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Songs of Earth and Power #1
The Infinity Concerto
There is a song you dare not sing - a melody that you dare not play, a concerto that you dare not It is called a Song of Power. It is a gateway to another world - a gate that will lock behind you as you pass, barring you from the Earth forever. Resist at all cost. For it is a world of great danger and great beauty - and it is not good to be human in the Realm of the Sidhe.
342 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
199 people are currently reading
1035 people want to read
About the author
Greg Bear
228 books2,094 followersGreg Bear was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work covered themes of galactic conflict (Forge of God books), parallel universes (The Way series), consciousness and cultural practices (Queen of Angels), and accelerated evolution (Blood Music, Darwin’s Radio, and Darwin’s Children). His last work was the 2021 novel The Unfinished Land. Greg Bear wrote over 50 books in total.
(For a more complete biography, see Wikipedia.)
(For a more complete biography, see Wikipedia.)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
September 19, 2024
I quit at 29%. If this wasn't a book club read, I would have stopped a lot sooner. It's too dark for me. The main character is too isolated, the world too hostile. It's all grayscale in my mind. Faerie shouldn't be ugly and colorless and full of death and despair, even when dangerous to humans. There should at least be an alien beauty to it. But this was all ugliness and hardship.
I was forcing myself to continue reading (because - book club), but I was getting depressed even when I wasn't reading it (NOT good, and completely against all the reasons why I read), so I moved onto something else and really haven't looked back since.
Not for me.
I was forcing myself to continue reading (because - book club), but I was getting depressed even when I wasn't reading it (NOT good, and completely against all the reasons why I read), so I moved onto something else and really haven't looked back since.
Not for me.
March 16, 2013
The title, summary, and about the first third of this book intrigued me very much, which made me all the more disappointed when it all went flat. Bear incorporates some excellent fantasy elements -- Lamia, the Crane Women, humans confined to a sort of ghetto in the realm of the Sidhe, the mystical power of music -- but he never seems to effectively meld the components into a coherent whole.
The most obvious example is music: the title has the word "concerto" in it, Michael's translation into the Realm is instigated by a composer, nearly all of the humans in the Realm are there because they experienced a mystical response to music (either playing or listening), no musical instruments are allowed in the Sidhe realm and it's mentioned more than once that the Sidhe dislike human music, etc. But in the end, all of that is completely irrelevant. Music plays no part whatsoever in the central conflict of the book, either in its unfolding or resolution. That was a major "WTF?" for me.
Another example of apparently important but ultimately unincorporated story elements is Eleuth: Many of the other characters such as Nikolai, Lin Piao, Savarin, the Sidhe horse, even Lamia suffer from this same lack of integration into the plot. As a reader, if I spend time getting invested in characters -- learning not only their names but little things about them -- I expect that investment to be returned somehow. The ROI on 95% of the characters in this book is about zero.
It wasn't just characters that floated about unattached. Since the main character is initially completely at a loss about what's going on, so is the reader. This is not a problem if the main character slowly begins to piece together the puzzle, carrying the reader with him or her. That didn't happen here, at least not for me. The back-story about Mages battling each other and turning each other into Earth(?) animals was intriguing but I had a lot of trouble following how it was connected to the Michael's story, what with the muddle of humans, Sidhe, gods and Mages who are, or pretend to be, each other, or something else. There also seemed to be a lot of extraneous information that wasn't integrated into the story (interstellar Sidhe travel, for example, and the weird brass cylinder floating in the Maelstrom).
This is at bottom a quest tale, which by definition means that the main character undertakes a journey, with a goal, and he changes along the way. Here again, Michael's journey and growth seemed to be largely unconnected to the climax of the story. His goal was never clear even to himself; his training consists of a lot of running, learning to generate heat so he doesn't need a fire, and throwing shadows to distract attackers. The "power" he uses at the end to defeat the Isomage is .
As a minor nit, I totally stopped caring about Biri when it's revealed that . Maybe it's Bear's shorthand for demonstrating that the Sidhe are irredeemable bastards, but I think there are more sensible ways to demonstrate it. Besides, it doesn't really jibe with their other characteristics, such as nature magic and becoming trees after death.
This is a lot to say about a book that I didn't much like, but I think it's because it had so much potential and it vexes me that the potential was unrealized. (By comparison, Andre Norton's Dread Companion is a similar story about a human being translated to the Faerie Realm, but it does a much better job (maybe because it doesn't try so hard). I re-read that one on a regular basis.)
The most obvious example is music: the title has the word "concerto" in it, Michael's translation into the Realm is instigated by a composer, nearly all of the humans in the Realm are there because they experienced a mystical response to music (either playing or listening), no musical instruments are allowed in the Sidhe realm and it's mentioned more than once that the Sidhe dislike human music, etc. But in the end, all of that is completely irrelevant. Music plays no part whatsoever in the central conflict of the book, either in its unfolding or resolution. That was a major "WTF?" for me.
Another example of apparently important but ultimately unincorporated story elements is Eleuth: Many of the other characters such as Nikolai, Lin Piao, Savarin, the Sidhe horse, even Lamia suffer from this same lack of integration into the plot. As a reader, if I spend time getting invested in characters -- learning not only their names but little things about them -- I expect that investment to be returned somehow. The ROI on 95% of the characters in this book is about zero.
It wasn't just characters that floated about unattached. Since the main character is initially completely at a loss about what's going on, so is the reader. This is not a problem if the main character slowly begins to piece together the puzzle, carrying the reader with him or her. That didn't happen here, at least not for me. The back-story about Mages battling each other and turning each other into Earth(?) animals was intriguing but I had a lot of trouble following how it was connected to the Michael's story, what with the muddle of humans, Sidhe, gods and Mages who are, or pretend to be, each other, or something else. There also seemed to be a lot of extraneous information that wasn't integrated into the story (interstellar Sidhe travel, for example, and the weird brass cylinder floating in the Maelstrom).
This is at bottom a quest tale, which by definition means that the main character undertakes a journey, with a goal, and he changes along the way. Here again, Michael's journey and growth seemed to be largely unconnected to the climax of the story. His goal was never clear even to himself; his training consists of a lot of running, learning to generate heat so he doesn't need a fire, and throwing shadows to distract attackers. The "power" he uses at the end to defeat the Isomage is .
As a minor nit, I totally stopped caring about Biri when it's revealed that . Maybe it's Bear's shorthand for demonstrating that the Sidhe are irredeemable bastards, but I think there are more sensible ways to demonstrate it. Besides, it doesn't really jibe with their other characteristics, such as nature magic and becoming trees after death.
This is a lot to say about a book that I didn't much like, but I think it's because it had so much potential and it vexes me that the potential was unrealized. (By comparison, Andre Norton's Dread Companion is a similar story about a human being translated to the Faerie Realm, but it does a much better job (maybe because it doesn't try so hard). I re-read that one on a regular basis.)
May 27, 2014
"The Infinity Concerto" - Book One in the Songs of Earth and Power omnibus - is multi-layered and textured. I believe it will likely take me several readings to find all the meanings that are embedded in this story. The basic storyline revolves around Michael Perrin, a thoughtful young man who wants to be a poet. He befriends a composer named Arno Waltiri, who it is said wrote a concerto called The Infinity Concerto that was so unusual that it not only drove its listeners mad but also that many of those listeners disappeared. Waltiri claims that the concerto was primarily inspired by a man called David Clarkham, who subsequently disappeared; Arno gives Michael a key and a piece of paper with directions to follow, that should lead him to Clarkham. Waltiri dies soon thereafter. Despite warnings from Waltiri's wife Golda that Waltiri repented of his choice to give these to him, Michael decides to go ahead and follow the directions - and ends up somewhere . . . that is not Earth anymore. Forced to learn to survive, Michael has to grow up and grow strong very quickly - but is he just a pawn in some hidden power struggle? Or is he something else altogether?
Some sections of this part of the text seemed rather slow moving, but everything was necessary for the plot. Because the plot is so intricate, at times ponderous prose is necessary to bring about all the necessary information. All-in-all, I found book one quite enjoyable.
Hopefully the bits of plot I outlined above don't spoil the book for anyone - I could hardly outline less without being so vague about the basic plot of the book as to be basically providing you with a meaningless synopsis; however, there is so much more to this book than the above. Greg Bear weaves throughout this story a fascinating new mythos about the creation and evolution, de-evolution and re-evolution of man and the universe that I found to be quite astonishing in its depth and breadth. He weaves in references to several world religions and ties them in to his mythos, showing how the original truth was "twisted" over the years to conform to what would best serve those in power. It's a really interesting device and I enjoyed the way it was woven in throughout the story. You may also look at vegetarianism in a whole new light.
There was only one thing about the story that bothered me and I'm not sure if it was because I misinterpreted what I was reading or if it is because of some sort of misogyny on the part of the author. It is mentioned several times throughout the course of the book that "magic is carried by the woman." However, not one single mage shown is a woman. If women carry the magic, why aren't there any female mages? Or, as I said, perhaps I am misinterpreting it, and by "carry" they mean like a recessive gene - they carry the magic, but cannot use it.
Those who are fans of epic fantasy, magical realism, stories of the Sidhe (especially of the darker natures thereof) or simply well-crafted alternate realities, please do not miss this one.
