Review - Down to the Bone (Quantum Gravity, Book 5) by Justina Robson (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Size: 429 pages
Publisher: Pyr
Release Date: August 23, 2011
ISBN: 978-1616143794
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Quantum Gravity series
Source: Bought
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

This is the fifth and final book in the Quantum Gravity series. This whole series has been crazy creative, a bit ambiguous at times, and lots of fun. This book tied things up nicely, but wasn’t an easy read at all...parts of the book were downright confusing.

Lila is back working for the Agency and is an unstoppable fighting machine. Zal is wandering around not sure what to do with himself but enjoying the time with Lila. Teazle is the Angel of Death and enjoys slaughtering massive amounts of demons. When the world is once again threatened and on the edge of being torn asunder, these three will have to figure out how to destroy the Titans and save the world.

I love, love, love the concept behind these books. The five worlds (or is it six now?) all running along side each other and entwined is awesomely creative and so interesting.

I also enjoy the complex characters; they all have good attributes to their personalities but they are also all highly flawed characters as well. In this book you get to see even more of the interesting relationship Lila has with her two husbands, Zal and Teazle. It is kind of neat to watch how the three of them seem to bring out the best parts of each other.

All that being said, Robson is not very forthcoming with any flashbacks or synopsis that remind us what the heck was going on in the last books. This is an incredibly complex world with a ton of characters...all of who have undergone very large changes throughout the series. I really struggled to remember all the inter-relationships and all of the small things that suddenly became significant.

If you add to the above the fact that at times I have some trouble picturing exactly what Robson is trying to describe...well at times things are just very ambiguous and I was downright confused with what was going on here. You kind of gotta just sit back and go with all the craziness...not think too hard and just let the story take you where it will. The story is very dense and was a very slow read for me.

Overall I think fans of the series will enjoy the conclusion. On the other hand unless you’ve read all the other books in the series very recently I think you will also be confused. This is not a series for those who like easy reading or hate ambiguity. It is an incredibly creative series that is super interesting and has some really wonderful flawed characters. Oh yeah and the characters totally kick ass. Recommended to fans of science fiction/urban fantasy who don’t mind a bit of ambiguity.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Review - Chasing the Dragon (Quantum Gravity, Book 4) by Justina Robson (4/5 stars)

This is the fourth book in the Quantum Gravity series by Justina Robson. I know a fifth book "Down to the Bone" is planned for a 2010 release, I couldn't find any information on how many books overall are planned on this series. This book was a good addition to the series and started to tie together a lot of the loose ends that appeared in books 2 and 3.

A lot is happening in this book. It starts where the 3rd book left off; with Lila showing up on the beach 50 years after she went into fairy. In the mean time Teazle has taken over half of Demonia, Zal is still missing/dead, and Mal is leading up a branch of the agency. Ghosts are appearing with increasing frequency in Otopia. Lila is offered a position heading up the AI branch of the Agency. There is a lot to sort out, both personal and political. Lila is armed with an ever changing dress/armor that is more than it first seems to be and with an..uh...ink pen that has powers she could have never imagined.

This book was a good addition to the series. It brings together some of the plot elements that seemed somewhat random in the previous book. Finally we begin to understand how the Ghosts are all tied together with the Fates, Zal, and Lila...and how all of that is tied to the stability of the universe. The pace of the book is pretty good, although the action is not as non-stop as it was in book 2. Again if book 1 was about the elf world, book 2 about the demon world, and book 3 about fairy...then this book is mostly about the realm of the dead...although it does a good job of bringing all the realms together.

This is a complex story-line and there are still points at which I am not completely convinced that Robson knows what she wants to do with everything that is going on. The book switches viewpoint a lot...going between Teazle, Lila, Zal, Mal, and Tath. So, sometimes the story gets a bit fractured from all the viewpoint changes. Also the story gets a bit metaphysical with Lila in Thanatopia/Void and although Robson makes a good effort at describing it, sometimes it is a bit hard to picture exactly what is going on. The discussions between various characters (for example Tath and Mal) can get a little crazy and drawn out as they debate the cause of various metaphysical aspects of the parallel realms. I am also a bit confused on how in the previous book the worlds were on the edge of destruction and now here it is fifty years later and they are still on the edge of destruction...it's like nothing really happened so maybe destruction wasn't as imminent as it was portrayed in the last book....

