The Alchemists

My first Geary Gravel book was The Pathfinders, a delightful book with a lot of texture. I was particularly attracted to the central character there, a teenager called Ai. Now, reading The Alchemists, I now know the antecedents of the characters in the other book. What a bother; now I have to go read Pathfinders again! I bought a second copy recently, and I know not where I have laid it. Once again, GG has invented several characters to whom my heart reaches out, all quite distinct, with lots of contrast; and their interactions are for the most part, very plausible. However, the author's vision of the distant future is sufficiently complex that it requires an unusual narrative style, to quickly throw the reader into an environment where the human race has become so diverse that personalities and cultures are wildly different, and yet the protagonists expect this diversity, and are determined to cope with it. Raille is the character most of us would find easy to relate to, and to some extent, we see the action through her flighty eyes. Jack is another, a simple artist, contrasted with the self-conscious intellectualism of his companions. I haven't finished reading; I'm just about halfway, and I can't go any faster, because the writing is dense, and not to be skimmed through. Thoroughly recommended Arch

This is one of my favorite books and definitely the most obscure. This novel is absolutely stunning. It has beautiful writing, strong and interesting characters, a truly inventive and multitudinous culture, and a deep tone of philosophical inquiry. I must especially compliment Gravel for his world-building skills. He constructs many different cultures with ease and suggests the way that they would interact to form a larger panculture; what's better, all the seemingly separate beautiful pieces of these different cultures turn out to fit together into a harmonious grand design. The next time you walk into a used bookstore, please, please, please, look for this book.