Anatopsis -- Chris Abouzeid

I really didn't think I was going to make it through.  Here's a sample of the notes I made while reading:

• Seems like it's shooting for the Diana Wynne Jones fantasy satire, but turned out like sub-par Pratchett.


• Too wink-wink nudge-nudge for me.  Amalgamated Witchcraft, how droll; the Bacchanalian exams, how clever.


• Character-wise, I'm tired of the princess-tomboy type.  It just makes me want to re-read the Patricia Wrede books -- they're funny without trying too hard, and I have a real affection for the characters.


• Following the recent trend of evil doer/ineffectual parent as Big Business.


• Glaring environmental message, as well as class/race.

Then I hit page 40(ish) and I started to really enjoy it.  Anatopsis' terrifying new tutor shows up and the story gets much weirder and much scarier.  It feels less and less like an amalgamation of DWJ, Harry Potter, Tale of Desperaux and every book with a plucky-princess-who-doesn't-want-to-act-like-a-princess and more like something very original.

Mostly.

It's a sci-fi/fantasy mix, which I think is a hard combo to get completely right.  At least, personally, I rarely end up loving them.  (Rarely?  Have I ever loved one?  Can't stand the Duane books, hated Artemis Fowl with a burning-seething-undying, er, hatred, liked Faerie Wars pretty well...)

It's set on Earth -- or a version of it -- in the future.  The environment has been mostly destroyed by the magic users -- Immortals -- who live on an island that is magically protected from the smog and toxins and sludge.  The mortals who aren't lucky enough to serve the Immortals live without protection.  ("Lucky" is relative.  When Immortals get angry, they're liable to start tossing curses.  Curses are irreversible unless the same Immortal that casts it decides to lift it -- which they never do.)

Anatopsis has:  an extremely interesting magic system, characters that I ended up developing affection for -- I especially liked Ana's father, a very scary bad guy, people getting torn in half, some very imaginative curses, a cranky talking dog, a mortal servant girl with the heart of a knight, inter-planetary travel, and a visit to Mount Olympus.  That's just a fraction. 

I suspect that the more I try to explain, the more confusing and complicated it will get.  So:  if you slog through the first forty annoying pages, the rest of the book is worth it.

Comments

[Chris Abouzeid]

Hi Leila,

Thanks for your review of Anatopsis. Believe it or not, I'm very relieved to hear that you had to slog through the first 40 pages of the book. I thought most readers would have to slog through the first 80 pages, so your experience is a great mark of success for the book. (And, as I tell many of my friends, I had to slog through the beginnings of The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Dune, and a host of other classics. So a certain degree of "slog factor" must be a good thing; right?)

However, I do have to correct a slight error in your review. Since I wrote the first draft of Anatopsis over 20 years ago, it would be more accurate to say that Harry Potter and Tale of Despereaux are derivative of my work. (In fact, I'm pretty sure J.K. Rowling brushed up against my knapsack in Heathrow back in '86. There's no telling what she may have lifted.)

As for Diana Wynne Jones, I will admit that I read Howl's Moving Castle last year, and it's possible that a piece of my consciousness broke off and floated back in time to the moment when I was creating Solomon Castle. This is known in the trade as a "reverse internalization," and my book packager, Slag-Alloy, says I will probably get sued, but that I shouldn't worry, because it will help book sales. Besides, Slag-Alloy tells me, Ms. Jones has written so many books it's impossible not to "internalize" her work. That's why we will be using the "fantasy saturation" defense for our case.

All joking aside, I am very sorry that you had a hard time with the beginning of Anatopsis, but I'm grateful that you stuck with the book long enough to discover its merits. And though I too wish the beginning of the book were a little stronger, I have to remind myself that it's the first novel I ever wrote, and that when I began it, years ago, my only two goals were a) to finish it; and b) to make it the kind of book that would grab the reader. I seem to have achieved the first goal (much to my surprise). As for the second, I guess a delayed "grab" is better than none.

Thanks for taking the time to read and review Anatopsis. Please know that, despite my poor attempts at humor, your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

With best wishes,

Chris

[Leila]

Now that I'm done laughing (mostly)... That was pretty much the best response to a review ever -- John Irving has a lot to learn from you.

I'll be keeping an eye out for your future books!

[Jac]

Umm... do you often get author responses?