DT 5: The Wolves of the Calla
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:58 pm
Totally digging this book! This is a return to the main story in a way that simultaneously moves it forward while revisiting the best parts of DT3. The "todash" idea was a nice move, a technique that is completely new, but still similar enough to the Doors and the Wizard's Rainbow to feel justified as a technique to get the characters between worlds. I really like how the coincidences are being handled, too, and the introduction of the theme of reality/unreality by Eddie. Rather than brush it aside and expect the readers to accept it without question, we have the characters themselves questioning it. I love that technique. It's one I use myself: when there's a narrative problem in the construction of the tale, just make it a problem for the characters themselves, so that it becomes intentional and resolvable (potentially), rather than swept under the rug. This actually gives me some peace about the Wizard of Oz ending of the last book, which I thought was ridiculous and gratuitous. According to Eddie, I was right! It *is* a reason to think there's more going on here, and not merely a gimmick.
I had my own coincidence while reading this. I was sitting in a repair shop lobby while getting work done on my car. They were streaming a classic rock channel. I got to the part (page 179 in the trade paperback) where the group is walking the streets of New York and pass by Tower of Power records, with a Rolling Stones song blaring. The first time Jake came here, it was playing Paint it Black, this time it was Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown. I stopped reading at that point, overcome by a queer certainty that the next song on the streaming radio was going to be a Stones song ... and by Gilead it was! The current song ended right then, and Jumping Jack Flash started playing right after I paused to see if a Stones song would be next. I just about shit my pants. I laughed out loud and wanted to pass my book around to everyone else in the lobby, showing them where it said, "It's the Rolling Stones ..." but I naturally thought they'd think I was crazy. It was surreal.
I had my own coincidence while reading this. I was sitting in a repair shop lobby while getting work done on my car. They were streaming a classic rock channel. I got to the part (page 179 in the trade paperback) where the group is walking the streets of New York and pass by Tower of Power records, with a Rolling Stones song blaring. The first time Jake came here, it was playing Paint it Black, this time it was Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown. I stopped reading at that point, overcome by a queer certainty that the next song on the streaming radio was going to be a Stones song ... and by Gilead it was! The current song ended right then, and Jumping Jack Flash started playing right after I paused to see if a Stones song would be next. I just about shit my pants. I laughed out loud and wanted to pass my book around to everyone else in the lobby, showing them where it said, "It's the Rolling Stones ..." but I naturally thought they'd think I was crazy. It was surreal.