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135th out of 332 books
—
696 voters
Vellum (The Book of All Hours #1)
by
Hal Duncan
An extraordinary, incendiary debut from a rare new talent, Vellum showcases a complex and sophisticated level of writing coupled with a fecund imagination that defies description.
VELLUM: THE BOOK OF ALL HOURS
It’s 2017 and angels and demons walk the earth. Once they were human; now they are unkin, transformed by the ancient machine-code language of reality itself. They see...more
VELLUM: THE BOOK OF ALL HOURS
It’s 2017 and angels and demons walk the earth. Once they were human; now they are unkin, transformed by the ancient machine-code language of reality itself. They see...more
Paperback, 480 pages
Published
April 25th 2006
by Del Rey
(first published 2005)
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I gave VELLUM a good go but in the end I realised it wasn't my cup of tea so I had to give it up after 100 pages. I appreciate the author's intent and his unconventional approach and his breadth of intellectual understanding is frequently astounding. But this is a novel lacking in the basic principles of a story: narrative, characterisation, dialogue, action. A bunch of expletive-driven characters exist in a lawless world, and both good and evil are as uninteresting as each other. The narrative...more
Aug 26, 2008
NYLSpublishing
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to NYLSpublishing by:
NYLS Book Review
I can recall my physics professor once saying to me, “The beauty, Joel, is in the complexity. We [scientists] must patiently peel away each mysterious layer to reveal a beauty hidden within.” A quixotic statement, I thought, to which I immediately responded with raffish undergraduate repartee that I didn’t care for hidden things since their existence was, to me, evidence of a disingenuous mind. He didn’t respond to that – just simply smiled; a pregnant smile that, years later when I think of the...more
This book was actually painful to read. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't just put it down. It was like reading modern art or listening to modern music, which, if you're into it, is fine, but if you're not, you just see something meaningless or hear disharmonies, that's only art or music because someone said so. Reading this, I felt like Duncan wrote bits of assorted stories on cards and then shuffled them together and called it a book. Some of the bits are chronological, some of them even make...more
The war in heaven and on earth (and on multiple variations of earth) between the old-school archangels, the rebel demons and the conscientious objectors.
This is an amazing book. It's almost impossible to describe, but the closest I can come is that it's like a mixture of Gibson and King's The Stand and the movie Dogma (if it took itself seriously) with elements of Godot thrown in when the characters from the prologue keep showing up throughout the book on an endless journey through a deserted et...more
This is an amazing book. It's almost impossible to describe, but the closest I can come is that it's like a mixture of Gibson and King's The Stand and the movie Dogma (if it took itself seriously) with elements of Godot thrown in when the characters from the prologue keep showing up throughout the book on an endless journey through a deserted et...more
I gave this book a valiant effort, but I only made it half-way. I know enough to say that the author is brilliant, but otherwise, this book made little sense to me. After the first chapter, I suspended any attempt to figure it out, hoping it would come together for me eventually, but though I had a vague idea of what was going on when I gave up, I think this book is just too far over my head. I loved the mix of sci-fi and mythology, but I wish there was a primer or Coles notes I could've read be...more
Vellum on juuri sellainen kuin aavistelin ja pelkäsin, mutta pitihän siihen silti tutustua. Olin aiemmin lukenut muutaman Hal Duncanin novellin Tähtivaeltajasta ja ne olivat suhteellisen vaikeita ja en päässyt niissä samalle aaltopituudelle kirjailijan kanssa. Niin ei käynyt myöskään Vellumin kohdalla. Alku tuntui lupaavalta, mutta sitten alkoi mennä yli hilseen. Lukeminen sujui kyllä ongelmitta ja tavallaan ymmärrys oli mukana lukiessa, mutta yrittäessä hahmottaa kokonaisuutta ja tarinan tarkoi...more
*shrug*
The concept is really interesting, a book of the word of God, long hidden, is retrieved by a boy who, like many others in the world, is an "unkin" - and offspring of angels or demons of some sort.
The book reveals our world, our reality, to be just one layer in a much more complex, and ever-changing reality, and by using the book he can see how the layers change and he can move between them and follow a map of some sort to a destination (which supposedly he does for thousands of years or s...more
The concept is really interesting, a book of the word of God, long hidden, is retrieved by a boy who, like many others in the world, is an "unkin" - and offspring of angels or demons of some sort.
The book reveals our world, our reality, to be just one layer in a much more complex, and ever-changing reality, and by using the book he can see how the layers change and he can move between them and follow a map of some sort to a destination (which supposedly he does for thousands of years or s...more
I've read some bad reviews of this book and most of them cite boring/undeveloped characters and gimmicky writing. That's what appealed to me most about Vellum! The writing is solid and sensitive. Yes, the story progresses in an overlaid, stop-start narrative but that's all in keeping with the content of the story and as a technique is used with aplomb. It's a bit unorthadox but not gratuitously wacky.
