Galveston

Rating:
Summary: Evocative, moody and brilliant
Review: "Galveston" is a beautifully written portrait of a post-apocalyptic world taken over by magic and cut adrift from the modern world. The characters are finely drawn, complex, and extremely likeable, and Stewart's ability to write women who ring true is a joy. The tone of this book reminds me a bit of Jonathan Carroll's work, with perhaps some Sturgeon thrown in. I have liked other of Stewart's books very well, but this one I absolutely loved. Highly recommended to people who like their science fiction with real characters with whom one becomes emotionally involved.

Rating:
Summary: Great Characters . . . Good Plot
Review: A fantasy vision of a not-so-future apocalypse with a cast I really cared about. Magic clings to everything in Galveston, almost like the humidity in the air. A Mardis Gras celebration opens the fooldgates of magic, both good and bad, and Galveston never recovered. For years the residents have held the line against these forces, occassionally losing one of their brethren to the allure of magic.

This is a story of class distinctions as much as a compelling fantasy. The main charaters Ham, Josh, Sloane and Ace - among others - are people you really want to see surmount the problems they face. It's not just the magic they must deal with. Perhaps the most malevelant forces at play are the old money Galveston residents, members of the Krews (Mardis Gras societies). Many of these folks want to keep things, and people just the way they are and will play dirty, very dirty, to keep the status quo.

This book has it all. Weird creatures, humor, heroes who get banished from Galveston Island only to be confronted with cannibals, and plot twists. The writing gives you a flavor of the land, the sky, the sea. You can almost smell it and taste it.

Other than some information which would have helped "flesh" this out . . . such as what happened to the rest of the world . . . this is quite fanatastic an imaginative. Sean Stewart has done a wonderful job.

Buy this book and enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Wind-up is better than the pitch.
Review: I like what one of the other reviewers here said when he remarked that this book doesn't end, it just stops. What occurs to me most, as I sit down to write this review, is that I don't really remember the ending. I remember parts of it-- I remember how the romantic tension between the two leads worked out. I remember what the characters learned about themselves, but I have to say that I don't really remember what exactly happened once we got past the hurricane. It's a shame, also, because I remember the opening so vividly.

Still, a remarkable book all told. I was interested to read that this is the third book that Stewart set in this world. I may well go looking for one of the earlier ones.

Rating:
Summary: A dark and gritty magic-realism romp.
Review: I'll be brief...This book is a sublime experience for any fan of fine dark fantasy. This book is not, however, for the faint of heart. Stewart tackles some tough ideas, and shows the situations to you in vivid, sometimes graphic detail. But I would not miss a word of this book; I would not change one, either...The characters are well crafted, complete humans, even the "monsters". The plotting is well paced, and builds to a fine ending. There is no good or evil in Galveston, no black and white in Mardis Gras, just an amazing array of shades af grey, with the occasional fabulous splash of color. Do yourself a favor & read this book. Now.

Rating:
Summary: Each snowflake is different....
Review: Sean Stewart came to my attention with Nobody's Son, and the fresh, adult look that it offered at Fantasy (Hey, I just found a magic sword....) made me consume every book of Stewarts I could find.

I am a big fan, and thus, if you are looking for a non-biased view (in my view, impossible) this review will not be particularly helpful.

Set in his "returned magic" universe, Galveston offers us a set of protag's who are not without warts, and antag's who have some humor and humanity (even if one is a god.)

It is not an exact copy, or rehash of his earlier works. It is different in pacing and form, thus no free ride by slipping on your complacency hat and just thumbing through the pages. You have to read this one.

And no doubt, you will be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't quite gel
Review: So magic has leaked out into the real world and must be held at bay by a few unlikely heroes: So what? As most of us understand magic (in its typical representation in fantasy fiction), it's a tool that can be used for good or ill by those who know how to wield it, like any tool. Stewart assumes instead that magic is like a plague that warps and eventually destroys everything in its path, and would like us to assume so as well.

Fine. What about the rest of the world? We're told Galveston's magic was contained in an endless Mardi Gras so the rest of the population could live on in a banal relative peace, but what about Austin? Dallas? New York? We're told that manufactured goods can no longer be imported from the "outside world," yet Galveston enjoys electricity, plumbing, air conditioning, gas, and most of the other ensigns of civilization. So what was it that happened to the factories, exactly?