Some sections of this part of the text seemed rather slow moving, but everything was necessary for the plot. Because the plot is so intricate, at times ponderous prose is necessary to bring about all the necessary information. All-in-all, I found book one quite enjoyable.
Hopefully the bits of plot I outlined above don't spoil the book for anyone - I could hardly outline less without being so vague about the basic plot of the book as to be basically providing you with a meaningless synopsis; however, there is so much more to this book than the above. Greg Bear weaves throughout this story a fascinating new mythos about the creation and evolution, de-evolution and re-evolution of man and the universe that I found to be quite astonishing in its depth and breadth. He weaves in references to several world religions and ties them in to his mythos, showing how the original truth was "twisted" over the years to conform to what would best serve those in power. It's a really interesting device and I enjoyed the way it was woven in throughout the story. You may also look at vegetarianism in a whole new light.
There was only one thing about the story that bothered me and I'm not sure if it was because I misinterpreted what I was reading or if it is because of some sort of misogyny on the part of the author. It is mentioned several times throughout the course of the book that "magic is carried by the woman." However, not one single mage shown is a woman. If women carry the magic, why aren't there any female mages? Or, as I said, perhaps I am misinterpreting it, and by "carry" they mean like a recessive gene - they carry the magic, but cannot use it.
Those who are fans of epic fantasy, magical realism, stories of the Sidhe (especially of the darker natures thereof) or simply well-crafted alternate realities, please do not miss this one.
December 12, 2020
I don’t understand many of the negative reviews, claiming this novel is overly dark and depressing. While it’s not exactly the happiest, brightest story to read, I’d say it’s far from being super dark and depressing. In general, I’d say it was Harry Potter meets Narnia meets Lord of the Rings.
The world building was amazing, and it wasn’t overly fluffy and fancy writing. You felt like you were in The Realm, with the Sidhe, Breeds, and others. There were some beautiful descriptions here and there while most were minimal.
The character development is great as well, with Michael. His growth and development is subtle, glossed over at some points, and seemingly reversed at others, and it makes for an amazing main character. The Crane Women, Biri, and some of the other breeds, humans, and Sidhe make for great characters as well.
I also love the way the Sidhe language was incorporated into the story. By the middle of it, you start to feel like you understand it a bit. Overall, an amazing piece, and I would recommend to anyone who enjoys great world building, a good, fantasy-based story, and good writing.
The world building was amazing, and it wasn’t overly fluffy and fancy writing. You felt like you were in The Realm, with the Sidhe, Breeds, and others. There were some beautiful descriptions here and there while most were minimal.
The character development is great as well, with Michael. His growth and development is subtle, glossed over at some points, and seemingly reversed at others, and it makes for an amazing main character. The Crane Women, Biri, and some of the other breeds, humans, and Sidhe make for great characters as well.
I also love the way the Sidhe language was incorporated into the story. By the middle of it, you start to feel like you understand it a bit. Overall, an amazing piece, and I would recommend to anyone who enjoys great world building, a good, fantasy-based story, and good writing.
October 16, 2022
Infinity Concerto
OK I’m gonna look at this as a piece of music 🎼 considering the title is called “infinity concerto” : and it’s definition is a musical composition 🎶written by a composer ( Arno Waltiri)for a solo
instrument (Michael Perrin )or instruments 🎸 🎹🎻🎷
accompanied by(Sidhe, Breed , Clarkham..etc etc…)👩🎤🧑🏽🎤👨🎤🎼
an orchestra,
especially one conceived on
a relatively large scale ( The Realm).
Like any part of music ..it has tempos its pitch changes. The appropriate keys for each movement!
All that was in this book sometimes the pacing could’ve been a little too slow and sometimes the pacing was so fast…
I felt like… I was chasing the Rabbit 🐇in Alice in Wonderland 🎩. Down the hole 🕳
This is a book just like music …you either will like it or you’ll hate it!
It’s definitely one of those books if you reread your end up catching things that you didn’t read the first time but that happens with any book.
The main character Michael did a lot of things in the beginning of this book while entering the realm , not knowing it’s purpose (The Crane Sisters)
I don’t know if I would’ve done that I would’ve fought Tooth and Nail to find out why !!
but I’m not under his scrutiny and under his emotional state that he’s in!
So who am I to judge …
but I do give this book 4 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️
OK I’m gonna look at this as a piece of music 🎼 considering the title is called “infinity concerto” : and it’s definition is a musical composition 🎶written by a composer ( Arno Waltiri)for a solo
instrument (Michael Perrin )or instruments 🎸 🎹🎻🎷
accompanied by(Sidhe, Breed , Clarkham..etc etc…)👩🎤🧑🏽🎤👨🎤🎼
an orchestra,
especially one conceived on
a relatively large scale ( The Realm).
Like any part of music ..it has tempos its pitch changes. The appropriate keys for each movement!
All that was in this book sometimes the pacing could’ve been a little too slow and sometimes the pacing was so fast…
I felt like… I was chasing the Rabbit 🐇in Alice in Wonderland 🎩. Down the hole 🕳
This is a book just like music …you either will like it or you’ll hate it!
It’s definitely one of those books if you reread your end up catching things that you didn’t read the first time but that happens with any book.
The main character Michael did a lot of things in the beginning of this book while entering the realm , not knowing it’s purpose (The Crane Sisters)
I don’t know if I would’ve done that I would’ve fought Tooth and Nail to find out why !!
but I’m not under his scrutiny and under his emotional state that he’s in!
So who am I to judge …
but I do give this book 4 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️
July 26, 2016
Before a lengthy exposition, here is the short and sweet version:
Haunting. A dark parallel of growing up, exploded into a unyielding nightmare.
A fairly short read that will question your security. Worth it.
I will say right away: I had far more fun reading this book than any novel from Mr. Bear I've read before. I admire his writing and ideas, but I sometimes found myself struggling through tedious exposition in Forge of Gods and the Eon series. Here, within the Infinity Concerto's "Realm", I felt far more satiated. The book was much shorter, an appropriate length feeling neither rushed nor drawn.
The beginning feels a bit slow, but once the pace is set it was easy turning page after page. The "Realm" is well constructed, a lose reality of fluid theories as opposed to the strict laws of our own world. This is not a paradise, however. The "Realm" is torn, a cluttered mess of idealists, purists, common idiots and blind zealots. Not so different from our own home, the "Realm" is filled with darkness both within and without. This is a story of hardship, of impossible odds and a dark ugliness; beset on all sides by temptations of apathy, egotism, power and nihilism. This book will not make you feel good about yourself, you will rarely smile. If you're looking for sunshine and butterflies, you'd best turn away now. I only advise that you finish what you begin. That said, I value the realizations and awakenings approaching the end over the finale itself. A good journey needs a good destination, but the path taken speaks far louder than the silence at it's end.
One last bit of business. It was difficult to approach this book; Having read a few works from Greg Bear already I had too many unhealthy expectations as I began, wholeheartedly wanting science fiction from a book that is dripping with fantasy. Hold out though, read through and you may pick up one some ideas that feel more familiar far in our future among the strings and quarks than amidst the magic and faerie.
Haunting. A dark parallel of growing up, exploded into a unyielding nightmare.
A fairly short read that will question your security. Worth it.
I will say right away: I had far more fun reading this book than any novel from Mr. Bear I've read before. I admire his writing and ideas, but I sometimes found myself struggling through tedious exposition in Forge of Gods and the Eon series. Here, within the Infinity Concerto's "Realm", I felt far more satiated. The book was much shorter, an appropriate length feeling neither rushed nor drawn.
The beginning feels a bit slow, but once the pace is set it was easy turning page after page. The "Realm" is well constructed, a lose reality of fluid theories as opposed to the strict laws of our own world. This is not a paradise, however. The "Realm" is torn, a cluttered mess of idealists, purists, common idiots and blind zealots. Not so different from our own home, the "Realm" is filled with darkness both within and without. This is a story of hardship, of impossible odds and a dark ugliness; beset on all sides by temptations of apathy, egotism, power and nihilism. This book will not make you feel good about yourself, you will rarely smile. If you're looking for sunshine and butterflies, you'd best turn away now. I only advise that you finish what you begin. That said, I value the realizations and awakenings approaching the end over the finale itself. A good journey needs a good destination, but the path taken speaks far louder than the silence at it's end.
One last bit of business. It was difficult to approach this book; Having read a few works from Greg Bear already I had too many unhealthy expectations as I began, wholeheartedly wanting science fiction from a book that is dripping with fantasy. Hold out though, read through and you may pick up one some ideas that feel more familiar far in our future among the strings and quarks than amidst the magic and faerie.
October 24, 2022
To be honest, I didn't really know much about The Infinity Concerto or it's author prior to this read. This ended up being the buddy read for the month of October with a group of friends. When it was initially selected a couple of months ago, I wasn't really interested. Fast forward a couple of months and realizing I had time to squeeze it into my TBR this month, I dove right in.
I will add to my initial lack of interest and say that continued the first chapter or two as I was struggling to find my connection with this book. I'm not a huge music or poetry fan and that seemed to be the focal point here. I also struggled with the writing style at the beginning. I ended up describing it as reminding me of the old text based adventure games like Zork. Where you enter a room and everything in the room is described in short sentences to let you know where you stand and what you can do next.
