Review: Seven-Point Star – A Solid Early Work Despite Some Missteps · 6:31pm Oct 4th, 2017
Woof! This has been a long time coming. And for that, I owe G.S. Taylor an apology. This review was due a while ago, but with the bronchitis knocking everything back, getting this review out and onto the screen has taken far, far longer than expected. But better late than never, and now at last you, my readers, finally have a chance to take a look at my thoughts on Seven-Point Star, Taylor’s first novel.
Quick Edit: I neglected to point out that G.S. Taylor is a fellow author of ponywords as well! Check out their page!
So let’s get one thing out of the way first: Seven-Point Star is a fairly solid appearance from a new author, with plenty of strong points to it. If you’re looking for the short, 100% blind, spoiler-free review, that’s it. Seven is a fairly strong first work that, especially at the price, is worth picking up and reading through, especially if you’re the kind of reader that admires the particular strengths it does put on display … or if you just enjoy quick alternate history/fantasy reads.
What are those strengths, you might ask? Well, for the spoiler-free summary, here you go—I found the protagonist to be strongly written, mostly in her perspective and unstable teenage vantage point, and the world itself—what we’re given anyway—is almost like a Sci-Fi-Crystal Fantasy fairy tale in the way it comes across. Both these elements stay pretty solid through the course of Seven-Point Star, and if you’re looking for something that delivers those, well, Seven-Point Star will satisfy your thirst … though you will notice weaknesses that run counter to those strengths. In my personal opinion, however, the strengths are just enough to make up for the weaknesses and carry the title on above average. So you’re still going to get a decent read provided you appreciate the strengths for what they are.
Right, with the short, spoiler-free summary out of the way, let’s get a bit more loose with how much this review gives away—without giving away too much, but I will have to reveal a few general concepts as we dive into the book. Hit the jump for spoiler-town!
Interesting. Having been an alpha-reader for the story, I find your reactions to the world and character right on the money. And, as I fully expected, you targeted the lack of explanations. I'm curious if you were aware that said lack of explanations was intentional? I'd imagine you were, given what JJ has mentioned to me before, but I guess there's no getting around the negatives of the attempt. From my side and a writer's perspective, I was highly entertained by his experimental effort to make something good out of concepts that have long been established as unabashedly bad.
In that regard, I'd say he did a decent job.
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I didn't know that it was intentional, but based on conversations I had with him after I finished it on what he found distasteful about Colony, I'd theorized that the lack of explanations and depth had come about because of an intentional, heavy focus on hitting the beats and moving ahead, which unfortunately left a lot of the story's best elements half-explored.
Knowing that it was intentional does fit in with what I'd guessed about the type of reader and writer he is based on his initial reactions to Colony and my analysis of Seven-Point Star, but unfortunately I felt it didn't help the book but rather hindered it, and that was only putting the pieces together after reading it. Just straight reading it blind was ... well, the cake analogy in the review sums it up pretty accurate, I feel.
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Oh, I understand. One of the reasons that I so strongly supported JJ in writing the story is because I knew what he was going for was going to be negatively received by many, and I wanted to see just how well he could make a story even with that in mind. I did point out a number of things in the alpha-reading stage, saying "that's probably not going to fly", but then he always reminded me that the entire story was intentionally built around the oft-loathed principle of "It's magic, I don't have to explain anything."
Again, blatantly problematic. But if someone could still manage to write a good story in spite of that self-made handicap, what does it say about the writer in general?
I'm looking forward to what JJ does next. Maybe without that handicap he'll make something even better.
It really is interesting how your biggest gripe with SPS was "not enough world building" while one of my biggest problems with Colony was "not enough character building." Different strokes, eh? This was always going to be a character-focused piece. I mean, really, just look at the cover of each book: SPS has a single character while Colony has a planet. That already tells you everything about the books, I think.
As for the lack of explanations: it was largely intentional. Not explaining magic is practically half the book's plot, so it's thematic and all. Very artsy-fartsy, that. As for not going into detail about the rest of the world, I simply didn't want to get things blatantly wrong. I can see why it would strike you as a negative, of course, if you're all about world building. I knew from the start that this was a book about Europe, Europeans, in Europe. I also joked with some pre-readers that I'm making the single most diverse all-white cast ever.
Let's just say that the ending was a deus ex machina on purpose. I always knew it would either be absolute genius or total crap, and that different people might disagree which one it is in the end. I really wanted to do it, though.
I'm glad you thought the book worked in the end! If you're not completely disillusioned with me as an author after SPS, if you ever get around to reading my next book(s), you might enjoy them more: I'm writing the first book in a planned trilogy right now, and it's all about travelling across the world to discover its secrets. New countries, new cultures, new adventures, that kind of deal.
Also, my review of Colony is up.
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I definitely will take a look. I mean, you have a solid first book—IMOO more solid that One Drink, though I'm pretty harsh about that title's flaws—and you've shown to be aware of said flaws (and some were even intentional). Whatever you read next, barring some horrible, insane misstep, will likely be stronger than Seven-Point Star, so I'd be interested in checking that out. I've got a kindle, I enjoy reading books, and you've put forward some good strengths to build on.
We are definitely on different ends of a writing spectrum, I think (I go with a deep vertical path, you with a strong horizontal path, I treat the world as a character, you focus on the character characters, etc), but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy one another's work for what it is and what it does well, and have fun getting lost in another world for a while. Thanks for the review!