Kings of Infinite Space

Mind numbingly pointless office that may be hell; zombies crawling in the ceiling; human sacrifice; lots more zombies crawling around in tunnels, all in office attire; a romance; a mystery; a ghost cat; an over the top battle. The tone is decidedly uneven, and there is way too much going on, but it was a fun read. I especially liked the intensely well groomed and manipulative office worker who becomes the zombie queen.

After watching Hynes' excellent writing course from the Teaching Company, I decided I should read one of his novels. Perhaps I picked the wrong one. Kings of Infinite Space takes about 80 pages to even get going, and my first laugh was on page 245. It is a bizarre tale of a failed academic working as a temp at a Texas state agency who finds himself inducted into a very strange group of men whose intent he can't quite figure out. Meanwhile, he becomes involved with the office mail girl, Callie, who is by far the book's most interesting character, and in fact the only one we can really care about. Paul (the protagonist) is also being haunted by a dead cat from a previous relationship. The book is just plain bizarre, but lacks the show more narrative momentum to make it very interesting, although it does pick up a bit toward the end, but not in a great way, just in a busy sort of way. I just found the whole thing to be rather uninvolving. It is set in Austin, although for some reason Hynes gives it an alternate name. Still, if you have lived there, you'll recognize the Central Market as the site of Paul and Callie's first date. And a few other places as well. But I didn't pick up the novel for fond memories of my time in Austin. I thought I would be more entertained--or something. Instead, until the last hundred pages or so, the best I could do was to read one or two short chapters each night before going to bed. I just kept staring at the book, thinking I needed to finish it, to see if it was as disappointing as I thought, but there was just no motivation. And come to think of it, no motivation to read any of his other work as well. But I do still recommend the Teaching Company course. show less

I really have no idea what book the other reviewers read. I should have put this book away at the very beginning, but I just kept chugging along hoping that a clever twist or maybe a little character growth on the protagonist. Nope. Ultimately, I was left hollow like the caverns the zombies worked in.

Paul Trilby is an academic loser who couldn't complete his book, cheated on his wife and lover, and then kills a cat. I am supposed to sympathize with this guy? He actually gets into another relationship that seems to be based solely on sex, and all he can do is whine about his life and deny everything bad as a dream. On top of this screwed up protagonist, you are faced with a lack of suspense (unless you are as dimwitted as Paul Trilby), show more and a complete lack of any sense of real or imaginary action that could possibly happen. A barbecue grill going into water is supposed to make some kind of tidal wave and steam up a cavern holding 37 people... please!

I wasted 12 hours 10 minutes and 13 seconds of my life listening to this awful Recorded Books venture. Don't make the same mistake! show less

Those familiar with Hynes's academic horror-satires won't be completely disappointed. He's moved on a bit into bureaucratic, neo-Lovecraftian satire a la Charles Stross. But his shtick still seems to have gotten a little old. Another twist is the surprisingly successful attempt to recoup Paul Trilby as a sympathetic character. All more than competently done, but the formulas really seem to have overwhelmed any inspiration that may have been here.

Kind of Carl Hiassen (with male protagonist) meets Chuck Palahniuk. Doesn't exactly fit a genre but don't want to spoil it. Fast moving with strong character development. This is one of the few books where an academic and writer can write about a failed academic without being morose and completely depressed (although it's there) about the university scene. About 2/3 of the way through I realized the book was going to end too soon--it could have gone another 200 pages without being dull, but the author or story ties itself off pretty fast, too fast for my taste. Enjoyable, clever, slow in the beginning but accelerates and leaves you wanting more, although some of the subject matter or characters seem a bit more juvenile than might be show more plausible, even in a Red-State government bureaucracy. show less

KINGS OF INFINITE SPACE
By James Hynes

Speaking as a six-year veteran state employee, I’d like to say that James Hynes novel, Kings of Infinite Space, is pretty much true. Not the part about overbearing co-workers, ill-paid temps, or difficult parking. I meant he part about blood sacrifices in the unexplored network of pre-human caves under our offices.

http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2007/08/kings-of-infinite-space-by-james-hynes....

"...Paul Trilby would have to admit that he's having a bad life." (His wife, three girlfriends leave him)... He's fallen from academia to publishing, until he's finally fallen so far that he's reduced to working as a civil service tech writer for state government. How pathetic.

(Note to James Hynes: this is not exactly the tragic fall of a real "Down and Out" story....)