Subject: PC Hodgell's God Stalk -- the best and worst books of the year...

From: [email-masked] (Alexis Rosen)
Date: 9 Mar 92 22:02:05 GMT

[This turned into a review so it's being crossposted to rec.arts.sf.reviews.]

[email-masked] (Mark A Biggar) writes:
>[email-masked] (David I Resnick) writes:
>>Was there ever a third book in this series?  I just read the first
>>two, and enjoyed them, however matters are left hanging at the end of
>>the second book, which was published in 1985.

>According to Locus the 3rd book should be out this summer.

I've been lurking here on and off for years, but I don't think I've posted
here since the big reorg. No, not Kent's baby. The _big_ one. In '86 or so...
But God Stalk has been on my mind again lately and it's worth posting about.

This is either the best news in Fantasy this year, or the worst.

God Stalk stands completely on its own, although there is definitely room
left for a sequel. It is without question one of the finest fantasy novels
I've ever read. The writing is wonderful, at turns incisive, amusing, deep,
precious, folksy, or grandly epic. At all times, it is exactly what the
story needs.

The story itself is a wonder, something new and unique built from faded and
worn parts, living in a borderland between genres of high fantasy, alternate
worlds, alien races, and magical cities. The main characters are intense,
deeply convoluted personalities with as many complexities and ambiguities, as
many nobilities and weaknesses as any people you're likely to ever meet. The
secondary characters too are well developed, each with their own signature
quirks, each with their own lives, and each contributing to the novel without
being obvious plot devices.

The protagonist of God Stalk is that rarest of species, a strong female lead
who resembles neither Scarlett nor Conan. Jame is a fearsome fighter, without
being invincible, smart without being infallible, and stong-willed enough to
warp her entire surroundings even without the benefit of complete self-
confidence. She has significant problems which she works on throughout the
book, but she doesn't become a one-dimensional hero bent on The Quest.

Tai-Tastigon, her city, is one of the great creations of fantasy. It rivals
Lankhmar, Melnibone, and Amber with ease, and puts relatively amateur efforts
like Sanctuary to shame. Its societies, with their myriad facets and layers,
feel far more real than do those in the other cities. It has an intense
personality and character of its own. Tai-Tastigon, a truly weird and wonderful
city, feels larger and more real than most worlds. In this respect it brings
to fantasy something more common in the great works of SF.

Hodgell wrote a novellette (novella?- I'm not sure) called "Bones", which
was printed in the collection "Elsewhere... Vol. 3". It takes places during
the course of God Stalk, and is in all ways of a piece with it. In fact, it
seems quite possible that it was a chapter cut originally from the novel,
although there's no way to be sure.

"Bones" explores more of Tai-Tastigon in great detail, as a simple side effect
of telling its story. It also fleshes out the character of Jame's master,
Penari. The central magical device in the story is a wonderful one, though
not entirely new, and it fits perfectly into the larger framework of God
Stalk.

In both God Stalk and Bones, one of Hodgell's greatest strengths is her rich
use of the language. In her writing, many Places and Things and People are
written with Capital Letters, and they carry the Weight of History and Legend.
Rich, colorful phrases full of cultural meaning are used where simple
collections of words would do. Other writers have tried this with varying
degrees of success. Tolkien, of course, was the greatest. Burroughs too was
successful, although his writing can't compare to Tolkien's (or Hodgell's).
Moorcock uses these techniques the most, and often wears them out. While I
won't stand Hodgell up to Tolkien in the epic sweep and grandeur of her
writing, I think she comes very close to him in creating a personality and
history for her culture, by filling its language with character and color.

All of this may help explain the total devastation I felt when I read Hodgell's
second book, Dark of the Moon. The less said about this disaster, the better.
In short, not one of the positive qualities in God Stalk can be found here.
The best that can be said of the writing is that it's not bad, but there's no
magic, no spark of life that makes the story jump off the page. Worst of all,
she takes a wonderful and strong character, Jame, and turns her into a weak
and spiritless pawn of whatever forces are closest to her.

The only good thing I can say about Dark of the Moon is that it doesn't spoil
God Stalk at all. I've read God Stalk several times since Dark of the Moon
came out, and it's still as fresh and alive as it ever was.

There was at least one other short story published by Hodgell, whose name
escapes me. It's very close in feeling to Dark of the Moon, though perhaps
not as bad- I've never been tempted to dig it up and reread it, though if I
can find it, I may look at it again just to confirm my initial judgement. I
think it would be too painful ever to go back and reread Dark of the Moon.

	%A   Hodgell, P.C.
	%C   New York
	%D   August 1983	
	%G   0-425-06079-9
	%I   Berkley Books
	%O   Originally published in hardcover by Atheneum in 1982
	%P   284 pp.
	%T   God Stalk
	
---
Alexis Rosen
Owner/Sysadmin, PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC.
[email-masked]
{cmcl2,apple}!panix!alexis