Archform: Beauty (edition 2002)

3.5 stars. ( )

A lot of critics seem to like Archform: Beauty, and I can't really disagree with them. It tells its story from five points of view, switching among them as it progresses. Despite the title and the presence of five narrators, I didn't really see much evidence of Bartók's arch form in the structure of the book. Beauty is, however, on the minds of the characters, though each has different ideas about what is beautiful.

Mostly, though, it's a detective story. Illegality has transpired, and the characters, variously, have committed it, are chasing it, or are affected by it. The different threads of the story tie together marvelously as events work their way forward.

Modesitt also gets points for a very well-developed world. Language usage has changed a bit in three hundred years, and the book is littered with new turns of phrase. It's not too hard to figure out meaning, though, and a short ways into the book I found the terms nonintrusive.

Spoilers below.

I'll admit that I was disappointed a bit by Kemal's death, mostly because he didn't get what was coming to him. Nevertheless, it was quite reasonable in the context of the book. I was very happy with the tying together of Parsfal's and Cornett's threads at the end--the poet and the singer.

Sometimes a book won't tie up all of its loose ends before it ends. This can give me a sense of incompleteness as I wonder, "Okay, but then what?" This ending, however, left things loose or unresolved but still gave me a sense of closure. (I had tears in my eyes at the last scene, even if Parsfal's poetry wasn't spectacular.)

Livejournal entry ( )

OK, I know I'm picky, but this really should have been proof-read before it was printed. And it could have used a decent editor as well. However, even with these deficiencies, I really enjoyed this. The start is really jarring, with lots of jargon being force fed into you so that you understand that you are living in 'the future'. After a while, this merges into the background, but - from my profession - I know that legions of acronyms are a guaranteed way to piss people off. I'd have said that I was an acronym junkie, but even I was put off by the constant bombardment.

In the end, this is just a police-based detective story. The villain is clear from the start, but that doesn't really hamper the story. Individual chapters are related from the POV of the set of key characters. (Notice how I cunningly slotted in an acronym? Destroys the flow of the narrative, doesn't it?) Tension is nicely built up, but there isn't much surprise in the ending. I'd certainly recommend it to pass the time, but don't expect much depth or subtlety. ( )

This is the first of Modesitt's books I read that wasn't bogged down by lots of detailed descriptions of meals (which I personally like, but can distract from what is supposed to be a taut drama), and his klunky descriptions of romantic development. I love his technique and his deep knowledge of societal forces as well as the way he weaves current events into a futuristic setting, and this is one of the best examples of this weaving "archform" technique.

He still can't write a romantic interest into a story very well, though. Fortunately, for this novel, it's very much in the far background until the denoument which prevents it from being too distracting. ( )