John C. Wright ([info]johncwright) wrote,
@ 2007-05-02 16:12:00
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Reviewed at SCI-FI weekly!

That fine man Paul di Filippo at SCI FI WEEKLY reviews Titans of Chaos and gives it good marks. Thank you, sir.

The money quote:

Science Fantasy is a blend that requires enormous skill to bring off. The author must mix the improbable with the probable, the fanciful with the hard-nosed, the rational with the supernatural. Luckily, John Wright is just the man for the job. In his first trilogy, The Golden Age, he proved he could write hard-core post-singularity SF. His next duology, War of the Dreaming, saw him crafting Hodgson/MacDonald-style fantasy. In this new series, he effortlessly blends the two.

Astute readers will detect flavors here of Philip K. Dick (the games with the nature of reality); A.E. van Vogt (the recomplicated shifting alliances); Roger Zelazny (the mythology mixed with contemporary slang); James Branch Cabell (the droll speech patterns of Boreas, the school's headmaster); Clark Ashton Smith (the descriptions of otherworldly realms); A.A. Attanasio (the gnostic interplay between gods and humans); C.S. Lewis (the Narnia-style trope of teens with noble secret identities); and so forth and so forth, with more allusions that I've probably even overlooked.

This kind of homage-laden, deep-lineage fiction can get over-intellectual and stultifying in the wrong hands. But Wright keeps it fresh and sprightly, mainly thanks to never losing sight of the teenage high spirits of his protagonists, especially his perfect narrator, Amelia.

He has one or two minor criticisms:
Wright favors numinous Doctor Strange dimensions for much of the action. The arcane and necessarily incompletely adumbrated nature of these imaginary realms comes off second best to the scenes where the quintet mingle with humans amid concrete settings.  A little more Thorne Smith and a bit less Steve Ditko would have gone a long way.

My Comment: 

Authors should never, ever, ever argue with reviewers. Ever. Not ever. Especially a kind review like this, which failed to mention any of the obvious flaws of the book. Nope. Zipper the lip. Don't say a thing. Nossir.

But, well, if you insist on me giving an opinion:  

Is making something too much like the great Steve Ditko supposed to be a drawback in anyone's mind? Ditko is my idol. In my eyes, this is tantamount to saying: "Well, Elizabeth Taylor is an attractive woman, but she looks a bit too much like Helen of Troy."

Did I mention that the first ever comic book I read was DOCTOR STRANGE? 

(Who is Thorne Smith?)





(22 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]mosellegreen
2007-05-02 08:39 pm UTC (link)
Thorne Smith was an author around the 30's or thereabouts. I haven't read his books, but I recently bought one because someone recced it.

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The wonders of Google.
[info]johncwright
2007-05-02 08:54 pm UTC (link)
Topper; I married a Witch. He wrote books about ordinary folks running into ghosts or marrying modern day witches or drinking from the fountain of youth.

(Love your icon, by the bye.)

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Re: The wonders of Google.
[info]mosellegreen
2007-05-02 09:00 pm UTC (link)
Thank you! [info]kc_anathema made it.

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Re: The wonders of Google.
[info]johncwright
2007-05-03 09:38 pm UTC (link)
It's hard to see, but my icon is The Shadow also. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Paradigm Lost?
[info]gray_roger
2007-05-03 01:33 am UTC (link)
John Clute says that sf has been domesticated. TITANS OF CHAOS proves that assertion to be wrong. Today, on E. E. "Doc" Smith's birthday, has a new "Doc" been born? One can only hope.
By the way, leaving Amelia cold, wet and soapy with Mr. "Turbo-encabulator" is just not right! Better she should have a rose in a Murano glass vase, a flute of Perrier-Jouet, some chocolate truffles, and Captain Sir Dominic Flandry of the Imperial Intelligence Service.

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
[info]paperthin_sin
2007-05-03 07:53 am UTC (link)
Pfff! She won't be cold for long after that, and I doubt she'll care about trivialities too much-- after all, she /finally/ won Victor Triumph!

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
(Anonymous)
2007-05-03 07:25 pm UTC (link)
I don't think she's won him yet...I hear that in the sequel he's going to try to do something about the fact that she can turn him off. Kind of puts a crimp in a relationship to be able to turn your boyfriend off...or at least he thinks so.

