Щом разбрах, че е излязла нова книга на Нийл Геймън, първото нещо което направих бе да отида в книжарницата и да си я купя на мига. Е, моите почитания към Майкъл Рийвс, но честно казано хич не ми пука че присъства като съавтор - нито съм го чувал, нито нищо. Вярно, че е писал сценариите по куп сериали, немалко от тях детски и анимирани, но какво от това? Важното в случая бе човекът, от който последните две години прочетох наистина уникални заглавия и бързо-бързо се издигна в личната ми класация за любими автори до челни позиции."МеждуСвят" е, меко казано, страхотна книга. Е, сравнена с останалото творчество на Геймън не е така обемна и мащабно разгърната като "Американски Богове", нито чак толкова цветна и пълнокръвна като "Никога, Никъде, Никой" или пък притежаваща такъв мощен заряд подобно на "Книга за Гробището". Сравнена обаче с други нови заглавия, които напоследък ни заливат от книжарниците подобно съдържанието на разбит лайновоз си е направо трепач отвсякъде.Я малко от задната корица:"Джоуи Харкър не е герой. Всъщност винаги е бил леко странен тип, който никога не се ориентира къде е и е способен да се изгуби дори в собствената си къща. И това не би било странна, ако Джоуи не беше БРОДЕЩ. Той е единственият човек на Земята, притежаващ дарбата да броди между различните измерение. Но Джоуи разбира това по трудния начин, когато вместо на мечтаната среща с момичето си се озовава в центъра на битка между две империи."Обяснявам с прости думи.Съществуват много светове, алтернативни на нашия, които съществуват едновременно в паралелни реалност. На всеки свят има по един-единствен Бродещ, който притежава способността да пътува между измеренията. Главният герой на нашия свят се казва Джоуи Харкър и е нормален човек, от съседния ще се казва примерно Джозеф Харк и ще е огромен як звяр, от друг ще е Джоуина Харкинсън и ще е получовек-полувълк, от трети ще е Дж. Х. и ще е киборг, и т.н., и т.н. Всички тия деца, чиито имена започват с J и H се озовават в МеждуСвят и са фракция, която поддържа баланса във Вселената.Баланс ли казах?Да. Във Вселената съществуват две огромни Империи, които постоянно са в единоборство. Едните са технологични, а другите - магически. Лазери и платки срещу дракони и отвари. Фантастика срещу фентъзи. Баси якото. В случая едната империя е дръпнала яко напред и има план да завладее цялата Вселена, а нашите бродещи партизани от МеждуСвят трябва да я спрат.Да не пропусна факта, че и двете империи мразят Бродещите и до костния мозък и щом им попадне такъв го използват по специфичен гнусен начин, за да осъществят мерзките си цели. По-точно Бродещите са използвани за... гориво. Техните способности са двигател и за технократите, и за магьосниците.Но да не задълбавам и разкривам повече. Прочетете и ще се убедите, че е повече от страхотно.
InterworldThree months ago I saw that a new book by Neil Gaiman titled The Silver Dream was out and being the fangirl that I am, I ordered it without a second glance. When I held my copy in my hands a few days later, a closer look at the cover revealed that it was “A sequel to …”. A sequel? A sequel to what?!? Interworld? Hang on, that sounded familiar. And I realised that I’ve been given this for a birthday or Christmas a couple of years ago and it had been sitting on my shelves unread since, because I hadn’t been in the mood and hadn’t immediately liked it when I got it. Now that I had bought the sequel, it was time to set this right and give Interworld another try. So I started reading it hoping that the book and I would have a better chance to connect this time around. My reading went all right, but I had to be strict with myself and tell me to finish the book and not abandon it for the sake of any of the books beckoning from the to-read pile. So, I read it quickly and was mildly entertained and dissatisfied in equal parts. Something appeared to be missing. It’s hard to put the finger on what annoyed me exactly, but there was the nagging feeling that Interworld and I didn’t click, or rather, that the hero, Joey Harker, and me were not on the best of terms. Mostly, Joey’s “specialness”.I certainly missed the self-deprecating humour I’ve come to love in Gaiman’s characters and despite all of Joey’s proclamations to feeling guilty and his dogged acceptance of being an outsider, his steady climb to the top and establishing himself as a leader was rather counterproductive to any endearing underdog image he was trying to maintain. And it grated on my nerves. He goes on about the superiority of the knowledge he acquires at this special InterWorld academy and how much more sophisticated the education he receives is as compared to the one provided in his homeworld’s schools, where he had trouble to keep up – because he’s so special and his brain works in special ways far above the average teenager’s. Yeah, I know, I’m reading things into it that were neither said nor intended, but he came across as rather self-important and trying to hide it to keep the readers# sympathies. He also seems to be THE CHOSEN ONE, responsible for protecting and saving the multiverse from all kinds of threats and evils. He certainly isn’t alone in this enterprise, but the fact that his companions are one and all different incarnations of himself and that he’s the most-coveted Super Walker, for reasons that seem rather forced and phony, doesn’t really help in making him less self-important. Also: He continually sets himself above those other Joseph Harker versions. The concept of parallel universes, where magic fights with science to gain the upper hand in controlling worlds was quite intriguing but the execution, sadly, rather bland. The world building was okay, but not compelling or convincing. The villains were a bit clichéd, to say it euphemistically. The ease with which Joey shed all his ties to his former life and his family made him seem shallow, superficial, and even a bit cold-hearted. I think I light the mudluff, Hue, best of all. Joey treats it like a pet even though it saved his life on more than one occasion. Given the secrecy of the organisation/ Walker school, their laxity in determining Hues’ purpose is disappointing. I understand that there are “more pressing issues” to attend to, but the authorities’ proclivity to eliminate the things they don’t understand and perceive as a potential threat seems at odds with their acquiescence of Hue’s presence.At times it felt like the authors were trying to cater to the geeks by generously including references to all kinds of geeky popular culture. I have to admit that this usually works for me, but it wasn’t enough to win me over this time.I will give The Silver Dream a fair chance, hoping that questions will be answered, characters will be given a little bit more distinction than the simple description of their physique and particular skill set, and that Joey will become less of a special snowflake and more of a valuable , well-rounded, member of a team. But it will have to wait. First, I’ll read The Ocean at the End of the Lane, because I’m convinced that in this, Gaiman will confirm once again why I love his writing.
