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The Edge of Reason by Melinda Snodgrass

#1 User is offline   The Book Swede 

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Posted 11 June 2008 - 08:12 PM

The Edge of Reason
Melinda Snodgrass
Tor Books

381 pages
May 2008

Quote

The Edge of Reason is captioned with the words, "A novel of the war between science and superstition". To be honest, even though I'm interested in a skeptical bent towards religion and science, et cetera, I was hoping that The Edge of Reason wouldn't be a book that hit its reader round the head with a anti-organised religion message, and instead delivered a good story, while making the reader think... The Edge of Reason met most of my hopes, and I'll definitely be picking up the sequels.

When I read the cover quote, "a novel of the war between science and superstition" I expected something set a while back, perhaps having something to do with Galileo and Kepler and other scientists of that time -- or maybe something later, with the Inquisition. For some reason, I did not expect it to be an urban fantasy -- but Melinda Snodgrass' The Edge of Reason shows that that fight is still going on, and is, if anything, even more relevant in the 21st century. This is a work of fantasy, though, so you can expect certain twists...

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The forces of light just happen to be headed up by Lucifer -- or, as he prefers to be known, Prometheus or Kenntis (German for knowledge), as it saves any confusion with the Satan image. Over the eons, he has fostered science and reason, and been the man behind Lumina Enterprises, a "company that is apparently worth more than Microsoft". On the opposite side, are the Old Ones, beings who forced their way into the fabric of our lives when we first walked upright and were little more than howling monkeys; they fed on our emotions, and we worshipped them: they created all the religions. Of all our emotions, the harsher ones, fear, anger, and hatred, are easier to evoke and thus, easier for the Old Ones to feed upon. As they gained in power, they open more rifts, and more and more are coming through. Armageddon is arriving.

The only hope, it seems, is Richard Oort, a cop in New Mexico. He's a genetic freak, of sorts: a being without any magic at all (the Old Ones hard-wired magic into our blood, millennia ago, as a way to keep a foot/claw into this realm). He also seems a bit too perfect to be true, at first. One of my pet hates in (especially fantasy!) fiction is the Adonis type hero. The Halo Effect always seems to be true for them, and apart from being gorgeously handsome, they are incredibly clever and wise and ultra-noble and good. (Or very evil; never in-between). Richard is a bit different; he is a good person, and reasonably intelligent, and an extremely gifted musician ... and a disappointment to his father who he has never really gotten on with, he blames himself for his mothers descent into insanity, and has had several very serious past traumas that would break most people into several pieces that you wouldn't be able to fit back together again unless you were a schizophrenic deity (called Cross...) fighting for the cause of knowledge against your fellow Old Ones... (That may or may not make sense once you've read the book)...

I'm not sure how well this book will do, considering its anti-organised religion/superstition theme, but I really hope it does well. It's a good story and the first time in a long while that I've been so eager to read a sequel. As George R.R. Martin says on the cover "this one will delight thinkers" and I definitely agree. Whether you agree with some of the things it says or not, it's a book that makes you think, and the quality of the story is clear; it's also a book that kept me entertained and intrigued for hours.

This is not a criticism as such, and I admit that I haven't read Lovecraft in quite a while, but I wasn't aware of that many Lovecraftian themes or elements within The Edge of Reason, regardless of what it says on the cover. The Old Ones, of course, who are every, and any, god that has ever existed, have a link to Lovecraft through their name, but other than that, I don't really see that many similarities.

The Edge of Reason does have flaws, however. Some of the characterisations felt a little weak for me. Richard's character was one that I really enjoyed reading, with a good (or rather, bad and very sympathetic) back-history, and plenty of intriguing stuff going on -- some of the other characters, though, didn't work half as well for me. I found Rhiana a little false and unrealistic, in her dialogue, and in some of the things she did at the end of the book, and I didn't care enough about her to be that affected by what she was doing. While I enjoyed the characterisation of Mark Grenier, it seemed slightly typical to me. Being in the same room as Grenier was a rather melodramatic affair -- the bad guy who tells his victims lots of what he's been planning, and seems rather shocked when anybody actually disagrees with him, the type of person whose eyes "suddenly turn cold".

Those few flaws aside, there are enough questions left unanswered, and enough possibilities for the sequels, that The Edge of Reason has stayed fresh in my mind this past week, and I expect it's a book that I'll think about and re-read quite often this year. Highly recommended.


That was from the blog :) I might try and get hold of the author for an interview; should have time, hopefully!

