InterWorld is ok. It’s not Neil Gaiman’s best book (have never read anything else by Michael Reaves so I can’t say about him), but it’s still better than your average children’s Fantasy/SciFi book (by the way: question: where do you draw the line between SciFi and Fantasy?).
It’s about Joey Harker who has the phenomenal ability to get lost, anywhere. But one day he discovers that he’s a Walker – he can Walk between the different earth versions in parallel universes. He then gets sucked into the fight between Science and Magic which both want to claim as many earths as possible for themselves and joins an army of Joeys from different worlds.
There are some great ideas – like Scarabus, a man who’s fully tattooed. Each tattoo represents something and when he touches them, this something happens. For example, one of the tats is a ship and when he touches it, the ship appears.
Another thing I loved was Hue, a multidimensional (more than 3 dimensions) being that looks to people like us (who are only able to see 3 dimensions) like a bubble and changes colours according to his mood.
What I didn’t like about it was that there were some questions left unanswered.
[SPOILER WARNING]
How come that the Binary were never involved in the fighting? The HEX are plannig to take over a lot of worlds and there aren’t even any counterforces of the Binary?
How come that the squid (Kevin) knew Hues name? Hue could only communicate through colours? How could he have let Kevin know about the name Joey gave him?
[SPOILER END]
It seems a bit as if both of them thought that the book was going on too long and that they just wanted to finish it. Or maybe they ran out of time. Anyway, something’s missing.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still worth a read and I don’t think that kids (and it is a kids’ book) will necessarily notice what I observed. But it won’t be one of my favourites.
kalafudra's Stuff 
You know, I’ve always felt that clubbing Sci-Fi and Fantasy together under one category is kinda weird. I mean, they’re two different genres arent they? Ofcourse there are works that have a bit of both, but I dont like looking for Lord of The Rings in the the Sci-Fi Fantasy section of the library.
Yes, they are two different genres. Definitely. The problem is that most people don’t see the difference. Also, usually if you read SciFi, you’re interested in Fantasy as well (and vice versa). So for bookshops and libraries it’s easier to just put them together, as they attract mostly the same crowd.
Another problem is that there are different definitions for them.
I see SciFi as “What-If”, the story still takes place in our world/solar system/universe, somehow. Whereas Fantasy is in an entirely different world, it doesn’t have anything to do with our universe.
Which sounds great but puts for example Star Wars in the Fantasy category and Harry Potter in the SciFi group, which wouldn’t go well with a lot of people… :)
I had this discussion with deadra once and she disagreed with my definition, but I don’t remember hers anymore…
Deadra will try to remember her definition and put it here ^_^
I think it was something along the lines of “Good sci-fi does weird science & technology, and is also, ideally, social commentary (at least hard sci-fi is) – whether it’s in our universe or not is irrelevant…parallel worlds, different galaxies, different physics – anything goes (except ‘traditional’ magic, generally), whereas fantasy is highly formulaic…it’s always about some hero/group of heros going on some quest – dragons & white steeds are optional, but recommended ;-)”
Hence one genre has stuff that Stephen Hawking is actually working on, while the other one has shiny, pointy swords. (And I don’t want this misconstrued, I like both of them equally.)
Shorter Deadra: “Sci-fi = what if? Fantasy = escapism”
Wasn’t that part of the whole ‘postmodern cinema’-talk before Mr Magorium? How many films did we watch that day? And how badly did it affect our brains?
Btw – SPOILER!!!
The reason the Binaries weren’t involved in any fighting is that they are on the other end of the Arc. The two empires aren’t fighting each other at that point – they’re conquering worlds, moving towards the middle from either end. END SPOILER!
Do you mean to say then that Fantasy doesn’t do social commentary? I don’t agree. I think that for example LotR has a lot of criticism and commentary.
And also, Fantasy doesn’t need to be that formulaic and SciFi can. For example, Tad Williams’ Otherland Series is most definitely SciFi but it has the heroes on a quest formula. Twelve Monkeys is most definitely SciFi but has a hero on a quest.
Abhorsen Trilogy = Fantasy, but it doesn’t follow the formula.
