but was it worth it?

[mamajoan]

One of the main things a person who's completely exhausted from four straight nights of bad sleep should not do, of course, is stay up till one a.m. reading. I therefore give you one guess what I did last night. Yep.

I was reading Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson, the only one of this year's Hugo Award nominees that I've so far been able to find at the library. It was a very interesting read (I mean, I don't stay up till 1a.m. for just any old book). rainbow_goddess might be interested to know that the book makes some mention of Asperger's Syndrome, although it isn't a main focus of the plot.

The story focuses around a scientific research facility out in the middle of the prairie. Unexpectedly, the inhabitants (including support staff as well as the scientists themselves, and also three conveniently placed journalists) find themselves cut off from communications with the rest of the world, and they quickly realize that they're in "lockdown" -- they can't leave the site, no one else can come in, and they can neither receive nor send communication from/to the outside. And they have no idea why this is happening, although obviously they figure it's probably related to their work.

But the above is really not a summary of the plot, any more than you could summarize Gone with the Wind by saying that it's a book about the Civil War or summarize Bambi as "a movie about life in the forest." I mean, not inaccurate, but not the whole story either. I don't want to give much more away because it's really a pretty interesting story and you should check it out for yourself. It's the kind of story that many sci-fi fans like best: a story about some really interesting scientific/technological stuff, framed in a human drama with interesting, well-drawn characters.

When I picked the book up and glanced through the overleaf, I was reminded that Robert Charles Wilson wrote The Chronoliths, a Hugo nominee from a couple of years ago, which I found deeply unsatisfying. That book was a classic example of "good idea, good development, crappy wrap-up." The ending really disappointed me. So I was a bit worried that the same would happen here -- and I was REALLY worried that the book would end without the adults figuring out what was going on with little Tess -- but I was pleasantly surprised. Blind Lake had a good, satisfying ending that really worked for me. Inconclusive in some ways, but in ways that made sense and felt right.

There are a few things about the book that did irk me. I wished the Sebastian character had gotten a little more fleshed-out; he was a cipher for about 2/3 of the book, then suddenly woke up and started actually getting interesting, just in time for the book to end. I also found a few typos (that seems to happen with every book I read lately; what has happened to editing?) and was irked by the way that the author couldn't decide whether to refer to the little girl as Tess or Tessa. I also disliked the few moments when the Marguerite character slipped into wishy-washy-woman mode, repeatedly thinking "Oh no, did I offend him??" and getting all dependent/clingy, then suddenly snapping back into competent-capable-chick mode. That may actually have been a realistic portrayal of how some women are :) so maybe it's more that I hate that kind of woman. ;)

Overall, a very good read. I would give it four out of five stars. Oh, and it definitely passes the Bechdel test, even if you don't count the little girl.

Now back to trying to track down copies of the other Hugo nominees. I went ahead and bought a copy of Lois Bujold's Paladin of Souls online, because who am I kidding, I have to own everything Lois wrote; but as for the others, looks like I'll be doing some interlibrary loan....

Comments

[azurelunatic]

Paladin of Souls is good. It passes the Bechdel test.