The above being said there are some great character additions to this book. Temple Greer, the new head of the Agency, is an awesome character. He brings a lot of humor to the story and a wit that really lightens the whole plot. Lila's crazy dress/armor was also an awesome addition to the story and added a lot of fun.

I am impressed with the creativity in this book and with the depth of the worlds that Robson has created. The plot is getting increasingly complex; I am hoping that Robson has a reason for all these plot elements and that in the end they weave a wonderfully complex, yet complete story. The characterization is good; Lila starts to come into her own as she spends less time doubting herself and more time looking out for her interests. I also enjoyed Teazle's development as he exercises the new powers he gained in fairy.

You definitely need to read the previous books to follow what happens in this book. Robson does not dumb down her writing to remind readers of things that have previously happened. Things happen quickly and every word counts; so this book is a bit of a harder read than some. Still overall the complexity of the world intrigues me and I have grown attached to the very interesting characters Robson has created. This was a great addition to the series and I hope the next book has clear path forward.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge
- Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge

 

Going Under (Quantum Gravity, Book 3) by Justina Robson (3/5 stars)

This is the third book in the Quantum Gravity series by Justin Robson. There are supposed to be at least 5 books in this series. The fourth book "Chasing the Dragon" came out in August of 2009. This was a decent book, I liked it better than "Selling Out" book 2, but there are still some things that are a bit crazy about this book especially towards the end. I listened to this as an audio book and the quality was okay but not the best I have heard.

The book start with Lila Black in Demonia. Right away we find out she has married both Zal and the demon Teazle and they are honeymooning in Demonia. The honeymoon consists primarily of fighting off various demon assassins to prove herself worthy of her husbands. Then Malichi shows up and tells Lila that her and the boys are needed in Otopia to deal with the Moth Crisis that is going on. Lila and Zal end up being pushed into fairy before they are ready and then the whole gang is suddenly dealing with events in the realm of fairy that are way bigger than they are. Lila is also continuing to change as her machine and natural body parts become less and less separate.

This was an interesting book. If the first book in the series was about the elven world and the second was about Demonia, then this book is about the fairy realm. As has been the case with these books there is a lot going on and it seems like Lila (Or maybe Robson) looses site of what the main story plot is. The book is a bit slow to start as we get to watch Lila, Zal, and Teazle "relax" in Demonia. Once they get pulled into the Fairy Realm then things really pick up pace and get very interesting. This book is more linear than the last book was and doesn't switch viewpoint as much.

The biggest strength in this series is the world building. The characters are also very interesting. The biggest thing I have a problem is with the plot; it kind of skitters around everywhere. There are so many things that are mentioned but never really addressed. For example the worlds cracking apart is talked about but never really dealt with, getting rid of the Moths appears to be a major goal of the stories but is dealt with in passing, Lila and Zal's Game is brought up once but never really dealt with, etc. etc. I am still unsure about how I feel about Robson's writing style. It takes me a bit to get used to, but after I get used to it I am okay with it.

The usual cast of characters is brought into the book and sometimes I found them overwhelming. Now we are not just dealing with Lila and Zal, but Lila, Zal, Teazle, the imp, Malichi, and Tath...not to mention all the side characters. I guess I just feel like this book could have been tighter and a bit better planned. I won't include any spoilers but the end of the book left me kind of confused and dissatisfied, not to mention it didn't really sum up anything.

Overall, I am still fascinated by Robson's world and her characters. I am disappointed in the plot and how it goes all over the place bringing up a million new issues but resolving none of them. Will I read the fourth book? Probably. This is a very creative and intriguing series and that draws me to it, but I may not read any more after that it the plot is still scattered.

This book went towards the following reading challenge:
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge

Selling Out (Quantum Gravity, Book 2) by Justina Robson (3/5 stars)

This is the second book in the Quantum Gravity series by Justina Robson. I liked the first book really well, but I wasn't as impressed with this book. The plot was too hacked up, and the storylines that the different characters followed seemed unrelated. Despite that, the world is still really intriguing and the characters re-joined at the end of the book making me want to read more about them. I listened to this on audio book, and while the audio book was okay, it wasn't the greatest reading I've ever heard. The reader had trouble doing male voices without making them sound annoying.

Lila Black is sent to Demonia on a mission to find how Zal became part demon. Meanwhile Zal gets stuck in the elemental realm (after having words about Lila with Malichi over an odd game of cards) and spends time there trying to get out. Malichi journeys to the Interstitial realm to learn more about ghosts. Eventually they all end up back together, but how all this is related to the problem of the cracks in the six different worlds is all a mystery to me.

