Desolation Road (Desolation Road Universe, #1) in The Alternative Worlds

May 26, 2012 Terry rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, fantasy

4 – 4.5 stars

I was reminded, while reading _Desolation Road_, of two authors in particular: John Crowley and Gene Wolfe. This is not to say that I think Ian McDonald was in any way aping them or merely writing some kind of amalgamated pastiche, but there were elements to his tale that made both author’s names spring to mind. I think the first one was Wolfe, largely because of the way in which McDonald made the magical seem almost commonplace (or was it that the commonplace was made to seem magic 4 – 4.5 stars

I was reminded, while reading _Desolation Road_, of two authors in particular: John Crowley and Gene Wolfe. This is not to say that I think Ian McDonald was in any way aping them or merely writing some kind of amalgamated pastiche, but there were elements to his tale that made both author’s names spring to mind. I think the first one was Wolfe, largely because of the way in which McDonald made the magical seem almost commonplace (or was it that the commonplace was made to seem magical?) in a way that reminded me of the inversions of the various aspects of the world in both Wolfe’s New Sun and Long Sun series, not to mention the presence of time-travelling Green Men, technological angels and various other oddities. It is almost as though Clarke’s 3rd law has undergone an apotheosis and is not merely a case of technology being incomprehensible such that it seems magical, but that it truly has melded with the magical to produce a sort of moebius strip in which we don’t know where the technology ends and the magic begins. I was reminded of Crowley primarily in the poetic prose and gently fable-like aspects of the story which called to mind some elements of my favourite Crowley work Engine Summer. There is also the fact that this is a generational epic, telling the story of Mars from the perspective of the families that make up the founding members of the tiny habitation of Desolation Road and their descendants, not altogether unlike Crowley’s own generational epic Little, Big, though I enjoyed McDonald’s efforts far more than Crowley’s in this case.

Many reviewers have noted that this book is a kind of sci-fi magical realist novel, even explicitly comparing it to the work of Gabriel García Márquez. I have not read that author’s work, but will take their word for it. To me, though, it may be a bit of a misnomer. I imagine that the whole point of magical realism is that the author is incorporating elements of the “unreal” or “magical” into what is otherwise “everyday” life and thus creating a juxtaposition that is saved from being jarring by the poetic way in which the story is written. This can certainly apply to _Desolation Road_, but McDonald’s novel does seem to differ in one significant element: here we have a science fiction tale set in a world whose basic accepted tenets are already well beyond the “everyday” experiences of what we perceive as a “normal life” and I think the real surprise is simply the way in which McDonald expresses himself as opposed to the elements themselves. In this way I think the aspects mentioned above that reminded me of Wolfe and Crowley melded, or reacted, to create something new. If you want to call this “magical realism” I will not argue with you (and granted there are distinctly magical elements that may fit comfortably here such as a snooker match with the devil or a guitar-playing rainmaker that are definitely more magic than sci-fi in feel), but I think it might be more a label of convenience than a case of true generic affiliation.

The first chapters of _Desolation Road_ have the feel of inter-linked short stories since they tell the individual tales of the various people who will become the founders of the eccentric community of Desolation Road. It is an unsanctioned community of misfits on a recently terraformed Mars (also known as Ares, or simply Earth to those who live there, our own planet being called the Motherworld). This beginning may strike some readers as very slow, and it is true that McDonald takes his time in building up to what could be considered the novel’s plot and ultimate conflict. I think this is a virtue and not a vice in this case, however, since it allows us to get to know not only the founding members of the place, but also their children as we watch the tiny and haphazard conglomeration of huts and caves grow into a true community. We are thus able to get a necessary feel for the community itself as an organic thing, a living organism that impacts those whose lives are made there as much as it is impacted by them. As I mentioned above this is a generational epic of sorts and we need to learn about the lives of all of those whose actions will shape not only the town in which they lived or were born, but also the very planet on which it exists. There is a lot going on in this book, though much of it is simply the everyday experiences that go to making up life in Desolation Road. Slowly, however, these events start to build towards a larger purpose. Members of this small outback community start to move into the wider world, both by happenstance and by design, and the impact they have on their entire planet is not negligible. Whether they learn to master the chronodynamics of time and space, become the greatest snooker player the universe has ever known, or commune with the numinous machine powers that created the world to become cybernetic saints the people of Desolation Road find that their small-seeming lives can lead to great world shaking events.

Ultimately Desolation Road becomes the hotly contested heart of the planet, a battleground for greedy megacorporations, self-interested pilgrims, megalomaniacal warriors, and ambitious politicians. McDonald handles all of this deftly and manages to combine a lyrical telling with some very down to earth occurrences and over-the-top action. Indeed, for a writer of such a fable-like story wrapped in poetic prose style, McDonald is surprisingly good at writing action scenes where things go boom in a big way and combatants have a cinematically super-heroic style. Somehow he manages to make it all work instead of ending up with an ungodly mess. This was a great read, both fun and thought provoking in the tradition of the best sci-fi. Highly recommended.

