The Sword and Laser discussion

I share the feelings of many that this book is a bit of a hot mess that clearly needed a good editor. But it's - for me - a really fun hot mess. There is certain charm to it and I feel I may be willing to - sometimes! - take an overambitious mess over a polished book with less ambition.

I wonder how much of my impression about it feeling like a fun hot mess where the author has lost a bit control over plot and pacing(!!!) stems from the fact that I knew she dropped the series... Confirmation bias so to speak...

I wonder if for this is determined by what "doorways" they follow. If craft is something you look for in a book, I'm guessing this would not be your thing. If plot, worldbuilding, or character are more your thing, you may be more willing to put up with the mess.

While I think the author left plenty of avenues to continue stories in this world she created, and am a bit disappointed she didn't keep writing in this. I actually think it worked fairly well as a stand alone novel. I personally don't need to have every string wrapped up in a bow to feel satisfied in the ending.

Think about the original Star Wars movie, I'd argue it was a great movie on it's own, and would have been satisfied if that was all that existed in that universe. I'm very happy it did continue, and have loved much that has come since, but that doesn't mean it had to. Leaving things open ended can be fun for the reader, it allows them to speculate and create endings in their own head for what happens going forward.

Over on Discord this book has been described as "Lumpy". And I think that is a very good description of the pacing. The book does not flow great, it repeats itself often, and is not very smooth at times. To me that is where the editing would have helped, not necessarily in what was left hanging. But I know for others, that is important as well.

Overall I think this worked well as a stand alone until the last chapter. It's in this chapter that one of the biggest loose ends (view spoiler)[the mysterious child stealer that Robin mentions (hide spoiler)] is brought up.

It seemed to come out of nowhere and is clearly meant to be dealt with in future novels.

The only other dangling plot line I can think of is what, if anything, the village will (or can do) about the (view spoiler)[government's propaganda and what's really happening in the wider world. (hide spoiler)]

This feels more like what John (Nevets) mentions above. Like the end of Star Wars, (view spoiler)[what happens with the government in TSoK (hide spoiler)] can be speculated on by the reader without diminishing the enjoyment of the rest of the novel.

I was among those that found the first part puzzlingly slow. But oh, the build. (view spoiler)[Misaki's fight scenes were full on glorious, just plain magic to read. And when the worm turned at the end, it was a full on quiet rebellion against the Emperor. Only a former true believer can subvert an empire like Takeru does. If there are off parts of the text - and there are - I'll take them for the majestic high points. (hide spoiler)]

The book does not flow great, it repeats itself often, and is not very smooth at times. To me that is where the editing would have helped, not necessarily in what was left hanging.

Oh, I agree! What I meant by the plot getting over her head was that I never was quite sure if the author knew the answers for the stuff that was dangling around. Like the reasons for the actions of the enemies.

But the rough edges were more the pacing with page long info dumps, the unusual structure, the repetition, the inconsistency in narrator perspective or sometimes weird flow of time with long inner monologues that should not be possible in the split seconds between the described actions.

But you could always feel passion and heart. The characters were interesting (despite their tendency to reflect in moments of action) and you could feel the tragedy and compassion of it all.with that I can overlook things like world building questions I had ("we have bombs but no firearms? Why?")

John (Nevets) wrote: "I wonder if for this is determined by what "doorways" they follow. If craft is something you look for in a book, I'm guessing this would not be your thing. If plot, worldbuilding, or character are ..."

I personally find the craft/writing style the most important thing for me. I would much rather read something polished and relatively unambitious in scope than a hot mess. It seems a shame that the author hasn’t been connected with a good mentor/editor to help her get her story fully polished.

John (Nevets) wrote: "Think about the original Star Wars movie, I'd argue it was a great movie on it's own, and would have been satisfied if that was all that existed in that universe..."

This is an interesting comparison, but I think argues better for the people who didn't like how this book ended. There's a lot of work done in the beginning third of the book that is slow but that I can forgive. Scene-setting and world-building and establishing characters and maneuvering them into place - that's all good stuff. Then there's a huge fight. It's great.

At this point, Star Wars shows a clip of Vader's fighter spiraling into the universe, revealing he's not dead and there's more to come, then the movie ends on the high of the victory. At this point in the book, there is a third of the book left and it starts telling a whole new story. There's wrap-up between Takeru and Misaki which needed to happen, but could have happened in a break in the battle, or could have started before the battle even happened. But there's just so much extra junk that doesn't need to be there that buy the end I was way past the emotional high-point of the story. It just didn't seem very well-considered to me.

John (Nevets) wrote: "I wonder if for this is determined by what "doorways" they follow. If craft is something you look for in a book, I'm guessing this would not be your thing. If plot, worldbuilding, or character are ..."

I would argue that Character is the doorway in this book. I say this acknowledging that not everyone who looks for Character as their main doorway will embrace this book. Those who identify strongly with one or more of the characters in this story and what they are going through will get an emotional return.

I like that this book is messy. It feels like it reflects my experience in life. Relationships don’t go the way I want them to when I want them to. People exit the story when I’m not ready. Some characters don’t step up when I want them to. It gives me hope that life can go on and get better, even when it doesn’t happen at what I would consider the right time.

betanine wrote: "...Character is the doorway in this book..."

This is it exactly. The tagline on the author's own website is "Character-driven Sci-fi & Fantasy." I'm not really critical of writing-style or craft very often - it usually doesn't register with me. But I did feel that plot and world-building were sacrificed to character in this universe. Everything seems set up so that the fate of the world seems to lie in the hands of a couple of super-strong people and the state of those people's emotional lives.