Lexicon by Max Barry

In the secret world of the poets—humans that, through the power of language, have gained the ability of human compulsion—Max Berry delivers us Emily Ruff and Wil Jamieson.  The first narrative arc belongs to that of Emily, a sixteen year old girl making a living by hustling card games on the streets of San Francisco, able to analyze her marks to a frightening degree. Frightening enough that the poets have sought her out.  As her life quickly takes an unexpected turn, she finds herself at a private, and secret, school where she will learn all she needs in order to sway anyone to her will.  Every human has a unique ‘code,’ a sequence of four special words that allow the speaker access to their thoughts and will.  Through studying an individual, the poets are able to categorize them, determining just what specific order of words will unlock their mind.  This new world is a world of specific rules, rules that must never be broken and Emily, Emily has no small problems with following rules.  The second narrative arc follows that of Wil, a young man who finds himself thrown into a supposed poet war.  With no clue as to why he’s been dragged into this fight, the only information the reader is given is that Wil’s memory has been compromised and that something horrible happened in a place called Broken Hill, Australia.

In Max Berry’s Lexicon we are in a world, very much like our own, but within it lies a secret organization of poets, each member given the name of a famous poet to act as their code name.  “The pen is mightier than the sword.”  The adage about the superiority of language, of words, over any amount of force is expanded upon within this book.  More than mere wordsmiths, these poets have such vast knowledge over the human psyche that, with the right words, they can compel any human being to do whatever they wish them to do.

The two key phrases found throughout the book are “’Tower of Babel’ event” and “barewords,” with the latter causing the former.  Normal coercion requires that a poet analyze an individual’s personality to determine what precise sequence of four words it will take to be able to control the individual.  Being aware of this ability, many poets have built up defenses to protect themselves from other poets.  With the use of these barewords, none of that matters.  Merely looking at the word makes an individual susceptible to coercion and worse.  The best way to think of an uncontained bareword, in this case inscribed on a small object, is as if a nuclear reactor had melted down.  And with the complete release of a bareword is a Tower of Babel event, resulting in the destruction of all language.  Honestly, while it seems daunting, I would have liked if the book had gone into more detail here.

Emily has been living on the streets, using card games and her innate ability to analyze and understand people to make enough money to get by.  It was a character introduction that was neither good nor bad, but it was well constructed.  Once we get to her developing her abilities to become a poet and her use of those abilities, whether likeable or not, I appreciated Emily’s comparative difference to those that surrounded her, as well as other young protagonists in their own stories.  Since others around her succeeded where she did not, using abilities and other natural talents that she didn’t possess, she used the skills that she did possess to their fullest in order to fight against that imbalance.  That use of skills was excellent to see in place of the luck of many other main characters, characters who only manage to succeed because of coincidental events rather than their own planning and abilities.

Wil finds himself at the center of a war between poets, only knowing that something horrible has happened at Broken Hill.  Fresh off a plane he’s both kidnapped and protected by two strange men, who drag him towards a place he has no recollection of.  I can’t say whether Wil’s character seemed too whiny, or if it was the right amount of complaint coming from someone in his particular situation.  While I’d like to, I can’t talk too much about the progression of his character or I’d risk spoiling something for you.  It is through Wil’s character that many of the mysteries of the story are revealed, so in that I would call him more of a device than an actual character.  So while the writing behind him was strong, it was hard to shake the impression of him functioning as a tool rather than a person.

The story itself, the way that the narrative jumped back and forth between Emily and Wil, was highly enjoyable.  On one hand you have Emily who is able to learn about the world of the poets as she tries to find her place.  On the other you have Wil who is dragged in head first with little to no ability to act on his own.  The two stories both involve the unifying thread of the poets, yet while Emily finds herself in relative peace, Wil’s perspective of their world is pure chaos.  The world that Emily couldn’t see, yet Wil could, was enjoyable as a reader.  However, as mentioned above, Wil functioned more as device than person.  Had the two stories been separated, Emily’s story would have succeeded and made sense while Wil’s would not have.  And yes, that’s an unfair point to examine as this story is not two individual stories, but one made from intertwined arcs. 

This was a story where I caught myself off-guard by my own enjoyment.  As characters, neither Emily nor Wil excited me in any special way, but the story itself is what pulled me along.  The world that existed within the pages of Lexicon and the laws that governed it was one that I could definitely have no problem reading more into.  While the story focused primarily on Emily and Wil, there were also times went it delved more deeply into the world of the poets, specifically through the eyes of Yeats.  While I can’t give too much away, seeing things through his eyes would make for an exceptional story and, if you’re anything like me, you’ll definitely appreciate what Barry made in Yeats.

The story itself is both exciting and fresh, detached from the typical physical action packed story that make up many fictitious thrillers.  It’s a story where the good and bad guys alike rely on their words as much as their physical actions in order to drive the story.  A story where a word has the power to change the world.  Where words are the most powerful weapon.

In previous reviews I’ve mentioned events that I haven’t wanted to spoil.  In the case of Max Berry’s “Lexicon,” the ending is something else entirely.  Now, before the end there will definitely be readers who are able to predict what the ending holds.  However, whether you see the ending coming or not, you’ll definitely get a kick out of it.  If you fall into the first group or the second, the writing and storytelling that Berry utilizes to make the ending work as beautifully as it does is something to be admired.  That being said, when looking at the story as a whole, there were parts of Emily and Wil’s adventure that could have gone differently, even better, had Barry not been trying to arrive at the ending he did.  So it’s a hard thought on whether or not the end justifies the means.  Although, the way that Emily and Wil’s arcs are woven together is just breath-taking.

