Review: The Day Star by Mark S. Geston

I thought I'd posted this earlier, but apparently I wrote this review back on G+, so here it is now from an archived copy:

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I originally looked into The Day Star by Mark Geston simply based on the awesomeness of it's cover (depicted) but it took quite awhile before I finally got around to reading it recently. I probably should have managed to fit it in a long time ago though, since it is such a short work.

The book might fit, if awkwardly, into the dying earth genre of fiction (certainly it's world weary enough to make the cut). And while reading I kept seeing elements and flashes of other better known books, though I get the sense there's no direct influence involved.

The cosmology bears some similarity to King's Dark Tower setting: a multi-world universe shaped by powerful human technology of old which tried to bend the world to human will and is now in disrepair. Although not a perfect correlation, the weakening of the universe's boundary which occurred when the Day Star cracked might be analogous to King's concept of a thinny (with similar outcome in the case of The Mist ).

The Day Star also contains strong implications of repeating patterns among it's places, situations, the lives of individuals, and humanity's progress in general. These cycles are not presented as exactly redemptive or damning, but more just inevitable and maybe a bit tiring.

Certain descriptions put me in mind of the surreal blend of elements and details Harrison floods the page with in his Viriconium stories. It also reflects, to a lesser degree, Viriconium's implication that things are so far afield that they're almost unrelatable to modern modes of thought.

The Day Star itself also has kind of a Tower of Babel quality to it: The idea of some Great Work of humanity, meant to gather greatness together and impinge on the transcendent. But a project inherently flawed and doomed by hubris.

I came away reasonably satisfied, but at the same time felt it could've used a bit more focus and a bit less vague introspection in it's characters. In fact "vagueness" is probably the thing I was most discontented with in The Day Star. Characters are often lost in their thoughts, but their feelings regarding the situations they are in, and especially regarding each other, often feel only half described. Particularly in the earlier part of the book, I couldn't tell if the author was leaving interpretation of the character's underlying perspective as an exercise for the reader's deep contemplation, or just being vague because they hadn't thought the character's mindset through well enough. But I am an impatient reader, so the failing could be mine.

In conclusion: I'm glad I read The Day Star. It's an okay book and quick read. But I can't get very strongly excited about recommending it. If you see a cheap copy it wouldn't hurt to pick it up. But if you've got Book of the New Sun or The Dying Earth or The Night Land on your shelf, maybe read those first.