D.M. Dutcher 's Reviews > River of Blue Fire

Filler.

The first novel was long, but it was unraveling a mystery. This is just the main characters being herded through sim after sim, with a few character in the real world having enough screen time to be reminded that they exist. It gets old, because it's not necessary to the plot.

1. A character (Paul Jonas) or team of them (Rennie, !Xabbu) land in a sim word reminding us of something, sometimes blatantly.

2. They get captured or chased.

3. They leave to the next.

This is the bulk of the book. What's left is:

4. Plot events that don't have any real resolution.

5. Introducing even more characters, like a police detective hunting Dread, or a virtual actor.

6. A very tiny amount of plot events that set up real difficulties.

The problem with this is that there are three more books in the series. If this were setting up the last volume, it could be forgiven. But this is just a middle, filler novel, and is souring me on the series. It's still very well written, to the point where each sim could be its own novel. There are times when some great moments peek through. !Xabbu as always is a wonderful character, and each character is different enough not to blur together.

Still, the sheer amount of running in place is frustrating, and the fact that this wont be neatly tied up in a third volume reduces the rating I give. These are not slender books at all.