What do You think about InterWorld (2007)?
I didn't know what to expect. Once I knew, I expected more. I got less.Interworld is the coming-of-age story of a boy finding himself, quite literally. Joey Harker is your typical kid, whose main concern is a certain girl and popularity at school. He comes off fairly average, but the way he's written, you're never sure if he's smart or stupid. Whatever the case, he sure did know a lot of pop culture references through out the ages, regardless of his own age and point of reference, so I would have to guess that he spends all of his time gathering useless knowledge that a kid his age normally wouldn't know. That isn't really touched on in the book. Everything seems normal, until SUDDENLY occasionally bad writing with adverbs and such force the plot and Joey into a world where science (or pseudo-science) and magic are thrust together, supposedly in many forms, through out a multi-dimensional universe. Countless possibilities exist on an infinite number of planes...yet the survival of everyone and everything falls into the hands of one boy and his misfit band of buddies. Of course it does. What is everyone else doing? Why don't they lend a hand? I mean, there is quite a lot at stake here, their own existence for one. Meh, let's sweep that under the rug. Ain't nobody got time for that!So, Joey and his pals fight the baddies with special powers and it's all supposed to be very exciting, but it's not. I've read worse, but seldom do I care less and just want to get through with a book.
—Jason Koivu
It seems a shame that just after reading the just-now-Newbery Medal-winning The Graveyard Book I would pick up the all-together pedestrian* and disappointing Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves. An afterword reveals that the pair wrote the book as an extended pitch for a TV show concept they had created years ago and that when it failed in its purported purpose, it lay in the proverbial desk drawer for years. Perhaps it should have stayed there.* Alright, for certain values of "pedestrian". Sure, parallel universes, magic vs. science, an army of the same person (sorta). There are some interesting concepts, but the execution is stilted.
—Fuzzy Gerdes
Worlds are cheap. Kata-kata itu yang menyelamatkan saya dari menutup buku ini dan membiarkannya tak selesai. Gara-garanya, saya membaca buku ini di Minggu siang yang malas dan sepantasnya diisi oleh buku-buku ringan yang 'mudah' dibaca. Tapi yang saya temui malah, di antaranya: Multiverse, Altiverse, quantum differentation, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, multiple world lines... mau nyerah rasanya! Secara saya nggak pernah pintar fisika dari dulu :PTapi dengan mengabaikan segala macam teori itu, yang saya anggap saja merupakan satu lagi keisengan Neil Gaiman untuk mengerjai pembacanya, cerita Joey dan kembaran-kembarannya di dunia lain ini ternyata menarik juga. Intinya sih, kedua penulis ingin melontarkan gagasan (yang tidak baru sih sebenarnya) tentang keberadaan dunia lain yang paralel dengan dunia kita, tentang Bumi yang bukan satu-satunya dunia berpenghuni di alam semesta ini. Sepertinya setelah membaca Good Omens dan Interworld, saya bisa merasakan kegelisahan (halah!) Neil Gaiman tentang eksistensi manusia. Apa benar nasib manusia sepenuhnya diatur oleh Zat Tertinggi, apa benar manusia hidup dan mati hanya sebagai pion yang tidak berdaya atas takdirnya sendiri, dsb...Karena topiknya cukup rumit, tidak heran jika naskah yang awalnya dibuat untuk diangkat ke layar kaca ini ditolak oleh produser televisi dan baru bertahun-tahun kemudian muncul ide untuk dibuat buku.Saat membayangkan dunia-dunia murah yang dengan mudah diciptakan dan dihancurkan oleh ras Binary dan ras Hex, saya jadi teringat potongan gambar terakhir dalam film Men in Black, ketika bumi yang dengan susah payah kita tinggali dan sayang-sayang ini, ternyata cuma jadi bola mainan dua alien raksasa yang melemparnya bolak-balik...Does our world really that cheap?
—Uci