With that being said, the story itself did begin to grow on me and the world expanded a bit more into the fantastical. And wow did it become quite fantastical. There is even a chapter that I described as thinking Greg Bear must have been tripping on acid when writing at least that portion. By the end I definitely ended up enjoying this read much more than I had anticipated. Our group was a mixed bag as well. It's certainly not a read for everyone.
The character development wasn't bad at all. In fact I feel it was actually quite well done. I just had a difficult time caring about the characters for awhile. It seemed specifically targeted to a specific reader perhaps. I'm not sure.
The pacing was solid. There were a couple of slow parts but I think this is rather common for the time period this book was written in. Which is one of the reasons I was hesitant on joining this buddy read in the first place. My older written book reads are very hit or miss. But I feel the author did keep the story progressing well.
The world building was probably my favorite part because it was really what sucked me in. As I mentioned though, this world and the story may not be for everyone as it is very weird and trippy at times. But it kept things unique enough for me to gain interest and ultimately wish to continue the series.
I think fans of authors such as Robert Asprin or Piers Anthony might enjoy this series as I have a couple series from both of these authors on my shelf and it kind of gives me similar vibes. If you want something out of the ordinary into that wild and fantastical vintage story feel this might be right up your alley! I do plan on continuing this series with the Serpent Mage hopefully by the end of this year.
I will add to my initial lack of interest and say that continued the first chapter or two as I was struggling to find my connection with this book. I'm not a huge music or poetry fan and that seemed to be the focal point here. I also struggled with the writing style at the beginning. I ended up describing it as reminding me of the old text based adventure games like Zork. Where you enter a room and everything in the room is described in short sentences to let you know where you stand and what you can do next.
With that being said, the story itself did begin to grow on me and the world expanded a bit more into the fantastical. And wow did it become quite fantastical. There is even a chapter that I described as thinking Greg Bear must have been tripping on acid when writing at least that portion. By the end I definitely ended up enjoying this read much more than I had anticipated. Our group was a mixed bag as well. It's certainly not a read for everyone.
The character development wasn't bad at all. In fact I feel it was actually quite well done. I just had a difficult time caring about the characters for awhile. It seemed specifically targeted to a specific reader perhaps. I'm not sure.
The pacing was solid. There were a couple of slow parts but I think this is rather common for the time period this book was written in. Which is one of the reasons I was hesitant on joining this buddy read in the first place. My older written book reads are very hit or miss. But I feel the author did keep the story progressing well.
The world building was probably my favorite part because it was really what sucked me in. As I mentioned though, this world and the story may not be for everyone as it is very weird and trippy at times. But it kept things unique enough for me to gain interest and ultimately wish to continue the series.
I think fans of authors such as Robert Asprin or Piers Anthony might enjoy this series as I have a couple series from both of these authors on my shelf and it kind of gives me similar vibes. If you want something out of the ordinary into that wild and fantastical vintage story feel this might be right up your alley! I do plan on continuing this series with the Serpent Mage hopefully by the end of this year.
April 14, 2016
This is a book with a twisty plot. If you are willing to carry your imagination with you into the profound introspective journey lived by the protagonist, then you are in for a great read. I love this book and it is a re-read from my adolescent years.
September 22, 2018
There were several intriguing elements in this 1980's portal fantasy, but ultimately I found it too incoherent. The plot meanders and the protagonist is about as interesting as you'd expect a sixteen-year old boy in hush puppies to be. 2,5 stars.
May 13, 2012
An entertaining re-read of a childhood favourite. So I'm probably a little biased.
June 6, 2017
review of
Greg Bear's The Infinity Concerto
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - June 3, 2017
This is the 18th bk I've read by Bear & I admit that I didn't particularly expect to be surprised by him but, Lo & Behold!, I was. This is not only a Fantasy bk instead of the usual Hard Science Fiction it's a dagnabbit-all-to-heck'n'tarnation excellent one!
Fantasy writers often write epics, usually in the form of trilogies. The Infinity Concerto is so epic it's practically a trilogy all by its lonesome. Instead, it's part of a diptych. The 2nd part's called The Serpent Mage, I haven't read that one yet.
I read on the back cover "and it is not good to be human in the Realm of the Sidhe" & that was exciting enuf b/c, thx to having done a piece inspired by Yeats (sortof) called "The Only Jealousy of Cascando McKenna" ( https://youtu.be/1YQI5IBEA0A?t=29m24s ), I knew that the Sidhe are part of Irish mythology & that it's pronounced "she" (or something close to that).
""The Shee sound like they—" Michael began, but Savarin interrupted.
""Pronounce it correctly. It's spelled S-I-D-H-E, from the ancient Gaelic—or rather, the ancient Gaels heard hem calling themselves by that name. They pronounce it as a cross between 'Shee' and 'Sthee.'" - p 35
THEN, on p 1: "He rolled out of bed, kicking a book of Yeats' poems across the floor with one bare foot.": a sort of foreshadowing that's only recognizable as such if you understand that Yeats referred to the aforesaid myths. This led to my feeling like a Mr. Smartypants b/c not only did I immediately get it, I'd already done a piece about it. n'at
The world must be full of children who thrill to secret adventures in alternate universes entered thru strange passages. I was certainly one of them. To this day, I love secret doorways behind bkshelves & the like.
"It was a silly decision. The world was sane; such opportunities didn't present themselves. he withdrew the paper and read it for the hundredth time:
""Use the key to enter the front door. Do not linger. Pass through the house, through the back door and through the side gate to the front door of the neighboring house on the left, as you face the houses. The door to that house will be open. Enter. Do not stop to look at anything. Surely, quickly, make your way to the back of the house, through the back door again, and across the rear yard to the wrought-iron gate. Go through the gate and turn to your left. The alley behind the house will take you past many gates on both sides. Enter the sixth gate on your left."" - p 3
I'm hooked. Those instructions had been given to him by an old man friend of his known as Arno Waltiri who had been a film music composer:
"Two months before, on a hot, airless August day, Waltiri had taken Michael up to the attic to look through papers and memorabilia. Michael had exulted over letters from Clark Gable, correspondence with Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, a manuscript copy of a Stravinsky oratorio." - p 7
I found the reference to Korngold particularly engaging - not b/c I like his music that much but just b/c I even know who he is & b/c he was one of the composers condemned by the Nazis as "degenerate" who was lucky enuf to escape to the US. To quote from the liner notes of a CD entitled "The Music Survives! Degenerate Music":
"Another pre-war progressive was Ernst Krenek. His opera Jonny spielt auf, more than any other, embodied the concept of 'Entartete Musik'. An offensive half-ape, half-Negro playing a saxophone and with the star of David on the lapel of his tuxedo, named Jonny, became the logo for music they didn't like. The opera was an enormous hit all over Europe and was the first to confront audiences with sights and sounds familiar through the modern world around them: cars, whistles, jazz bands, sirens, electric bells — with the final jubilant chorus suddenly interrupted by an air raid siren: a frightening premonition, making its place at the end of our sampler all too appropriate.
"Jonny spielt auf was used to launch the 'Entartete Musik' series alongside another, contrasting, opera — Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane. Both operas were premiered in 1927, though Korngold's father, Vienna's most important critic, tried to collaborate with the National Socialists to prevent Jonny detracting from Heliane's success. Korngold's opera took music to levels of expressiveness not even reached by Strauss or Puccini. The aria 'Ich ging zu ihm' is one of the more reflective moments in this work. During his exile in Hollywood, Korngold created a cinematic style which would shape the future of film music, as can be heard in the excerpt from his soundtrack Between Two Worlds.
"The irony of the Jonny vs Heliane 'fight' is that the progressive, subversive Jonny was written by the monarchist, Roman Catholic Krenek, whereas the author of Heliane — a whirlpool of noble Germanic sentiment — was the Jewish Korngold. Both composers were Viennese of Czech extraction, roughly the same age, established in Berlin and exiled in Southern California where they died, probably having never met one another."
As such, the reference to Korngold in The Infinity Concerto, while completely casual & one-time-only had a similar poignant foreshadowing resonance as did the reference to Yeats. Waltiri is a fictional composer but Bear adds the extra nice touch of providing an appendix of "The Film Scores of Arno Waltiri (Highlights)" on p 342 that includes Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King, & Henry Roth's Call It Sleep.
I found this list to be tantalizing. Roth's story of a Jewish immigrant family in NYC has never been made into a film as far as I know. Perhaps Bear's hinting that he'd like to see it be. Austen's Northanger Abbey is Austen's parody of Gothic novels & has been made into TV versions by both the BBC & PBS but is that good enuf? Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men was a bk made w/ photographer Walker Evans & documented the lives of impoverished tenant farmers during the Depression. As far as I know that hasn't been made into a movie either. Another hint from Bear? Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King was made into a movie by the great director John Huston in 1975 starring Sean Connery - that was 9 yrs before this bk was published so it seems reasonable to assume that Bear knew about it since the movie wd've been a high profile release. As such, it seems to be an anomaly in the 4 choices I picked as a sampling.
""I submit to you, perhaps Waltiri knew the answer to an age-old question, namely. 'What song did the sirens sing?"