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
[info]paperthin_sin
2007-05-04 12:21 am UTC (link)
Hmmm. True. But there will certainly be plenty of ravishing before that comes up.


....I still want her to be with Colin. :c I feel horrid for him, all left out! (I'm sure he won't feel so bad when he gets endless chance at girls, but still.)

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
(Anonymous)
2007-05-05 04:45 am UTC (link)
I think he should end up with Vanity. They seem perfect together. Quentin's way to whimpy for her.

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
[info]dirigibletrance
2007-05-05 06:54 am UTC (link)
Colin was insufferable! Both Victor and Quentin are far more gentleman, and worthy of the affections of those girls, than Colin, who was little more than a knave.

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
(Anonymous)
2007-05-06 02:07 am UTC (link)
Speaking as a girl, though I am not a titan nor in any way special whatsoever, I must say that being a gentleman is at the bottom of my list of requirements in a boy. After all, I am no proper lady. Though I guess they are exceptions, there are very few girls that want only a knight in shining armor.

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
[info]paperthin_sin
2007-05-06 02:07 am UTC (link)
bollocks. this is me.

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
[info]arhyalon
2007-05-06 07:23 pm UTC (link)
>Colin was insufferable!

I notice that, in general, women seem to like Colin, and men don't. (This was true among the original six or so readers, too.)

I'm going to be disappointed no matter what happens, because I wanted Amelia to give up on the boys and go out and win herself one of the Gods, but John informs me this is just not going to happen.

(Which just goes to show that knowing the author does not always give you an advantage. Sometimes, it just causes arguments. ;-)

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
[info]dirigibletrance
2007-05-06 10:13 pm UTC (link)
Well, there's a large chunk of the female population that likes the "bad boys", so to speak, so that's not surprising. It is, however, annoying.

A man can be strong, confident, intelligent, capable, a warrior, etc etc, and still be a gentleman. Pardon my language, but a man doesn't need to be an asshole in order to be a hero, or to be a success, powerful leader. But it is the way of the world, I suppose, to prefer the Esau and the Saul, rather than the Jacob and the David.

We all know how Esau and Saul ended up, though, don't we? ;)

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
[info]arhyalon
2007-05-07 12:42 am UTC (link)
Actually, David did pretty well with chicks! So, did Jacob, for that matter.

But I understand your point. John and I have discussed this ad nauseum (He was nauseous anyway. I could discuss this subject until the end of time and still be interested.)

Basically, what women like is confidence. But unless the woman is very discerning, she often mistakes arrogance for confidence.

The other issue is that most women are at least slightly insecure. They don't know for sure if the guy likes them. They don't want to assume he does if they are not sure.

Bad boys pay a lot of attention to a girl and their loud and showy about it. So, the girl knows they are interested. The nicer guys might be interested, but they often do it in such a way that the girl does not feel as if they are that interested.

There’s no particular reason that a nice guy couldn’t also make a girl feel like he really admires her…but they often don’t – being more polite.

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
[info]johncwright
2007-05-07 12:13 am UTC (link)
"but John informs me this is just not going to happen."

John also writes as the spirit blows, and no man knows whence it comes or where it goes.

If there is a scene somewhere in the future, not yet written, where Amelia meets Phoebus Apollo, or Saturn, or Uranus, and this turns out to be a better match for her than Victor of Colin or Quentin, well, that is not impossible: but somehow I doubt it. Some times the Guy Next Door deserves to win the girl.

It is really funny reading comments from reader speculating about the relationships of my characters--I suppose the author of HARRY POTTER gets a lot more of this. Well, someone is going to end up disappointed. Only Triplicate Girl from the Legion of Superheroes can end up with three guys at once.

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
[info]vitruvian23
2007-05-30 09:09 pm UTC (link)
"I notice that, in general, women seem to like Colin, and men don't. (This was true among the original six or so readers, too.)"

I guess I'm weird, then, since I liked Colin better than Victor (at least until Victor started displaying a sense of humor), but not quite so well as Quentin. Or either of the girls, of course.

