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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vellum, Not for everyone, May 22, 2007
Vellum is a non-linear re-imagining of the world's myths and religions through an end-of-the-world scenario, intertwining many thematic elements of horror, science fiction and fantasy. I loved reading it, it was challenging, grand, audacious, and engaging. If you enjoy reading challenging fantasy/sci-fi/horror and can tolerate non-linear narrative than you will love reading this novel. Though as a reader that enjoys non-linear narrative it is not without its literary criticisms. Warning there is a lot of homo-erotic imagery (which doesn't quite cross the line of gratuitous).if you have problems with that, best to avoid this work. Overall Vellum follows the story of six or seven characters through different incarnations and histories which are intertwined through myth and history and legend through to the end of this world and the next. The overriding thread that ties these characters through all of their different incarnations is the Vellum, the Book of Names, the Book of all hours, in which all that exists or will exist in this existence, or the next (or the existence next-door) is written. The characters are members of the Unkin whom have the word of god, or their mystical names placed on their very being. These characters are the incarnations, re-incarnations, and re-iterations of the various gods, spirits, angels and demon archetypes. They play and re-play their parts throughout histories both real and imagined from the beginning of the world to the end, through this world and the next and are inferred in an infinity of other worlds throughout the book. Hal Duncan has drawn parallels of the different spiritual archetypes and strung them together into a narrative that encompasses the genres of classic and contemporary horror, post-modernism, cyber-punk and pulp sci-fi-fantasy. The cast is a who's who of "Finches Mythology" from ancient Sumer to Contemporary Gothic Horror archetypes with a heavy reliance on your catholic Angels, Fallen Angels and Demons. The main theme of the novel is the duality of good and evil, the connectedness of all the world's faiths, and the place of man in the scope of reality between faith and science. The main characters defy fate and religion and pay their prices as they are fated as they experience Armageddon, Ragnarok, or whatever end of the world scenario you subscribe to. Other than that, explanations are either too short to give justice to the depth of the narrative, or so long that the map becomes the territory (pun just realized, but apt). The novel begins, has a middle and a satisfying ending (which is better than many novels) though not necessarily all in that order. The bad:The DNA of this book is all over it. Styles are largely cribbed from other authors, the influence of William Burroughs, HP Lovecraft, and Kurt Vonnegut are the most obvious (Joyce is also quoted by other reviewers and I will take them at their word, I haven't read Joyce so I wouldn't know), other influences read like the best of SF library of Phillip Dick, Phillip Farmer, William Gibson, Neal Stephanson, Anne Rice to those Myst novels (though Hal Duncan's imagining of the literary mechanism is so far superior to those disappointments it is not hardly worth mentioning). The transitions are often jarring, the parallels are sometimes tortured and not all of the ideas fit together in one neat package. Sometimes the novel seems to wander from the main story to be a love-letter tribute to a favorite author (Lovecraft dominates the whole middle of the story). The good: The characters are engaging, likable, hatable or inscrutable as necessary through all their incarnations. The story and characters and the interplay between them defy labels without becoming convoluted (possibly confused). What is bad about this novel is also what is good, (there is a hypocritical element here) though the styles and themes have been explored before the author executed them deftly without ringing as just a derivative of other authors work. This is almost something new, the post-modern pure sci-fi/fantasy/horror novel (without all the heroin and navel-gazing) that still holds together as a complete story. The audacity and the scope of the novel is also encouraging. That it is written with great heart makes this a great read. Hal Duncan is a hell of a writer and I hope he is able to visit the same muse for his following works (Ink is out now, and I intend to read it). If you are a fan of Vonnegut, Pynchon, Burroughs, Lovecraft. you will probably really enjoy this novel. Buy it; if you like being challenged by good literature. If you love scrutinizing Vonnegut and Pynchon, unraveling Burroughs or imagining the unspeakable horrors of Lovecraft, you will probably enjoy this. Avoid it; if you are not a fan of non-linear narrative, or just want a distracting page-turner. If you have issues with the homo-erotic, you will want to steer clear. If you are intrigued pick up Pynchon's "Crying of Lot 49" or Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions" as a trainer. The Crying of Lot 49 (Perennial Fiction Library)Breakfast of ChampionsNaked Lunch: The Restored Text
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29 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Joseph Campbell meets James Joyce, December 31, 2005
Hal Duncan's Vellum is an intermittently beautiful, sometimes disturbing, occasionally thought-provoking and often difficult work. Bearing through those difficulties is a worthwhile journey for the reader, however, and Duncan has quite nearly invented a new form of fiction with this book. Without giving too much away, it is fair to say that Duncan links a series of characters to the recurring myths of western history, from Mesopotamia to the present day, linking those stories to pivotal events of both a large and private, personal-scale, from the Christian mythos of the fall of one-third of the angels from heaven, to the murder of Matthew Sheppard in Wyoming in 1998. Duncan pulls each of these events from their place as distant archtypal tragedies or isolated personal horrors and places them squarely at the whirling center of a universal conflict between forces that cannot simply be described as 'good' or 'evil.' This conflict extends, in Duncans hands, across one and many possible chaotic, violent futures. Through this millenia-long cycling, Duncan follows a cast of recurring and slowly developing characters who, we come to realize, are as pivotal to one another as they may well be to mankind. If there is a key weakness to Duncan's first volume, it is the pace at which we come to know these key characters. In many ways, they become clear as individuals only in the book's final (and strongest) third. Readers who persist in tracing their circuitous paths, however, will find that this is a work that lingers long after the last page.
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31 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Velluminous and Venal Verbage Violations, October 29, 2006
I tried to like this book, really. I read 150 pages before tossing it aside, but my literature warning lights were flashing long before that. There are some good ideas here that could have been very, very interesting. In fact they were interesting, I just got tired of wading through pages and pages of tortured prose trying to elevate itself to the status of literature. The basic concept here is one group of superhuman beings versus another. Angels versus demons, all mixed up with ancient gods and supernatural beings. Ah, cool. Let's tie the mythology of all cultures together, uniting all the those stories of gods and goddesses together with the christian mythology of angels and demons and tie it all to an underlying premise that makes everything make sense. Then let's tell a really good story around it. Oops, forgot the really good story. Also forgot interesting protagonists, compelling plot, and page-turning suspense. Decided instead to substitute tortured, wandering prose, uninteresting and venal characters with some massive chip on the shoulder because they're homosexual, and a collection of chapters that follow three different story lines, never particularly well, and without ever really tying anything together. There are books that do make you work hard for an enjoyable payoff. When they are well done though they dribble out rewards for you along the way, escalating to ever better satsifaction with the novel. This is not one of those books. This book provides no rewards along the way but instead sets up a tautology that dictates you must suffer the authors world-views, angst, self-doubt, prejudices, and fears in order to appreciate this work. Bollux. Give me a writer who can tell a story and who doesn't subject me to his personal hang-ups. This books pretends airs and grandiosity, but is simply hollow and irritating. Want a good Angels/Demons war story? Try The Shivered Sky by Matt Dinniman. The premise in Vellum is better but the story-telling in the Shivered Sky blows this book away.
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