Stylistically, the book is uneven. As has been mentioned here, the characters are eminently unlikeable and uninteresting. One gets the impression that this is Stewart's point (in attempting to weave magic into "reality"), but there is a reason we read fantasy: Because it is NOT like real life and brings us to fantastic magical places. I spent the entire book wanting to get back to Mardi Gras where the magic was allowed to run rampant. The plot is hesitant and unclear, the themes are murky, and the ending is more like an amputation. All of this is shrink-wrapped in a heady self-congratulatory style that suggests we're reading something important and innovative. It's made the more pretentious by the reality that it's just a soap opera with a few feathers and snake scales sewn on for effect.

Rating:
Summary: A promising author delivers his best yet
Review: Stewart delivers a vivid tapestry of a city assaulted by the release of magic into the world. Continuing on themes he's developed in previous books, Stewart turns his attention towards the fascinating island city of Galveston, a city with two sides.

The first side is that of an almost post-apocalyptic city. One in which civilisation has started to collapse and the surviviors struggle to make do with the remains of technology and rapidly dwindling 'comforts.' The other side is of a Carnival that never ends, where the magic lives, ruled by a god named Momus. In between are a handful of women and men who try to keep the two sides as apart as they can.

The clash of magic and modenr society has always been one of Stewart's main themes, but here, for the first time. he's created a story and characters which are fully as interesting as his themes. This brings to mind the best of Charles De Lint's books.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant! Brilliant!
Review: Stewart is one of the greats and this is his best book to date. Forget all those hobbit clones. Like Carroll, Gallagher, Mieville and a few others, he is bootstrapping his version of genre into genuine literature. This is real fiction by a real writer. Don't start reading Stewart until your brain is in gear. You'll be richly rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: dark Southern fantasy
Review: What I loved about this book was the fact that even though there's a certain Southern Gothic feel to this fantasy, it still didn't leave me feeling sad & depressed, like some of the other dark fantasy writers I've read. The story-line could use some fleshing out-- I did wonder, as other negative reviewers, what about the other places? What happened, for instance, to New Orleans-- if the magic of Mardis Gras hit Galveston, whoa nelly, New Orleans!!! But at the same time, I was drawn into this incredibly well-drawn, deeply satisfying narrative. I don't think it has anything to do with magic being always "dark" or "evil" as one reviewer seems to imply, but it is always dangeous-- the "be careful what you wish for" sort of warning that some folks forget about in the world of Unicorns and happy little fairies.

Based on this and several others I have read by him, Sean Stewart is one of those authors whose book I will buy just from seeing his name on the cover-- I don't even have to read the plot blurb, I know I will like it. You will too if you enjoy a complex look at magic realism with a Southern twist.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating book, maddening but understandable ending
Review: When I saw this book, I'd never heard of Sean Stewart. I was just wandering around an SF bookstore when I saw this with its various awards noted beneath. Tim Powers is awfully good competition for the mythopoeic award, and the World Fantasy Award usually picks something good, so I decided a paperback was well worth the risk. After approaching the beginning with more curiosity than comprehension, I found myself engrossed in this magic-ridden world, and the characters (more fleshed out than many real people seem to be!) kept my eyes locked on the pages. One warning: this book will depress ... you in a lot of parts, but that's part of what makes it so bleedin' good.

I read this book in an absolute frenzy, even a feverish one. However, as the last 40 pages came up, I began more and more to fear an unsatisfying ending. There were simply too many threads in the air to tie them up right. As those pages dwindled, a whirlwind of events bring things closer to satisfaction, but not enough to begin the stirrings of anger when 10 remained. By the last line, however, he had managed to bring the tale to an understandable close, if not a beautiful finale. I was mad enough that I tossed the book down in disgust, but captivated enough to run back through the pages for minute upon minute after I completed it. I still don't know whether it was the best way to go, but I know that the book as a whole was brilliant, it seriously deserved the WFA, and I just can't stop thinking about it. Please read it, but not if you're looking for the feel-good book of the year.