bluegargantua

Hi,

So I finished up Majestrum by Matthew Hughes. This is another in his series of Archon stories, the first two of which I reviewed earlier. Basically, these stories are set in the same universe as the Dying Earth series by Jack Vance, but an Aeon or two earlier. So the sun still has some life left in it and humans aren't quite as shiftless as they are in the Dying Earth books.

This particular story follows Henghis Hepthorn, a discriminator (i.e. private investigator) living on Old Earth. He gets a job trying to investigate the suitor of an aristocrat's daughter and soon finds himself involved in political intrigues and a plot to conquer the universe. The other major theme in the book is that the universe is slowly tilting away from science and back into magic -- a proposition which terrifies the rational-minded Hepthorn. This problem is made worse by the fact that his personal computer has been transformed from a mechnical device to a furry cat/ape creature with a taste for expensive fruits. Additionally, the same magical energies that transformed his computer have also given him a split personality. He now shares his head with his "Insight", the intuitive, illogical part of his brain given full sentience. Needless to say, he's rather conflicted over the whole affair.

Hughes draws a lot of comparisons to Vance and Wodehouse. Unfortunately, that's a pretty high bar to be setting for an author and I don't always feel that the dialogue is up to the task. In particular, once you get the fact that Hepthorn is unsettled by his Insight personality you get it. Long conversations with the other person in his head tend to wind up at the same place and eventually start to pull the story flat. Additionally, Hepthorn has previously appeared in another of Hughes books The Gist Hunter and Other Stories and I feel that perhaps those Hepthorn stories could've been folded into this one. The circumstances behind Hepthorn's condition are well-explained (and not tediously so), but there are clearly a lot of half-references to previous events.

Perhaps all of Hughes Archon stories will be collected together, that might solve the problem neatly. I will say that the mystery story contined within is quite good and Hepthon has to been his Intellect and his Insight to solve the problem.

later
Tom