Asulon 4: Weak points

There aren't that many problems in William McGrath's Asulon.

Topical harangues. Preachiness isn't a real problem. Concentrating too much on the topics of the moment is. We have nods to term limits and something like the Fair Tax early on, for example. That's all very clever, but an author should focus better and remember that topical references get old fast.

Info dumps. These are hard to avoid, but some of them are a bit long. I generally find that dialog is better than pulling out a book and beginning to read, which actually occurs twice. Also, since this uses an omniscient viewpoint, we could simply watch some of the events unfold free of charge.

Abrupt ending. It's a bad sign when you reach the end and turn the page expecting at least another few paragraphs. The ending here is as sudden as an invisible brick wall on a freeway.

Editing. The editing could be better. Unfortunately, these days that's true of practically anything in print.

Sidebar: "Etruscan." I considered mentioning this yesterday, but only a language geek would notice. The "Etruscan" is in fact mangled Latin. I don't consider this a problem, however, for a couple reasons:

1. Although Etruscan wasn't even related to Latin, the Etruscan civilization dominated the area where Rome and Latin eventually came to power. The goal is evidently to invoke Rome indirectly. I can live with that.

2. The author clearly likes playing with words anyway. Toward the end of the story, he conflates "Nephilim" and "Rephaim" into "Rephalim," for example. Again, it's tolerable.

Conclusion
The positives strongly outweigh the negatives, and I look forward to the remaining two books. There are some good points here, and perhaps getting a fresh perspective on what has become a stale genre will provoke people to think about alternatives to the opinions they've been taught to consider practically on a par with Scripture.

Participating Blog links:
The Christian Fiction Review Blog
A Frank Review
Susan Kirkland
Melissa Meeks @ Bibliophile's Retreat
Geralyn Beauchamp @ The Time Mistress
Cathi Hassan @ Cathi's Chatter
Caprice Hokstad @ Queen of Convolution

Asulon 3: False Negatives

This is normally the point where I'd mention any negatives in William McGrath's Asulon. However, because it's an unusual book, I think it's likely to generate some faulty criticisms--more than most books. So I'll take a few moments to deal with some false negatives.

Head hopping. Expect this from the dysfunctionally illiterate. McGrath doesn't really head-hop; he's using an omniscient viewpoint. That puts him a bit out of step with the received wisdom of writers' groups, which is likely a good thing.

Preachiness. It's surprising how many people preach against preachiness. I've already dealt with this in the past [1] [2] [3], but here I'll just point out that practically all modern speculative fiction is preachy. Matrix? Star Wars? Star Trek? Preachy, all of them. In fact, the big difference between them and Asulon is what (or Who) is preached. Now, some of the topical stuff is problematic; I'll get to that tomorrow. But preaching as such is not the issue.

Magic. The bad guys use it, which is the way that works. Simon the priest doesn't. In fact, he gives a very beautiful, moving, and accurate explanation of the difference at the end of the book.

Eschatology. Yes, the eschatology is a little unusual. But while I don't agree with all the interpretations, it's probably nearer right than the usual "Left Behind" view. As anyone who follows my reviews knows, I don't require authors to agree with my views; I just want them to be consistent and scripturally plausible. That's why I, as a premill, endorse the postmill The Shadow and Night. It's a good idea to know what other Christians think. If you're average, you're spending more time--way too much--absorbing non-Christian views anyway.

Production Values. Yes, it could look a little better. But if you're more interested in looking at pictures than in reading, you should probably skip Asulon and check out The Pokey Little Puppy instead. The text is definitely good.

Tomorrow we'll look at some actual (minor) issues, and I'll put in a final plug for the book.

Participating Blog links:
The Christian Fiction Review Blog
A Frank Review
Susan Kirkland
Melissa Meeks @ Bibliophile's Retreat
Geralyn Beauchamp @ The Time Mistress
Cathi Hassan @ Cathi's Chatter
Caprice Hokstad @ Queen of Convolution

Asulon 2: The Good Stuff

So why does William McGrath's Asulon succeed? There are a number of reasons; I'll touch on a few.

