Robert Newcomb Was A Waste Of Time

Last night I just finished reading a fantasy series by Robert Newcomb. I didn't actually finish the series, but I did finish reading it.

I had read on Wikipedia that he was having trouble finding a publisher for the remaining books he has planned for this series. But I could have sworn I read later that he finally had. And so I foolishly kept reading what has been a mediocre series, only to find that it will, in fact, remain unpublished for the foreseeable future.

I can't think of many more reading scenarios more frustrating than reading a mediocre series that you only realize you'll never be able to finish after starting the sixth book in the series. I thought it would have been worth it if I could get to the end of the story. And I thought the 6th book WAS the end of the story. But just to put my fears to rest, accepting the risk of spoiling the story for myself, I skipped ahead and read the last three pages. I'm glad I did. I was able to move on to my next book much more quickly.

So what was mediocre about the experience? Well, Newcomb does some things that I really like as a reader. His writing takes you inside the minds of his characters, helping you to feel what they are feeling. This is a must for any fiction I read. His stories also dealt with mature subject matter and dark happenings. Evil was VERY evil and the lines were drawn clearly. And in the first two books, the bad guys were easy to hate and made my blood boil.

But after that, the motivations of villains vanished in favor of cookie cutter villains who were bad just because they liked being bad. I stopped hating them because they didn't feel real.

Additionally, Newcomb VERY often keeps things from his readers. Whenever a siginifcant plan is cooked up by the heroes to "save the day" or get themselves out of trouble, Newcomb handles it by saying something like, "They talked about the plan and all agreed that it would probably work." The reader isn't let in on what the plan was until it is executed, at which time it also comes off without a hitch.

I'd rather know what the plan is in advance and then see it not work perfectly so I can freak out along with the characters as they try to improvise a solution. But Newcomb keeps me at a distance, as though he'd rather I try to guess what the plan is before they pull it off. Not interested. Especially since I know it will always work.

Of course, there is the exception to this rule from time to time. It almost always happens at the climax of each book. The plan to beat the bad guy is revealed, and then it doesn't work. And then something strange and random happens that takes out the bad guy anyway. The characters don't know what happened. They just thank their lucky stars. Then a little epilogue reveals to the reader a new villain that caused the weird randomness. A villain which will be the focus of the next book and will be defeated in the same way. Rinse and repeat.

This repeated use of the Deus Ex Machina plot device in his writing at the end of nearly every book leaves them feeling very anti-climactic.

So despite having several of the traits I really like in a writer's general style, Newcomb veered drastically away from my tastes in several consistent ways.

I can only hope that the book I just picked up from Sara Douglass will treat me better. (At least I know this series has an ending that is available in paperback. I double-checked.)