Beware... (from GOODREADS_ * **(Oh. It's got caves in it, I guess it ought to be grea**t...**) [?]* * *Warren Fahy's new novel, PANDEMONIUM, isn’t really a “new novel” at all – Fahy released a self-published Kindle version in February of 2011, after he and his publisher came to a parting of the ways. I was one of the ones who got a chance to read the novel back in 2011, before Fahy pulled it from circulation in favor of a 2013 hard cover release through Tor books. I enjoyed FRAGMENT, so I was expecting to like PANDEMONIUM (after all, it’s the sequel!). Fahy certainly has a real knack for creating new life forms and making them come alive in his fiction. The best thing FRAGMENT had going for it was the original and fascinating ecosystem of Hender's Island. PANDEMONIUM, as a sequel to FRAGMENT, offers up a second dose of Hender's Island creatures along with a wealth of new cave-dwelling species sure to delight readers. So what’s not to like?
Well, unfortunately, PANDEMONIUM isn't a very good book. The story is wildly derivative – sections of it smack of JURASSIC PARK and ANDROMEDA STRAIN, with bits of RELIC, MIMIC, ALIENS, and other such horror tales thrown in for good measure. The central couple, newlyweds Nell and Geoffrey Binswanger, are excruciatingly cute (he calls her "wifey" and she calls him "husby") – there's actually no character development here at all, which is a shame. In FRAGMENT, Geoffrey at least had a voice as a scientist and philosopher (his debates with other characters were fascinating). Here, Geoffrey's dialogue is relegated mostly to a series of phrases like "Oh wow!," "Oh no!," and "Where are you, Darling?" The central bad-guy, super-rich Maxim Dragolovich, is an embarrassingly bad caricature of a Russian villain (think Boris Badinoff and Natasha – "Bring me moose and squirrel!"). He's got a nefarious plan to destroy the world and he needs Nell and Geoffrey (and a bunch of other scientists) to help him – it's never really clear why. He's also got an excruciatingly sweet golden-haired daughter named Sasha who's pretty much center stage for most of the story. I won't say much about Hender and Kuzu, the two hendros who become central to the new novel. Hender is unbelievably "nice" and naïve; Kuzu seems to be Fahy's attempt to show us that there are good hendros and bad hendros (just as there are good humans and bad humans). That's about as deep as this story gets. The plot itself is interesting enough – the creatures alone make it worth reading. But there's not much more to it than that. There are a lot of chase scenes and scenes of people trying to find tunnels or hatches or switches. There's a big ALIENS-style military offensive in the final third of the story – lots of big guns and people screaming, but it never seems real; these soldiers don't talk like soldiers, they talk like comic book characters (i.e. "This is hairy, man!" "Awesome!," and "Hey, dude!"). It became tedious near the end. I do think Fahy attempted to elevate his story a bit above the cartoon-level action that defines it. He provided more information about the hendros (actually called "sels"), and we get to read a little of Hender's journal in which he's chronicling the history of his people. Unfortunately, those sections of the novel are very few and far between, and I was left wanting much more. Additionally, Hender's reference to the ancient world of his people as "Henderica" seemed ridiculous – as clearly pointed out in FRAGMENT, Hender's Island was only so-named because of the hapless sailor who stumbled across it. The ancient world of the “sels” would never have been called “Henderica.” I was hoping that, since two years have elapsed since the disappointing Kindle release of this novel, Fahy would have made substantive changes, making this a novel truly worth reading. Sadly, that’s not the case. I found very few differences between the “new” version of PANDEMONIUM and the original Kindle release – mainly minor editorial corrections (i.e. the addition of a few commas, or a few word changes). If you are one of the few who read the Kindle release, there’s no reason to buy this. Fans of FRAGMENT who haven’t seen the Kindle version will probably enjoy the creatures in this novel – they are absolutely the best part of PANDEMONIUM. Check out Fahy’s website for beautiful renditions of all of them – it’s worth a look even if you end up disappointed with the novel. Honestly, this should have been a great book; that it’s not is a real shame. On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Diana Tomchick < [email protected]> wrote: > From the Powell's Book Blog, an essay on isolated species evolution that > mentions caves: > > > http://www.powells.com/blog/original-essays/fragments-of-pandemonium-by-warren-fahy/ > > I've never read this author's books, so mea culpa. > > Diana > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > Diana R. Tomchick > Professor > University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center > Department of Biophysics > 5323 Harry Hines Blvd. > Rm. ND10.214B > Dallas, TX 75390-8816, U.S.A. > Email: [email protected] > 214-645-6383 (phone) > 214-645-6353 (fax) > > > > > > > ________________________________ > > UT Southwestern Medical Center > The future of medicine, today. > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit our website: http://texascavers.com > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > >
