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Paradigms Lost
In a world of data manipulation and cyberspying, an investigative journalist find that the supernatural lurks! A major revision of Spoor's first novel, Digital Knight, with all new material.
Being an expert in information searches, image processing and enhancement, pattern matching, and data forensics earned Jason Wood a lot of money – from private contracts and working with the police. And it was a nice, comfortable job most of the time. But then an informant showed up dead on his doorstep, a photograph didn't show someone who'd been in the viewfinder when the picture was taken, and Jason's world is suddenly turned upside-down.
Against things that violate the very reality he thought he understood, Jason has only three weapons: his best friend Sylvie, his talent for seeing patterns… and his ability to think beyond the pattern and see a solution that no one else imagined. Against the darkness of the unknown, the greatest weapon is the light of reason.
A vastly expanded and revised edition of Digital Knight, Ryk E. Spoor's first published novel, Paradigms Lost adds two brand new adventures for Jason and includes many chapters of additional material within the originals.
About Ryk E. Spoor's Spheres of Influence:
“Fast and entertaining action and a world that has the feel of Asimov’s Foundation series.”—Sarah A. Hoyt, author of the Darkship saga
About Ryk E. Spoor’s Grand Central Arena:
“…an imaginative piece of space opera that’s set on a near-future Earth where artificial intelligence is taken for granted.”—Shiny Reviews
“Grand Central Arena’ is space opera in the grand old tradition . . . but with modern sensibilities and awareness of current speculations in cutting edge physics.”—Fantasy Book Critic
About the Threshold Series by Ryk E. Spoor and Eric Flint
“. . . fast-paced sci-fi. . . light in tone and hard on science . . .” —Publishers Weekly
“. . . [the series is filled with] linguistics, biology, physics, and evolution further the story, as well as wacky humor, academic rivalries, and even some sweet romances.” —School Library Journal
About Ryk E. Spoor's Phoenix Rising:
“A winner! Great characters, and thrilling adventure. I want more!”—Ed Greenwood, best-selling author of the Forgotten Realms series
“[E]xciting adventure, scary monsters, strange gods, and wondrous magic.”—Lawrence Watt-Evans
Being an expert in information searches, image processing and enhancement, pattern matching, and data forensics earned Jason Wood a lot of money – from private contracts and working with the police. And it was a nice, comfortable job most of the time. But then an informant showed up dead on his doorstep, a photograph didn't show someone who'd been in the viewfinder when the picture was taken, and Jason's world is suddenly turned upside-down.
Against things that violate the very reality he thought he understood, Jason has only three weapons: his best friend Sylvie, his talent for seeing patterns… and his ability to think beyond the pattern and see a solution that no one else imagined. Against the darkness of the unknown, the greatest weapon is the light of reason.
A vastly expanded and revised edition of Digital Knight, Ryk E. Spoor's first published novel, Paradigms Lost adds two brand new adventures for Jason and includes many chapters of additional material within the originals.
About Ryk E. Spoor's Spheres of Influence:
“Fast and entertaining action and a world that has the feel of Asimov’s Foundation series.”—Sarah A. Hoyt, author of the Darkship saga
About Ryk E. Spoor’s Grand Central Arena:
“…an imaginative piece of space opera that’s set on a near-future Earth where artificial intelligence is taken for granted.”—Shiny Reviews
“Grand Central Arena’ is space opera in the grand old tradition . . . but with modern sensibilities and awareness of current speculations in cutting edge physics.”—Fantasy Book Critic
About the Threshold Series by Ryk E. Spoor and Eric Flint
“. . . fast-paced sci-fi. . . light in tone and hard on science . . .” —Publishers Weekly
“. . . [the series is filled with] linguistics, biology, physics, and evolution further the story, as well as wacky humor, academic rivalries, and even some sweet romances.” —School Library Journal
About Ryk E. Spoor's Phoenix Rising:
“A winner! Great characters, and thrilling adventure. I want more!”—Ed Greenwood, best-selling author of the Forgotten Realms series
“[E]xciting adventure, scary monsters, strange gods, and wondrous magic.”—Lawrence Watt-Evans
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First published November 15, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 20 reviews
February 1, 2015
Against the darkness of the unknown, the greatest weapon is the light of reason.
—From the back cover of Paradigms Lost
The 2014 copyright date on Ryk Spoor's Paradigms Lost is rather misleading. This is actually an updated and expanded version of Spoor's first novel, Digital Knight, which first saw print (also from Baen Books) in 2003. Even then, events in the real world had already caught up with and passed it, though, because much of Digital Knight was originally written back in the antediluvian 1980s. Spoor himself is reasonably up-front about this fact, and it's also mentioned on the back cover—but its long and winding publication history does explain a bit of... well, mustiness about the book.
It really was something of a trailblazer, though. While Digital Knight was being written, the hard-boiled urban fantasy genre that's so common now still had relatively few exemplars. Publication of Storm Front, the first book in Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series (to use the obvious comparison) was still more than a decade in the future—and it had only been out for a few years before Digital Knight actually made it into print.
And, while Butcher's and Spoor's tales do seem likely to tickle the same neurons in many readers' brains, there are some important differences. For one thing, Harry Dresden is a magic-using wizard himself. Spoor's Jason Wood doesn't use magic—he is primarily a software wizard.
Wood is a private investigator much like Dresden, though. Based in upstate New York, Jason has positioned himself as someone who can do things the police cannot do. He uses his uncommon expertise with computers to research data and work with digital images, in ways which are commonplace now but which in the time frame of the novel are uncommon and valuable. Wood even writes his own code, in contrast to many so-called "hackers" and "wizards" who only use software written by others, and that's a rare skill even today.
Jason Wood's not-quite-girlfriend Sylvie (which somehow gets transmuted into "Sulvie" on the book's back cover) is the proprietor of a New Age shop nearby, and a woman whose abilities occasionally seem to rise above the normal even for the paranormal.
Together, they fight crime!
Well, sorta. When a photograph of a corrupt politician taking a bribe shows up on Wood's desktop missing any image of the pol's partner in crime, he and Sylvie work together to uncover evidence of something really supernatural—but their investigation doesn't go as you'd expect...
As a first novel, Paradigms Lost still shows some rough edges, even after Spoor's updates. The characters' diction is insufficiently differentiated, much too uniform and often much too contemporary. Both ancient vampires and people in England converse with Jason as if they were 20th-Century Americans like him (do Londoners really say "lordy"?). One may also note a surfeit of italics—something I've mentioned before in connection with Spoor's work, but he actually seems to have toned this down for later books. In Paradigms Lost the recurring emphases seem even more prominent.
Spoor also seems more than a little uncomfortable when talking about human relationships. The people in this novel are much more aware of and articulate about their own feelings than seems the norm—and they speak about those feelings in detail and with a precision that seems unlikely to occur in reality. This remains something of an issue in his later work, but he did get better. Here, the social awkwardness is in full effect.
I must also confess to a small amount of bitterness, attendant upon my discovery that Jason Wood's Morgantown is in upstate New York—it's not at all the one in West Virginia in which I lived for three eventful years, the one I thought Spoor was writing about (yes, yes, I know; I speak with inflection too). And it took me a moment or two to process the placement of Venice as a small coastal town in Florida.
On the plus side, the episodic structure of Paradigms Lost really worked well for me—every chapter goes in a new and unexpected direction, but the transitions always went smoothly and never seemed forced to me. I was expecting the rather open-ended conclusion as well, and so it did not disappoint me; Spoor did tie off most of the plot threads I wanted him to. And most of all, I really liked the balance Spoor struck between skepticism and credulity: Jason Wood is put into outrageous situations, where rationality would not seem to apply, and where many characters would simply abandon the scientific mindset altogether... but he retains both an open mind and an insistence on cause and effect that both serve him well and satisfy the reader—at least, this reader.
That pull quote from the back cover is an apt summary, and really gets at the heart of Paradigms Lost's appeal. Repeatedly, Jason Wood brings the light of reason to bear on the darkest of horrors, and provides a fair amount of entertainment while doing so—and that makes this book a pretty good read after all.
October 19, 2014
I've read plenty of Ryk Spoor's work, and always enjoyed him as a writer, but I never caught his first book, Digital Knight, so I can't compare this to the original. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised. Urban Fantasy as a genre is pretty close peak saturation, so I figured I knew what I was getting into. Hard boiled detective type discovers vampires exist, we've done this rodeo a time or two. I wasn't expecting him to blow the bottom out of that as soon as the first act was done to start shaping a world with a half a million years of human history, dealing with a war between surviving factions of Atlantean immortals. But he does, and it's done extremely well. Solidly written characters, good plot, great dialogue, I really hope this is a series he comes back to, there were a number of plot points left dangling that leave plenty of storys to be told here.
Full disclosure, i was allowed access to an advanced reader copy via netgalley's in return for an honest review.
Full disclosure, i was allowed access to an advanced reader copy via netgalley's in return for an honest review.
October 10, 2014
It just kept getting more, and more, interesting.
November 9, 2014
Exceptionally Well-Written and Engaging
O.K., there's an easy way to explain how and why this is an excellent book, and there's a hard way. Let's start with the easy way.
Do you remember the T.V. show from 1974-1975 called "Kolchak: The Nightstalker"? It starred Darren McGavin as fictional Chicago newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak, who investigated mysterious crimes with possibly paranormal or supernatural explanations. It was smart, funny, cleverly plotted, and creepy in a good-humored way. Well, this book is like a really good variation on that vibe. It is smart, funny, anchored by two very engaging characters, well plotted, fast paced and full of surprises. Dialogue is sharp and the stories are unpredictable. Like "Kolchak" it is the thinking man's paranormal mystery/action series.
Now, (in case you draw a blank at "Night Stalker"), for the hard way. It's hard because SPOILERS are terrible, terrible things, but it's difficult to do the book justice without getting close to the edge.
Our hero, Jason Wood, is a computer data miner, who does various jobs for private clients and occasionally the police. He tracks people and data and searches for patterns and hidden connections. He has a little dinky warren of an office that he also lives in. His next door neighbor Sylvie is a psychic with a crystal and incense kind of shop. She is smart, attractive, level headed and willing to wait for Jason to figure out she's his girlfriend. She's a feisty and dependable partner and the book lights up when she's on the scene, which is often.
The book was originally a novella titled "Digital Knight" but it has been expanded and partly rewritten to be a longer novel, with new distinct "adventures". Now everything fits together and nothing is repeated and it has all been smoothed out to make sense. There are basically three adventures, but with an overarching framework, (girlfriend, recurring characters, etc.), that holds it all together.
The stories usually involve a small mystery and some detecting or data mining that leads to a larger mystery and some action/conflict. A number of different paranormal themes drift in and out. Of particular appeal, our hero isn't gullible and he isn't a non-believer. He follows information where it leads him and if the answer is supernatural, so be it. Girlfriend Sylvie is always there to encourage him to think outside the box. Think Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, with their roles reversed.
The writing is sharp. It has a very matter-of-fact tone as the stories start and then gets edgier as the stories get weirder. These are not simple slam-bang actioners. After the mystery task has been set in play there is a lot of thinking, research, reasoning and re-thinking that goes on. Conversations are realistic and story developments are plausible. All of the characters have distinct personalities. The stories are narrated by Jason and his dry sense of humor helps to lighten things up and move scenes along. And get this, one of my favorite characters is one of the villains, who is easily one of the smoothest and most elegantly presented bad guys to come along in a while.
So, this isn't teen romance or angst or gore-fest stuff. It's not heavy and deep, but it is well crafted, well written and a remarkably entertaining diversion. A very happy find.
Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.
O.K., there's an easy way to explain how and why this is an excellent book, and there's a hard way. Let's start with the easy way.
Do you remember the T.V. show from 1974-1975 called "Kolchak: The Nightstalker"? It starred Darren McGavin as fictional Chicago newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak, who investigated mysterious crimes with possibly paranormal or supernatural explanations. It was smart, funny, cleverly plotted, and creepy in a good-humored way. Well, this book is like a really good variation on that vibe. It is smart, funny, anchored by two very engaging characters, well plotted, fast paced and full of surprises. Dialogue is sharp and the stories are unpredictable. Like "Kolchak" it is the thinking man's paranormal mystery/action series.
Now, (in case you draw a blank at "Night Stalker"), for the hard way. It's hard because SPOILERS are terrible, terrible things, but it's difficult to do the book justice without getting close to the edge.
Our hero, Jason Wood, is a computer data miner, who does various jobs for private clients and occasionally the police. He tracks people and data and searches for patterns and hidden connections. He has a little dinky warren of an office that he also lives in. His next door neighbor Sylvie is a psychic with a crystal and incense kind of shop. She is smart, attractive, level headed and willing to wait for Jason to figure out she's his girlfriend. She's a feisty and dependable partner and the book lights up when she's on the scene, which is often.
The book was originally a novella titled "Digital Knight" but it has been expanded and partly rewritten to be a longer novel, with new distinct "adventures". Now everything fits together and nothing is repeated and it has all been smoothed out to make sense. There are basically three adventures, but with an overarching framework, (girlfriend, recurring characters, etc.), that holds it all together.
The stories usually involve a small mystery and some detecting or data mining that leads to a larger mystery and some action/conflict. A number of different paranormal themes drift in and out. Of particular appeal, our hero isn't gullible and he isn't a non-believer. He follows information where it leads him and if the answer is supernatural, so be it. Girlfriend Sylvie is always there to encourage him to think outside the box. Think Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, with their roles reversed.
The writing is sharp. It has a very matter-of-fact tone as the stories start and then gets edgier as the stories get weirder. These are not simple slam-bang actioners. After the mystery task has been set in play there is a lot of thinking, research, reasoning and re-thinking that goes on. Conversations are realistic and story developments are plausible. All of the characters have distinct personalities. The stories are narrated by Jason and his dry sense of humor helps to lighten things up and move scenes along. And get this, one of my favorite characters is one of the villains, who is easily one of the smoothest and most elegantly presented bad guys to come along in a while.
So, this isn't teen romance or angst or gore-fest stuff. It's not heavy and deep, but it is well crafted, well written and a remarkably entertaining diversion. A very happy find.
Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.
November 18, 2014
Originally written in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s and published as Digital Knight, Baen Books has just released a revised and expanded version titled, Paradigms Lost, by Ryk E. Spoor (Amazon link). According to the author’s preface, he made a few changes to existing stories to clarify a few incidents. The major difference is that he’s added about 50% new material. This should make this revision well worthwhile to readers of the original book (which I have not read — this review is based solely on this one). Paradigms Lost is a roller-coaster of a ride through an alternate Earth where vampires, werewolves, and other creatures all go bump-in-the-night. It is a very enjoyable read.
What makes this book so special is the way Spoor’s marvelous writing skills have created an overarching mythology tying them all together into a common history predating modern man.
In addition, the author has given these ancient beasts, beings, and Gods some very human characteristics in terms of their personalities, actions, and reactions. That’s not an easy task to do with monsters that want and can tear a human to shreds in seconds. That, I think, sets this collection of stories (held together by the threads of several characters) apart from all of the run-of-the-mill horror stories I’m used to reading.
The main three protagonists of Paradigms Lost are: Jason Woods, a computer geek who sees data patterns that others miss, and has an uncanny ability to derive the correct answers from them; his girlfriend Sylvie, a gifted psychic who can sometimes see into the near future; and Verne Domingo, who at first glance (but not in a mirror) might be a vampire, but turns out to be much more than that. There are several antagonists who also appear throughout this series of stories.
Jason seems to draw events to him and (via helping others — including the government) always seems to wind-up in the middle of anything “weird” happening. Peculiar murders, disappearances, incidences; they all seem land on his doorstep. Monsters battle humans or other monsters; Jason discovers the clues and answers.
This IS a horror novel and there are some wonderfully epic confrontations that move at break-neck speed. The good news is that while the violence is certainly spelled-out, this is not the festival of gore that has consumed much of the rest of the field. I’d have no problem recommending Paradigms Lost to youngsters. There are a lot of different critters to reckon with, names and origins and such, but nothing a fan of H.P. Lovecraft couldn’t handle.
Ryk E. Spoor has written a fine collection of horror stories with superb characterizations, fine (and often witty) dialogue, and enough action scenes to satisfy all but the most bloodthirsty consumer of the “weird” tale. BTW, I want my own Aris. You’ll discover why you want one of these little critters, too, near the end of the book.
Given that there are a few unresolved plot lines in Paradigms Lost, I suspect that a sequel is in the works. The highest compliment I can give is that I’m anxiously waiting to read it.
What makes this book so special is the way Spoor’s marvelous writing skills have created an overarching mythology tying them all together into a common history predating modern man.
In addition, the author has given these ancient beasts, beings, and Gods some very human characteristics in terms of their personalities, actions, and reactions. That’s not an easy task to do with monsters that want and can tear a human to shreds in seconds. That, I think, sets this collection of stories (held together by the threads of several characters) apart from all of the run-of-the-mill horror stories I’m used to reading.
The main three protagonists of Paradigms Lost are: Jason Woods, a computer geek who sees data patterns that others miss, and has an uncanny ability to derive the correct answers from them; his girlfriend Sylvie, a gifted psychic who can sometimes see into the near future; and Verne Domingo, who at first glance (but not in a mirror) might be a vampire, but turns out to be much more than that. There are several antagonists who also appear throughout this series of stories.
Jason seems to draw events to him and (via helping others — including the government) always seems to wind-up in the middle of anything “weird” happening. Peculiar murders, disappearances, incidences; they all seem land on his doorstep. Monsters battle humans or other monsters; Jason discovers the clues and answers.
This IS a horror novel and there are some wonderfully epic confrontations that move at break-neck speed. The good news is that while the violence is certainly spelled-out, this is not the festival of gore that has consumed much of the rest of the field. I’d have no problem recommending Paradigms Lost to youngsters. There are a lot of different critters to reckon with, names and origins and such, but nothing a fan of H.P. Lovecraft couldn’t handle.
Ryk E. Spoor has written a fine collection of horror stories with superb characterizations, fine (and often witty) dialogue, and enough action scenes to satisfy all but the most bloodthirsty consumer of the “weird” tale. BTW, I want my own Aris. You’ll discover why you want one of these little critters, too, near the end of the book.
Given that there are a few unresolved plot lines in Paradigms Lost, I suspect that a sequel is in the works. The highest compliment I can give is that I’m anxiously waiting to read it.
November 17, 2014
“Paradigm Lost” was published in 2014 (December) and was written by Ryke E. Spoor (http://grandcentralarena.com). Mr. Spoor has published 11 novels.
I obtained a galley of this novel for review through https://www.netgalley.com. I would categorize this novel as ‘PG13’ as there is some Mature Language and Violence. This Fantasy Paranormal Mystery novel is written in the first person and is set primarily in New York, though not exactly on our Earth. The primary character is Jason Wood, a private investigator/information specialist.
Wood is involved in one after another of investigations that gradually draws him and his girlfriend Sylvia Stake, into the heretofore unknown world of the paranormal. They soon find that our world is home to vampires, werewolves and other paranormal creatures. Some of these are friendly, and others very deadly.
There is a bit of Mystery as Wood and his friends pursue various investigations. There is a significant portion of Fantasy and the Paranormal as we discover the strange tale of where the vampires and werewolves came from.
This is not the typical novel that I read. Even though I watched every episode of “True Blood”, stories with vampires, werewolves and other paranormal creatures are not my usual selection. This book is more of a tightly connected set of short stories than it is a novel, and from the preface, these were originally written between 1987 and 2001. The basis of the book is Spoor’s story “Digital Knight”.
I thought that the plot was interesting. I liked the origin story of the vampires and other paranormal beings. The characters though, seems a little thin, they do not have the richness I have found in other novels. Overall I give this novel a 3.5 (rounded up to 4) out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at http://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
I obtained a galley of this novel for review through https://www.netgalley.com. I would categorize this novel as ‘PG13’ as there is some Mature Language and Violence. This Fantasy Paranormal Mystery novel is written in the first person and is set primarily in New York, though not exactly on our Earth. The primary character is Jason Wood, a private investigator/information specialist.
Wood is involved in one after another of investigations that gradually draws him and his girlfriend Sylvia Stake, into the heretofore unknown world of the paranormal. They soon find that our world is home to vampires, werewolves and other paranormal creatures. Some of these are friendly, and others very deadly.
There is a bit of Mystery as Wood and his friends pursue various investigations. There is a significant portion of Fantasy and the Paranormal as we discover the strange tale of where the vampires and werewolves came from.
This is not the typical novel that I read. Even though I watched every episode of “True Blood”, stories with vampires, werewolves and other paranormal creatures are not my usual selection. This book is more of a tightly connected set of short stories than it is a novel, and from the preface, these were originally written between 1987 and 2001. The basis of the book is Spoor’s story “Digital Knight”.
I thought that the plot was interesting. I liked the origin story of the vampires and other paranormal beings. The characters though, seems a little thin, they do not have the richness I have found in other novels. Overall I give this novel a 3.5 (rounded up to 4) out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at http://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
November 12, 2014
Paradigms Lost
Bad choice of cover. The book is a light read about a data miner named Jason, his psychic friend Sylvie, and his new client, a vampire. But the novel is more science fiction than a typical vampire story.
Some interesting ideas, but not terribly satisfying.
Read in Oct.
NetGalley/Baen
Science Fiction. Dec. 2, 2014. print length: 544 pages.
Bad choice of cover. The book is a light read about a data miner named Jason, his psychic friend Sylvie, and his new client, a vampire. But the novel is more science fiction than a typical vampire story.
Some interesting ideas, but not terribly satisfying.
Read in Oct.
NetGalley/Baen
Science Fiction. Dec. 2, 2014. print length: 544 pages.
March 15, 2018
I really liked this book. The world holds together, the characters are likable and the writing is excellent. It reads like an old fashioned series, with short stories that build on each other right up until the final tale. But it feels like it is not complete. The book is on a distinct upward trend all the way to that last story. And there is clearly more of the story in Ryk's mind. I want the rest. Sadly, as of the date of this review, there are stories that involve some of the minor characters from this story, but no completion to this tale. Like many good books, this one leaves you wanting more.
December 6, 2017
Surprisingly entertaining with a new twist on old villians (monsters)! I really enjoyed the story and highly recommend!
April 1, 2024
Great book!
The new release of Paradigms Lost is so well worth it.
Great stories, and I'm looking forward to many more.
The new release of Paradigms Lost is so well worth it.
Great stories, and I'm looking forward to many more.
March 2, 2015
I always appreciate good worldbuilding and Ryk E. Spoor is very good at it indeed. However, on occasion I wish he would build these worlds and then let other people play around with them, because he seems to have trouble with the people in these worlds.
This book is focused on Jason Wood, a data hacker of middling to high skill in the late '90s. Through assisting with a police investigation, he stumbles upon the fact that there are supernatural creatures living among modern citizens. From there, he must deal with public and secret consequences of the revelations.
This is a rework of a book (Digital Knight) that was published some time ago, and apparently contains 50% more material and some extra clarifications. I never read the original, so I can't speak to the success of the expanded material because I couldn't identify it, which I suppose speaks to the skill of the author in that regard.
That said, it's painfully obvious in places that this was not written all together. As it stands, the story is a series of vignettes, with each "part" in the novel being a more or less self contained story within the same universe and involving the same characters. If I didn't know about the structure from the intro, I would have wondered if these were short stories pulled together as a collection because there are illogical infodumps and recaps scattered throughout the book. Sometimes there will be a recap of the events that just concluded twenty pages earlier, in detail that I would expect from an author trying to remind readers of events in a previous book, and it will happen in the middle of a section, rather than at the beginning.
The events themselves are fairly typical of urban fantasies dealing with an unknowing public that suddenly discovers mythological creatures among it. Spoor goes with the formula where creatures are less numerous but more powerful than their mythos, and then reveals that several different creatures from mythology were based on the abilities of one being. He does take it further, however, and creates a new mythology to explain his creatures. That mythology is closer to traditional science fiction than fantasy, and even many of the abilities that the mythological creatures have are given pseudo-scientific explanations rather than attributing them to pure "magic" (though magical phenomena are still present and largely unexplained).
The characters in the book are mostly interesting, but they don't tend to do very much. Most of the conflicts are resolved very quickly and a lot of them seem to arise to provide an excuse for revealing more of the universe the book is set in. The stories are still good, but the endings are rather unsatisfying. I felt at times like I was watching a movie where 75% of it had been spent building up terror for the main villain, only to have him dispatched by a stray gunshot that was the result of the hero randomly encountering the villain on the street.
It was still an enjoyable read, there just wasn't much depth to the characters or their interactions, something that I notice as a theme in a lot of the author's books. Still, this one is good for a quick, light page turner that'll last a while.
This book is focused on Jason Wood, a data hacker of middling to high skill in the late '90s. Through assisting with a police investigation, he stumbles upon the fact that there are supernatural creatures living among modern citizens. From there, he must deal with public and secret consequences of the revelations.
This is a rework of a book (Digital Knight) that was published some time ago, and apparently contains 50% more material and some extra clarifications. I never read the original, so I can't speak to the success of the expanded material because I couldn't identify it, which I suppose speaks to the skill of the author in that regard.
That said, it's painfully obvious in places that this was not written all together. As it stands, the story is a series of vignettes, with each "part" in the novel being a more or less self contained story within the same universe and involving the same characters. If I didn't know about the structure from the intro, I would have wondered if these were short stories pulled together as a collection because there are illogical infodumps and recaps scattered throughout the book. Sometimes there will be a recap of the events that just concluded twenty pages earlier, in detail that I would expect from an author trying to remind readers of events in a previous book, and it will happen in the middle of a section, rather than at the beginning.
The events themselves are fairly typical of urban fantasies dealing with an unknowing public that suddenly discovers mythological creatures among it. Spoor goes with the formula where creatures are less numerous but more powerful than their mythos, and then reveals that several different creatures from mythology were based on the abilities of one being. He does take it further, however, and creates a new mythology to explain his creatures. That mythology is closer to traditional science fiction than fantasy, and even many of the abilities that the mythological creatures have are given pseudo-scientific explanations rather than attributing them to pure "magic" (though magical phenomena are still present and largely unexplained).
The characters in the book are mostly interesting, but they don't tend to do very much. Most of the conflicts are resolved very quickly and a lot of them seem to arise to provide an excuse for revealing more of the universe the book is set in. The stories are still good, but the endings are rather unsatisfying. I felt at times like I was watching a movie where 75% of it had been spent building up terror for the main villain, only to have him dispatched by a stray gunshot that was the result of the hero randomly encountering the villain on the street.
It was still an enjoyable read, there just wasn't much depth to the characters or their interactions, something that I notice as a theme in a lot of the author's books. Still, this one is good for a quick, light page turner that'll last a while.
July 20, 2015
Agreeable, if rather obtrusively episodic (well, there is some evidence of a general main arc to the plot, but it doesn't seem to have gotten very far by the end) fantasy. I liked the way one horrible supernatural monster after another starts out a menace but turns out to be someone our hero can work with--mostly while holding his nose, to be sure--on each case. I did not like so much the way he seemed to be able to do anything, from computer geekery to martial exploits--even, in the last part, to be a lead defense attorney. Also, I know the originals were written quite a while ago, but for something that was revised and added to for this new edition, the technology is pretty quaint (at one point he gets a digital camera, wowza). Still, a pleasant read with some ingenious twists.
FAVORITE LINE:
I opened up the fridge and poked around. "I think I'm out of AB but this bottle of A is new."
FAVORITE LINE:
I opened up the fridge and poked around. "I think I'm out of AB but this bottle of A is new."
January 23, 2015
Dated Lensman series-type fantasy
It was tough to decide on a rating for this book, because the end was better than the beginning or middle. Most of the book rates a 2.5. It's a rather perfunctory 'aliens and gods among us starting with Atlantis' story. The people and relationships are almost wholly unnuanced - either people are totally nice, good and worthy folks, or they're evil monsters. Spoor might argue that Verne is a reformed drug dealer, but his redemption was so easily accomplished that it made no mark. One conversation with Jason, and Verne's whole life was turned around - yeah, right, sure. Anything that costs so little is worth every penny of the price. The writing is workmanlike, the technology extremely dated, the plots typical 'Evil Overlord tries to take over the World!' schlock.
It was tough to decide on a rating for this book, because the end was better than the beginning or middle. Most of the book rates a 2.5. It's a rather perfunctory 'aliens and gods among us starting with Atlantis' story. The people and relationships are almost wholly unnuanced - either people are totally nice, good and worthy folks, or they're evil monsters. Spoor might argue that Verne is a reformed drug dealer, but his redemption was so easily accomplished that it made no mark. One conversation with Jason, and Verne's whole life was turned around - yeah, right, sure. Anything that costs so little is worth every penny of the price. The writing is workmanlike, the technology extremely dated, the plots typical 'Evil Overlord tries to take over the World!' schlock.
October 26, 2016
When you are standing over someone you've just shot with a loaded gun and you're not sure if they're dead - and you don't empty the gun into their head,
I start rooting for the bad guy.
Later in the book, I started wondering why the book wasn't called "Dafaq?" I found myself thinking that a lot.
A nice thing is that the MC is clever. Not brilliant, sadly, but clever. Rare, these days.
Gave the book an extra star for all the twists. Nice.
Note that this book could be two books. Not sure why it isn't. Very long but in a good way.
Now that I am done reading it, I wonder if there will be another novel in the series. Smart MC's are rare...
I start rooting for the bad guy.
Later in the book, I started wondering why the book wasn't called "Dafaq?" I found myself thinking that a lot.
A nice thing is that the MC is clever. Not brilliant, sadly, but clever. Rare, these days.
Gave the book an extra star for all the twists. Nice.
Note that this book could be two books. Not sure why it isn't. Very long but in a good way.
Now that I am done reading it, I wonder if there will be another novel in the series. Smart MC's are rare...
November 23, 2015
I had never finished the original version (Digital Knight), many years ago, but after listening to the Baen Free Radio Hour interview with Ryk E. Spoor, I was intrigued enough to pick up the new version. Paradigms Lost is an episodic novel with reoccurring characters. The stories are all linked through the main character as Jason Wood encounters various supernatural creatures. The storytelling provides the reader with enjoyable ride.
January 25, 2016
Not a bad story. There are things left unfinished, which hopefully means there is a sequel coming at some stage. The characters are interesting and make you care for what happens to them, and the villains are sufficiently scary that you wonder just how our heroes can win.
December 17, 2016
An update to Digital Knight that expands the story nicely. It does suffer from the fact that the book is made up of short stories. So often chapters will start with a recap of what just happened a chapter or two ago.
May 2, 2015
I read the first iteration of this book many, many years ago, and while that core is still there, and still mostly untouched, this adds...quite a bit of new material.
September 21, 2015
Spoor's update of "Digital Knight" is excellent. All of the good from the original, but the parts with Verne's son work much better now.
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