I'm usually put off sci-fi and fantasy books where the authors wax lyrical about their made up...more
I'm usually put off sci-fi and fantasy books where the authors wax lyrical about their made up...more
Pretty much the definitive 'Marmite' book, but if you want to your ideas of narrative stucture challenged, then this is the book for you.
Flexible chronological structure is cool nowadays, but Duncan flips between timelines and realities without even changing paragraphs, weaving together multiple narratives to tell ancient myths to a new audience while also telling his own, thrilling story that jumps from quiet love story to thrilling techno action adventure, often on the same page.
The narrative...more
Flexible chronological structure is cool nowadays, but Duncan flips between timelines and realities without even changing paragraphs, weaving together multiple narratives to tell ancient myths to a new audience while also telling his own, thrilling story that jumps from quiet love story to thrilling techno action adventure, often on the same page.
The narrative...more
I really wanted to read this book, even like it. It just seemed like the type of book that I would love. To be honest, I DID love the first few pages but all the people seemed to have more or less the same name, they changed names, Duncan switched from past to future to past to present to future and everything just didn't fit in. Some of the parts- especiallly the very beginning- were really interesting, and if Duncan went on with that instead of switching here and there it would've been a reall...more
A psychedelic, queer, James Joycean ride. Extremely rewarding for the very patient. Probably very frustrating for everyone else. I loved it. Hal Duncan has the genius touch of a mad wordsmith. Layer upon layer he takes the reader deeper and deeper through the looking glass of his gorgeous, intricate vision of the mythic threads underlying the histories of men and angels. The book trades heavily in the mythos of ancient Sumer and the crypto-Christian "Fallen Angels"ideas. Beautiful boys, angels,...more
There is a quality of prose that is often described as vivid or maybe electric. Compared to the prose of your average novel, Vellum is like being struck by lightning. It might hurt and you might not enjoy it, but damn is it an experience. Narrative perspective jumps from page to page, paragraph to paragraph and in Vellum, with its dozens of alternate realities, mythic interludes, and characters more like leitmotifs, following what's going on can be pretty confusing. But scenes recur with differe...more
As sprawling, ambitious novel that pushes all sorts of literary and genre boundaries, I wanted so much to love this Vellum. Unfortunately, at several points in novel, Duncan's imagination exceeds his skills as a writer. And, as the over-long descriptions, dropped plot threads, and inconsequential characters piled on each other, I found myself skimming the text and wishing someone at Ballatine had taken a firmer editorial hand with a first time novelist who clearly shows promise.
W przypadku "Welinu" ciężko o jakieś podsumowanie, mogące zachęcić, lub zniechęcić potencjalnego czytelnika. Książka ma momenty naprawdę wciągające, zwykle takie, gdzie zachowana jest jakaś spójność struktury któregoś ze "ściegów", z których składa się ta opowieść, potem nagle narracja rwie się, przeszłość miesza się z teraźniejszością, rzeczywistość z mitami, baśniowość z cyberpunkiem. Forma ta wymaga od czytelnika maksymalnego skupienia i koncentracji, bowiem zdarza się, że na przestrzeni kilk...more
How often do you encounter a book you can both love and hate. This is massively ambitious book, portraying a war in heaven across an almost infinite variety of incarnations of the universe. Across this are a seemingly endless array of characters, many of whm have different incarnations in the varying versions of history. This means of course that the book is by the very nature of what it is trying to portray massively complex.
The incarnations if history, are also frequently retellings of myths,...more
The incarnations if history, are also frequently retellings of myths,...more
May 19, 2008
Al'xae
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
pretentious types who find "meaning" in crap
What a frustrating book! The words are so beautiful, the sentences are all finely crafted work... but when it's all thrown together, it is a big jumble of nothing in particular. It's the beginning of eight million (give or take) story lines and none of them seem to go anywhere. I tried to stay with it, but when there's nothing to grasp onto pretty sentences and engaging imagery are not enough to carry an entire novel.
Jun 26, 2012
rameau
marked it as did-not-finish
·
review of another edition
Recommended to rameau by:
Tähtivaeltaja palkinto, Helsinging Scifi Seura
I should know better than to trust awards by now. Judges and critics seem to love all things pretentious. Why exactly did I think this would be different?
