Review: Captain's Fury vs The Merchant's War
Genre fiction is an odd beast. The quality of the author is not the absolute indicator of the quality of the series as a piece of genre fiction. Case in point: recently I read the fourth volume of two series, one by the truly excellent Charles Stross, The Merchant's War, and the other by Jim Butcher, Captain's Fury, whose first series, The Dresden Files, is erratic but gradually improving.
The Charles Stross book was a day late back to the library and I really forced myself to read it. This is not to say it was not a Good Book- it was, Stross really can't write something without tight plotting, solid characterisation, and decent dialogue- however it wasn't insanely gripping the way the Butcher book was. I read half of the Stross in one sitting, got interrupted and then had no overwhelming need to finish it off. It sat on my bedroom floor for a few weeks until I realised it I was there and I read the last half out of a feeling of obligation. By comparison, the Butcher stars most of the major fantasy cliches, some sloppy characterisations, and a wildly varying writing quality, yet this was the one I could not put down and ended up reading until 2 am. I get the sense that Stross is trying to be a bit too clever whereas Butcher just has a wholehearted love for genre fantasy and its characters. The sincere enthusiasm is addictive, especially when combined with a solid story.
The thing with genre fiction is that, because you are working with well-established tropes, it's harder to write well. Working with the familiar to create something exciting and new is very very difficult, especially when the genre has inbuilt constraints. It is too easy to get something that is hackneyed, that feels overplayed even in the first reading. Butcher writes really really good genre fantasy. Stross is a better writer but not in this series. Or maybe I just want him to hurry up and write me another Atrocity Archives book. That's quite plausible.
The Charles Stross book was a day late back to the library and I really forced myself to read it. This is not to say it was not a Good Book- it was, Stross really can't write something without tight plotting, solid characterisation, and decent dialogue- however it wasn't insanely gripping the way the Butcher book was. I read half of the Stross in one sitting, got interrupted and then had no overwhelming need to finish it off. It sat on my bedroom floor for a few weeks until I realised it I was there and I read the last half out of a feeling of obligation. By comparison, the Butcher stars most of the major fantasy cliches, some sloppy characterisations, and a wildly varying writing quality, yet this was the one I could not put down and ended up reading until 2 am. I get the sense that Stross is trying to be a bit too clever whereas Butcher just has a wholehearted love for genre fantasy and its characters. The sincere enthusiasm is addictive, especially when combined with a solid story.
The thing with genre fiction is that, because you are working with well-established tropes, it's harder to write well. Working with the familiar to create something exciting and new is very very difficult, especially when the genre has inbuilt constraints. It is too easy to get something that is hackneyed, that feels overplayed even in the first reading. Butcher writes really really good genre fantasy. Stross is a better writer but not in this series. Or maybe I just want him to hurry up and write me another Atrocity Archives book. That's quite plausible.