I had some trouble understanding what this book was getting at. Lila didn't do much in Demonia besides get into trouble and meet an imp; okay so she gets into *a lot* of trouble. Meanwhile Zal (who is on his way to meet her) ends up in the Elemental Realm and spends a lot of time there trying to get back out without dying. Zal's part was kind of boring and dreamy and really only had one important reason for happening as far as I could tell. Totally unrelated to all of this Malichi ends up in the in-between Interstitial space learning about ghosts. If all of this stuff sounds unrelated, well, it pretty much was. I am fairly certain that everything that happened will play a major part in later books, but for this book it was mainly just disconnected and random.

The way Robson switched between Lila, Zal, and Malichi was hard to follow. She stopped at odd places in one character's story and then switched to another character. I just found the switches to be unnatural and, at points, it made the story hard to follow. I also got kind of sick of Lila's constant whining. It was crazy how she followed what the Agency told her blindly; although this is finally explained late in the book. Zal and Lila barely see each other the whole book and that was also disappointing. Another odd thing was that the game between Zal and Lila (which took up a good portion of Book 1) was rarely mentioned in this book.

There was also a lot that was done well in this book. The descriptions of Demon culture were very interesting. Where "Keeping it Real' focused on the Elven world, the majority of this book is about Demonia. Also you get to learn a lot more about both Zal's and Lila's past. It was great to finally meet some people from their past and learn more about what shaped their backgrounds and drives them. Teesil was an awesome addition to the story, as the lead assassin of Demonia, and I look forward to him being a bigger part of the next book.

The ending of the story was absolutely fantastic; I was impressed with how Robson brought the characters together and set things up for a great book 3. Really the ending was the most exciting part of this book and is the only thing making me interested in reading the next book of the series.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this book. Some things were awesome, some things not so much. I will read the third book because this book seemed to be setting things up for a great story in the third book.

Keeping it Real (Quantum Gravity, Book 1) by Justina Robson (4/5 stars)

This is the first book in the Quantum Gravity series by Justina Robson. So far there are four books in the series with a 5th being planned for future release. I wasn't able to find the number of books actually contracted for this series. Anyway, I really liked it. It is a great first book in the series and I want to learn a lot more about both the world and the characters.

A quantum bomb exploded in 2015 ripping a hole in reality and revealing five other realities; an elven realm, an elemental realm, a demon realm, the realm of death, and Otopia (Used to be known as Earth). Zal is an elf that has abandoned his homeland and become half demon; he then entered Otopia and started performing as a rock star. The elven community wants him dead and Lila Black is the one assigned to guard him. Lila is not quite human. She got into a horrible accident and the only way to save her life was for her to agree to be part of an experiment. Now she is part AI, part cyborg, and part human. Initially she thinks that she is guarding a rock star...then she finds the plot goes much deeper and wonders how deep into Elven territory it will take her.

This was a very creative book. I loved the five realms (with a possible sixth somewhere) they were awesome. We really only get to visit Otopia and the Elven realm, Alfheim, in a lot of depth and I am eager to visit the other realms. The characters are very engaging. All of them have their heroic points and their flaws. Lila and Zal both struggle with being different in a world where things are more bizarre than ever before. The dialogue was witty and funny most of the time; Lila in general is a kick butt character always ready with a quick jibe and tease.

The plot is complex and densely packed. There is a ton of action and Robson does a very good job writing the action scenes. Robson's writing style is pretty straight-forward, there is not a lot of flowery language here or over-description, the writing style fits the story well so it all works out.

There were some small problems with the book. The whole world (actually five worlds) are a lot to throw at a reader all at once; it can get a little bit confusing. I thought this was handled okay. Also most of the book is written from Lila's viewpoint, then suddenly in the second half some chapters are from Zal's point of view. This was a bit odd; although it worked okay, it took me a few moments to figure out what was going on. The last problem was that a lot hinges on The Game that Lila and Zan are bound up in. I never really understood what a Game was or how it got initiated; I understand it happens through Wild Magic but I though that aspect of the plot could have been clarified better.

Other than the above, I thought the complicated world and plot was handled pretty well. The characterization, world-building, and action scenes were fantastic. I am really, really looking forward to reading more books in this series. I stumbled upon this series in a special display at a bookstore and I am wondering why this series isn't getting better coverage. It is a good series. People who have described it as Dragonlance meets Star Trek are right on. I can't wait to see what the next book holds.