It might have been the idea. That there is a book of universe where all hours--all that was, all that is, all that could be--are written down. That you can change the world by scratching the vellum, spilling the ink, jumping from one page to another. That there is madness in the chaos and that madness has a seed of truth and reason in it if we...more
It might have been the idea. That there is a book of universe where all hours--all that was, all that is, all that could be--are written down. That you can change the world by scratching the vellum, spilling the ink, jumping from one page to another. That there is madness in the chaos and that madness has a seed of truth and reason in it if we...more
Only made it a quarter of the way through... One word: Drivel...
Style over substance to the point I simple did not care to read anymore. A regurgitation of mythology that did nothing to cast new light on ancient myth or enhance Duncan's flat characters. I get it: civilizations and cultures through history share mythological synergy, creation myths, journey's into the underworld, flawed gods, etc... *yawn*
The slapdash inclusion of non-contextual "cyber-chic" went nowhere, clips of time-invarian...more
Style over substance to the point I simple did not care to read anymore. A regurgitation of mythology that did nothing to cast new light on ancient myth or enhance Duncan's flat characters. I get it: civilizations and cultures through history share mythological synergy, creation myths, journey's into the underworld, flawed gods, etc... *yawn*
The slapdash inclusion of non-contextual "cyber-chic" went nowhere, clips of time-invarian...more
Kun ei pysty niin ei pysty. Ihan liian vaikea minulle. Kenties korvieni välistä puuttuu joku tämän kirjan kannalta olennainen nappula. Tai ehkä nappula puuttuu haarojeni välistä..
Kirja alkoi kiinnostavasti, mutta pysähtyi sitten polkemaan paikalleen -ainakin niiden 200 sivun ajaksi, jotka jaksoin sinnitellä. Kerronta oli niin poukkoilevaa, että pysyäkseen kärryillä oli pinnisteltävä ihan tosissaan.
Päähenkilöistä yksikään ei herättänyt suurempia sympatioita, eikä heidän kohtalostaan kiinnostunut...more
Kirja alkoi kiinnostavasti, mutta pysähtyi sitten polkemaan paikalleen -ainakin niiden 200 sivun ajaksi, jotka jaksoin sinnitellä. Kerronta oli niin poukkoilevaa, että pysyäkseen kärryillä oli pinnisteltävä ihan tosissaan.
Päähenkilöistä yksikään ei herättänyt suurempia sympatioita, eikä heidän kohtalostaan kiinnostunut...more
First off, yes i struggled through this book and yes i finished it. When i test out authors i usually suffer threw a few of their books before i make a decision - this one i'm good after one. Too much time jumping. The characters are intriguing and barable. But you never get into the book cause almost every other paragraph your taken to some other point in time. Wonderful idea but very badly done. Choppy at best, I would not recommend this book to anyone with out a bottle of advil to go alone wi...more
Verschrikkelijk slecht. Het begint goed, maar na dat eerste hoofdstuk slaat de verveling gigantisch toe. Vijftig pagina's heb ik het volgehouden, en toen was ik het echt wel beu. Niet uitgelezen dus. Misschien wordt het nadien beter, maar dat is dan jammer...
Het beloofde een mix van mysterie, SF, gay relaties, spanning en lekkere literatuur, maar het bleek pretentieuze complexiteit om de complexiteit, met figuren wiens naam veranderen zonder reden en waar je nooit voeling mee krijgt, alle chrono...more
Het beloofde een mix van mysterie, SF, gay relaties, spanning en lekkere literatuur, maar het bleek pretentieuze complexiteit om de complexiteit, met figuren wiens naam veranderen zonder reden en waar je nooit voeling mee krijgt, alle chrono...more
Aug 06, 2011
Brandon Koontz
added it
Vellum is one of the most complex books I've ever read...and not necessarily in a good way. I really believe Hal Duncan has huge potential, but it wasn't realized in Vellum. The easiest way to describe this is Neil Gaiman's American Gods...on crack, LSD, and a few pain pills to take the edge off. Which is also what you're going to need (the pain pills at least) when you try to plow through the dense textures of the Vellum. You aren't going to read this in one night, so don't even try. This might...more
I really really wanted to like this book. That didn't work, at all. I could never understand who was who and exactly what was happening. As soon as I started to get a grip on the whole scenario, someone changed their name. The writing was beautiful, but it made my head hurt when I read it. It felt like Hal Duncan took a gamble with a story that could have been wonderful and it failed. It was a huge waste of time. I'm sure I'll be staying away from Duncan's books in the future. I spent the whole...more
profanity, obscenity, blasphemy, all these were what this book centered around. Humans become angels, the top angel became god, was overthrown. Angels, demons, whatever, are unkin. And a war wages between them all. The Vellum is under all, the "true reality" that can be rewritten.
