Princes of Air

I, too, read this book in college and have read it a number of times again with great pleasure. A friend once described it as " a roleplaying game adventure", but it is much more. The characters are haunting, the mood powerfully bittersweet. No success comes without a price and, while each character's dreams are realized, that realization is not what they expected. The background is quite vague and makes the book harder to follow than it might be - but it means the imagination can really get to work and that each re-reading brings new pleasures.

The basic plot sounds so simple: three young friends attempt to realize their dreams in the far future. They do so but not in the way they expected. The science is simplified to the level of the 1950's pulps but the characters and plot are so astoundingly rich and complex that the story rises far above its simple roots. The story is told in the form of three loosely linked novellas that seem incomplete when read independently but are very powerful when read together. I bought this book when I was in college and reread it every 5 years or so, never failing to find something new each time. This story would be considered a major work of literature if wasn't science fiction. My only real complaint is that the world around the main characters is so vague and hazy that you have troubles fully understanding what is going on until you've read the book several times.

Having read Ford's "Web of Angels," I searched long and hard to find another of his books, suceeding finally in the back of a supremely dusty used-bookstrore in deepest downtown New York. It takes some serious reading to understand the plot--both what's going on 'right now,' and how it ties into what's happening/has happened. It reminded me of Gibson's writing a little, in that respect. It's eccentric, well-realised, and definately no kin of average SF. Find a copy, and enjoy, and reread, and enjoy, and... Well, you get the picture. Check out Gene Wolfe, while you're at it. Best fiction author of our time, I believe.