From: Gordon Worley (redbird@rbisland.cx)
Date: Sun Jan 13 2002 - 15:40:32 MST
Title: Blue Light
Author: Walter Mosley
ISBN: 0-316-57098-2
When I was in the bookstore and looking at the bargain books (because
after I bought my text books I couldn't afford much else ;-)), one
caught my eye titled /Blue Light/. I picked it up and the inside flap
described what sounded like a story of trans and posthumans as they get
started and deal with the world. Well, they are in there, but I was
disappointed with the novel overall.
The plot is foggy and not really there. Stuff happens, but things never
really get anywhere (interesting, anyway). The problem, of course, is
that we don't know what kind of plans posthumans might have, so of
course the human reader (and writer) would have to miss what is really
going on. Characterization is good, though. We see transhumans
struggling with their still human biologies mixed with advanced
thought. There are also posthuman characters who make about as much
sense as one of Heinlein's Martians, but at least there aren't many
signs of them thinking like humans (in part that's because we simply
don't see that much of them). The book's main problems are that it gets
a bit mystical at times, there's lots of useless sex, and the plot just
isn't there.
In all, the book never really drew me in. The characters didn't seem
real. The plot does have all the basic parts, but it takes a back seat
to getting laid and mysticism. /Blue Light/ is a good example of why
posthuman plots are beyond us. Of course, it may just be that I don't
like this writer and his pulpy style.
-- Gordon Worley `When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty http://www.rbisland.cx/ said, `it means just what I choose redbird@rbisland.cx it to mean--neither more nor less.' PGP: 0xBBD3B003 --Lewis Carroll
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