Nobody expects the Spanish cyborg

[threemonkeys]

So you are planning to write a series of books with a story arc that goes across them to a big climax. Each volume tells its own story while contributing to the overall big story. You have that big story mapped out before you start and it is a great story, but there is one big question - how many volumes do you spread it across? I wonder if Kage Baker wrestled with that question. Perhaps if she had, the "Company" series might not have been so long. Baker's writing is wonderful and the first few volumes were brilliantly entertaining. But as volume after volume came out they became more and more subverted by the big story which in turn became very convoluted. Perhaps if you read it all in one go it would be more coherent, but with a big time gap between each volume it was hard work to remember everything that was going on. Not to mention that the sparkle and wit diminished as time went on. Each book was still entertaining but the trend was not a good one.

So it was almost with relief that The Sons of Heaven came along. The final volume in the "Company" series had the job of picking up all the strands of all those earlier volumes and weaving them into a credible climax. Readability, style, wit and entertainment all come behind that main aim in priority. Yet to my surprise, they were all there. It pulled all those bits together somehow, although some got a pretty small page count in resolution. It was coherent - despite all those various bits, it was no trouble to work out what was going on and even trigger the memories of reading previous books to fill in the gaps. But most of all it was fun, with all the buzz that the early novels had. It makes you think that Kage Baker had a really good plan all along.

Alternatively, perhaps it was the pop culture references. This book had lots of them - all the "Company" books do, but not as many as in this one. Did I mention that I'm a sucker for pop culture references.

Comments

[cat-i-th-adage.livejournal.com]

Is there Lewis?

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Yes Lewis is there - pretty much everybody gets a little bit, but Lewis has one of the best stories. WHich is as it should be.

[cat-i-th-adage.livejournal.com]

Awesome.