Tad Williams career began in the in the fantasy realm genre,
starting with Tailchaser’s Song that segued into his international best selling
series Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. From there he would give us the science
fiction themed multivolume Otherland series, before circling back to fantasy
with the Shadowmarch series. He would also give us standalone fantasy novels The
War of the Flowers, along with Caliban's
Hour and Child of an Ancient
City. For the last few years he’s been dabbling in the newest (I guess) subcategory
of genre fiction, urban fantasy.
The narrative of these stories is they’re generally set in contemporary
times and contain many supernatural elements. However, they can be set in the
past and the future, with the one basic trope thread through out them is that they
must be primarily set in a city. While, per se, I have no problem with this subcategory
of genre fiction, its surge in popularity seems more designed to appeal to fans
who don’t like typical sword and sorcery tales (like the ones the author has
written before), but still want tales that carry some elements of the genre. By
setting them in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York or elsewhere,
the tales can more “identifiable” with an audience than the land of Mordor in
Middle-Earth. Also, by chance, if a Hollywood studio is interested in buying
the series, a supernatural tale is an easier sale because it can have a wider,
much broader appeal than straight fantasy books. I can see Williams having a
better chance of selling these Bobby Dollar books to a premium or basic cable
channel, ala True Blood and The Walking Dead, than trying to convince them to
spend the money on an epic fantasy that many within Hollywood still consider to
be nothing more than a genre with limited demographic appeal –there is a reason
it’s taken this long to get Stephen King’s complex and genre jumping Dark Tower novels translated into
film, and yet they’re still not doing a straight adaptation.
But I digress…
“Bobby Dollar is an angel, a real one. He knows a lot about
sin, and not just in his professional capacity as an advocate for souls caught
between Heaven and Hell. Bobby's wrestling with a few deadly sins of his own pride,
anger, even lust. But his problems aren't all his fault. Bobby can't entirely
trust his heavenly superiors, and he's not too sure about any of his fellow
earthbound angels either, especially the new kid that Heaven has dropped into
their midst, a trainee angel who asks too many questions. And he sure as hell
doesn't trust the achingly gorgeous Countess of Cold Hands, a mysterious
she-demon who seems to be the only one willing to tell him the truth. When the
souls of the recently departed start disappearing, catching both Heaven and
Hell by surprise, things get bad very quickly for Bobby D.
"End-of-the-world" bad. "Beast of Revelations" bad. Caught
between the angry forces of Hell, the dangerous strategies of his own side, and
a monstrous undead avenger that wants to rip his head off and suck out his
soul, Bobby's going to need all the friends he can get--in Heaven, on Earth, or
anywhere else he can find them.”
Of the few urban fantasy novels I’ve read, I got to say this
is not a bad book. Williams does have the knack of creating wonderful
characters, and Bobby Dollar is like the Jim Rockford of angels. You like him
despite the fact he is also an idiot. The book also plays out like an old 1940s
film nior detective novel, and no matter what characters say (in several meta passages); this is a
detective book (and I hate the whole first-person narrative conceit he uses
here as well –it seems pointless). But there are many flaws with novel as well,
and that has much to do with the whole theme of Heaven and Hell –we’ve all seen
this done again and again- than anything else. One other aspect of this genre that
I find astonishingly reductive is that it’s built on a house of cards. There is
no new ground to break here, that they’re all just variation on a theme, which
means predictable plotting, with the good guy/gal falling for the bad girl/guy
and an old friend betraying the main character. So then I find myself wondering
if this is another example of book industries inability to take risks anymore;
that sales are more important than if the book is original; they’re
entertaining time waster, but that’s about it. And sure, one could say that his
Memory,
Sorrow, and Thorn series owes a hell of lot to Lord of the Rings (which it
does), but when I read those books between 1988 and 1993 I enjoyed them immensely.
But now I’m worried. I’m worried because Williams is returning to
the universe he created in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn with a new trilogy set to
start next April. I’m worried that in the 24 years since that last book came
out, I’ve “moved on”, matured and read so many other books that I’m bound to be
disappointed (the same way I was when Stephen R. Donaldson returned to his Thomas
Covenant series some two-decades later). I want to re-read those books, but
should I? Plus, in preparation of that new series, Williams is releasing what I’m
now calling a 240 page prologue to The Last King of Osten Ard in January. I sense that book will cover the
events of the three previous books, plus lay the ground work for the next
three. I might just be wasting my time (?)
As for Bobby
Dollar? There are two other books in the series, but I’m not that sure I want
to continue on at this point. But we’ll see. I never say never.
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