Uncharted / Anderson, Hoyt

Uncharted

(Arcane America #2)

by Kevin J Anderson, Sarah A Hoyt

fantasy

copyright 2018

read in July 2019

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This book is clearly identified -- on the front cover -- as, "Lewis and Clark in Arcane America". So I read the Wikipedia entry on Lewis and Clark before reading this book. The book is a solid magical alternative to the real L&C. Which is both good and bad.

As an alternative history, this book is good. From my limited knowledge I can believe that the L&C expedition could have gone like this... if they were exploring a land with active magic. It's fun to meet the "real" people in their "arcane" incarnations.

Unfortunately real life is not as well organised as a good novel. This causes problems. The dog, for example...

Both real and arcane Lewis are accompanied by a dog called Seaman. This leads ro an awful example of a Chekov's gun. When a gun is hanging on the wall in act one, it must be fired in act three. Otherwise it is pointless... as is the arcane dog. Other than matching history, the dog serves no purpose. It is annoying.

Some arcane characters match their real counterparts. Others -- such as the Indian woman and her husband -- have radically changed roles. Often, this works well.

Towards the end of the book, arcane and real seriously diverge. The pace of action accelerates. The plot logic is stretched thin. The ending of conflict is quite clever, unheralded, satisfactory. Yet clearly leading into another book.

All of this is a mixture of good and not so good. An acceptable story well-based on a real expedition. There is only one major fault with this book:

There is absolutely no excitement. Not that it is boring, there is enough invention to make it worth reading. Yet the story simply does not grip the reader. In fact it's not the story. It's the way that it's told.

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
===

"The most dangerous gift is advice"
===

dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
====