The Marriage of the Living Dark [Import] [Paperback]

David Wingrove (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Books of Canada Ltd (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385257368
• ISBN-13: 978-0385257367
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,828,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What was Wingrove thinking?, February 23, 2000

By 

"eltep" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Marriage of the Living Dark (Paperback)

I haven't read sci-fi on a regular basis since my pre-teen days, but when sombody suggested this series to me I gave it a shot. The first seven books of this series are excellent. I think Wingrove did a fantastic job developing 3-D characters and playing on concepts of political intrigue and moral issues. His obvious familiarity with Chinese history is put to use in modelling a Chinese dynasty on the brink of downfall. However, when I arrived at Book VIII, I was extremely dissapointed.

First off, he glossed over too many plot developments. What went on in the American Empire after Li Yuan re-emerged as a key player? How did he deal with Old man Egan? And knowing what he knew of the future, why did he bother?

Although we are given a brief glimpse into Shephard's change of heart, he is glossed over for the final chapters of the novel. His once intense personality is now transformed through a few words of regret and realization. His character is too analytical and intense for that type of trite simplistic self realization.

I, like most of the reviewers here, was very disappointed with the whole factured universe concept. It had no correlation to any of Kim Ward's previous theories despite, Wingrove's desperate attempt to justify it in a conversation between Tuan Ti Fo and Ward. When presented with a new chapter and long dead characters are resurrected and playing the stock market I thought I picked up the wrong book. Is this Wingrove's way of foreshadowing an alternate series based in this new world?

I thought that this series was successful for it's political intrigue, depth of plot and it's historical understanding of the rise and fall of empires. This last book was a grand departure from those themes. I agree with one of the above reviewers in that I would have rather the series end in chaos after book VII, than this failed attempt at a conclusion.

It seems almost as if Wingrove was pressured by a deadline or just finally ran out of creative steam and settled on an old Michael Moorcock premise (the multiverse) to get himself out of trouble.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars real disappointment, July 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Marriage of the Living Dark (Paperback)

After a spectacular build up, fascinating characters and an intricate but coherent plot carefully stretched out over the first 7 books this was a massive anticlimax. The ending made no real sense in terms of what had happened before, the characters suddenly behaved in incomprehensible manners and the final plot twists were just ridiculous. What a waste of a terrific series.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Marriage of the Living Dreck, June 13, 2000

By 

Michael D Ward - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Marriage of the Living Dark (Paperback)

What Happened? There has to be a very interesting story behind how this book came into existance. It seems at times to be intentionally bad. This is a great series and I highly recommend it through book VI. Book VII is also good if not quite as good but unfortunately in introduces new characters and ideas which are not resolved. This will tempt you to read book VIII, but be warned _Marriage of the Living Dark_ does not continue the plot threads begun in book VII.

Book VII ends foreshadowing big things for its new characters--Josef and Coffin Filler. But these characters are almost abandoned in _Marriage of the Living Dark_ and are not the slightest bit important to this story. Ben Shepard's obsession with death continues as he makes arrangments with Devore to get subjects for his experiments, but this plot line is soon forgotten. Instead, Part I of this book introduces yet another character Daniel and describes his battles in Eden, a "training ground" for Devore's boy army where they battle artificial insects. The purpose of this is never fully explained but has something to do with Devore's plans for molding mankind which was foreshadowed at the end of book VI. However, by part II this story thread is also abandoned and the only thing from part I to have any baring on the rest of the book is Daniel himself, a character who serves no purpose other than to be a great soldier who continually saves the other characters from danger.

Part II introduces much termoil in American where young Egan has to deal with a military defeat in the West, another enemy coming up from the South, the threat of Devore attacking from Europe, treachery from his own officials, and the return of his grandfather and his bid for power. Wingrove merely sets up this conflict and then forgets about it. Later the resolution to all of these problems is revealed in a one page account of these events by Li Yuan: An entire novel worth of story is condensed to a single page!

The book contiues to jump from idea to idea having conflicts resolved and main characters killed "off-camera" only to have these events tersely recounted to the reader after the fact. Finally, we reach the final chapter where Wingrove's multi-dimensional subplot introduced earlier becomes increasingly bizarre until we reach the last five sections of the last chapter which are the worst pages of incomprehisible and pointless dreck that I have ever read.

Then things go down hill--as if that where still possible--with an epilogue that COMPLETELY ignores the end of the book! The epilogue's inclusion in the book is so bizarre that it is the chief reason I suggest this book may be intentionally bad.

But worst of all, in addition to all of these problems (perhaps because of them), Marraige of the Living Dark fails to draw the reader in like the preceding books. It is a lifeless account of pointless events without emotional depth which fails to connect with the reader.

A real disappointment all around. I'm giving it two stars because I still loved these characters from what I'd read about them in the previous books, many individual sections are well written even if they don't fit together, and (believe or not) I have read worse books.