Steven R. Boyett

They say if you can come up with one truly original idea, you've accomplished a great deal. Few people are good at that, but the next best thing is genre-mixing. Ariel is one of those books that is urban fantasy before it became a thing. But it doesn't have the cliche oppressed vampires, bare-chested werewolves, or leather-bound bounty hunters.

A unicorn and a boy journey from Atlanta to New York, having survived the apocalypse. There are dragons and gryphons, and there are skyscrapers and show more cans of beef ravioli. It's a got a street-smart unicorn and a samurai swordsman.

I can tell it was written linearly. It never goes back to previous plot points and there are parts that sit unnecessary, but interesting, such as the dragon-hunting boy. That's not something I like in a novel. I like the easter eggs scattered around to reward you if you're paying attention. But I guess writing on a typewriter means you can't page up to a previous section and insert so easily.

The fascinating thing is the Change. It's never specifically explained. The reader never knows why it happened or what it exactly is. All we know is that technology has stopped working and there are magical creatures around. You can't shoot a gun, but you can start a fire. Bicycles don't work, but wind-up watches do. But the funny thing is, I don't care. The author never explains it, and I never batted an eye. Why? Because the author pays you with an interesting story in exchange for the flawed premise. show less

Written twenty-five years after Ariel, this second book of The Change takes place in the following generation. Fred (son of Pete from the first book) is skilled at casting spells and wants to learn more. Cocky and self-sure adolescents, Fred and his best friend Yan push the boundaries of known ability. Yan gets heady with the potential power he can wield, the two friends argue about their responsibilities and Yan is forced to flee the community. Later when creatures come hunting a unicorn show more horn- key to the most powerful magic that could undo the laws of the Universe- Fred knows what Yan is planning to do- and that he must put a stop to his grandiose plan. So with a few companions he goes off on a mission to confront his best friend. This story arc was so much like the first book. Quest through a decayed landscape full of ruins of civilization, to find and stop the bad guy. Some of the original characters have a large role in it as well. Enough of it was unique- and I especially liked the explanations about the laws of magic, and how Yan and Fred were able to discover new ways to manipulate it, comparing along the way to how computer systems work. It's interesting to me how many stories inside stories were told here, with characters relating their histories, what happened to others... (Fred does quite a bit of eavesdropping, ha). In one part telling stories of the past is even part of a large ritual. It was nice to get some details from the first book filled in.

One interesting aspect is the very subtle suggestion that Fred and Yan were lovers. It's something I might not have noticed if someone else hadn't pointed it out to me. It's just not a big part of the story... was the character keeping it secret? certainly his father didn't know exactly how close he and Yan had been. It's never really made clear.

On the whole I didn't find this book quite as funny as Ariel. A lot of it is built on action- but the narrative seemed to slow down the closer it got the end with the big showdown. At some point I was just anxious for it to get there and making myself read through all the obstacles the characters had to overcome. And unfortunately I didn't feel as connected to the characters themselves. The unicorn in particular wasn't as strong an individual as I remember. I wish there'd been more about Avy. And the centaurs in here? They sound freakishly menacing but I was unable to picture them clearly...

Sounds like there's another installment coming- Avalon Burning. I'd read it.

from the Dogear Diary show less

One scene about 1/3 of the way in sorta sums up the "angst" of the novel. At this point Pete is crying and Ariel is comforting him and he blurts out that he wishes she were a woman. Err... Okay... he can't travel with someone without wanting to have sex with her? What if she were male? He would wish he were gay? Or they'd just be best buds? Exactly. So, either the author is sexist (i.e. a guy can't travel with a female character without wanting to have sex with her), or has some notion that show more it's necessary to have sexual angst, even if the characters aren't the same species. This whole foolishness (who wants to have sex with a unicorn?) surrounding Pete's overwhelming urge to have sex (with apparently anyone human and female) took a big chunk out of the story for me.

And the ending... well... I guess the point is that a 21 year old man would rather have sex with a woman he barely knows than stay with a magical creature. Or maybe the magical creature left him so he could get on with his ordinary human life. Choice between living in the muck or galavanting with a unicorn and he chooses the muck. Sex is powerful, huh?

I was expecting something along the lines of a post-apocalyptic novel, this is not that... it's really just a "boy finding himself" fantasy novel, that just happens to be set in a world that is post-apocalyptic rather than in a straight up fantasy world. show less

This is an odd fantasy novel. I bought it in a humble bundle almost three years ago. It is superficially about a young man trying to survive in a world where technology has been replaced by magic. It is, on a deeper level, about love. About how "love at first sight" is about loving the idea of a person, not the person themself. It's about how love doesn't have to last forever for it to have been meaningful. It's a tragedy, without being sad. I'd like to own a paper copy.