"Michael closed the book. "It's not all nonsense," Waltiri said, returning it to the shelf. "That is roughly what happened. And then, months later, twenty people disappear. The only thing they have in common is, they were in the audience for our music."" - p 11
I'm hooked even more. Waltiri dies.
""Two days later, a tiny brown sparrow flew into Arno's study, where the library is now. It sat on the piano and plucked at pieces of sheet music. Arno had once made a joke about a bird being a spirit inside an animal body. I tried to shoo it out the window, but it wouldn't go. It perched on the music stand and stayed there for an hour, twisting its head to stare at me. Then it flew away." She began to cry. "I would dearly love for Arno to visit me now and then, even as a sparrow. He is such a fine man."" - p 13
So he goes.
"Walking straight in the darkness was difficult. He brushed against a wall with his shoulder. The touch set off an unexpected bong, as if he were inside a giant bell." - p 13
Into another world.
"He left Clarkham's house. A flagstone path curved around the outside of the side gate. When he had gone through the front door there had been no moon, but now a sullen green orb rose over the silhouettes of the houses on the opposite side of the street. It didn't cast much light. (And yet, the moonlight through the French doors had been bright. . . .) The streetlights were also strangely dim, and yellowish-green in color." - p 14
""Why the alarm?" Michael asked.
"Risky tossed her lank hair and spat in a corner. "The riding of the noble Sidhe against the race of man," she said, her voice thick with sarcasm. She appraised Michael with a cool eye. "You're new," she said." - p 26
As a fantasy writer, Bear distinguishes himself by referring to few or none of the standard template character types. Contrast that to James P. Blaylock's The Elfin Ship (& my review thereof):
"In addition to the afore-mentioned standard fare of elves n'at there're also trolls:
""The two trolls waiting on the riverside, however, were anything but laughable. As Jonathan stood watching the trolls which were watching him, the one atop the roots reached down in among them. came up with a tone, and began to gnaw at it." - p 44
"Apparently the secrets of strong teeth are known to trolls. They must not use US dentists. & then there's that "evil creeping over the land"" - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Instead we have things like animated mannikins:
"He assumed a stance before the mannikin, imitating Coom and feeling foolish—
"And it promptly swing up its stick and knocked his to the ground. The mannikin vibrated gleefully, twisted on its stake and became limp again." - p 73
As if all this weren't excellent enuf, Bear goes into another favorite territory of mine: language:
"["]I'd say the resemblances between Sidhe and human languages are strong, but the syntax and methods of understanding are quite different. For example, the Sidhe use a meta-language . . . a language of contexts. And Cascar is like a hundred languages thrown together. They never run out of words that mean the same thing, or very nearly. I can't speak it well. I can sometimes make myself understood, but . . ."
""I understood it for a time," Michael said. "During the Kaeli. One of the Crane Women touched my head, and I understood everything they said."
""And what was that like?"
"Michael thought back, "Like listening to music. Each word seemed to be the equivalent of a note. Notes are always the same in music, but place them next to each other and they sound different . . . or lengthen the notes, shorten them. Use the same word in a different context, and it means something else . . . sounds different."" - pp 141-142
"["]There is a section in 'Hudibras' by Samuel Butler—if I can remember . . ." He screwed up his face in concentration and peered at the ceiling, "'But when he pleased to shew't, his speech/ In loftiness of sound was rich;
"A Baylonish dialect
Which learned pedants much affect;
It was a party coloured dress
Of patch'd and py-ball'd languages;
'Twas (Irish) cut on Greek and Latin
Like fustian heretofore on sattin.
It had an odd promiscuous tone,
As if h' had talk'd three parts in one;['"]" - p 143
Wch is quite similar to language as I envision it.
Bear throws in another spinner:
""Human sex is dangerous here."
""Why?"
""Such things are closely regulated. We do not want children. The Sidhe and Breeds can have young—we cannot."
"Michael just looked at him.
""The people who have been here longest, and the Breeds, say it is because there are no seedling souls in the Realm. A human child is born empty. A Sidhe or Breed child is expected to be that way, and already has an internal . . . how would we say . . . compensation. But human children are vessels waiting to be filled. They are filled by creatures from the Blasted Plain—Adonna's own aborted children, some say." He set his lips and waved off further inquiry. "Talk about it is considered obscene. No more."" - p 144
A sample child:
""Ishmael," Helena said, kneeling on the walkway. The pit was as deep as it was wide, and the walls were made of slick, hard tile. The figure was naked and the pit was bare except for three bowls, receptacles for food, water and waste, all arranged neatly against one wall.
""Yes."
"Michael's eyes had adjusted well enough that he could make out the details of Ismael's face. It was small, round, disproportionate to such a tall body. The hands were large and hung from arms which began thin at the shoulders and widened to grotesque forearms and wrists.
""We have some questions to ask," Helena said.
""I'm not otherwise occupied."
""Has he been here since he was born?" Michael whispered.
""Almost," Helena said. "He was one of the first that we know of. He's been here since the War."
""Time passes," Ishmael said. "Questions." He sat down leaning against the tiles and stretching his pale legs out on the floor.
""Who are you?"
"A sideshow for the guilty. A product of lust. Something so evil it must be evilly confined through all its endless life. An abortion walking. Victim."" - p 177
Oi! That's rough.
"["]I can't love you, not like I should. Today you've seen why."
""I have?"
"The Yard. To love you properly, I'd want to give myself to you completely . . . and I can't." She searched his face and reached out to touch his cheek. "Don't you see? They've taken love away from us here. We might make a mistake, a slip. I couldn't stand the thought of having a Child."" - p 182
& I thought I had problems.
Michael finds himself in a world where a new god is revered.
""I'm an atheist," Michael said. "I don't believe there's a God on Earth."
""Do you believe Adonna exists?"
"That took him aback. He hadn't really questioned the idea. This was a fantasy world, however grim, so of course gods could exist here. Earth was real, practical; no gods there. "I've never met him." Michael said.
""It," Eleuth corrected. "Adonna boasts of no gender.["]" - pp 159-160
Interesting theological question, eh? If a god exists in an imaginary world is it imaginary? Or something like that. Then there's always love & confusion:
"["]Why are you confused?"
""I told you," he said.
""Not really. You don't love me? That confuses you?"
"He said nothing, but finally nodded. "I like you. I'm grateful . . ."
"Euleuth smiled. "Does it matter, your not loving me?"
""It doesn't feel right, making love and not reciprocating everything. Feeling everything."
""Yet for all time, Sidhe males have not loved their geen. And we have survived. It is the way."
"Her resignation didn't help at all. It twisted the perverse knot a little tighter, however, and the only way he could see to forestall the discussion was to kiss her. Soon they were making love and his confusion intensified everything, made everything worse . . . and better." - p 161
Michael gets his training:
"Spart schooled Michael on how to throw a shadow while asleep, and how to sleep like the dead, his heart barely beating, while at the same time his mind was alert. He controlled his breath until he seemed not to breathe at all. He explored his inner thoughts, paring them down to the ones most essential to his exercises." - p 184
That all seemed worthwhile so I decided to try doing the same. Every time I threw my shadow in my sleep I fell out of bed. Every time I slept like the dead I actually died (don't ask me how I came back). Every time I controlled my breath I farted too much. I guess I just don't have it in me.
Michael's life never has a dull moment.
"He half-ran, half-stumbled crab-wise, trying to find the center of impulse again. But he had no clear way to throw another shadow. The guardian, dress flapping and pressing back against her distorted frame, had risen a foot or so above the path and was accelerating toward him like a piece of fabric on a spinning clothesline. She pitched head-forward in her flight until the hat pointed directly at him and the dress fanned out, a deadly trailing blossom." - p 203
"For a moment, the dim lighting and the folds of her skin had concealed the fact that she was unclothed. She sat naked and still in the large chair. Michael was convinced she waited for him to come close enough to reach out and grab. But nothing moved. She didn't even appear to breath. Was she dead?
"He reached out to touch her shoulder. His finger curled back involuntarily into his palm and he forced it to straighten.
"The skin gave way beneath his finger, first an inch, then two. Repelled, unable to stop, he continued pressing. She hissed faintly and her head folded in like a collapsing souffle. Her arm and chest began to collapse and she fell into a pile of white translucent folds, sliding from the chair to the floor." - p 205
Have you ever had a day like that? It's horrible visiting yr old mom. About the best that you can hope for is that some Sidhe will smear some paste on yr forehead while you sleep.
"The paste had evaporated. The visions swirled and Michael opened his eyes slowly. He had never dreamed in the Realm, and he didn't believe what he had seen was actually a dream. It had a certain quality, a stamp, which indicated he had once again had a message from Death's Radio . . . this time, without the use of words." - p 226
Bear's vision of reaaaaalllllly Old School War is practically appealing after the nightmares of the 20th century.
