The Ordinary [Hardcover]

Jim Grimsley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2004

Jim Grimsley's novels and short stories have been favorably compared to the works of Samuel R. Delany, Jack Vance, and Ursula K. Le Guin. Now he unleashes an ambitious and audacious collision between science and magic.

The Twil Gate links two very different realms. On one side of the portal is Senal, an advanced technological civilization of some thirty billion inhabitants, all cybernetically linked and at war with machine intelligences many light-years away. On the other side is Irion, a land of myth and legend, where the world is flat and mighty wizards once ruled.

Jedda Martele is a linguist and trader from Senal. Although fascinated by the languages and cultures of Irion, she shares her people's assumption that Irion is backward and superstitious and no match for her homeland's superior numbers and technology. But as the two realms march inevitably toward war, Jedda finds herself at the center of historic, unimaginable events that will challenge everything she has ever believed about the world---and herself.

The Ordinary is a powerful and entrancing tale of magic, science, and the mysterious truth that binds them together.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in the same future world as Kirith Kirin (2000), which won a Lambda Award, Grimsley's latest SF novel intimately explores the conflicts between magic and science, subconscious and conscious action, the past and the future. The planet of the tech-using Hormling of Senal is connected to the land of Irion, home of the magic-believing Erejhen, via the mysterious Twil Gate, a portal of unknown origins in the ocean. Although traders on both sides enjoy brisk commerce through the gate, Hormling leaders look more and more to Irion as a means to provide land and resources for their expanding civilization. Translator Jedda Martele, member of a Senal diplomatic mission to Irion, is caught in the middle when the delegation's true purpose is revealed: they are meant to be in place to parlay for a Hormling invasion force after it races through the gate to occupy strategic Irion ports, but they haven't reckoned with the ability of the so-called "backwards" Erejhen to handle invaders. Grimsley's finely textured societies have a clockwork intricacy that fascinates even as it dispels surprise. Unlike many "literary" authors who fail when they try to write SF, PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award winner Grimsley (Winter Birds) has the necessary world-building skills to shine brightly here.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* As an advanced, technology-based culture, the Hormling of Senal were perforce interested in exploring what lay beyond the Twil Gate, which they approached with astounding arrogance, certain that their knowledge was far superior to whatever primitive culture they would encounter there. And so it seemed, for a long time. For the inhabitants of Irion, on the other side, firmly believed in a flat world and in magic rather than science. Burgeoning to more than 30 billion in Senal, the Hormling were primarily interested in discovering and using Irion's resources. When brash Hormling officials present themselves as conquerors, though, they are rudely awakened by how unprimitive Irion is. Hormling linguist Jedda Martele's view of Irion changes quickly, for, nonjudgmental and open to learning and the new and unexpected, she soon gains friends in Irion. Magically transported to an earlier Irion, she meets Irion himself, the powerful magician who built the Twil Gate, and so begins a new life in which perceptions of who she is, her place in the world, and the world itself are drastically challenged and proven other than she could have imagined. Besides magic aplenty, there is a beautifully developed spirituality in mainstream novelist Grimsley's spare, poetic sf debut, and a compelling love story, too, making it a quiet sort of page-turner that elegantly evokes a reader's fascination and wonder. Paula Luedtke
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765305283
• ISBN-13: 978-0765305282
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,314,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great concepts that go nowhere., August 1, 2005

By 

K. Butler (escondido, ca United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Ordinary (Hardcover)

I zipped through the first 100 pages of this book unable to put it down. Unfortuneately the author seems to run out of gas after that. The main character just goes on a big, boring sight seeing tour. It reminded me of that show on the Travel Channel where that girl visits hotel after hotel fawning over the interior design. There is not a hint of conflict until the final pages and then it's very short-lived and quickly followed by one of the worst non endings I've ever read. The book just stops. Not a hint of resolution or even a cliff hanger pointing to a sequel.

It's a shame because Grimsley had some great concepts to work with. In my experience novels that mix technology with magic usually fail at both, but Grimsley had a workable foundation he could have developed into something unique if he had focused on the SF concepts instead of minutiae.

Once in a while the characters stop admiring the drapes long enough to notice the GIANT FREAKIN' PORTAL BETWEEN TWO WORLDS--but enough about that.
Gee, what a lovely sofa...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but needs to be continued, August 22, 2006

By 

D. Syrek "Sci-Fi/Fantasy Fan" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ordinary (Hardcover)

I had previously read Kirith Kirin, so this novel made sense and was a welcome return to an interesting world. Overall the concept of the intersections of worlds of magic and science, and the philosophical and theological ramifications is a very interesting one. Plus I now understand what all those appendixes in Kirith Kirin were about.

However, the novel does rush to a sudden end, which wasn't good after so much build-up in the body. I hope Grimsley plans to write more.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Only half a book, August 2, 2005

By 

Wombat whiskers (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ordinary (Hardcover)

This is a fragment of a book. While it is well written, has good characters and some very interesting concepts, it fails for lack of a plot. The story seems to stop right when it should just be getting interesting. This is a pity since everything else was in place to make it a truly good book. I was very frustrated and disappointed.