I’m guessing Melanie Rawn is a fan of the Who.In “Elsewhens” (Tor, $15.99, 400 pages), the second installment in the Glass Thorns series, Rawn tracks the ups and downs of Touchstone, a four-man band of touring artists who are led by an enormously talented writer with a large nose (read Pete Townshend), who are inspired by an unreliable (if not crazy) but enormously talented member (read Keith Moon), whose front man is incredibly handsome (read Roger Daltrey) and whose fourth member is solid as a rock (read John Entwhistle).Rawn sets this quartet on a world with magic – these four perform dramas that are fueled by that magic, which allows four people to put on complete shows – and then sends them off, in “Elsewhens,” to tour another continent.OK, there’s more to “Elsewhens” than the British Invasion of the ‘60s, as Rawn has given her Townshend figure a troubling magical ability to see potential futures, most of which end up with the Moon figure dead, dying or a miserable drug addict (and Moon did die of a drug overdose). The relationship between these two is really the focus of the first two books in the four-book series, and it’s complicated by their devotion to alcohol and a complex drug called thorn, which apparently combines the impact of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines depending on how it’s made. This constant harping on the rapidly changing emotional states of the two protagonists – complicated, of course, by their relationships with women and other band members – gets in the way of enjoying Rawn’s carefully built world (there are Giants, Wizards, Goblins and other races) and a plot that could be a lot more interesting if it were more front and center.And for me, at least, there’s too much time spent on the many negatives of drug abuse, as I can find plenty of that just reading the morning paper. All right, I'm not an unbiased reviewer here, because I love Melanie's writing, but there's just something about this series that takes my breath away. The ending to this book definitely adds some intrigue into the series, but it doesn't really come out of nowhere. There HAS to be a third book. There has to be!Emotions roil during this whole series. You know there's something larger going on with Mieka's lady, and you feel justified in feeling this way due to Cade's Elsewhens, but you also want him to be happy. You soar with Touchstone when they're doing well, and you crash with them when they're disappointed. And, I don't know about you, but the phrase, "This life, and no other," still gives me goosebumps (even though it does get trotted out an awful lot). Overall, it's a great read, and I can't wait to reread it after rereading Touchstone.
What do You think about Elsewhens (2013)?
I thought book 2 had more substance than the first. Good read.
—nej1801
Well written, well crafted. Definitely a "middle" book.
—Margo