This book was very non-linear, almost like the author was on an acid trip or smoking pot when he wrote this. Duncan gloried in profanity and homosexuality, and a refusal to "choose" sides in a divine war. And it was ju...more
This book was very non-linear, almost like the author was on an acid trip or smoking pot when he wrote this. Duncan gloried in profanity and homosexuality, and a refusal to "choose" sides in a divine war. And it was ju...more
could only get ~100 pages into it. The premise was interesting, but the fragmented writing style was just too much to put up with. So many different characters, with different names in different times and different places are used; jumping between them every other paragraph with nothing concrete to hold it together.
The writing is frustrating at time, changing between modern day and ancient legend, then splicing them together.
Overall, just frustrating. Maybe in another time and given a hell of a...more
The writing is frustrating at time, changing between modern day and ancient legend, then splicing them together.
Overall, just frustrating. Maybe in another time and given a hell of a...more
I really wanted to love this book. It had so much of what I enjoy: reinterpreted religious myths, a non-linear sense of story, characters that are at once archetypes and individuals, lyricism contrasted with hyper-realism... It should have been a hit. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it. The author's taken "non-linear" to the point where there's no forward movement. Nothing drove the story. The characters transition back and forth between archetype and individual so rapidly (within paragr...more
The good news is Hal Duncan is bursting with ideas. The bad news is he’s packed thousands of them into his very first novel, as VELLUM: THE BOOK OF ALL HOURS combines:
• An epic battle between good and evil (in two parts, no less);
• Sumerian myths;
• Demons and angels walking the earth with dreadlocks and leather trenchcoats;
• An alternate dimension in which people are actual fairies and halflings; and
• Nazis.
The result is a book that’s so close to genius that it can be painful to read.
More: http:...more
• An epic battle between good and evil (in two parts, no less);
• Sumerian myths;
• Demons and angels walking the earth with dreadlocks and leather trenchcoats;
• An alternate dimension in which people are actual fairies and halflings; and
• Nazis.
The result is a book that’s so close to genius that it can be painful to read.
More: http:...more
Tämä oli kirja, josta olisin kovasti tahtonut pitää, mutta eritäin lupaavan alun jälkeen putosin täysin kärryiltä ja pakkokahlasin kirjan sitkeydellä loppuun. Harvoin tulee vastaan kirjoja, jotka vaativat lukijaltaan näin paljon. Ehkä en lukenut kirjaa ajatuksella, ehkä missasin jonkun oleellisen pointin, mutta en yksinkertaisesti ymmärtänyt kirjasta juuri mitään. Aivan kuin olisi lukenut David Lynchin elokuvan käsikirjoitusta. Välillä kirjassa luuli pääsevänsä mukaan, ennen kuin putosi taas täy...more
Vellum by Hal Duncan is the first of two books that make up The Book of All Hours. The book was an impulse buy at the bookstore, I must admit. It sounded like a post-apocolyptic, cyberpunk morality tale – good vs. evil, angels vs. demons, etc. – with everything building up to a huge final nano-tech battle called Evenfall. What really struck me about the book once I cracked the cover, however, is the writing. Mr. Duncan writes in a series of vivid images strung together sometimes by the thinnest...more
Might as well talk about 'Ink' and 'Vellum' together, since they're really one work.
Conveniently, Duncan describes his work himself, within the text of the book:
"...the Book has as many histories as the world itself, and it contains them all in its Moebius loop of time and space, of contradicting stories somehow fused as one confused and rambling tale, a sort of truth but full of inconsistencies and digressions, spurious interpolations and interpretations, fiction told as fact, fact told as fic...more
Conveniently, Duncan describes his work himself, within the text of the book:
"...the Book has as many histories as the world itself, and it contains them all in its Moebius loop of time and space, of contradicting stories somehow fused as one confused and rambling tale, a sort of truth but full of inconsistencies and digressions, spurious interpolations and interpretations, fiction told as fact, fact told as fic...more
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Hal Duncan is the author of Vellum, which was a finalist for both the William H. Crawford Award and the Locus Award for Best First Novel. He is a member of the Glasgow SF Writers’ Circle. He lives in the West End of Glasgow.
(Picture taken by Szymon Sokół.)
More about Hal Duncan...
(Picture taken by Szymon Sokół.)
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“She has to be written out of history and written into myth.”
—
3 people liked it
“But the bigots always see those whom they hate as morally corrupt, as if they confuse their own aesthetics of disgust and fear with actual ethical critique, rationalizing their emotional response, and enforcing their moral certainties with passion, establishing them-selves, subtly or brutally, as arbiters of reason.”
—
1 person liked it
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31 oct. 21:08
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