From Christmas Critics.:If submerging yourself in a fully furnished fictional world that goes on and on is more to your taste, you can do no better than to seek out the hard-to-find Bold as Love series by Gwyneth Jones. Think of it as a quest. For a free taste, check out the series Web site, a multimedia work of art in its own right, at www.boldaslove.co.uk. The five novels take their titles from Jimi Hendrix's song list, and they tell the story of a near-future "Dissolution" of England, in which rock stars rise to the occasion of holding a nation together in the face of environmental crisis, economic collapse, Internet quarantine, a bloody coup, and the threat of a Neurobomb technology that can break the mind/ matter barrier. Three major musician characters, Ax (president of the Rock 'n' Roll Reich), Fiorinda (protector of the displaced masses), and Sage (who comes back alive from the Zen Self neuroscience experiments), enact an Arthurian saga of power politics and love. Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot in a threesome: these novels are not for children.Bold as Love, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, introduces the large cast of characters Jones employs throughout the series. You may find it in a library or used through online booksellers. If Bold as Love, Castles Made of Sand , and Midnight Lamp riff on Arthurian themes, Band of Gypsies takes a considerably more Shakespearean turn. Like Rainbow Bridge, the final installment in the sequence, Band of Gypsys and Midnight Lamp are in print in the United Kingdom as paperbacks. Literate, highly allusive, and character-driven, these novels will rearrange your conception of what "science fiction" means. Normally, serious literary fiction flirts with sci-fi only in the form of dystopia, but Bold as Love puts the question positively: What would it take to build a utopia, and who would you put in the seats of that Round Table? Rock stars…our new royalty.
Gwyneth Jones tells a story of three rock frontpersons, a fairy-like and magnetic young woman, strong leadsinger/guitarist politico and dangerously hypnotic soundscpae wizard, who are swept away into nation wide intrigue. Jones can be seen to explore the myth of rock/pop as a revolutionary force that can be used to change the society around it, a bit like not-so-sunny version of the hippie generation dream in a largely modern world filled with bits of magic.The book explores the semi-realistic realization of this dream of rock music rising into national frontline combining it with a full collection of rocklore (legends, mysterious gigs etc) partially lifted from the annuals of rock history. As the story is so linked rock mythos, it can be forgiven few over legendarization, but in the end the package either fails to deliver the dream it explores or deliveres it too loyally to the fantastic everything-has-happened world of rock. The story just seems unbelievable in just about every sense (for example the events, i.e. rock stars becoming perfects soldiers, politicians and leaders quite naturally) and despite sometimes the fine writing, the novel falls short of my expectations of a urban fantasy's best aspect; the feeling of fantastic realism.
What do You think about Bold As Love (2002)?
The characters and setting seemed way too contrived and stuck in some MTV wonderland. Maybe it's a Londontown thing. I found my mind wandering way too much while reading it, and had to reread passages to get back into the flow of the characters oh so hip and oh so transgressive misadventures. But it seemed to me like an amphetamine rush, and I never really liked speed anyways...I am using a lot of slang here in the same way that I found Jones to.I found the text overwrought, overwritten, and too over-the-top. So, for me, by page 90, it was the reading of this novel that was over. I wanted something more, and couldn't find it, but others apparently did.
—Gregory Sotir
This was very odd. A futuristic dystopian fantasy with rock stars, it was too strange for me to really enjoy it, unfortunately.As the political structures of England fall apart, violent coups occur and alternative regimes rise up, with our Arthurian-inspired trio, Fiorinda, Ax and Sage rising to lead the people. And give concerts and inspire the people along the way. It's not dreadful, certainly, and I quite like Jones' writing style and her quirky characters - but this plot was too vast and weird to draw me in.
—Celia Powell
I had high hopes for this, despite the appauling blurb on the back making it sound like a teenage romance novel, but I'm afraid to say that it disappointed me big time.This is essentially an extrapolation of near future of Britain in which the United Kingdom breaks up into seperate states and an ever more popular and dominant Counter Cultural Movement (CCM) causes the monachy to fold and get replaced by the "leaders" of the CCM who become the head of state (but with real power): Rock stars! The author also anticipates a global economic crisis that basically sets our civilization into decline, a reversing of globalization and a general rise of anarchy and violence.The narrative is centered around three of important figures (rockstars) in the CCM and we follow and their rise to prominence as the political and social crisis unfolds. The success of this novel depends largely upon engaging with and liking the main protagonists and that's something I found very hard to do. They were certainly realistic, well rounded characters, each with issues, attitudes and humour. But far too much of the book was focused on their personal crisis points and their interactions with each other for my, science fiction wanting tastes. This was far more a book about young people dealing with social upheaval whilst maintaining careers as popular rock stars, leading rock'n'roll life styles whilst personal problems keep bubbling to the surface.By the end, I was glad it was over and can't see myself rushing out to get the next book in the series. It's the sort of series you can tell is never going to have an ending, a resolution. The reason to go on reading is to follow this crazy gang in their day to day trials and tribulations and watching how they get on with it.
—Simon
