McDonald, Ian: Brasyl
Brasyl
Writer: Ian McDonald
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 357
Disclaimer: free from Pyr Books
***I have to apologize for dumping so many reviews in this journal at once. I'm out of town with limited internet access, and I've been letting the reviews pile up. Many apologies.***
When I first noticed Ian McDonald's River of Gods, I knew I wanted to read it. Beautiful cover, with a science fiction story in an unfamiliar but realistic location to boot. Count me in. But I never got a chance to read it, because I was too cheap to buy the hardcover, and the trade paperback seems a long time coming. Still, I did get to read McDonald's short story in Fast Forward 1: Future Fiction from the Cutting Edge. This story took the same setting as his River of Gods, so I figured I'd be in good shape.
But the story gave me pause. It took me a while to get used to the lingo, to McDonald's style and presentation, and it calmed down my curiosity for reading River of Gods any time soon.
So when Brasyl landed in my lap, to say I felt trepidation would be an understatement. This book scared me. It scared me because I imagined McDonald's style in this book would be similar to that of his short story. And I was right.
But my biggest problem with the book was me. That's right, me. Confusion was a constant state of mind while reading Brasyl, but most of that confusion didn't stem from the quantum theory discussed, which actually grounded me in what was going on, but rather, it was the lingo, the terminology, the whole of South American/Spanish-speaking culture.
I never took Spanish in school. I eat Mexican once in a blue moon. I've not even been west of the Mississippi, let alone south of the border. So despite the very helpful glossary of terms that I didn't find until halfway through the book, I was completely, and utterly confused.
The interesting upside to my confusion: for the first time, I understood how non-genre readers felt coming into SF. It's completely mind-boggling. There's very little that's familiar, there's all kinds of terms you don't understand, and finding something to sink your teeth into is like finding a needle in a haystack. It's no wonder that non-SF readers give up on SF.
But, I'm a determined reader. I wanted to see what made this book so special, and I wasn't about to let my own ignorance color what McDonald was trying to do.
But maybe I should've. I was halfway through the book before my interest was remotely piqued. Marcelina's ordeal with her double was completely awesome. Edson's obsession with Fia and coming out of grief only to find her all over again rocked my world. And Quinn's story was the most accessible to be all along, but I was intrigued by the Apocalypse Now jibe I got from the whole thing. Figuring out how all three stories connected definitely kept my curiosity.
But as soon as I got intrigued, my interest waned again. Why? Part of it, again, my lack of grounding. Unfamiliar words didn't take root in my brain for me to recognize later, so I know I missed a lot of McDonald's careful foreshadowing, because I didn't know enough to recognize what was going on. But on the other hand, I found McDonald's style, as with his short story, difficult to wrap my head around. He manages to jump from scene to scene in the most illogical way (for this reader), leaving me to fill in blanks that I honestly can fill in for myself. His method for introducing characters in a scene is non-existent, as they suddenly APPEAR with a name, leaving me to wonder if said character was there all along, or what. And sometimes I just wasn't sure if McDonald was referring to a character by both a nickname and a real name in the same scene, which only added to my confusion. And don't get me STARTED on the why's and how's of the Sesmarias and the Order and how in the HELL all of these people had Q-Blades no matter what the time period. Cool things they are, the Q-Blades, but I'm still trying to figure out the logistics of that particular theory, which seems to include time travel, which is still messing with my brain. That's the only part of the science that actually confused me.
Oh, and the constant reference to angels. Cool, but I kept thinking that the Angels of Perpetual Surveillance were somehow crossing the threshold to Quinn's time.
Still, he had some jewels. His attention to pop culture was certainly appreciated, and how pop culture effects the masses. I loved, loved, LOVED the frogs. LOVED the frogs. That's such a cool idea I can't even think straight. The ultimate punch referring to the multiverse was also quite delicious, and even though it fizzled out for me in the end (this book feels like set-up for something bigger: the war Quinn kept talking about and recruited for, even though we saw some of the battles in this tale). And leading up to the ultimate punch, all that stuff about the multiple realities with multiple selves all leading their own lives, that was just awesome. Granted, all a writer has to do is say "quantum entanglement" and I'm there, if only to see what's being done with it in fiction.
I must also point out, as an aside, that I really liked the character of Marcelina. She's not sympathetic at all: in fact, she's a selfish bitch, and that's why I loved her. I'm becoming fascinated with characters who don't have noble qualities in them at all, who get knocked on their asses and have to fight for the reader's respect. Kudos to McDonald for a job well done with her.
I think this book is a hit or miss: the people who love it, love it. The people who don't, don't. I'm a don't, despite the fact I liked certain elements of the book. Overall though, it was a laborious read for me, and I couldn't really sit down and enjoy what was happening. Still, I think people without my ignorance would get a helluva lot more out of this book, and it's a book I'd be happy to recommend, provided the reader isn't a South American culture-dummy like I am.
In my defense, though: this book really didn't introduce me to Brazil in any shape or fashion. It seemed to require that I already KNEW Brazil so that I could marvel at its fictional past, present, and future. I've read books not within my culture-comfort-zone that I had no issues with, because somehow, the writer presented it in a relatable fashion. I'm not blaming McDonald for my ignorance, but I am warning other readers like me. As far as the science fiction goes, Brasyl is easily entry-level. But as far as cultural understanding goes, I think a reader should at least have a foot in the door.
Next up: Hurricane Moon by Alexis Glynn Latner (ARC)