Also, hard SciFi vs.soft SciFi is about the degree of explanation of the technology used, at least for me. So, for example Thursday Next is pretty soft SciFi until First Among Sequels, which is pretty hard SciFi. (custard *giggle*)
Also, concerning magic: Remember the bad SciFi book that I read at EPU? It featured the magic revolution, meaning that at some point in time, magic awoke more or less and ever since it worked. Scientific explanation albeit magic, our world –> It was most definitely SciFi.
I do agree though that Fantasy mostly has swords and horses. But I think that that’s Tolkien’s “fault”: Because he wrote LotR that way. And he’s almost singlehandedly responsible for what Fantasy is nowadays.
But that only strengthens my claim that Star Wars is Fantasy.
Anyway, yes it was part of the postmodern cinema talk before Mr. Magorium. If I remember correctly, we watched only two movies that day. And Mr. Magorium was first. So, there’s no point denying that our brains were deep-fried before that.
@SPOILER!!!
As explained before in the book, the Lorimare worlds (those they wish to conquer) are in the middle of the arc and pretty much balanced. So, the binaries had about as much business there as the HEX. Also, when my enemy start conquering something, I’d try to stop them, no matter where they are. But that’s just me. :)
END SPOILER
Naw.
We already agreed to disagree. I’m not taking this up again. It’s not worth it.
Except – the Abhorsen trilogy doesn’t have heroes on a quest?!
1st book – girl goes to find her father.
2nd book – other girl goes to deliver important message
3rd book – everybody goes to defeat the Big Bad
Questing from start to finish.
:)
A discussion is a discussion is a time filler.
Anyway, it’s been a while since I read the Abhorsen trilogy, I might be wrong about it. But it didn’t feel like a quest to me. But you could basically make a quest out of anything…
The prof who’s teaching my Science Fiction Appreciation course says that the difference is that science fiction has science :) .In other words, SF (GOOD SF) generally explains/hints at an explanation for the more incredulous aspects of the story. BOTH, as has been noted, do social commentary. Frequently the line blurs, for instance in Dune, which is almost space opera(and generally considered SF) but also has a hell of a lot of mysticism, at least in the later books.
Well, that definition would at least go with the name of the genre… it is Science Fiction after all :)
But it doesn’t leave me really satisfied. Don’t know why, though. Maybe because I just got used to my definition ;)
Anyway, I agree that the line gets blurred a lot, at least recently.
@ ramblingperfectionist
Science Fiction Appreciation course – WANT!!!
Also, the later Dune books don’t exist. (Denial is the ultimate key to happiness.)
@deadra: lol
@deadra
lol… I think-ironically enough- the only one taught in a regular college at the bachelor’s level is here in IIT Madras. We like to think of it as one of the fringe rewards of 2 years of being locked up in a room cramming followed by 4 years of wandering aimlessly in a girl-less college :)
@ramblingperfectionist:
I don’t think that there is a single comparable course here in Austria… But then, we’re never lockend into unisex colleges… Right now, I don’t know what I’d choose :P
…it’s not unisex. You’ve never heard of the IITs? Guess u wouldn’t have gotten why its ironic,then, or the “fringe reward” reference…IIT Madras is like this ultra-elite engineering college, about 300,000 people apply every year, some 3000 make it. People admit themselves to “coaching factories” where they’re locked up and taught how to get through the exam. Obviously, the ones who get through are nerds and proud of it :P. Girls are perfectly free to come in if they pass the exam, but for whatever reason our ratio is something like 1:12, and that 8% aren’t exactly supermodels :(.
@ramblingperfectionist:
No, never heard of it… but probably because I’m not from India nor did I ever manage to travel there… and I don’t work in engineering. :)
But I understand what you’re getting at… I don’t know statistics for the unis here, but i guess it’s pretty much the same.
Maybe it’s of some solace to you that in my class, there are 4 guys and 32 girls and the guys are no supermodels, either…
[…] like that, I don’t care. And I loved the whole magical tattoo idea (I already loved it in InterWorld and I will have to read The Illustrated Man pretty soon), though all that talk about mana made me a […]