Quick Review: Matthew Hughes's Template
May. 11th, 2008 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
womzillaIt is almost impossible to discuss Matthew Hughes's science fantasy novels of the Archonate without using the word "Vancean". So I'm not even going to try.
Vancean. Vancean! VANCEAN!
It's just such a fitting description. Like Vance, Hughes writes with a fine, clear grace, sentences that are precise and polished but smooth and natural, and studded with little gems of exotic vocabulary, as in this, the opening paragraph of Template:
"Epiniards"--I don't even know what they are, but I have faith the author does. It is a word evocative of both "poignard" and "épee"; I discover that "épinard" is the Romance word for spinach; I find myself wondering if some Latin taxonomist decided that spinach resembled a blade (like the gladiolus) or vice versa.
Just so you know I read past the first paragraph: Also like Vance, Hughes writes stories in a vast, technologically advanced, but vaguely archaic transplanetary human diaspora, depicted with just enough key details to make it feel convincing and not enough to make it feel preposterous. The novel is a picaresque* of Conn's exposure to other worlds and other cultures of the diaspora, discovering that the values in which he was raised are not universally held. Our hero's world is a satirical libertarian paradise, complete with literal wage slavery and public executions for cheating at cards. Over the course of his adventure, Conn learns that the financial exchange is not the sole manner of human interaction. There are fights and chases, surprises and romance, and psychotic adversaries to best.
*Not literally; our hero is no rogue, but in fact a scrupulously honest man in pursuit of someone who wishes him dead for purposes of plunder.
Template is, in brief, a delight, a fast-paced, funny, suspenseful novel full of, yes, Vancean brainkicks, carefully crafted to deliver thrills. It's a type of novel that doesn't get published much any more, and that's a bloody shame.
Full disclosure: Matt Hughes is giving away electronic copies of Template to promote its small-press publication, coming later this month. In return for the free copy, Hughes asked that the recipient mention the novel publicly--favorably not a requirement.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
james_nicoll organized today's mini-blogswarm of reviews, in which I'm glad to have participated. I also should mention that I have a past professional link to Hughes--I wrote the cover copy to his Tor novel, Black Brillion, which I adored. The millions of you who refrained from reading and buying that book should kick yourselves for not getting it.
Vancean. Vancean! VANCEAN!
It's just such a fitting description. Like Vance, Hughes writes with a fine, clear grace, sentences that are precise and polished but smooth and natural, and studded with little gems of exotic vocabulary, as in this, the opening paragraph of Template:
The tall skinny one and the one with the shaved head kept circling to Conn Labro's right. When they came at him their attack was well coordinated, the points of their epiniards darting in at different angles, aimed at different parts of his body. Now they came again and Conn timed the double parry exactly, riposted against the skinny one so that he had to block the thrust in a way that hindered his partner's recovery.
"Epiniards"--I don't even know what they are, but I have faith the author does. It is a word evocative of both "poignard" and "épee"; I discover that "épinard" is the Romance word for spinach; I find myself wondering if some Latin taxonomist decided that spinach resembled a blade (like the gladiolus) or vice versa.
Just so you know I read past the first paragraph: Also like Vance, Hughes writes stories in a vast, technologically advanced, but vaguely archaic transplanetary human diaspora, depicted with just enough key details to make it feel convincing and not enough to make it feel preposterous. The novel is a picaresque* of Conn's exposure to other worlds and other cultures of the diaspora, discovering that the values in which he was raised are not universally held. Our hero's world is a satirical libertarian paradise, complete with literal wage slavery and public executions for cheating at cards. Over the course of his adventure, Conn learns that the financial exchange is not the sole manner of human interaction. There are fights and chases, surprises and romance, and psychotic adversaries to best.
*Not literally; our hero is no rogue, but in fact a scrupulously honest man in pursuit of someone who wishes him dead for purposes of plunder.
Template is, in brief, a delight, a fast-paced, funny, suspenseful novel full of, yes, Vancean brainkicks, carefully crafted to deliver thrills. It's a type of novel that doesn't get published much any more, and that's a bloody shame.
Full disclosure: Matt Hughes is giving away electronic copies of Template to promote its small-press publication, coming later this month. In return for the free copy, Hughes asked that the recipient mention the novel publicly--favorably not a requirement.
james_nicoll organized today's mini-blogswarm of reviews, in which I'm glad to have participated. I also should mention that I have a past professional link to Hughes--I wrote the cover copy to his Tor novel, Black Brillion, which I adored. The millions of you who refrained from reading and buying that book should kick yourselves for not getting it.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-12 03:48 am (UTC)