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juushikaTitle: Operation Chaos
Author: Paol Anderson
Published: New York: Orb Books, 1999 (1971) (individual short stories published 1956-1969)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 256
Total Page Count: 82,164
Text Number: 235
Read For: recommended as a werewolf novel, borrowed from the library.
Short Review: In a world where fantasy is as real as our own science, Steve is a werewolf and Ginny is a highly-skilled witch. Drawn together by need and love, this husband/wife team battle elementals and demons—but a darker threat may hide behind their enemies. A series of short stories drawn together in one volume, Operation Chaos has an unusual and promising take on science-fantasy, but it's altogether unconvincing and plagued by uneven pacing. As other reviews indicate, my response is not the majority opinion—but I found this novel unconvincing and more than a little frustrating, and I don't recommend it.
The first three-quarters of the book is the escapades of the husband/wife team's fantastic battles. This section starts out well—the scientific look at fantasy tropes is unusual and interesting, and the various battles are fast-paced and high energy. But it has a tongue-in-cheek humor which I detest and which makes the science-fantasy too comically cliché to be realistic; furthermore, the episodic format become repetitive and the overarching narrative of the couple's relationship is unconvincing. The final quarter of the book, by contrast, is a frenzied journey into hell—one which deviates wildly from the hitherto glib fantasy elements, one which is so fast-paced that it feels like it's been plucked from a different novel. As Operation Chaos is a gathering of short stories, the episodic style and uneven pacing make sense—but that explanation doesn't make these faults any more enjoyable to read.
Operation Chaos has its good points—the science-fantasy is promising, and hell in particular is artfully rendered and at once unique and convincing. But for a variety of reasons, the novel just didn't work for me: I found the humor grating, the love story and science-fantasy unconvincing, and I believe the uneven pacing degrades the quality of the book and makes for a weak resolution. Perhaps some of this is an issue of personal taste (in particular my sense of humor and my unease with the arbitrary fantasy elements), but still I don't recommend Operation Chaos. A different reader may enjoy it more, and the original short story format explains many of its problems, but in all I found this book more frustrating than enjoyable.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
And sexist. I found it sexist, too—ironic, considering that the wife is so much more capable and important than the husband—but his objectification of her bothered me to no end. Ditto racist, if only in one of the stories. I never know how much to forgive older works for sins of discrimination, but there you go: they were there and bugged me, but I can't express why with enough confidence to make them part of my review proper.
Author: Paol Anderson
Published: New York: Orb Books, 1999 (1971) (individual short stories published 1956-1969)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 256
Total Page Count: 82,164
Text Number: 235
Read For: recommended as a werewolf novel, borrowed from the library.
Short Review: In a world where fantasy is as real as our own science, Steve is a werewolf and Ginny is a highly-skilled witch. Drawn together by need and love, this husband/wife team battle elementals and demons—but a darker threat may hide behind their enemies. A series of short stories drawn together in one volume, Operation Chaos has an unusual and promising take on science-fantasy, but it's altogether unconvincing and plagued by uneven pacing. As other reviews indicate, my response is not the majority opinion—but I found this novel unconvincing and more than a little frustrating, and I don't recommend it.
The first three-quarters of the book is the escapades of the husband/wife team's fantastic battles. This section starts out well—the scientific look at fantasy tropes is unusual and interesting, and the various battles are fast-paced and high energy. But it has a tongue-in-cheek humor which I detest and which makes the science-fantasy too comically cliché to be realistic; furthermore, the episodic format become repetitive and the overarching narrative of the couple's relationship is unconvincing. The final quarter of the book, by contrast, is a frenzied journey into hell—one which deviates wildly from the hitherto glib fantasy elements, one which is so fast-paced that it feels like it's been plucked from a different novel. As Operation Chaos is a gathering of short stories, the episodic style and uneven pacing make sense—but that explanation doesn't make these faults any more enjoyable to read.
Operation Chaos has its good points—the science-fantasy is promising, and hell in particular is artfully rendered and at once unique and convincing. But for a variety of reasons, the novel just didn't work for me: I found the humor grating, the love story and science-fantasy unconvincing, and I believe the uneven pacing degrades the quality of the book and makes for a weak resolution. Perhaps some of this is an issue of personal taste (in particular my sense of humor and my unease with the arbitrary fantasy elements), but still I don't recommend Operation Chaos. A different reader may enjoy it more, and the original short story format explains many of its problems, but in all I found this book more frustrating than enjoyable.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
And sexist. I found it sexist, too—ironic, considering that the wife is so much more capable and important than the husband—but his objectification of her bothered me to no end. Ditto racist, if only in one of the stories. I never know how much to forgive older works for sins of discrimination, but there you go: they were there and bugged me, but I can't express why with enough confidence to make them part of my review proper.
