The Octagonal Raven

Rating:
Summary: Good but not his best, a bit slow moving at times
Review: Because of his family's wealth, Daryn Alwyn has been the recipient of genetic enhancements and nanotech augmentations. Still, Daryn prefers to succeed on his own, rejecting the opportunity to join in the giant media firm, UniComm, run by his family. Instead, he becomes federal starship pilot and ultimately serves as a media consultant.

However, Daryn's perfect world is knocked off its axle when a woman tries to kill him at a party. After recovering from "poison," Daryn can not find the elusive culprit. His world spins further out of orbit when his sister dies in a suspicious looking accident. More attempts on his own life and other selected murders have Daryn, a raven among eagles, investigating who will benefit from the deaths of his family ands other key UniComm officials.

THE OCTAGAONAL RAVEN is a well written, but somewhat slow science fiction thriller. The story line is fabulous when it concentrates on the social issues of the haves vs. the have nots which involve "modern" medical techniques such as the genetic enhancements that give an added edge to the rich. When the plot focuses on a conspiracy, it teeters a bit as if L.E. Modesitt, Jr. was undecided between a social statement and a futuristic take over the world thriller. Science fiction fans will want more of the latter as that type of tale provides quite an impact when well written and Mr. Modesitt, Jr. can tell a terrific tale.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Miss This One
Review: Every description and review I've seen on this book calls it an 'action' novel. For the most part, this book doesn't contain 'action' as defined by normal human beings -- it's a book about the owner of a 'television' network. The climax of the book revolves around controversial news stories being broadcast to the public. Modesitt's next action/adventure novel will probably be about the exciting life of a Certified Public Accountant. Readers will be thrilled as our protagonist audits the corporations of the 'bad people' -- fighting off legions of paralegals as they try to serve him with injunctions to stop his heroic efforts to save the world from greedy CEOs.

Not only is the plot pretty bad but Modesitt is starting to show a remarkable lack of imagination. I can summarize the base characters and story elements of pretty much every one of his books that I've ever read in just a few lines. The protagonist is always a *very* mild-mannered man. He doesn't partake of strong drink -- only teas and fruit juices. We know this because the reader is treated to elaborate descriptions of *several* meals in every book that I can recall -- I sometimes wonder if Modesitt moonlights as a restaurant reviewer. Our protagonist starts out alone, but somewhere fairly early on in the book, he finds his soulmate. There will be a minor subplot for the remainder of the story of them dancing around whether or not they're truly meant for each other. The soulmate always has a distinctive fragrance about her which will be brought up several times throughout the story (perhaps Modesitt dabbles in perfume marketing as well). There's "something special" about the protagonist, but he always considers himself to be just an ordinary individual. He's also generally disliked by a significant number of people because of some sort of stereotyping against his profession or origin. The story will consist of large amounts of philosophizing as our protagonist ponders the problems inherent in the world in which he lives and whether it's possible to find solutions. He will experience a continually escalating set of attacks by his enemies throughout the story, and the climax will come when he personally takes what seems to be extreme actions of a morally questionable nature that cause the deaths of innocent people along with the guilty. Did he have to do that? Maybe -- or maybe not.

Rating:
Summary: Miss This One
Review: Every description and review I've seen on this book calls it an 'action' novel. For the most part, this book doesn't contain 'action' as defined by normal human beings -- it's a book about the owner of a 'television' network. The climax of the book revolves around controversial news stories being broadcast to the public. Modesitt's next action/adventure novel will probably be about the exciting life of a Certified Public Accountant. Readers will be thrilled as our protagonist audits the corporations of the 'bad people' -- fighting off legions of paralegals as they try to serve him with injunctions to stop his heroic efforts to save the world from greedy CEOs.

Not only is the plot pretty bad but Modesitt is starting to show a remarkable lack of imagination. I can summarize the base characters and story elements of pretty much every one of his books that I've ever read in just a few lines. The protagonist is always a *very* mild-mannered man. He doesn't partake of strong drink -- only teas and fruit juices. We know this because the reader is treated to elaborate descriptions of *several* meals in every book that I can recall -- I sometimes wonder if Modesitt moonlights as a restaurant reviewer. Our protagonist starts out alone, but somewhere fairly early on in the book, he finds his soulmate. There will be a minor subplot for the remainder of the story of them dancing around whether or not they're truly meant for each other. The soulmate always has a distinctive fragrance about her which will be brought up several times throughout the story (perhaps Modesitt dabbles in perfume marketing as well). There's "something special" about the protagonist, but he always considers himself to be just an ordinary individual. He's also generally disliked by a significant number of people because of some sort of stereotyping against his profession or origin. The story will consist of large amounts of philosophizing as our protagonist ponders the problems inherent in the world in which he lives and whether it's possible to find solutions. He will experience a continually escalating set of attacks by his enemies throughout the story, and the climax will come when he personally takes what seems to be extreme actions of a morally questionable nature that cause the deaths of innocent people along with the guilty. Did he have to do that? Maybe -- or maybe not.

Rating:
Summary: Don't miss this one
Review: It's a while since I've had so much fun reading an SF mystery/adventure yarn. This is a masterfully crafted work. You're into it from the first page, and it doesn't slow down or let up the rest of the way (and THAT's a satisfying 460 pages).

What's more, Modesitt manages to cram more action/suspense per page than one usually expects, so there's none of those boring "filler" passages one sometimes has to suffer through while looking for the next place where something actually happens, not in this book. The book is structured into numerous short chapters, each a compact and attention-grabbing little story, all strung together to make up the larger story. And the mystery element just keeps building up.

To top it off, it's not just a dumb space opera action novel, but the intelligent and thought-provoking work we've come to expect of Modesitt.

Rating:
Summary: Modesitt Has Done Better...
Review: Modesitt is best known for his Recluce novels. I discovered "The Magic of Recluce" through Science Fiction Book Club, and was captivated. It's a brilliant book, with some genuinely new ideas on the shop-worn coming of age theme, and a truly new set of ideas for a the operating rules of a universe.

When he leaves Recluce, it seems to me, Modesitt fares less well. "Raven" is an interesting yarn, speculating on societal balance if we had genetic engineering and on-demand nanotech assistance. If those benefits were available only at a steep price, how would the society be affected? Would the wealthy establish a plutocracy?

This is hardly a new theme in science fiction. Zelazny's "Lord of Light" probably defined this plot line. Modesitt is not Zelazny. While the protagonist, himself one of the augmented elite, acts on behalf of the disadvantaged, he doesn't do so from any higher principle than self-protection: it's to stop the shadowy bad guys from killing him. And he doesn't act to make things better; he preserves the deeply flawed status quo to keep things from getting still worse.

At times the plotting and dialogue sinks to the potboiler yarn, reminiscent of the recent Julian May "Perseus Spur" series; likeable enough but annoying because you know the author can do much better.

In some ways, Modesitt seems to just be grinding out the books now, no longer bringing to them the soaring invention and new ideas that characterized the first few Recluce books. He's still worth reading, but keep your expectations firmly under control... And let's hope for a return to form.

Rating:
Summary: What Sci Fi was designed to do...
Review: On the surface, The Octagonal Raven is a compelling, intelligent thriller. It can be read as such. However, this story is far more than that. Modesitt satirically blows up the flaws in our society and uses them for a greater purpose. He picks on the alarming bias of 24/7 news channels, strikes at the elitist medical system in our world, and allows the reader to consider many other social issues. The Octagonal Raven is an exciting and suspenseful science fiction novel. Modesitt has truly evolved into a pivotal and important writer of the new millenium.