CBR Book 12: Among Others

Among Others, by Jo Walton.

You would think that combining a love of science fiction, fairies, libraries, magic, and Wales would be a winning combination. At least it would be for me. But somehow, Jo Walton misses the mark. Perhaps she has read too much SF, which I generally find to be lacking in terms of the writing and characterization ... she should branch out and read more fantasy, or literature, or something.

Among Others is about Mori, a Welsh teenager in the late 70s/early 80s, who is adjusting to a new life. Her mother is, as she puts it, a "mad witch," she has lost her twin sister, and she has been more or less taken in by her estranged father and his three half-sisters, who send Mori to a snooty English private school. The things that make Mori tick are science fiction, magic, and interacting with fairies. The story is about Mori coming to terms with the loss of her twin, learning the boundaries of magic, and mostly just growing up and accepting herself.

Although Mori is rather an interesting character, her voice (the narrative is her diary) is not very compelling. Despite the nature of her adventures (fairies and magic and all), she's very dry. It's not that flowery language is a necessity when dealing with fantasy, but one just never feels that one really gets into Mori's head, somehow. The structure of the novel and the progression of the story does work well ... it is dryer and less interesting early on, but opens up as Mori herself grows and finds the places where she fits in.

Another issue is all the references. It's a very hard thing to use very specific knowledge in a novel, I think. If you throw in too much of it, and it's too esoteric, your reader is largely left scratching his (merely a literary pronoun, deal with it) head and wondering what on earth you're talking about. Mostly, it's just kind of annoying. I grew up with a lot of sci fi/fantasy, but I definitely moved more towards fantasy and "regular" literature as I grew up. I recognize most of the names of authors that Walton throws out, but I certainly haven't read all of their work, so I feel as though I'm missing some added depth to the novel. I think maybe what Walton was trying to do was negate the typical lumping together of sci fi and fantasy ... Mori definitely moves back and forth between a more practical, almost clinical view of the world and the sort of "old knowledge" of fairies and the connections between things.

All in all, a disappointment. It's as though Walton took that list of things: science fiction, magic, fairies, libraries, and decided to write a novel that somehow incorporated them. She more or less succeeded, but perhaps she spent more time developing on those subjects than on her characters themselves? In the end, it's clear that Mori has grown, that she's learned something, and so she's not a completely static character; but I wouldn't call her terrifically dynamic, either. It's interesting as a twist on the usual "coming of age" story, but it doesn't quite stand up on its own legs, in my opinion.