Customer Reviews

Haze

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This book is not filled with explosions and people running around shooting at each other. This is a book that was placed in front of its reader to provoke thought and discussion. It is allegorical in every way, following themes in our current reality and other Modesitt realities. Ultimately the underlying theme is that we as a civilization have forgotten what it is to question and to use the intelligence that has been gifted to us. If you enjoyed Parafaith War and Gravity Dreams, you will like this book. If you prefer the Recluse series, you may not. I happened to have enjoyed this book very much and appreciate the discussions it has led to with my friends and family. I think Modesitt went out on a limb writing this book, and I hope it will be followed by others that are out of the current assembly line literature modality that we have been fed recently.

I love Modesitt's works and have read nearly every book he's written. So I was really eager to read Haze and extremely disappointed, even angry when I finished it. Haze did not live up to my expectations for Modesitt's strengths of character development, humor and world building.

1. Character- our Federation agent/assassin has no depth. I have to assume that the whole layout of the novel with it's dual/alternating time track is an attempt to show us how the agent's past led to his decision at the end but it's too simple. We learn Haze is honest/open while the Federation is deceptive/manipulative/blind to facts, etc; so is the ending really any surprise?

2. Humor - don't recall any. No "wuff"ing donkeys, no scenes that grab the heart (were the frequent dog image scenes an attempt to charm?)

3. World Building - we get glimpses of a corrupt Federation past and glimpses of Haze but few answers that can be explained to the agent/reader. Haze looks like the author's attempt to build a utopia, a perfect world of rational and economical behavior. But it never seems real to me.

My recommendation: skip this book unless you really love the politics and economics in Modesitt's past novels.

I didn't feel like I fully understood the novel until I read the author's biography on the back cover and saw he lived currently in Utah. Then it all made sense -- the target audience is dissatisfied Mormons.

The novel itself follows Agent Keir Roget, a trouble shooting agent in a Chinese-dominated galactic empire with an unusual love of dachshunds.

The book has two tracks, and a really random group of short sequences involving a hero of Mormon descent. This man became Utah's Senator when gas hit $30 a gallon through 'war-hero' brinkmanship with Chinese naval patrols. The first thread is time-backwards flashback as Agent-Captain Roget investigates a community of 'Saints' (i.e. Mormons circa 2250) who are dissatisfied with their Sinese overlords and have killed a data agent who snooped on their quota-exceeding energy usage. The second thread is Agent-Major Roget's exploration of the planet Haze (called Dubiety by the natives).

Haze has a more advanced Utopian culture, and the total environmental impact and illegality of free speech generalizations distinguish it from previous Utopias this author has created. Still, the look at the society is superficial, and Agent Roget, despite having a wry humor, is always emotionally distant.

This novel holds little of interest to a sci-fi reader who isn't a Mormon or highly religious. Some of the speculation on the nature of empires is interesting, but a non-fiction analysis of the same would give a superior reading experience.

My recommendation is read Gravity Dreams by this author instead. It gives the same type of insight into a future Utopian society, but from a more zen standpoint. Personally, I enjoyed it much more than Haze.

"Haze" is the first book by Modesitt that I've read. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what to think about it. On the plus side, I found it fairly well written and interesting. But, on the negative side, I can't figure out the point of it. Sure, the story has a beginning (though it's interleaved via flashbacks) and an ending. But, those seem like arbitrary points in the main character's life. There's nothing telling my why I should have read the book or why Modesitt wrote it. There's a whole lot of well-written material describing chunks of the main character's life (and some false memories which don't seem to serve any purpose whatsoever), various political systems, and multiple extremes of ecological fascism. But, why that material's there, I don't know. Heck, I can't even determine what the author wants me to think about them (or, even more basically, who the villain is).

Technically, the writing's pretty good. So, I'll probably try another of Modesitt's books. But, I can only rate this one at an OK 3 stars out of 5.

I have no idea why this book was written.

_Haze_ isn't so bad that I couldn't finish it. I even mildly enjoyed some of the writing. But I kept waiting for *something* to surface: a plot twist, a character revelation, a theme, an idea, an argument, a point, an insight--even for the main character to make some kind of significant decision.

Nada. Nothing. Nil.