Chris
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Posted 13 June 2008 - 10:57 PM

I am reading this right now, as I won a copy on Pat's blog, and I am enjoying it, I'll cime in when I am done.
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Posted 14 June 2008 - 06:46 PM

I read this and was unsure whether I liked it or disliked it.. There'll be spoilers here, for those of you who've not read it yet, but i figure the first post set the treshold for what's acceptable pretty high.

so, spoilers..



I want to say first that the fact this book turned out to be the first in the series pissed me off. All right, on the front of the cover it says a Novell of the war between reason and superstition. That's pretty ambigious as to whether it's a novel in the series: a war between etc etc, or if it is a novell about that theme. I didn't know when I picked it up, so I searched the summary, prologue and so forth but it said nothing about this book being the first in a series. So, I assumed it was a stand alone novell. When i realised it was not, I pretty much decided I would not buy anything more from this person. I dunno if it was intentional, but it damn well felt like trickery to me.

Now about the book itself, the prose was perfectly all right. The language was by no means amazing, but it didn't grate on me either. IT was in many ways neutral and that's nothing to complain about in such a plot driven story.

The story was also fine, with an interesting take on the history of the world and the emergence of all sorts of beliefs. I disagree with the first poster as I felt I was beaten over the head with the message: religion bad, science good. By god, the bad guys didn't even try to justify themselves. The few arguments they put out for their side felt half hearted at best, unlike the pro science front who not only had excellent arguments, but also were to the last man good, honest and decent people. Handsome too.

Nevertheless, this didn't annoy me, partially because I am biased, but also because this was what I expected beforehand. What did bug me was how... useless the author had to make the great good guy, Kenntis, in order for her plot to work out. Here's a guy, god if there is any, who's been fighting the Old ones for aeons. Who's worked with humans and learned to use and manipulate them all to protect this universe from the outside horrors. Yet he is completly unable to see through the poorly made front of lies put up by an adolecent girl he's pretty much given his life to? How the fuck did this guy manage to do anything?

That is my great problem with this books. Kenntis is brought forth by the author to be this awsome, immortal super human, yet his mighty organization never shows any signs of being such a massive and powerfull world spanning network of do-gooders, nor does Kenntis himself act like anything but a slightly impressive, middel aged man with a talent for seeming imposing.

The author fails, in my opinion, many places through out the book, and so a lot of the turns and twists in the plot felt... cheap..
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Posted 18 June 2008 - 02:10 AM

Okay, I am going to be completely honest about this book.

When I started it I was intrigued by the opening and the descriptions of how the world has come to be how it is. Old Ones, Luminas et all. I found that the first few chapters dragged a bit about Richard confronting his own religious upbringing. I'm not saying that was a bad thing, it just happened too slowly for my tastes and I found myself skimming a bit for dialogue.

By the midpoint, even though, I had been enjoying it, it wasn't holding my attention as well as I'd liked and I nearly put it down. The prose is fine, and the plot was decent, but like previous statements, I thought that a lot of stuff felt a bit hackneyed and unoriginal. The bad guy really IS a Bond bad guy, telling all his grandiose plans.

I liked Richard, I thought Cross kicked ass, I really loathed reading about Rhiana (she is such a little throw-away turncloak, something you see coming a mile off), and I thought Kenntnis was decent enough and contrary to Morgoth I felt that Kenntnis' capture that he doesn't see coming fitting, cause they spend a lot of time in this book where he keeps reiterating how he dislikes being without his protectors, like Richard, Cross and Rhiana herself even, so I can totally buy him getting snowed by her in the end. It showed him as having a vulnerable side, and I dig that.

The big question: In the end does it make me want to read the next book? Probably, but I'm not positive. Unlike Morgoth, it doesn't bother me this wasn't a standalone (I had also expected it to be one though), and I am sure that by the time this goes to Mass Market Paperback that it will likely have a series subtitle. I got to the end and thought hmmm...okay, Richard is cool enough, but I think if anything will get me to read the second book, it will be Cross, cause he just rocked as a character as far as I am concerned.

I liked this book, but I find still find it had flaws that I would like to hope Ms. Snodgrass might hear about and look into before penning the sequel.
"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

“Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone.” ~Ursula Vernon
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Posted 22 June 2008 - 10:07 AM

I think I mentioned some of the problems with the characterisations -- particularly with Mark Grenier being a melodramatic bond villain type of person :mad:

I wasn't aware of it beating the anti-religion idea over my head -- but then, I'm not the best person to notice that, because I tend to agree with that idea. I suppose it's possible that I overlooked that flaw, of sorts, so my apologies!

Overall, though, I do still think it's a good book.
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