""It was not entirely a bad thing, that war. Nobody died . . . not forever. We were like young gods then and injuries of combat, while distressing, were remediable. But gradually we learned the desperate arts of tact, and lying, and deceit, of gamesmanship and honour. Then we learned distrust and our magic grew stronger. The war became earnest. Enemies found it necessary to either be polite or to attempt to destroy each other. There was no middle ground." - 234
""No swords, no baubles. Those are all human misunderstandings of magic, human preoccupation with technology. Magic lies purely in the mind. The Sidhe are among the most dishonorable, unreliable creatures on all the faces of Creation, but they have one thing—concentration. What they want, they focus on completely."" - p 299
That cd be dangerous if you happen to be walking at the time in an earthquake zone or something. Then again, Sidhe are more or less immortal so why worry?
All in all, this was great. Bear's at least as good a fantasy writer as he is a hard science SF one & that's a pleasant surprise. Also, what the heck, he acknowledges doing linguistics research wch puts him in a category similar to Tolkein. Wdn't fault him for that!
"please refer to a marvelous book by Robert A. Stewart Macalister, The Secret Languages of Ireland, first published in 1937 by the Cambridge University Press. It's still in print from Armorica Book Company/Philo Press. A good university or public library should also have it. Lovers of languaes—or dabblers, such as myself—will find it fascinating." - p 341
Greg Bear's The Infinity Concerto
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - June 3, 2017
This is the 18th bk I've read by Bear & I admit that I didn't particularly expect to be surprised by him but, Lo & Behold!, I was. This is not only a Fantasy bk instead of the usual Hard Science Fiction it's a dagnabbit-all-to-heck'n'tarnation excellent one!
Fantasy writers often write epics, usually in the form of trilogies. The Infinity Concerto is so epic it's practically a trilogy all by its lonesome. Instead, it's part of a diptych. The 2nd part's called The Serpent Mage, I haven't read that one yet.
I read on the back cover "and it is not good to be human in the Realm of the Sidhe" & that was exciting enuf b/c, thx to having done a piece inspired by Yeats (sortof) called "The Only Jealousy of Cascando McKenna" ( https://youtu.be/1YQI5IBEA0A?t=29m24s ), I knew that the Sidhe are part of Irish mythology & that it's pronounced "she" (or something close to that).
""The Shee sound like they—" Michael began, but Savarin interrupted.
""Pronounce it correctly. It's spelled S-I-D-H-E, from the ancient Gaelic—or rather, the ancient Gaels heard hem calling themselves by that name. They pronounce it as a cross between 'Shee' and 'Sthee.'" - p 35
THEN, on p 1: "He rolled out of bed, kicking a book of Yeats' poems across the floor with one bare foot.": a sort of foreshadowing that's only recognizable as such if you understand that Yeats referred to the aforesaid myths. This led to my feeling like a Mr. Smartypants b/c not only did I immediately get it, I'd already done a piece about it. n'at
The world must be full of children who thrill to secret adventures in alternate universes entered thru strange passages. I was certainly one of them. To this day, I love secret doorways behind bkshelves & the like.
"It was a silly decision. The world was sane; such opportunities didn't present themselves. he withdrew the paper and read it for the hundredth time:
""Use the key to enter the front door. Do not linger. Pass through the house, through the back door and through the side gate to the front door of the neighboring house on the left, as you face the houses. The door to that house will be open. Enter. Do not stop to look at anything. Surely, quickly, make your way to the back of the house, through the back door again, and across the rear yard to the wrought-iron gate. Go through the gate and turn to your left. The alley behind the house will take you past many gates on both sides. Enter the sixth gate on your left."" - p 3
I'm hooked. Those instructions had been given to him by an old man friend of his known as Arno Waltiri who had been a film music composer:
"Two months before, on a hot, airless August day, Waltiri had taken Michael up to the attic to look through papers and memorabilia. Michael had exulted over letters from Clark Gable, correspondence with Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, a manuscript copy of a Stravinsky oratorio." - p 7
I found the reference to Korngold particularly engaging - not b/c I like his music that much but just b/c I even know who he is & b/c he was one of the composers condemned by the Nazis as "degenerate" who was lucky enuf to escape to the US. To quote from the liner notes of a CD entitled "The Music Survives! Degenerate Music":
"Another pre-war progressive was Ernst Krenek. His opera Jonny spielt auf, more than any other, embodied the concept of 'Entartete Musik'. An offensive half-ape, half-Negro playing a saxophone and with the star of David on the lapel of his tuxedo, named Jonny, became the logo for music they didn't like. The opera was an enormous hit all over Europe and was the first to confront audiences with sights and sounds familiar through the modern world around them: cars, whistles, jazz bands, sirens, electric bells — with the final jubilant chorus suddenly interrupted by an air raid siren: a frightening premonition, making its place at the end of our sampler all too appropriate.
"Jonny spielt auf was used to launch the 'Entartete Musik' series alongside another, contrasting, opera — Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane. Both operas were premiered in 1927, though Korngold's father, Vienna's most important critic, tried to collaborate with the National Socialists to prevent Jonny detracting from Heliane's success. Korngold's opera took music to levels of expressiveness not even reached by Strauss or Puccini. The aria 'Ich ging zu ihm' is one of the more reflective moments in this work. During his exile in Hollywood, Korngold created a cinematic style which would shape the future of film music, as can be heard in the excerpt from his soundtrack Between Two Worlds.
"The irony of the Jonny vs Heliane 'fight' is that the progressive, subversive Jonny was written by the monarchist, Roman Catholic Krenek, whereas the author of Heliane — a whirlpool of noble Germanic sentiment — was the Jewish Korngold. Both composers were Viennese of Czech extraction, roughly the same age, established in Berlin and exiled in Southern California where they died, probably having never met one another."
As such, the reference to Korngold in The Infinity Concerto, while completely casual & one-time-only had a similar poignant foreshadowing resonance as did the reference to Yeats. Waltiri is a fictional composer but Bear adds the extra nice touch of providing an appendix of "The Film Scores of Arno Waltiri (Highlights)" on p 342 that includes Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King, & Henry Roth's Call It Sleep.
I found this list to be tantalizing. Roth's story of a Jewish immigrant family in NYC has never been made into a film as far as I know. Perhaps Bear's hinting that he'd like to see it be. Austen's Northanger Abbey is Austen's parody of Gothic novels & has been made into TV versions by both the BBC & PBS but is that good enuf? Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men was a bk made w/ photographer Walker Evans & documented the lives of impoverished tenant farmers during the Depression. As far as I know that hasn't been made into a movie either. Another hint from Bear? Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King was made into a movie by the great director John Huston in 1975 starring Sean Connery - that was 9 yrs before this bk was published so it seems reasonable to assume that Bear knew about it since the movie wd've been a high profile release. As such, it seems to be an anomaly in the 4 choices I picked as a sampling.
""I submit to you, perhaps Waltiri knew the answer to an age-old question, namely. 'What song did the sirens sing?"
"Michael closed the book. "It's not all nonsense," Waltiri said, returning it to the shelf. "That is roughly what happened. And then, months later, twenty people disappear. The only thing they have in common is, they were in the audience for our music."" - p 11
I'm hooked even more. Waltiri dies.
""Two days later, a tiny brown sparrow flew into Arno's study, where the library is now. It sat on the piano and plucked at pieces of sheet music. Arno had once made a joke about a bird being a spirit inside an animal body. I tried to shoo it out the window, but it wouldn't go. It perched on the music stand and stayed there for an hour, twisting its head to stare at me. Then it flew away." She began to cry. "I would dearly love for Arno to visit me now and then, even as a sparrow. He is such a fine man."" - p 13
So he goes.
"Walking straight in the darkness was difficult. He brushed against a wall with his shoulder. The touch set off an unexpected bong, as if he were inside a giant bell." - p 13
Into another world.
"He left Clarkham's house. A flagstone path curved around the outside of the side gate. When he had gone through the front door there had been no moon, but now a sullen green orb rose over the silhouettes of the houses on the opposite side of the street. It didn't cast much light. (And yet, the moonlight through the French doors had been bright. . . .) The streetlights were also strangely dim, and yellowish-green in color." - p 14
""Why the alarm?" Michael asked.
"Risky tossed her lank hair and spat in a corner. "The riding of the noble Sidhe against the race of man," she said, her voice thick with sarcasm. She appraised Michael with a cool eye. "You're new," she said." - p 26
As a fantasy writer, Bear distinguishes himself by referring to few or none of the standard template character types. Contrast that to James P. Blaylock's The Elfin Ship (& my review thereof):
"In addition to the afore-mentioned standard fare of elves n'at there're also trolls:
""The two trolls waiting on the riverside, however, were anything but laughable. As Jonathan stood watching the trolls which were watching him, the one atop the roots reached down in among them. came up with a tone, and began to gnaw at it." - p 44
"Apparently the secrets of strong teeth are known to trolls. They must not use US dentists. & then there's that "evil creeping over the land"" - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Instead we have things like animated mannikins:
"He assumed a stance before the mannikin, imitating Coom and feeling foolish—
"And it promptly swing up its stick and knocked his to the ground. The mannikin vibrated gleefully, twisted on its stake and became limp again." - p 73
As if all this weren't excellent enuf, Bear goes into another favorite territory of mine: language:
"["]I'd say the resemblances between Sidhe and human languages are strong, but the syntax and methods of understanding are quite different. For example, the Sidhe use a meta-language . . . a language of contexts. And Cascar is like a hundred languages thrown together. They never run out of words that mean the same thing, or very nearly. I can't speak it well. I can sometimes make myself understood, but . . ."