As best I can guess, Modesitt's only aim is to portray contrasting two societies (which don't contrast very strongly). In fact, what he's done is rewrite LeGuin's _The Dispossessed_ with shades of such hoary (and preachy) classics as _Looking Backward_ and _Ralph 124C41+_. I'd say that the world doesn't need another book about how Everything Would Be Perfect If Only Everyone Listened To Me, except that it doesn't even work on that level; it's not involving enough, the "bad" Federation doesn't seem excessively bad, and there's no real sense of jeopardy.

Alternating chapters take place in an earlier timeframe, but the earlier story neither adds nor reveals anything. And the protagonist has flashbacks, which also neither add nor reveal anything, unless they're meant to be some kind of Wake Up, America! polemic, in which case they're unintentionally silly. _Haze_ isn't badly written, and it's even mildly interesting in spots, but what Modesitt is trying to accomplish is beyond me.

Haze is an interesting book with a lot of promise that ultimately doesn't quite pay off. The story follows two arcs. The chapters alternate back in forth between the main character's mission on the planet Haze/Dubiety, and a previous mission on earth to the 'Saint' communities roughly where Utah is today. As with many of Modesitt's books there is a lot of political science/economy musings. The book ends rather abruptly and somewhat anticlimactically. If I could give it 3.5 stars I would.

I've read almost all of Modesitt's non fantasy and particularly enjoy his older works, especially the Ecolitan novels and Adiamante. His more recent books have proven well written but a bit flat and often much too preachy on social, political and environmental issues. Haze follows in this tradition, but proved more enjoyable than his previous 2 or 3.

The protagonist, Roget, is likable enough if a bit humorless and underdeveloped. The other characters are more proplike. As others have written, the book follows two parallel paths, Roget's past missions and his current mission to Haze/Dubiety. Much is made of the environmental needs and limits of Haze and his home Federation, but more is made of the political and social differences. As usual, Modesitt positions one as good and the other bad. There is balance though. The Dubietans aren't perfect and the Federation isn't overwhelming evil, but Dubiety is a model of practical/pragamatic good government with basically libertarian values and the Federation is a typical corrupt statist empire that uses people and has limited regard for it citizens, especially those of less favored ethnicity.

The technology used is interesting, but it's not as developed or described in the sort of detail that makes it very real to you. You are essentially led to believe it's overwhelmingly powerful and will save the Dubietan's day. This unfortunately reduces the tension in the final confrontation between Haze and Federation forces significantly and almost makes it anticlimactic. The final scenes of the book resolve most of Roget's issues but are also too easy, almost being trite.

Other reviewers have talked about the Saints. Similar cultures are a feature of other Modesitt novels. The characterization of the Saints is better than in the other novels but in many ways are stereotypical and unflattering. The dachshunds that are the most important and humanizing element of Roget's character were a welcome touch for me and also brought an interesting continuing element to the story.

In sum, if you haven't been a Modesitt fan, don't start here. You'll enjoy the Ecolitan novels or his other works more readily. If you've been bothered by his social, political or environmental content, pass this book by. If you enjoy sophisticated science fiction that isn't all action or technology, you'll probably find this at least a passable read. If you are a Modesitt fan, you'll find it familiar but satisfying.

Like many of the other reviewers, I am a big fan of Modesitt's work but found this novel disappointing. I read the "Elysium Commision" twice and enjoyed it both times. I thought he was really growing into an excellent writer. This book seems like it was written by a beginning Sci Fi writer. It is a competent novel, but all the things that made the "Elysium Commision" so engaging, like plot complexity, character development, and thematic richness were missing in "Haze."

I could mention several things wrong with this book, but I'll just mention one-there are few other sustained characters besides the hero in the novel. Other characters wander in and out of the story and never appear again-after this happens a few times, the reader learns not to engage with or care about new characters when they appear. Altogether I would say, take a pass on this book and read one of Modesitt's other excellent books.

I can only echo what several others have already written -- this is a very disappointing book by Modesitt, a normally top-notch author. Character and world development are far below par for the author, the plot is utterly predictable and contains no new ideas, and the protagonist is humorless and boring. Modesitt, who frequently presents interesting and thoughtful philosohical ideas in his novels, fails to raise anything new or thought-provoking in 'Haze' at all. This book is so...dull...I wonder if it was just thrown together to meet a contractual obligation rather than the demands of the author's imagination. 'Haze' simply isn't a story that *had* to be written. Instead of wasting your time on 'Haze', read the first novel of his new 'Imager' series -- *that* novel is excellent!

