Pornokitsch on “The Book of Transformations”

A wonderfully meaty review (always something that appeals to the author ego) over at Pornokitsch:

As a comics fan, I naturally tend toward an analysis of The Book of Transformations’ take on fantasy heroism – or, more accurately, the transformation from human to superhuman. But this is only one of the many, many lenses that can be applied Mr. Newton’s substantial text. He has given his book an audacious title and yet the finished product manages to live up to it. The book also scrutinizes the moment that utopian socialistic aspiration turns into anarchist revolt, and when enlightened absolutism becomes an oligarchial dictatorship. Transformations marks a turning point in the series as well – the climax of the internal politics and the dawn of a more external focus. The characters themselves undergo a series of transformations: static definitions of gender, class and species are all evolved over the course of the book. Transformation is a broad topic, but Mr. Newton approaches it from every conceivable direction. This is a book that, like many of its Dying Earth predeccesors, will provide grist for criticism for decades to come.

I realise the following sentence makes me sound like an arse, but it’s such a satisfying feeling when reviewers genuinely get the little layers. After all, I’ve been faffing about with them for the better part of a year; they’ve been loitering around my head in addition to the But what happens to the people? bit. Go read the rest.

To balance out the author ego, here’s a one-star review of Nights over at Amazon, entitled “Pompous prose murders momentum”.

I’m watching my stats closely to see which link gets the most clicks.