""I understood it for a time," Michael said. "During the Kaeli. One of the Crane Women touched my head, and I understood everything they said."
""And what was that like?"
"Michael thought back, "Like listening to music. Each word seemed to be the equivalent of a note. Notes are always the same in music, but place them next to each other and they sound different . . . or lengthen the notes, shorten them. Use the same word in a different context, and it means something else . . . sounds different."" - pp 141-142
"["]There is a section in 'Hudibras' by Samuel Butler—if I can remember . . ." He screwed up his face in concentration and peered at the ceiling, "'But when he pleased to shew't, his speech/ In loftiness of sound was rich;
"A Baylonish dialect
Which learned pedants much affect;
It was a party coloured dress
Of patch'd and py-ball'd languages;
'Twas (Irish) cut on Greek and Latin
Like fustian heretofore on sattin.
It had an odd promiscuous tone,
As if h' had talk'd three parts in one;['"]" - p 143
Wch is quite similar to language as I envision it.
Bear throws in another spinner:
""Human sex is dangerous here."
""Why?"
""Such things are closely regulated. We do not want children. The Sidhe and Breeds can have young—we cannot."
"Michael just looked at him.
""The people who have been here longest, and the Breeds, say it is because there are no seedling souls in the Realm. A human child is born empty. A Sidhe or Breed child is expected to be that way, and already has an internal . . . how would we say . . . compensation. But human children are vessels waiting to be filled. They are filled by creatures from the Blasted Plain—Adonna's own aborted children, some say." He set his lips and waved off further inquiry. "Talk about it is considered obscene. No more."" - p 144
A sample child:
""Ishmael," Helena said, kneeling on the walkway. The pit was as deep as it was wide, and the walls were made of slick, hard tile. The figure was naked and the pit was bare except for three bowls, receptacles for food, water and waste, all arranged neatly against one wall.
""Yes."
"Michael's eyes had adjusted well enough that he could make out the details of Ismael's face. It was small, round, disproportionate to such a tall body. The hands were large and hung from arms which began thin at the shoulders and widened to grotesque forearms and wrists.
""We have some questions to ask," Helena said.
""I'm not otherwise occupied."
""Has he been here since he was born?" Michael whispered.
""Almost," Helena said. "He was one of the first that we know of. He's been here since the War."
""Time passes," Ishmael said. "Questions." He sat down leaning against the tiles and stretching his pale legs out on the floor.
""Who are you?"
"A sideshow for the guilty. A product of lust. Something so evil it must be evilly confined through all its endless life. An abortion walking. Victim."" - p 177
Oi! That's rough.
"["]I can't love you, not like I should. Today you've seen why."
""I have?"
"The Yard. To love you properly, I'd want to give myself to you completely . . . and I can't." She searched his face and reached out to touch his cheek. "Don't you see? They've taken love away from us here. We might make a mistake, a slip. I couldn't stand the thought of having a Child."" - p 182
& I thought I had problems.
Michael finds himself in a world where a new god is revered.
""I'm an atheist," Michael said. "I don't believe there's a God on Earth."
""Do you believe Adonna exists?"
"That took him aback. He hadn't really questioned the idea. This was a fantasy world, however grim, so of course gods could exist here. Earth was real, practical; no gods there. "I've never met him." Michael said.
""It," Eleuth corrected. "Adonna boasts of no gender.["]" - pp 159-160
Interesting theological question, eh? If a god exists in an imaginary world is it imaginary? Or something like that. Then there's always love & confusion:
"["]Why are you confused?"
""I told you," he said.
""Not really. You don't love me? That confuses you?"
"He said nothing, but finally nodded. "I like you. I'm grateful . . ."
"Euleuth smiled. "Does it matter, your not loving me?"
""It doesn't feel right, making love and not reciprocating everything. Feeling everything."
""Yet for all time, Sidhe males have not loved their geen. And we have survived. It is the way."
"Her resignation didn't help at all. It twisted the perverse knot a little tighter, however, and the only way he could see to forestall the discussion was to kiss her. Soon they were making love and his confusion intensified everything, made everything worse . . . and better." - p 161
Michael gets his training:
"Spart schooled Michael on how to throw a shadow while asleep, and how to sleep like the dead, his heart barely beating, while at the same time his mind was alert. He controlled his breath until he seemed not to breathe at all. He explored his inner thoughts, paring them down to the ones most essential to his exercises." - p 184
That all seemed worthwhile so I decided to try doing the same. Every time I threw my shadow in my sleep I fell out of bed. Every time I slept like the dead I actually died (don't ask me how I came back). Every time I controlled my breath I farted too much. I guess I just don't have it in me.
Michael's life never has a dull moment.
"He half-ran, half-stumbled crab-wise, trying to find the center of impulse again. But he had no clear way to throw another shadow. The guardian, dress flapping and pressing back against her distorted frame, had risen a foot or so above the path and was accelerating toward him like a piece of fabric on a spinning clothesline. She pitched head-forward in her flight until the hat pointed directly at him and the dress fanned out, a deadly trailing blossom." - p 203
"For a moment, the dim lighting and the folds of her skin had concealed the fact that she was unclothed. She sat naked and still in the large chair. Michael was convinced she waited for him to come close enough to reach out and grab. But nothing moved. She didn't even appear to breath. Was she dead?
"He reached out to touch her shoulder. His finger curled back involuntarily into his palm and he forced it to straighten.
"The skin gave way beneath his finger, first an inch, then two. Repelled, unable to stop, he continued pressing. She hissed faintly and her head folded in like a collapsing souffle. Her arm and chest began to collapse and she fell into a pile of white translucent folds, sliding from the chair to the floor." - p 205
Have you ever had a day like that? It's horrible visiting yr old mom. About the best that you can hope for is that some Sidhe will smear some paste on yr forehead while you sleep.
"The paste had evaporated. The visions swirled and Michael opened his eyes slowly. He had never dreamed in the Realm, and he didn't believe what he had seen was actually a dream. It had a certain quality, a stamp, which indicated he had once again had a message from Death's Radio . . . this time, without the use of words." - p 226
Bear's vision of reaaaaalllllly Old School War is practically appealing after the nightmares of the 20th century.
""It was not entirely a bad thing, that war. Nobody died . . . not forever. We were like young gods then and injuries of combat, while distressing, were remediable. But gradually we learned the desperate arts of tact, and lying, and deceit, of gamesmanship and honour. Then we learned distrust and our magic grew stronger. The war became earnest. Enemies found it necessary to either be polite or to attempt to destroy each other. There was no middle ground." - 234
""No swords, no baubles. Those are all human misunderstandings of magic, human preoccupation with technology. Magic lies purely in the mind. The Sidhe are among the most dishonorable, unreliable creatures on all the faces of Creation, but they have one thing—concentration. What they want, they focus on completely."" - p 299
That cd be dangerous if you happen to be walking at the time in an earthquake zone or something. Then again, Sidhe are more or less immortal so why worry?
All in all, this was great. Bear's at least as good a fantasy writer as he is a hard science SF one & that's a pleasant surprise. Also, what the heck, he acknowledges doing linguistics research wch puts him in a category similar to Tolkein. Wdn't fault him for that!
"please refer to a marvelous book by Robert A. Stewart Macalister, The Secret Languages of Ireland, first published in 1937 by the Cambridge University Press. It's still in print from Armorica Book Company/Philo Press. A good university or public library should also have it. Lovers of languaes—or dabblers, such as myself—will find it fascinating." - p 341
January 13, 2019
It took me a very long time to read, intermittently, this second edition of THE INFINITY CONCERTO. Like most quest fantasies, it is a series of thinly connected adventures with no sense of community. The writing is truly beautiful, but lacks depth of character, even in the single main character.
August 30, 2017
This is a book that I've always remembered with great affection from when I read it on its original release in the 1980s. It's been on my "to reread" list for a long time now and this year is when I finally picked it up and started reading it again.
Firstly, there was an awful lot I didn't remember, so it was fun rediscovering that. However, I also struggled with the first half of the book, which was much slower, darker, and more relentless than I thought it was. I think a lot of that is simply that books started slower back then. It also didn't help that I got mentally stuck when Michael met a certain character that I thought was going to betray him terribly and I didn't want to read that. (Yes, my anxiety includes books when I'm "afraid" of what is going to happen next, whether I'm right or wrong about what actually happens.)
In actual fact, it wasn't that bad (or is still to come in book 2) and once I got going again, I got fully caught up in the book and read the second half if a few days.
I picked up a few things I probably missed the first time through - for example, where a character was riding a horse and then walking through a city with no indication of what happened to the horse. Little things, but I did notice them.
It also takes a jump at the middle where we go from the "training" section of the book to the "questing" section of the book and our protagonist suddenly seems to take a step up in knowledge and power that doesn't quite match where he was shown to be at the end of the training. I think the problem was that the first part concentrated on how hard we was finding it all and how bad he was at it, without showing enough clear progress to make the learning seem fully learned.
But those are little things. When I finished, I wanted to give the book a 10/10 because it left me feeling very happy about it, and with the same kinds of emotions I had carried through the years in my memory of the books. But I remember that hard first half and so I've dropped in to 9/10.
