Subject: Oblivion: Review by the Happy Guy From: "Sean Gaffney" Date: 1998/05/03 Message-ID: <01bd76a6$f17a1340$a980abcf@default> Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho [More Headers] [Subscribe to rec.arts.drwho] I probably shouldn't have read this as quickly as I did. It's the sort of book that begs to be reread in order to fully get the gist of it. But oh well... SPOILERS!!! I'll tell you, I just ate through this book. It has fairly short chapters, so it's designed to be read in short gulps over a lengthy period. But for some reason, I just couldn't stop reading the thing. That is a good sign. ^_^ PLOT: Actually, when you think back on it, everything seems fairly cut and dry. At the time of reading, though, the plot seems to be INCREDIBLY weird and complex. The alternate world bits worked especially well, having a loose, unreal feeling to them that matched the reality. BERNICE: Boy, she goes through the wringer here, huh? Actually, she doesn't get as much to do as in the other Benny NAs, mostly because this is very much an ensemble novel. But what we see is excellent. Particularly her relationship with... JASON: Nobody writes Jason better than Dave Stone. Period. And boy, is he well-done here. A few more glances back into the life he had as a child, some excellent scenes to show us all how cool and competent he can be, despite what Benny thinks. And we get some lovely explanations for Eternity Weeps, and a hint that somewhere along the line, these two WILL make up and get back together. CHRIS: Chris has always fought against the stalwart young man persona, and he struggles against it here. Still, he gets to have some lovely angst, and I really like the comment about his hell being so obvious. ^_^ ROZ: Obviously, this is not going to be the same Roz that we know. However, she ends up carrying most of the action scenes, and saves the day, so that's OK. We get a nice impression of a more innocent Roz, not as cynical. I did think she warmed up to Sgloomi a little too quickly - but then, it *is* Sgloomi. SGLOOMI: Absolutely wonderful. This is a more mature, serious Sgloomi. And the best lines *still* go to hir. OTHERS: Nathan, Leetha, and Kiru made an excellent trio, and we can revel in the fact that they've managed to bond together so well. Bane was nicely creepy. STYLE: Boy, this was an oddly written book. Like much of its plot, it tended to be fragmented. Yet, for some odd reason, that actually helped me go along with it at times. I never got lost. Well, not more lost than I was supposed to. At least with the style, not with the plot. Oh, heck, I got lost a LOT. But it was fun. OTHER: This is perhaps Dave's most serious book. It's also hilarious. Figure that out. OVERALL: Boy, this was cool. The sort of book that twists your head off, yet you enjoy it. And I loved the Benny/ Jason interplay. Does Jason appear anymore this year, do we know? Oh, and it really helps if you've read Sky Pirates and Death and Diplomacy before this. As you would expect from the third book in a trilogy. Anyway...I can't think of anything else to say but: 10/10. Stephen, please hire this man to write a book for the BBC and pay him lots of money. Next: Eye of Heaven. No IDEA what I'll make of that. --Sean Gaffney --OK, there was ONE suck-up in there. But only one. ^_^