Dry Water

Rating:
Summary: Shades of Powers and Swanwick
Review: I picked this book up on the strength of the cover blurbs-- Powers called it a 'Fellini Carnival' and Swanwick was more than kind. I figured that a book those two liked couldn't be too far off from my own taste. And it wasn't, I have to say.

Nylund is a strong writer with a powerful imagination. His story is about a reluctant prophet who is suddenly plagued by a host of accomplished magicians wanting to either help him or hinder him from attaining a goal he never knew he had. The characters are handled well and the plot fits neatly together. It's about as clean of a writing job as you can expect in fantasy.

A few points--

the one way in which the book isn't handled well are the female love interests of the hero. Both Linda and Paloma end up as stereotypes, and not terribly well-developed stereotypes, at that. Too bad, because that would have deepened Larry's motivations and our understanding of his character.

Much was clear to me when I read here that the book was intended as a tribute to Zelazny. Explained some weirdnesses around the writer character. I would have rather known it *before* I read it.

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Unsung Novel
Review: I tend to find great books in the bookstores based on a hunch, which was what happened with Eric S. Nylund's superb contempo-fantasy novel, Dry Water. After I started reading, I was hooked-- the book goes in several startling directions, and can almost never be pinned down. With each page of Dry Water, I found myself thinking, "no normal author could get away with this!" Between trippy magical effects and surreal juxtapositions of the mundane and the fantastical, it's amazing that this book works as well as it does. Aside from the mind-blowing plot, the story has some recurring themes that keep it grounded, such as the release of guilt and the rush to change the world. Raja the witch and Nick (aka Judzyas) the necromancer are perfect foils for one another, showing how both seeking complete change and desperately clinging to stasis are unwise courses of action. Dry Water is both deeply complicated and a fun, exciting read. I'd recommend it to anyone who isn't, to borrow a phrase, a "narrow-minded quirkophobe"- and especially to fans of Philip Pullman and Jack Chalker.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!!
Review: Nylund has not only encorperated mischief, intrigue, and action, (which, really, who could ask for more,) but he has given people a point of view into, and from, a world of magik. He let's you create your own world around his. This book is an awesome journey and should be shared with any and all who can listen or read!

Rating:
Summary: Just plain fun
Review: Nylund's style is easy to devour, and his plot intricacies, broadly looping and carefully crafted, make Dry Water one of the better books I have read this year.

His smooth, believable descriptions of magic and fantasy add to what is, underneath it all, a well-spun down-to-earth story. Reading this book confirms the wisdom of truly thinking sideways.

Rating:
Summary: Dry Water
Review: There is more compressed into this novel than in any other fantasy I've ever read, and I've been a fan for forty years. Poul Anderson's sf novel The Boat of a Million Years covers as broad a span of history, but in three times the pages and half the complexity. Charles de Lint and Terri Windling have defined contemporary mythic fiction for me, but I was even more bowled over by this book than I was by The Little Country. For creatively dramatizing the complexities in the mythic war of good and evil, Nylund rivals Clive Barker.

From the strength of his writing skill, imagery, and characterization, I believe I'll like Eric Nylund's other books too, although I don't expect the rest of them to be like this one; he does say that this is inspired by Roger Zelazny.

I don't have space in my small room for keeping many books, but this is a keeper. It's worth hunting down a used copy. Hope that the publishers wise up and reprint it.

Rating:
Summary: The biggest little book I've ever read
Review: There is more compressed into this novel than in any other fantasy I've ever read, and I've been a fan for forty years. Poul Anderson's sf novel The Boat of a Million Years covers as broad a span of history, but in three times the pages and half the complexity. Charles de Lint and Terri Windling have defined contemporary mythic fiction for me, but I was even more bowled over by this book than I was by The Little Country. For creatively dramatizing the complexities in the mythic war of good and evil, Nylund rivals Clive Barker.

From the strength of his writing skill, imagery, and characterization, I believe I'll like Eric Nylund's other books too, although I don't expect the rest of them to be like this one; he does say that this is inspired by Roger Zelazny.

I don't have space in my small room for keeping many books, but this is a keeper. It's worth hunting down a used copy. Hope that the publishers wise up and reprint it.

Rating:
Summary: a compex fantasy about good intensions and their results
Review: This is a very good novel. Basically, it could be called urban fantasy, allthough, it shouldn't be, considering that the action takes place in a small town in New Mexico.

So, it should be rural fantasy, I think.

This is not unlike the works of Tim Powers and James P. Blaylock.
So, if you like them - give "Dry water" a shot.

I found the main character sympathetic, allthough the romantic storyline was rather perfunctory. But the magic IS there in this novel, as are some interesting persons (not all of them alive), and the story of the antagonist, when told, rises interesting points.

This book has intelligence, controlled lightnings and one annoying, though good-natured ghost - what more do you need?