The Absolute Book, Elizabeth Knox
I don’t really know what to say about this book. I finished it, because there were many things that intrigued me, and which I wanted to see through to the end. The mixture of mythology — which includes an interesting use of the Arthurian legends — was interesting, but at the same time it meant I was never quite sure of which rules we were following. In fairytales, there are always rules that govern the story, but the rules which govern this story aren’t clear (even though they are present).
Partly that’s because one of the key characters is a guy called Shift. He loses his memory every few hundred years so he doesn’t know all about his past, he’s hiding things about himself, he’s not human, and he’s being hidden by a spell that makes it hard to really look at him. The whole story feels like that, to be honest, and it makes sense for it to be like that… but I didn’t enjoy it so much.
I do like Shift, actually, and Jacob and Taryn as well — perhaps that’s what I stuck around for, really, to know what happens to them.
The weird thing that other readers should be aware of is the fact that the first 50-70 pages or so read like it’s going to be a thriller. When it takes a left turn into fairyland. Also, though you’d think the love of books should permeate the book, there’s very little time spent actually reading. Taryn’s an author and talks about her book… but if you’re looking for vicarious enjoyment of musty libraries and big old tomes, I don’t think the books end up being that important to the plot.
