Mr. Blur

Rating:
Summary: More Than the Sum of Its Parts
Review: "Mr. Blur" by c.c. dust is the first publication of The Radiant Press, a new independent publishing house. If this book is any indication, this fledgling press will be one to watch.
The author pulls the reader in right from the beginning with atmospheric descriptions and good pacing. I was carried along through interesting descriptions of Victorian London and an alternative New York that kept my attention throughout.
Once the book got going, I began to catch some familiar motifs: the hardboiled detective who refuses to play by the rules, the quest for a mysterious item of power, and the appearance of a fearsome, phantom-like figure. It seemed like a blend of the mystery, fantasy and horror genres, taking standard elements to make an unusual potluck, but it ended up being far more than that.
The book is more than the sum of its parts because of what c.c. dust does with his material. Nothing developed quite as I expected, and the author's surrealistic style kept me off balance. The characters were interesting too, the sort of people you'd love to meet at a party but wouldn't dare give your phone number to. I'll be interested to see if c.c. dust develops this world, and these characters, further.
In a postmodern twist the author himself makes an appearance, but doesn't dominate the book. This is a good thing, because this device has been used all too much in recent years. By displaying self restraint (literally!) c.c. dust shows more artistic maturity than some works by established writers such as Martin Amis' "The Information". Also, there were a few spots where c.c. dust is a bit wordy, but that does little to detract from his consistently pleasing prose style.
All in all, a successful first book. I predict that both Radiant and c.c. dust have an interesting future ahead of them.


Rating:
Summary: MR. BLUR
Review: I came across this book by chance. And I have to say, it's one of the best books I've read this year. First of all, it has a very cinematic quality-it's filled with visuals-and in that sense it reminded me of The Matrix and Blade Runner. Secondly, it's very entertaining. And third, it's also very well written. In that regard, it reminded me of William Gibson and Philip K. Dick. Overall, I found the story compelling, full of twists and turns, and ultimately, it left a powerful impression that lingered long afterward. It's been over a week since I finished reading the book, and I'm still thinking about it. Very cool.

Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Trick Indeed
Review: This book is one of those cyberpunk books that draws heavily from the sort of film noir, pulp comic feel of yesteryear, but recontextualizes it with technology of the future. The writing of this book has its flaws (the overuse of parenthesis is fine for commentary like this, however it is grating when found within a book), and you get the feeling the writer is still honing his craft. However, despite the flaws, what we get is the kind of book that sucks you right in as any mystery should. The setting for the story itself is really something that was well balanced, it felt like the present, but the technological iterations jerked you into the future. Also, the characters were great, very vivd and comic like, however they take some getting used to. They all tended to be fun characters (often with outlandish names as well(, and the charater of Iggy Aronofsky would sometimes go from on-edge geeky malevolence to the kind of comic relief that made me laugh out loud, which is something I rarely do while reading! The ending gets a little rough around the edges, and plays with its readers a little bit too long, but it seems to feel right. One last interesting point I would like to make is that the book manages to pull of something of a magic trick. There are many cliched plots and characters in the story, but somehow they manage to be manipulates in just the right way to make them fresh again (Well, except for writing himself into thestoryline. That was a bit too much, but incidental enough to be forgiven). It is amost as if the book manages to trick you into thinking it was the first to come up with each cliche, and that is an interesting trick indeed.