This review contains some spoilers. This review also contains a paragraph arguing against what some others have posed about the author (which I figure is fair to do, since others have brought it up first), but it mostly pertains to this particular book.

Haze was, to me, an intriguing read. I had read a lot of the comments (both positive and negative) before I read the book, and a friend of mine had also given me rating of it as well. Perhaps that is why I was attentive to the subtle details of the writing from the beginning. One way or another, this book packs a punch for those who can place themselves into a completely different way of life. We have the benefit of living in a country that is not as utterly controlling as the society Roget comes from in Haze. However, that might lead some of us to ask why it was such a big deal for the events to unfold as they did. It's easy, in that light, to belittle Roget's own revelations, but that would be a mistake as a reader, as Roget's societal background is incredibly strict and damning. He comes from a culture that might deem him mentally unstable if anyone heard him musing out loud over a picture of a dog in an otherwise empty room (which, by the way, is one of the subtle cues that some people have apparently missed). So often, readers claim they want the cliched, "Show me, don't tell me!" And yet when they're given a book with details most of which need to be inferred, some of these same readers throw it down as nonsensical, boring garbage.

Some important points need to be made about this book, I feel. Haze is not a utopian society, as some have claimed. It is actually far from it. Haze keeps order through very strict, uncompromising policies made by a governing body that border on small-group dictatorship. While they allow some freedoms that we do not, they clamp down on a lot of things that would make us scoff. Their saving grace is that their intent is for the betterment of society and the world that they live in, and that their treatment of those who defy their rules is different from our society's and different from Earth's (in the book).

Dubiety's (Haze's) society doesn't agree with killing, but their actions still ultimately result in the deaths of some (even though they didn't directly kill them). They remove slanderous and harmful false reporting in media and in society as a whole, but with it they remove everyone's (well, our society's so-called) freedom of speech to accomplish it. They benefit those in society that put a lot of effort into honing their talents for the arts, musical performance, and that sort of thing, but they remove public freelance or interpretive talent that's less than the best. This world provides a lot, sure, but it takes and demands a lot. It is most definitely not utopian. However, I mean to only state observations here, and I am not saying Dubiety isn't a better society than the Federation.

Another thing I'd like to point out is that Modesitt is not taking sides in a religious debate with this book. Think of this: from just this single book, people have been offended both by his supposed anti-Christian views as well as his pro-Mormon views. Both sides of the fence are misguided, and I think people quite possibly are taking things too personally. I was raised in a pretty religious home, went to a private religious school growing up, served in my childhood church for years, the whole deal. I have yet to see Modesitt write a book that is a blatant slap in the face to an individual's personal beliefs. However--and this is the critical point--he uses historical truths to create possible future events. For example, Christianity has in the past been used by its culture and followers to perpetuate some of the most needless death, wars, and militant take-overs of non-Christians. That doesn't mean it does now, but it's not far fetched to think that a group of political people comprising a popular religion (because after all, wars and death are still caused by people, and the religion is used for gaining support or as other means to an end) couldn't and won't follow down this path again. However, this end is not limited to Christianity, and Modesitt has never seemed to claim such through his writings. Taking offense to a religious-based culture that does bad acts is as silly as taking offense to an American-based future culture that does bad acts. If humanity survives long enough, both of these scenarios will inevitably happen again.

As far as Haze goes, Dubiety is not a theocracy. It is not some religious wonderland. In fact, it doesn't seem to me that religion is at all a dominant factor in their culture, even if it played a large roll in their past. Their name presumably comes from "dubious" just as their culture's name (the Thomists) comes from "Doubting Thomas." But note, Doubting Thomas was one of the least pious disciples. Granted, the Thomists are not being doubtful of their religious beliefs.

This is not an easy read, but it is a great read. It won't be for everyone, and that's okay. That doesn't diminish the quality of writing or storytelling. Ultimately keep in mind that this book is built of subtleties upon subtleties. If you pick up this book, go into it knowing that you're supposed to read it with an open but critical mind, and that you're following two societies that are worlds apart from our own. Furthermore, you're following a character whose society can't fathom the existence of the other. It would be like us discovering that humans have somehow already left Earth, found a planet not suitable for human life, reformed it with technologies beyond our own, and are now living there in a society that utterly clashes with ours and yet works in its own way. What are you supposed to do with that? Read the book. Chew it over.