Note: Originally posted on Amazon.com (10/10/10)
This is the kind of book that I had been warned about: one where you'd read a page and have to meditate on what it was you'd just read. TEST OF METAL is that book, and I couldn't be happier for it.
I don't know much about the MTG universe; in fact, I only know what this book taught me. I was going into this blind, interested to see what the lore behind the game was all about. Well, color me interested, because I have nothing but praise to throw at this property. D&D spread across several planes of existence, with "planeswalkers" being the only people capable of traveling between them. It provides so many story possibilities, and it was a joy to experience.
But on to the story. It's all about the story here, because what you get is (not to delve too far into hyperbole) a masterpiece of fantasy fiction. To me, that is. There were just so many twists and turns through dimensions you didn't even know existed to bring this story together at a climax that made my jaw hit the floor. To even allude to it might spoil the surprise, so I'll just say that my brains were thoroughly scrambled.
TEST OF METAL picks up not too long after a planeswalker named Tezzeret was left brain-dead by his rival, Jace Beleren. He is brought back from the dead by a 25,000-year-old dragon, Nicol Bolas, for the sole purpose of finding a sphinx, Crucius the Mad: the creator of a very, very valuable mana-channeling metal called "ethereum." Tezzeret is left in the dark about many things, but the dragon gives him little choice in the matter. So, he reluctantly sets off into the town of his upbringing to look for the first clues that will eventually lead him on a mind-blowing journey through time and space.
If I had to compare this book to anything, the frame narrative is similar to THE NAME OF THE WIND initially. Most of the story is told in the first person by Tezzeret himself as a series of "flashbacks" due to someone probing around his mind. We follow him through his early years as a lowly scrapper of etherium and then on to the life-altering moment when he constructed his metal arm. There are very brief recaps of events that occurred in previous books, and then we're back on to the story proper.
The thing is, unlike THE NAME OF THE WIND, stuff actually happens here. A lot of it. The pacing is steady, the action is intense and gut-wrenching at times, and the raw concept for the entire structure of this book just floors me whenever I think about it. Because the story delves into the mechanics of a "time-traveling" ability called "clockworking," which kicks everything up to, and beyond, eleven.
Imagine, if you will, a fight that takes place across time, and not just in one direction. Because there isn't one direction; there are many. Every decision you make, and don't make, creates an alternate timeline: one that a clockworker of substantial power might be able to take advantage of. So now, you're not just witnessing a fight where one of the combatants might go back in time and change something, you're witnessing a fight where one combatant can jump around and hijack a timeline where his opponent made a bad decision, and use that to his advantage.
How do you even...?
Anyway, the logistics do my head in just recounting them. Suffice to say, I was in awe for most of the book. And not just because this is a Stover novel, but because this is a Stover novel that had more work put into it than is probably justified.
This book will deceive you (or some alteration of you) over and over, well into the fifth dimension. The characters are great to follow around, the universe is detailed and astounding to visualize, and my head still hurts from the story. Stover has knocked it out of the park with this one, just as he did with TRAITOR (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 13). He immersed himself into the universe to write this book, and I think it will owe him a debt of gratitude if he decides to continue Tezzeret's adventures (which I sincerely hope he does).
Because, to me, this is still the midpoint.
I don't know much about the MTG universe; in fact, I only know what this book taught me. I was going into this blind, interested to see what the lore behind the game was all about. Well, color me interested, because I have nothing but praise to throw at this property. D&D spread across several planes of existence, with "planeswalkers" being the only people capable of traveling between them. It provides so many story possibilities, and it was a joy to experience.
But on to the story. It's all about the story here, because what you get is (not to delve too far into hyperbole) a masterpiece of fantasy fiction. To me, that is. There were just so many twists and turns through dimensions you didn't even know existed to bring this story together at a climax that made my jaw hit the floor. To even allude to it might spoil the surprise, so I'll just say that my brains were thoroughly scrambled.
TEST OF METAL picks up not too long after a planeswalker named Tezzeret was left brain-dead by his rival, Jace Beleren. He is brought back from the dead by a 25,000-year-old dragon, Nicol Bolas, for the sole purpose of finding a sphinx, Crucius the Mad: the creator of a very, very valuable mana-channeling metal called "ethereum." Tezzeret is left in the dark about many things, but the dragon gives him little choice in the matter. So, he reluctantly sets off into the town of his upbringing to look for the first clues that will eventually lead him on a mind-blowing journey through time and space.
If I had to compare this book to anything, the frame narrative is similar to THE NAME OF THE WIND initially. Most of the story is told in the first person by Tezzeret himself as a series of "flashbacks" due to someone probing around his mind. We follow him through his early years as a lowly scrapper of etherium and then on to the life-altering moment when he constructed his metal arm. There are very brief recaps of events that occurred in previous books, and then we're back on to the story proper.
The thing is, unlike THE NAME OF THE WIND, stuff actually happens here. A lot of it. The pacing is steady, the action is intense and gut-wrenching at times, and the raw concept for the entire structure of this book just floors me whenever I think about it. Because the story delves into the mechanics of a "time-traveling" ability called "clockworking," which kicks everything up to, and beyond, eleven.
Imagine, if you will, a fight that takes place across time, and not just in one direction. Because there isn't one direction; there are many. Every decision you make, and don't make, creates an alternate timeline: one that a clockworker of substantial power might be able to take advantage of. So now, you're not just witnessing a fight where one of the combatants might go back in time and change something, you're witnessing a fight where one combatant can jump around and hijack a timeline where his opponent made a bad decision, and use that to his advantage.
How do you even...?
Anyway, the logistics do my head in just recounting them. Suffice to say, I was in awe for most of the book. And not just because this is a Stover novel, but because this is a Stover novel that had more work put into it than is probably justified.
This book will deceive you (or some alteration of you) over and over, well into the fifth dimension. The characters are great to follow around, the universe is detailed and astounding to visualize, and my head still hurts from the story. Stover has knocked it out of the park with this one, just as he did with TRAITOR (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 13). He immersed himself into the universe to write this book, and I think it will owe him a debt of gratitude if he decides to continue Tezzeret's adventures (which I sincerely hope he does).
Because, to me, this is still the midpoint.
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