Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsA wild ride on a ferris wheel
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2013
Like most who read him, I truly enjoy Brust: he's inventive, funny, and somewhat nuts, and this book fits all of his qualities. I'm unfamiliar with Skyler White's work, but the collaboration is successful in that the story is told in the first person, with two narrators, one male and one female and the voices are interesting. To begin, the incrementalists are a secret society of about 200 immortal entities who, by making small changes via 'meddling' with regular people, have tried to improve the world since the beginning of homo sapiens (at least that's implied). Sometimes what they do works and sometimes it doesn't - but this book doesn't really delve into that aspect, other than in a minor, tangential manner (examples are mentioned of the results of their work). The premise is that, although their bodies aren't immortal, their essences (or souls) are, and when the body is done - via whatever means - a replacement is selected, and the replacement is imbued with the memories of the one they replace. (I won't go into the terminology the authors use, but let's just say I've simplified the process in this explanation.) This is the story of a replacement gone wonky, and the manner in which eight of the society attempt to understand and fix the problem. The characters are interesting and their unique abilities are explored, but the plot is somewhat disjointed, and this reader, at least, was discombobulated at times. I read it in one sitting, and parts of it are marvelous, parts are confusing, and parts are just crazy. I was reminded in some ways of early PKD, and his explorations of altered states. I have to re-read this thing, because I believe it's one of those books that get clearer the more times one indulges. At least I hope so.