Myth. It turns out that McGrath was right about the compatibility of biblical prophecy and myth. It shouldn't be a surprise: in the Old Testament especially, images are sometimes drawn from pagan myths. And as the Chronicles of Narnia show, mythology on a fairy-tale level can not only enrich a fantasy but ease up the expectations. In Asulon, for example, there's a running gag of sorts about an angel turned mortal siring children with angelic blood in their veins. Ordinarily I'd ding McGrath for that, but since he uses much the same concept to set up dwarves, unicorns, etc., I accept it as mythology and let it pass. If he had gone for a realistic, modern setting, I would've nailed him.

Character Balance. I see a lot of plot/character problems. On the one hand, sometimes a character does something for no apparent reason except that the author says so. On the other hand, sometimes a character is so cliché-ridden that you can predict his every move. The characters in Asulon, however, are strongly typed without becoming stereotypes. You can predict their general responses, but not very precisely. With a few characters on stage at any given moment, that produces reasonable surprises rather than rabbits out of a hat.

Also, the balance between Simon the priest and Moor the warrior works well. Moor is not a Christian, so while he is physically very competent and has considerable cunning, he has no spiritual insight. He goes by appearances, but he isn't stupid. Simon, meanwhile, is spiritually adept. He's a good fighter as well, but not at Moor's level. Together they provide humanistic and spiritual depths that make the story far more interesting. Most authors would have had one or the other, or at least would have emphasized one over the other.

Authority. Never let your readers suspect you don't know what you're talking about. Asulon is awash with combat-related notes, and McGrath does handle action scenes better than most. He is generally informative without being pedantic, which helps his credibility and readability.

He does get "preachy" on occasion, but that's not a major problem for me. In fact, tomorrow I'll deal with that and some other complaints I suspect will be leveled at Asulon and why they're bogus.

Participating Blog links:
The Christian Fiction Review Blog
A Frank Review
Susan Kirkland
Melissa Meeks @ Bibliophile's Retreat
Geralyn Beauchamp @ The Time Mistress
Cathi Hassan @ Cathi's Chatter
Caprice Hokstad @ Queen of Convolution

Asulon 1: Back to the Future

It would be tempting to describe William McGrath's Asulon as a sword-and-sorcery version of Left Behind. It would also give a seriously wrong impression: Asulon is far better than Left Behind. (On the other hand, I did enjoy the numerous silly errors in LB. Asulon lacks them.)

Anyway... Asulon is the first installment of a three-part series ("The Sword of Fire") presenting McGrath's interpretations of End-Times prophecy in the form of a fantasy story with a prince and his friends caught up in events of Apocalyptic dimensions.

Hands up, everyone who thinks that sounds stupid.

To be honest, I thought it sounded stupid too. But somehow it works. In fact, the further you go in the book, the better it works. (This means you should not read the book backwards: you won't like it, and all the subliminal messages about the Beatles are annoying.)

Anyway, Part II: the story is a geopolitical roman à clef, so some of the people and most of the places are thinly veiled versions of their real-world cunterparts. Sometimes the veil is so thin it's practically indecent, but the story remains family friendly for teens and up. (There are lot of action scenes and moderate violence, but I'd give it a PG at most. Star Wars was at least as violent.)

As usual in this type of fantasy, we wind up with a boy, a girl, and a couple of mentor characters beginning a journey that turns out to have an unknown destination. We also have an odd mix of topical references and vaguely Narnian mythological material. Thus "Asulon" itself (presumably from a Greek word meaning "asylum, refuge") is the USA, Logres (from a Celtic root) is England, and so on. (In other cases, if you get stuck on a country name, remove the -ia suffix, if any, and read it backwards. That usually works.) Again, it all sounds odd, but the story really does work. I'll explore some of the reasons for this tomorrow.

Participating Blog links:
The Christian Fiction Review Blog
A Frank Review
Susan Kirkland
Melissa Meeks @ Bibliophile's Retreat
Geralyn Beauchamp @ The Time Mistress
Cathi Hassan @ Cathi's Chatter
Caprice Hokstad @ Queen of Convolution