Kenyon, Kay: Bright of the Sky
Bright of the Sky: Book One of the Entire and the Rose
Writer: Kay Kenyon
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Pages: 451
This book nabbed my attention from the start: SF, woman writer, gorgeous cover. And when I didn't get an ARC of it, I was happy to plop down the cash for the hardcover at my local Borders. That's how much I was looking forward to this. Of course, given my extensive reading piles, I didn't get to READ it right away, but it was there, waiting.
Why read it now? Because as with David Louis Edelman's Infoquake, I have the option of getting the ARC for the sequel next year, and I wanted to get this title under my belt to know if the sequel would be worth my while.
Really, I shouldn't have been concerned. The sequel will SO be worth my while it's not even funny.
Where to begin?
Let me just start off by praising her ability to create real, individual characters from the start. I find that often, when we read, we meet characters that are shades of familiar stereotypes, and then those characters evolve into something more. I have no problem with this (it's the characters that never get out of their stereotypes that give me the hives). But what amazed me with Bright of the Sky is that every character, no matter how minor, reads like a real, individual person from the moment you meet him/her. Seriously. I don't know how she does it (oh, I've got plenty of guesses, and I suspect if I sat down for a second read, those guesses would be confirmed), but I would kill to achieve that ability in my own work, so kudos to Kenyon. Here's to giving me something to want to strive for. :)
Another reason this book's worth the effort is the amazing complexity of the world-building. This world (story, characters, EVERYTHING) is so intricate that I can only marvel at the revelation of it. I know I sound over the top, but if you sit down with this book and start reading, you start to realize just how deep the world-building goes. Just when you think you've got it all figured out, you get another layer. And then another. And so on and so forth. Now I'll admit, I wasn't quite as taken with the world-building here as I was with, say, China Mieville's Perdido Street Station and Charles de Lint's Someplace to be Flying, but there's a reason for that: both the Mieville and de Lint use settings that are very accessible and familiar to me as a reader, where Kenyon is building the Entire from scratch, making it truly foreign while giving us only fragments of familiarity. There were times when I just couldn't visualize just what exactly it was she was describing, and that made my brain whirl a bit, looking for a familiar image, but for the most part, I'm really impressed.
There's a weight to this book, a depth, that really drew me in from the start. It's not a fast read in that the prose flies off the page, but it's by no means a slow read either. It's a book you want to savor and absorb, gathering all the information and clues you can, because the story and characters and EVERYTHING is so damn complex. I keep saying that, I know, but it is. Just when you think you know what's at stake, you find out that you really don't. And that's what keeps you reading.
It's not to say the book is perfect. Remember, I'm the nitpicker extraordinaire! In this case, it took a long time to get used to the POV. Kenyon uses a rather loose omniscient, where you'll be in one character's head in one paragraph, and in the next, you'll be in someone else's. It's no where near as bad as, say, Dune, but for my money, the best book that utilizes the omniscient point of view is still Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow. And come to think of it, Bright of the Sky actually reminded me of Russell's book in some rather subtle ways.
Not that my nitpick is a criticism. It is but it isn't, as I'm far more comfortable with very limited, grounded points of view, and if one changes view point, I want a scene break or a chapter break instead of a sentence break. ;) So it's mostly my preferences, but it did take me nearly the whole book to get comfortable with said POV.
The book is science fiction, but it also feels like a fantasy, but in a very grounded, realistic way. Arthur C. Clarke is always quoted saying "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," and that statement really shines through in the world-building involving the Tarig and the Entire. So much of this book left me shaking my head in bewilderment, wondering how such things were even possible in a science fictional universe, but I kept remembering that quote, and I took comfort from the fact that the characters questioned the very things I was too, and such things will apparently play a larger role in the overall scheme of things.
And speaking of the overall scheme of things, I have some suspicions. To write them here would reveal some serious plot points about the book, but Kenyon has certainly raised some questions, and there's so much I'm looking forward to discovering in the later books. This is an easy book to recommend, because there's so much to enjoy and appreciate, and I'm even looking forward to tackling some of her earlier titles when I get the chance. This particular title is available in hardback now, but if money's tight, you can always wait for the trade paperback edition, which will be available February 2008.
Next up: Breakaway by Joel Shepherd