SF Club Frek and the Elixir by Rudy Rucker Buy book: $18.74
n the year 3003, nothing in the world is the same, except maybe that adolescents are still embarrassed by their parents. Society and the biosphere alike have been transformed by biotechnology, and the natural world is almost gone.
I wasn't sure how I felt about it after the initial installment, but my interest is growing. I think I will check it out from the library to see how it ends.
I enjoy the futuristic slang, but I kind of hope there's a glossary in the book, as I'm having trouble figuring a couple of the words out...
Does anyone else think this book reads a little young?
Okay, I'm "up" on the 12 steps of the mythic journey -- common model for novels and movies these days -- so I know step 1 is the "normal world." But do we really have to spend so much time on a kid cleaning up his room?
The catalog of objects becomes boring after only a short bit. I can't guess the intended target readers for this book -- if kids, the writing seems slow. And despite all the gimmicks, it's pretty ho-hum.
Where do I get the mythic journey model? Note this:
"Not for the first time, Frek let himself dream of finding a way to bring back Earth's real plants and animals--of going on a quest for a magic elixir to heal his home world."
Oh yeah, bringing back the elixir in the 12the and final step of the mythic journey.
But this statement of what ther hero wants is buried somewhere in part 3 -- hasn't this writer heard of conflict? (No, I don't think the conflict of his novel is with his mother or two little sisters -- though the writer wears us out with this banality.)
Readers might get into this story with a shortened "normal world" section that quickly reveals a real conflict...the other clever tidbits of "modern" culture could be interspersed at the plot line carries us forward.
Is this a writer so carried away with his own clever inventions, that he forgets to entertain his reader?
