interworld by neil gaiman & michael reaves
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
i was very eager to sink my teeth into this book, especially while riding on a sandman-induced natural high (i knocked back the whole series + endless nights within 3 days).
and boy, was my excitement sorely misplaced.
the prose has none of gaiman’s easy-going cadence or charm which bugged me, but i thought “hey, it’s a collaboration - gaimanXreaves” and perhaps he role was somewhat more conceptual.
it did surprise me that michael reaves has been (according to the wiki) involved in many beloved animated cartoon series: batman, the animated series (totally rocked), teenage mutant ninja turtles (omg), he-man and the masters of the universe. so why would a gaiman-reaves partnership fall so short of the mark?
if anyone asks, i can never really admit to finishing the book. sure i know what happened. i know it was idiot savant saves the world. underdog turns accidental hero. clichéd and hackneyed, it was a book i couldn’t wait to put down.
you could accuse me of being a little harsh on a book targeted at 9-12 year olds, which is when i direct you to the very excellent coraline. while written for the kiddies, it still manages to be deliciously creepy, original (or a nice take on an old formula) and gripping without being written like a horror story “for kids.”
interworld’s premise was an interesting one: everytime a big decision is made, the course of action you do not choose creates another new world or alternate universe. and within these multiple millions of earths exists individuals who have the power to navigate between them, the Walkers. no prizes for guessing who has this innate talent. -_-”
and of course fighting for control of these worlds are two sets of baddies (one based in science, the other in magic) and the Walkers are part of a grander scheme of things to keep the balance of the cosmos in check.
and it still would have been a mighty interesting read seeing as how all the alternates of our protagonist (his name’s joey harker, but by the novel’s end you still won’t care) are not mirror-image knock-offs, but completely different entities - chicks with wings, chicks with claws, cybernetic shorties and uh… other forgettable characters.
warning, there is no character development. none.
you feel nary a stab in your black heart when joey tells his mom goodbye (what kind of mother lets their kid join the interworld army without question anyway? social services!) not an iota of feeling when jay dies. whoops, spoiler! and certainly we’re not cheering anyone on in this lame conquest of worlds by equally lame magic-based, pig-faced baddies.
so essentially the plot is: kid is lame.
kid has magic powers joins super guerilla team.
mission goes wrong, team captured.
kid gets memory erased and sent home cos he’s lame.
kid regains memory.
kid goes back and saves team, destroys baddies, saves the universe(s).
kid is still just damn lame.
neil gaiman and sci-fi… it really sucks.