I guess part of it is recognizing in Colin some of the traits that guys tend to gravitate towards in their male friends, especially as teens. Have you ever noticed that many boys (and men) have at least one friend that is, objectively, something of a jerk or a jackass? However, that same friend is frequently more interesting, lively, and in fact loyal than others in the circle; one overlooks his flaws for his virtues, or even celebrates them as an essential part of his character, even while seeking to smooth some of the rougher edges so you can still associate with this friend once you've found a female partner.

"I'm going to be disappointed no matter what happens, because I wanted Amelia to give up on the boys and go out and win herself one of the Gods, but John informs me this is just not going to happen."

The only reason I can't quite see that is because all of the Gods shown so far (although I haven't quite finished Titans yet) seem to be so much older than Amelia. They haven't experienced what she has in terms of being turned into an infant and living a basically human childhood. I would think a better match would be either a demigod (even though they would technically be beneath the Chaos-spawn in terms of social precedence, I suppose), or even a human being. After all, that spark of holy fire imbued in humans by Prometheus has got be worth something, right?

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
(Anonymous)
2007-05-06 02:03 am UTC (link)
It sounds like you haven't read Titans, have you? If you have I must ask you to read it again, and if not you should go and read it post haste!

Quentin is most certainly not a wimp, and proves this in Titans. Colin is in way too deep in his emotions for Amelia-- I doubt he'd turn Vanity down for a romp if ever offered, but for serious? No way. Noooo way.

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Re: Paradigm Lost?
[info]paperthin_sin
2007-05-06 02:08 am UTC (link)
me here, too. X_x

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It sounds like you haven't read Titans, have you?
[info]arhyalon
2007-05-06 07:17 pm UTC (link)
Er...yes. I have read it, though I admit its been a number of years since I read the second half. (My poor mother is still emotionally scarred from having the 'roller-coaster at the end' fight scene read out loud while she happened to be in the car. ;-)

>Colin is in way too deep in his emotions for Amelia

Colin might talk about Amelia quite a bit, but the one he fights and argues with the most -- the one with whom he has the most interesting tension -- is Vanity.

I know John threw in a line about Vanity saying she really didn't like Colin, but I just don't buy it. Vanity doesn't act like a girl who really doesn't like Colin. She acts like a girl who likes him and doesn't want to admit it (possibly because Colin isn't interested in her.)

Sure, Colin likes Amelia, but what is he going to do when she eventually marries Victor (after Victor successfully finds a way to keep Amelia from turning him off)? Just sit around and mope for the rest of his life? I don't he's the type -- though I can certainly imagine him doing it for a while, until something else distracted him.

Quentin is a nice guy, with subtle secret powers. But he just doesn't strike me as the right guy for Vanity. But then, my standard for how unwimpy guys are supposed to be is very high.




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Titans of Chaos
(Anonymous)
2007-05-12 05:36 am UTC (link)
Just looking for the space to say:
LOVED the book – Titans of Chaos. The second half was particularly page-turn(er)ing.
LOVE Love Love Colin.
So understand me when I say I was so upset with the last 27 lines of the book. It has been a while since characters affected me so much.
I was even apprehensive about reading the book because I went in thinking this is the last time I was going to be in this universe with these characters and I was going to miss them. It’s like a death you know. And a funeral. Where you wonder how in the world you’ll survive with no way to meet, or talk to or even see the face of the person you just lost.
But I read it. I had to read it.
And I loved the book (except for those last few lines).
I like that I did not understand quite a bit of the paradigms. You did not feel theneed to explain everything little thing or baby us by making them talk about their paradigms in ways you thought everyone would understand.
You did not dumb down the conversations or the writing.
Anyways…
I do hope there’s going to be a fourth installment, if only to rectify that dreadful choice made in those last 27 lines.

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Re: Titans of Chaos
[info]johncwright
2007-05-14 08:11 pm UTC (link)
I am planning at some point (not for a few years though, sorry) to write a sequel, EXILES OF CHAOS (working title). They have a few more romantic troubles to go through before everything is sorted out.

Sorry that you were crushed by Amelia's choice, or, rather, Victor's. At least one of my readers wanted her to go off with the guy with the red wings.

I wonder if JK Rowling has problems like this. Everyone who is hoping for a Hermione-Ron hookup is going to be disappointed with a Hermione-Harry hookup.

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