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Feb 21, 2011 Ryandake rated it really liked it

what a romp. McDonald must have had so much fun writing this book.

it has quite a large cast, but characters are introduced with a chapter apiece (for the most part), and the on-ramp is gradual both in terms of introducing the characters and introducing the world.

the writing throughout is sharp, witty, and pitch-perfect, tending toward some pretty biting satire. being satirical, you probably won't walk away feeling like you got to know a person inside & out, but that's ok.

and the names! the names ...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Daniel Roy rated it really liked it

Shelves: sf, magic-realism, taw-bookclub

Desolation Road is a the magic realist tale of the birth, life, and ultimate destiny, of a desert town. It just so happens that this town is set on a terraformed Mars.

I'm a big fan of Ian McDonald since reading the brilliant The Dervish House, and this, his first novel, has many of the hallmarks of his future talent. There's the stellar prose, of course; often brilliant, sometimes good enough that you want to put down the book to applaud. There's this sense of worldliness: his futuristic Mars is Desolation Road is a the magic realist tale of the birth, life, and ultimate destiny, of a desert town. It just so happens that this town is set on a terraformed Mars.

I'm a big fan of Ian McDonald since reading the brilliant The Dervish House, and this, his first novel, has many of the hallmarks of his future talent. There's the stellar prose, of course; often brilliant, sometimes good enough that you want to put down the book to applaud. There's this sense of worldliness: his futuristic Mars is not a mere projection of Western culture, but a cool patchwork of many different societies, including Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African. There's the plethora of characters, sometimes barely more than a sketch, but never boring nor cliché. And, above all, there's a powerful sense of place, of location as character, as we see the town of Desolation Road grow from a one-man outpost, to an industrial hotbed and beyond.

There isn't much about this book that's conventional SF in any way. Despite being set on something approaching Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars, McDonald takes Arthur C. Clarke's "any sufficiently advanced technology" maxim for a spin, by using SF brushes to paint a deeply fantastic world. The foundations of the novel may be hard science fiction, but the execution is fantastic, even mythological and messianic in parts. A sense of wonder permeates the story's fantastical elements, a sense that miracles are possible, that magic exists in this technological world. The narrative keeps the reader off-balance, as it introduces new SF concepts at inopportune moments, instead of laying them out early on and staying consistent with them. Elsewhere it would be a terrible flaw, but here it's sheer brilliance.

The novel evolves more as a patchwork of individual stories than a series of linear events. Throughout the course of the narrative, we meet three generations of Desolation Road inhabitants, and the side-characters keep piling on. Almost all chapters function as snapshots or short stories using Desolation Road as its setting, which makes for a whimsical though uneven read. Eventually the stories coalesce; but paradoxically, this is where the book loses some of its impact. When all the characters converge for a final act, it becomes hard to keep track of who is who. Furthermore, the whimsical tone of the previous chapters means that it's hard to take sides when a real conflict erupts. Given the gentleness of the tone of the first 300 pages, the final act of the novel are filled with a terrible amount of noise and blood.

If there's one major flaw to the novel, it's the sheer volume of inventiveness and characters that McDonald throws in. There's enough here for at least five different novels, and some of the ideas and characters begin to trip on one another after a while. Characters who had been introduced fifty pages earlier pop up unexpectedly, sometimes so out of context that it's hard to remember who they are. SF concepts struggle for breathing space.

But when it's not trying to stir up a reality-shattering conflict, in the quieter parts of its narrative, Desolation Road is brilliant in its evocative restraint, in the wonders it pulls from the terraformed Martian soil. Some stories, like that of the guitar-wielding Hand, or the emprisoned angel, were beautiful SF of a sort I had never read before. And in this, Desolation Road far exceeds its biggest flaws. ...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Michelle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, book_club, award_winner, dtb-own

a strange, meandering, lyrical book that wanders along for about 2/3 of its length before feeling the need to burden itself with a linear plot, 'desolation road' tells the tale of a small town that springs up in fits and starts around an oasis in the middle of a vast desert. broken people, crooks on the lam, ambitious schemers, and renegade scientists that were never looking for the place all eventually settle in to farm their patch of heaven watching the years go by. whispers of unexpected magi ...more

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Apr 19, 2012 Suz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, award-winner, science-fiction, borrowed, lets-go-to-mars

This is the first work I’ve read by Ian MacDonald and I (mostly) really enjoyed it. McDonald knows how to write. He knows how to write fluidly and beautifully and have fun with his words, which I really appreciate. Most of the book is lyrical and fun, and I loved the imagery and magical realism he presents.

This book is about the town of Desolation road... it starts with the founding and the slow addition of characters. The writing about founding of the town, the new characters rolls around your ...more

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