Ink: The Book of All Hours

I remember when T.V. Guide used to rate televised movies that it gave a "two-star" rating to Charleton Heston's version of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" and a three-star rating to "Batman Returns." And I remember thinking that surely a second-rate "Caesar" deserved a better rating than a first-rate "Batman." I had similar thoughts about Duncan's "Ink." The book has considerable flaws -- for example, it is an incoherent mess. But its learning is so pervasive, its concept so grand, and its plotting so intricate that I hated to give it less than five stars when I have given five stars to, e.g., a Suzie Grafton mystery novel. Perhaps the least bad way to read this book is to treat it as a series of loosely connected short stories involving the same (or similar) characters placed in different settings in different worlds. This book and its predecessor, "Vellum," is based upon the idea that the universe is a series of alternative worlds somehow connected to each other by "folds" in an overworld (or something like that -- as is often the case with this book, it is hard to tell whether Duncan's vision is inscrutably subtle or merely incomprehensible). Moreover, each of the different "worldlets" can be altered by the actions of the characters both in that world and in some other word (and apparently in the overworld as well). In turn, the worlds, the worldlets, and the overworld are somehow controlled by a book, called "The Book of All Hours" which exists, in various forms, in the various worldlets, and this book in some manner controls the fate of the world and worldlets themselves. How this plays out is a bit confusing. Finally, it appears that doing something -- it is not clear what -- with the Book of All Hours can cause the worldlets to coalesce (or collapse) into one (or perhaps more) universes. Anyway, the characters are put through their paces in different stories in different settings in different worldlets. Whether these different stories are supposed to be simultaneous, serial, or whether the notions of time itself are irrelevant or plastic is not always clear. But it is fascinating to observe how what purports to be the same human material acts very differently in very different contexts -- a theme that has not received as much fictional treatment as one would think it deserves. Duncan attempts to wrap all of this disparate material up in the last fifty-or-so pages. His long (too long?) denoument imagines his surviving characters in one world where they seem to enjoy one unified and rather peaceful existence. In my opinion, Duncan's mountainous plot has given birth to a mouse, but his alternative may have been to leave his magnum opus in shaggy-dog land. Perhaps the most interest comment on Duncan's efforts was found in Fantasy and Science Fiction's review of "Vellum." The reviewer concluded that he really had to read to book over to be certain he got what it had to offer. I only wish I could be sure that Duncan has enou

I read this book before i read Vellum. i was Hooked all the way through. in fact i was not even aware that there was another book. Doing this only further compounded my perception of the a/synchronus, A/symetric alternate realites. Reminding me that there are as few as one or two steps to remove yourself from where you are and transplant yourself into another pocket dimension. this is a fantastic read. Some people may find it hard to understand, i hardly understand the world around me so it's easy for me to get lost in this book. don't pay attention to the reviews and ratings. read it for yourself and decide later.

This is the best and most complex series I have ever read. The conclusion wrapt it up nicely. There are some shocking revelations about the nature of the various characters' relationships. This is enough to make me wonder about how many characters there "really" are. This made me think about the nature of identity, about how complex it can be. A similar theme was explored in the Matrix trilogy and the Fight Club. These stories show that personalities don't necessarily come one per custimer...