups and driving ideas, but the plots never quite seemed to follow through. I've kept reading him because I liked the ideas so much and each book got progressively better. Blind Lake was quite good, but with SPIN Wilson really hit it out of the park.
In fact, SPIN reminded me why I like sci fi so much and prefer it over fantasy. In sci fi, anything is possible and it just depends on the writer's imagination and skill as a writer to bring it life. Whereas I find fantasy to be fairly constrained by the rules of the genre. I believe Thalion recommended GG Kay's Summerland and I started it. It wasn't bad, but it felt so familiar--mysterious stranger sweeps friends to a magical land where nefarious plots are afoot. I don't mean that to sound as snide as it reads as I have enjoyed fantasy. And I'm sure if I stuck with Summerland I likely would have enjoyed it. Still, I doubt I would have been terribly surprised by it.
And I was surprised by SPIN. I don't want to say too much, but I really felt like this was a book I hadn't read before. ANd it was terrifically well-written. Often a writer has a great idea, but they coast on the idea and the writing isn't that great. Sort of how I felt about Wilson's earlier books. Other times, the writing is great, but there is no plot or no real ideas. SPIN has it all. A great idea--one night the stars vanish as the earth is sealed inside a force field. Very interesting characters with something to say about the--cough-cough--human condition. It has great plot twists that catch you off guard, enough hard science to seem believable, and a very satisfying ending. |
Prehistorical Fiction, SF and Fantasy