Swarmthief's Dance
category: fantasy, author:Deborah J. Miller
book 1 of Swarmthief Trilogyoriginal copyright 2005
read in May 2012
Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10, well worth reading
My first thought was to give an opinion for this novel of six out of ten -- read to pass the time. Then I started to think of the new ideas in the novel... and raised my opinion to seven, well worth reading.
The Swarmthief story is not great. Average excitement. Minimum tension. Unbelievable escapes. Nothing bad about all this. Just not the material for a "great" book.
Yet there are several new... and interesting... ideas. Starting with the gods.
The gods of the Swarmthief world play a central part in the story. There's an unfortunate mix of direct action and attempting to exert influence... Miller varies the gods' powers, with no explanation. Yet they are definitely key players.
And what an unpleasant lot of gods they are!
The main god character is a naive, unworldly(!) character. He doesn't get out much. Invites a pretty goddess to a picnic, offers sex and is surprised when she says, No thanks.
So, we think, nasty god of the underworld versus sweet goddess and her protective sisters... Will the humans align with good, or with evil?
Until the goddesses reappear in the story. Turns out that they are just as unworldly, over-reacting and insensitive as the god of the underworld... Help me! says one. Help me because you are my slave! says another. Sheesh! What happened to the idea that good gods care?!
The monsters, though, are good... Boring, but good.
Forget about dragons -- these are dragonflies! Monstrous dragonflies -- big enough to carry four or five people. Made up of millions of ordinary-sized insects. A small carry-case of insects will magically group into one gigantic flying insect. With a tendency to fall apart during flight...
Forget the logic, forget about conservation of mass... These monsters are brilliant!
Brilliant... yet boring. Mostly, they are just there. Standing very still. Or being forced to fly. Still, this is book one of a trilogy; there are already signs that the dragonflies -- the Swarms -- will develop.
So there are two rather original ideas: Controlling gods with variable power, no great smarts and unpleasant levels of self-interest. And gigantic dragon...flies. Great ideas! I hope that Miller is able to improve the next two books, to match the original ideas.
The next two books...
Where will Miller go, with the next two books of the trilogy?
The first book is a standard building up of a team of heroes. Meet someone interesting, they have specialist abilities, they join the team. Book two, the team goes on to battle evil, using the various abilities to solve various problems. Except...
The team was destroyed. All killed, in the final chapter... (Though with clear indications that one -- the Swarmthief of the title -- did, in fact, survive.) So much for my expectation of a standard trilogy! Or is this just another original idea from the author...?!
I'm worried that the author has too little empathy for her own characters. Should the reader also avoid forming close attachments? Will any characters survive to the end of the trilogy?
Read this book just to pass the time. With an extra point -- to become "well worth reading" -- if you enjoy some new and original ideas.
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