Maybe the next time I reread it, I just start at the halfway point?
I'm looking forward to rereading the sequel (it's a duology, so only two books) soon, but I'm going to fit in a few other things first.
Firstly, there was an awful lot I didn't remember, so it was fun rediscovering that. However, I also struggled with the first half of the book, which was much slower, darker, and more relentless than I thought it was. I think a lot of that is simply that books started slower back then. It also didn't help that I got mentally stuck when Michael met a certain character that I thought was going to betray him terribly and I didn't want to read that. (Yes, my anxiety includes books when I'm "afraid" of what is going to happen next, whether I'm right or wrong about what actually happens.)
In actual fact, it wasn't that bad (or is still to come in book 2) and once I got going again, I got fully caught up in the book and read the second half if a few days.
I picked up a few things I probably missed the first time through - for example, where a character was riding a horse and then walking through a city with no indication of what happened to the horse. Little things, but I did notice them.
It also takes a jump at the middle where we go from the "training" section of the book to the "questing" section of the book and our protagonist suddenly seems to take a step up in knowledge and power that doesn't quite match where he was shown to be at the end of the training. I think the problem was that the first part concentrated on how hard we was finding it all and how bad he was at it, without showing enough clear progress to make the learning seem fully learned.
But those are little things. When I finished, I wanted to give the book a 10/10 because it left me feeling very happy about it, and with the same kinds of emotions I had carried through the years in my memory of the books. But I remember that hard first half and so I've dropped in to 9/10.
Maybe the next time I reread it, I just start at the halfway point?
I'm looking forward to rereading the sequel (it's a duology, so only two books) soon, but I'm going to fit in a few other things first.
July 25, 2014
I'm conflicted.
It was definitely worth reading — by the last third.
There are a lot of seemingly unrelated threads to hang onto through the story, with no real indications that they will come together to make a complete tapestry until that last third, and even then there are some threads that really didn't get woven in, just tied off, for fringe.
But somehow I truly liked it. It's not the typical fantasy tale with good and evil clearly defined, it's a realistic, fatalistic fantasy and the words flow together beautifully, and abrasively at times, when the story calls for it. It creates thoughts and sends them on different roads.
I'll read it again, and will find a copy of the sequel as well.
It was definitely worth reading — by the last third.
There are a lot of seemingly unrelated threads to hang onto through the story, with no real indications that they will come together to make a complete tapestry until that last third, and even then there are some threads that really didn't get woven in, just tied off, for fringe.
But somehow I truly liked it. It's not the typical fantasy tale with good and evil clearly defined, it's a realistic, fatalistic fantasy and the words flow together beautifully, and abrasively at times, when the story calls for it. It creates thoughts and sends them on different roads.
I'll read it again, and will find a copy of the sequel as well.
July 28, 2021
Finally finished this book and I have many thoughts.
The premise is good but also confusing and I feel as if there is just too much hidden symbolism - also the representation of female characters in this was very frustrating to read. Majority of female characters in this book had their tiddies mentioned at least once and I get it yanno it’s from a teenage boys perspective but when the characters are just portrayed as being sexual objects with very little personality, it gets a bit annoying.
The ending gave the book a little bit of redemption and the main character development was good and you could clearly see it but overall not a fave book by any means.
The premise is good but also confusing and I feel as if there is just too much hidden symbolism - also the representation of female characters in this was very frustrating to read. Majority of female characters in this book had their tiddies mentioned at least once and I get it yanno it’s from a teenage boys perspective but when the characters are just portrayed as being sexual objects with very little personality, it gets a bit annoying.
The ending gave the book a little bit of redemption and the main character development was good and you could clearly see it but overall not a fave book by any means.
March 21, 2015
I didn't really like this book.
Each scene was well written and engaging, but I felt like the overall story was too mangled and uncohesive.
It felt like the author took several good songs, and only written one verse from each one in the book - with no real line going through all those verses to make them tell a complete story.
Each scene was well written and engaging, but I felt like the overall story was too mangled and uncohesive.
It felt like the author took several good songs, and only written one verse from each one in the book - with no real line going through all those verses to make them tell a complete story.
January 13, 2021
I read this back when it came out, and I liked it a lot more then. I think my tastes in fantasy have gotten more specific. I liked how he reworked the idea of the Fae and how they interact with humans. But the pace was very slow and confusing at times. Plus, since the main character was a very reluctant hero, I found myself hoping the enemies would win at times.
August 28, 2013
I don't know why I took so long to read this book, but it was fantastic. I love the fact that I didn't know what would happen next. I was unexpected, I think that sums it up for me. Now I have to look for the next one :( Keeping my fingers crossed.
December 9, 2014
This was a re-read for me, even if the previous read must have been something like 30 years ago... Reading it in 2014, I still remembered parts of the story from 30 years ago. It was quite an influential read for me :-)
Recommended!
Recommended!
unfinished
August 10, 2015Well, I tried to finish this book, I suppose that counts right? I had a hard time getting into this book, even though fantasy is my favorite genre. It moved too slow for me and I had a hard time actually caring about Michael and what he went through.
November 14, 2024
You know how you have that random book on your shelf, that you can’t read for years because you don’t have the prequel? Well, for me it was Serpent Mage, and I never came across Infinity Concerto - so in the end to preserve my bookshelf I was forced to buy it online. Not sorry I did, really enjoyed the overarching story arc, but IC itself didn’t really shine.
There was a rash of ‘boy transported to fantasy realm’ stories in the 80s, and IC fits squarely into that cohort. It does stand out to a degree, though, due to the thought that’s gone into the way the universe is set up, with music and ultimately all forms of art and craft being able to open gateways to different magical abilities.
The ‘Realm’, where our hero is transported, is based on Celtic myths and populated by the Sidhe, cold and uncaring jailers for a small community of humans who’d been gifted enough over the years to transport themselves to the Realm.
It’s never entirely clear WHY our hero is selected to be the hero of the story, but he is, and is trained by the Crane Women in various mystical arts.
Again, we’re told humans can’t do magic, so this is all a bit baffling, but we go along with it.
There is a bit of a sprint towards the end where our hero is aided by an awful lot of deus ex moments to beat his high level foes and return back to the real world, but there’s also a fair bit of hinting of more knowledge to come about the underlying structure and history of the Realm and all worlds - I’m a sucker for world building, so these hints kept me hooked to the end.
An entertaining read, but I’m going to be a little harsh and give it 3 stars - there was some sketchy and inconsistent characterization, the plot seemed to be driven by the author rather than the protagonist, and our desire to learn more about the mechanics of the Realm was never really satiated.
There was a rash of ‘boy transported to fantasy realm’ stories in the 80s, and IC fits squarely into that cohort. It does stand out to a degree, though, due to the thought that’s gone into the way the universe is set up, with music and ultimately all forms of art and craft being able to open gateways to different magical abilities.
The ‘Realm’, where our hero is transported, is based on Celtic myths and populated by the Sidhe, cold and uncaring jailers for a small community of humans who’d been gifted enough over the years to transport themselves to the Realm.
It’s never entirely clear WHY our hero is selected to be the hero of the story, but he is, and is trained by the Crane Women in various mystical arts.
Again, we’re told humans can’t do magic, so this is all a bit baffling, but we go along with it.
There is a bit of a sprint towards the end where our hero is aided by an awful lot of deus ex moments to beat his high level foes and return back to the real world, but there’s also a fair bit of hinting of more knowledge to come about the underlying structure and history of the Realm and all worlds - I’m a sucker for world building, so these hints kept me hooked to the end.
An entertaining read, but I’m going to be a little harsh and give it 3 stars - there was some sketchy and inconsistent characterization, the plot seemed to be driven by the author rather than the protagonist, and our desire to learn more about the mechanics of the Realm was never really satiated.
June 19, 2020
[2.5 stars]
What did I just read...?
I picked this up on Kindle Unlimited because I was intrigued at the premise of music having something to do with the magic system in this world and I love reading anything with a music theme.
This wasn't a bad read but the world building was too fragmented and I did not enjoy how quickly the characters came and went; if there were loose ends, a disaster made those characters go away.
This is a fantasy quest novel where the protagonist, teenage poet, Michael, enters this world without knowing anything about it and finds himself caught up in a business that is not his own. One thing is clear though, that he is being given special treatment right from the start.
Michael wasn't kept prisoner but he had to live under harsh conditions throughout the duration of the story and it was difficult to understand why things kept happening to him. There was a tendency for minor scene descriptions to be long-winded at the expense of the bigger picture. Music was supposed to be the thing that caused these people to enter this world but we didn't really understand how this worked and what was the point of having these musicians there?
I don't know what spurred me on to finish this but I guess I wanted to find out if the significance of music would be revealed to us.
Interesting interview with the author:
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfict...
What did I just read...?
I picked this up on Kindle Unlimited because I was intrigued at the premise of music having something to do with the magic system in this world and I love reading anything with a music theme.
This wasn't a bad read but the world building was too fragmented and I did not enjoy how quickly the characters came and went; if there were loose ends, a disaster made those characters go away.
This is a fantasy quest novel where the protagonist, teenage poet, Michael, enters this world without knowing anything about it and finds himself caught up in a business that is not his own. One thing is clear though, that he is being given special treatment right from the start.