Lexicon is one of a growing number of conspiracy thrillers, so I would accordingly recommend this to any reader who takes pleasure in thrillers, mystery, or conspiracy.  That isn’t to leave out all those who enjoy science fiction and paranormal.  If you’re an avid reader, then this book is a must for your reading list!

Rating 4/5

Fade to Black by Tim McBain & L.T. Vargus

Jeff Grobnagger is just a normal guy who suffers from seizures.  While not visibly odd or alarming outside the normal, in reality, Jeff is transported to a strange realm, where he is finds himself reliving the same dream over and over again: arriving hanging upside down, being chased by a mysterious figure, and getting killed.  During one such seizure he wakes up and meets Glenn, a man who, through his own struggles, Jeff comes to find might have some connection to what’s happening to him.  While he initially blows him off, choosing to keep to his normal, introverted lifestyle, after almost being killed in real life, Jeff decides that working together might not be a bad idea. Jeff finds that his strange dreams might somehow be connected to the same astral projection obsessed cults that Glenn has been looking into to find his missing daughter.  What he uncovers will leave him questioning everything he knew about life, assuming he doesn't die in the process.

Fade to Black had a lot of potential.  It touched on genres that I like to read but, due to what I can only assume is lack of editing, experience, or both, it really fell short.

There are four key problems I found with the story.  The first three are mostly prevalent in the first half, occurring in the second half occasionally, while the fourth was prevalent throughout but mostly in the second half.  First, the transitions between ideas and events were weak to nonexistent.  Given that this story is told from first-person perspective, Jeff’s, the narrative is told in a very train-of-thought manner, and I don’t think the authors made a bad choice in that.  However, the transitions made the story very jarring, pulling me out of the story and making it hard for me to build up any steam.  I could mostly tell how events led to one another without clear transitions, but I shouldn’t have to stop and think about the how.  This problem is almost solely in the first half but, because of that, it draws even more attention to itself.

Second, and this one is minor, is that the sentences are a bit too simple at points.  Short and compact sentences are one thing, able to express a lot with a little, but the short sentences here would serve much better as compound or complex sentences, able to add to the flow of the story.  It’s not a huge problem, but it’s prevalent enough that they feel like ideas for sentences/paragraphs that were never finished.  This isn't an issue for most of the story, but because it can be found throughout the story, it has the same problem as the transition issues in that I kept being pulled out of the story.

Third, events in the beginning of the story happen way too fast.  Events crucial to the story happened out of nowhere and for reasons that weren't fully explained.  Many of these crucial events in the first fifty or so pages of the book are important to the story, yet were never fully integrated into the book and since they weren't explored or introduced fully enough, I had trouble believing in their authenticity.  It seemed like the authors were saying “here is some important information, accept that it’s important and lets move on.

The fourth and final key problem is that, at about the halfway mark in the book, there’s a notable shift in dialogue and theme that, at times, crosses into the territory of outlandish and inane.  I can appreciate what is being aimed for but, at the same time, the way it’s gone about seems almost a caricature of what was trying to be written.

The length is also an issue.  As this is part of a larger series, I can only wonder whether all this was originally part of a longer story that got split into multiple books, especially with the way this book ended, more an interruption than a cliff-hanger.  It almost seems like it should be Part I of a larger book.  The problems I listed above could have been easily fixed by increasing the size of the book.  It seemed as though the authors wanted to finish this in two hundred pages, when three hundred or so would allow for more impressive and consistent sentences, better transitions between sentences and paragraphs, and made the flow of events and ideas seem much more natural.  As for the twist(s) at the end, due to the lack of density in the story and Glenn’s MacGuffin status, they weren't that surprising.  It’s a problem to lose the story in the details, but without enough it feels like it’s incomplete. 

Glenn is an interesting character.  He was a bit of a clichéd “elder who has wisdom for younger main character” type of character, but I still liked him, or at least I wanted to like him.  He had a cheery personality, was a very warm person, and, though he seemed a bit manufactured and a bit of a MacGuffin, his problem in the story mixed well with the main conflict of the story, giving him an authentic reason to be helping Jeff. 

Ms. Babinaux is even more of a MacGuffin, serving only to provide information and move the story along, without much explanation behind her purpose.  (She is one of the events crucial to the story I mention in my third key problem)  There’s a difference between making a character mysterious and leaving them underdeveloped.  The few times her personality does show through you can tell she’s got a sarcastic, secretly-terrifyingly-angry sort of thing going on.  And then at the end of the story we’re essentially told to ignore the little development made on her character because she’s actually the opposite of how she seems.

Jeff’s flashback/recollections of events with Allie come as a bit out of place, suddenly appearing with no clear connection to the overarching story.  After the first two—these moments come without much transitions—they work with the story, but only because I became aware that these events were relevant.  She’s initially thrown in out of the blue.  I know that this story is told in a very train-of-thought manner, and I know that, in real life, that type of thinking can be very random, one thought not even tangentially related to another somehow triggering it.  But that’s harder to accept in a story.  Thinking about her and what his life was and what it’s become is a way to establish and build Jeff’s character for the reader.  It’s also, arguably, the most important facet of the entire book.  Given how this plays a much larger role in the overarching story, it shouldn't have a weak introduction.

Though I clearly have a number of problems with the book, I don’t hate it. While not what manifested itself in the book, the potential for a good story and good storytelling is there.  The story has potential and I'm curious to know what happens next.  However, since this book and its sequel were published in the same year, I don't see how any large corrections could've been made.  The time just wasn't there.  Maybe the corrections were made but, based on the information I have, it's not worth finding out.  Above all else, an editor would do wonders here. I’d say that anyone who’s read any of the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz and/or The Marbury Lens series  by Andrew Smith, and liked the theme, might like this. I recommend skipping this book, though keep an eye on the authors.  The potential is there.

Rating: 1/5