I Like Road Movies Too
Feb. 17th, 2008 05:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threemonkeysIt is better to travel than to arrive. The journey is more important than the destination. Sentiments like that are commonly expressed. When it comes to books I have to agree strongly. I love books that describe a journey. The sort of journey I mean is when a physical journey mirrors the unfolding of another story - a mental journey or the unravelling of a puzzle. The wider speculative fiction genre is full of such stories. It is one of the reasons I have stayed attached to it over the years - despite a lot of very dodgy quest style books there are lots of great journeys that are there.
But journeys usually have to reach a destination. Often that destination is where a book can be let down. I feel a little of that about Nine Layers of Sky by Liz Williams. The physical journey through former Soviet republics and the unfolding mystery of a mysterious artefact starts very strongly. The feel for the characters and the land is strong. But as the book progresses, it feels a little more superficial and you know somewhere about the half way mark that the story will not conclude in a strong way. It does not peter out completely and it did hold my attention but it just seemed to be missing something. Yet saying that, something very good can be glimpsed just out of grasp.
I must have read half a dozen of Williams' books over the last year or two. Until Darkland came along and did the job so well, I got the impression that her career was always going to be one of promise without quite hitting the mark as the books promised much, got close but never quite delivered at the end. Nine layers of Sky is one of the landmarks along a journey. One day it might be worth the exercise of detailing Williams' work in chronological order and charting the satisfaction levels from them. I suspect it would be more rocky than smooth progression, but progression it has been and I think worth travelling the journey.
But journeys usually have to reach a destination. Often that destination is where a book can be let down. I feel a little of that about Nine Layers of Sky by Liz Williams. The physical journey through former Soviet republics and the unfolding mystery of a mysterious artefact starts very strongly. The feel for the characters and the land is strong. But as the book progresses, it feels a little more superficial and you know somewhere about the half way mark that the story will not conclude in a strong way. It does not peter out completely and it did hold my attention but it just seemed to be missing something. Yet saying that, something very good can be glimpsed just out of grasp.
I must have read half a dozen of Williams' books over the last year or two. Until Darkland came along and did the job so well, I got the impression that her career was always going to be one of promise without quite hitting the mark as the books promised much, got close but never quite delivered at the end. Nine layers of Sky is one of the landmarks along a journey. One day it might be worth the exercise of detailing Williams' work in chronological order and charting the satisfaction levels from them. I suspect it would be more rocky than smooth progression, but progression it has been and I think worth travelling the journey.