The Weight of Stone

In Weight of Stone: Book Two of the Vineart War, Laura Anne Gilman continues her Vineart War cycle with the adventures of Jerzy, Mahault, and Ao after they flee the danger at the court of Aleppan. Pursued by the Washers and fearful of the spreading taint, afraid to go ashore and afraid to stay at sea in their ill-supplied and small vessel, they are unsure what to do... and unfortunately it seems the author isn't so sure what to do with them either!

I know Gilman is developing a lot of things that will be important in later books, such as the culture of the Washers, the details of the religion, the motivations of the villains, the civilizations beyond the Lands Vin — but good world-building must always be incidental to the plot. And in show more this installment, the plot meanders all over the place. They leave the Berengia; they come back. They leave; they come back. Mahault goes away to join an elite female fighting force, the Solitaires, and then quits and comes back. This is pretty frustrating, especially in an audiobook where the pace of the story is already slower than if one is reading the printed book. I found myself becoming bored before it was halfway done.

And I've noticed Gilman's tendency to tell rather than show, to spell things out rather than rely on carefully layered prose and the reader's own intelligence to figure out the characters' motivations. Consider these examples I jotted down:

"'I'm sure the locals are completely honest,' he [Ao] went on, in the tone of voice that suggested that he believed anything but."

Good writing would not spell out Ao's tone of voice so obviously; instead, why not have him say that line with a roll of the eyes or some other indication that he's being sarcastic? That would be so much better than ponderously spelling it.

"Kainam did not take a step backwards, but he obviously wanted to."

You shouldn't have to tell the reader that Kainam wanted to step backwards; you should show it by his body language. Sometimes the tedious explanations of every character's thoughts and motives feel almost insulting, as if Gilman doesn't trust her readers to figure things out if she doesn't make it obvious. I noticed some issues with the writing in the first book, Flesh And Fire, but it didn't seem as blatant then as it does in this novel. And sadly, all this makes for a rather unstimulating read.

This unabridged 13-hour audiobook is read by Anne Flosnik (whose narration I am starting to have more of a taste for, I think) and is published by Tantor Media, 2010. I'm not sure I will be finishing the series; if the third book is like this one, there's little to miss. But fans who are deeply invested in the fate of Jerzy and the Lands Vin will no doubt be more forgiving in their estimation.

Thank you to SFSite.com for the opportunity to review this audiobook. show less