Michael wasn't kept prisoner but he had to live under harsh conditions throughout the duration of the story and it was difficult to understand why things kept happening to him. There was a tendency for minor scene descriptions to be long-winded at the expense of the bigger picture. Music was supposed to be the thing that caused these people to enter this world but we didn't really understand how this worked and what was the point of having these musicians there?
I don't know what spurred me on to finish this but I guess I wanted to find out if the significance of music would be revealed to us.
Interesting interview with the author:
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfict...
December 4, 2023
Greg Bear has been hit or miss with me. I loved Blood Music, but hated City at the End of Time, then one of his collections The Wind from a Burning Woman got 3 stars from me.
This one I liked a lot. I liked it because it was different than a lot of the fantasy I've read lately. Very atmospheric. Dark and cerebral. The protagonist is in his late teens, but it doesn't come off as YA, other than it also only has one main character. There are plenty of other interesting characters in the book though and there's sex (not very detailed, and while not "necessary" it made sense). There's a bit of a sci-fi feel with mention of other worlds, then some horror elements with creepy scenes, but mostly it's fantasy with magic and strange creatures and adventure.
Looking forward to reading book 2.
This one I liked a lot. I liked it because it was different than a lot of the fantasy I've read lately. Very atmospheric. Dark and cerebral. The protagonist is in his late teens, but it doesn't come off as YA, other than it also only has one main character. There are plenty of other interesting characters in the book though and there's sex (not very detailed, and while not "necessary" it made sense). There's a bit of a sci-fi feel with mention of other worlds, then some horror elements with creepy scenes, but mostly it's fantasy with magic and strange creatures and adventure.
Looking forward to reading book 2.
June 30, 2020
From a world creation perspective this is a very fine work. The environment and the strange characters are well done. Bear gives descriptions of things with details of size, construction, and color, but these descriptions never seem to much affect any player or the plot line. When one describes something with five different colors, the reader comes away with no sense of color. My main problem with this lengthy book is a sustained feeling of ignorance. Although this tale follows the Campbell hero's journey model, the reader never quite knows what the quest is for. The protagonist does not know either. Further, the protagonist teen Michael seems very disconnected with what is happening to him. He transfers to another realm, meets strange people with hidden agendas, undergoes torturous training of some sort, gets laid, and, despite all odds, persists with little excitement. For me the read was as if I'd gotten on a train for a ride to an unannounced destination, in the company of a unconcerned Alfred E. Newman who keeps repeating that he is a poet, passing threatening scenery, and arriving at long last at a destination where my travel companion nonchalantly blows things up.
September 18, 2020
I'm giving 3 stars as an average, as I'd give the first half of the book a 1 and the second half a 4.5.
All I can say is that I slogged through the first half of this book and succeeded only because my dad seemed to have enjoyed the book. The first half is painfully slow and even more painfully morose. It reminded me of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, only not as well-written. The main character, Michael, is whisked away to the Realm, and he basically wanders around for an indefinite numbers of days, weeks, or months, not knowing where he is, why he's there, or how to get home. He goes through unexplained and unpleasant experiences, and even the good things end up turning to ash. It's just depressing. I was so relieved when the story picked up halfway through!
Bear's descriptions are complex and deep--mostly over my head so I couldn't actually picture the Realm at all, but I still enjoyed the descriptive language. I did appreciate Michael's growth over the course of the book, and that might be enough to pull me into the second book...after I read some more cheerful books.
All in all, if you can get past the first half, the rest is worth the read.
All I can say is that I slogged through the first half of this book and succeeded only because my dad seemed to have enjoyed the book. The first half is painfully slow and even more painfully morose. It reminded me of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, only not as well-written. The main character, Michael, is whisked away to the Realm, and he basically wanders around for an indefinite numbers of days, weeks, or months, not knowing where he is, why he's there, or how to get home. He goes through unexplained and unpleasant experiences, and even the good things end up turning to ash. It's just depressing. I was so relieved when the story picked up halfway through!
Bear's descriptions are complex and deep--mostly over my head so I couldn't actually picture the Realm at all, but I still enjoyed the descriptive language. I did appreciate Michael's growth over the course of the book, and that might be enough to pull me into the second book...after I read some more cheerful books.
All in all, if you can get past the first half, the rest is worth the read.
May 23, 2017
Great work
The book takes a long time to get going, or so it seems. The thing is that the long almost drudgery is necessary I think to get where it needs to go. It takes a long time because it needs to. But some things could be better. The fact that something is being set up is clear but as the end approaches a great deal seem to come to light that is not as well prepared as I would like. Michael the protagonist was only 16, but his wisdom and insight into other people's character is not sufficiently developed in the story. In fact we are led to believe that he's just a kid right up until the ending when we suddenly see a far more sophisticated person. It's not quite believable to me and I can't help but wonder if the next book reveals him as something more than we have yet seen. But I will read that next book very soon because I'm pretty well hooked.
The book takes a long time to get going, or so it seems. The thing is that the long almost drudgery is necessary I think to get where it needs to go. It takes a long time because it needs to. But some things could be better. The fact that something is being set up is clear but as the end approaches a great deal seem to come to light that is not as well prepared as I would like. Michael the protagonist was only 16, but his wisdom and insight into other people's character is not sufficiently developed in the story. In fact we are led to believe that he's just a kid right up until the ending when we suddenly see a far more sophisticated person. It's not quite believable to me and I can't help but wonder if the next book reveals him as something more than we have yet seen. But I will read that next book very soon because I'm pretty well hooked.
September 23, 2020
I have a background in classical music so of course I love this book. (Not necessary but many reference to famous composers, and to a film composer)
I just re-read my old (barely holding together) copy.
Classic story of the 'Fay (sidhe) living in a slightly off place like from the king Arthur legends but in a modern (1984!) setting. I like how the main character mature as his life his changed. Since I re-read this book many times what stand-out this time is some of the settings like the floating cylinder with 1000 of dry corpses, or the city of Inyas Trai.
This is a short book with a dense story, so fun to re-read. I forgot that the 'infinity concerto' is the title of the first book, the inifinity concerto itself is mostly covered in the second book which I will start re-reading right now!.
I just re-read my old (barely holding together) copy.
Classic story of the 'Fay (sidhe) living in a slightly off place like from the king Arthur legends but in a modern (1984!) setting. I like how the main character mature as his life his changed. Since I re-read this book many times what stand-out this time is some of the settings like the floating cylinder with 1000 of dry corpses, or the city of Inyas Trai.
This is a short book with a dense story, so fun to re-read. I forgot that the 'infinity concerto' is the title of the first book, the inifinity concerto itself is mostly covered in the second book which I will start re-reading right now!.
October 19, 2022
In this novel, composing a certain kind of rare song will transport you to another dimension, where the Sidhe rule harshly over the humans trapped there. A young man follows the directions let to him by an older gentleman he befriended (and who happened to help write one of those rare songs) and ends up in this other dimension too. He has no idea how to get home and doesn't seem to have much luck finding anyone able or willing to help him. Instead he gets assigned to three old witch-crones who train him for he doesn't know what, and meanwhile he tries to avoid getting killed by the Sidhe and by various other nasty things.
This goes on for far too long, and so when the plot finally did pick up again, I couldn't muster the energy to care much. It's too bad; the story idea is very cool, but the execution, not so much.
This goes on for far too long, and so when the plot finally did pick up again, I couldn't muster the energy to care much. It's too bad; the story idea is very cool, but the execution, not so much.
February 18, 2021
Not my jam - I though the titular concerto, or indeed music, was going to feature more prominently.
The edition I red has a quote on the back saying SF, but this is really YA fantasy. Teenager gets transported to a magical realm, face challenges, changes, grows.
Paint by numbers hero's journey, but executed very well. Some of the scenes are very visual, and I told myself it would be ripe for adaptation into a series.
But overall... Meeeeh. Not for me. I dropped it 50 pages from the end when he was laying another bit of lore with mage Whatsgisface, the mad queen, and the council of Something. Bugger that!
Clearly setting up the next two books, and I'm definitely not going to read them. Still. If it's your kind of thing...
The edition I red has a quote on the back saying SF, but this is really YA fantasy. Teenager gets transported to a magical realm, face challenges, changes, grows.
Paint by numbers hero's journey, but executed very well. Some of the scenes are very visual, and I told myself it would be ripe for adaptation into a series.
But overall... Meeeeh. Not for me. I dropped it 50 pages from the end when he was laying another bit of lore with mage Whatsgisface, the mad queen, and the council of Something. Bugger that!
Clearly setting up the next two books, and I'm definitely not going to read them. Still. If it's your kind of thing...
June 20, 2024
That... was a weird one. The author clearly has a lot of imagination and knows how to take existing folklore and fuse it into his fantasy in an interesting way. He's also not spoon feeding you the plot, so you have to figure things out by yourself. However, I think the book clearly has structural and pacing issues. The first half of it almost has nothing to do with the second, and characters seem to appear and then dissappear with no reasonable explanation. Also, most of the relationships don't feel real to me. I never grew to care about most of the characters, including the protagonist. Lastly, the magic is interesting, but it is never really explained and most of the time feels like it's there to advance the plot.
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