Outside of a Dog: Baker, Kage: Anvil of the World, The

Skwid

Skwid wrote on April 4, 2005 at 3:12 PM:

Man...you and Chad are both adding busily to my List, today. Thanks!

Kate

Kate wrote on April 4, 2005 at 7:47 PM:

Do let me know what you think of it when you read it!

Mike Kozlowski

Mike Kozlowski wrote on April 4, 2005 at 8:38 PM:

Comparing a book to both Bridge of Birds and Pratchett might be many things, but it's certainly not failing to do it justice. Amazon ho!

Kate

Kate wrote on April 4, 2005 at 9:16 PM:

Mike--granted "overpraise" is not usually the sense of "fail to do justice" that one thinks of first, but I think it's a possible subset--and now I'm worried that I've done just that . . .

Trent

Trent wrote on April 5, 2005 at 11:43 AM:

Man, I hate to throw in a contrary voice, but I thought Anvil, although it has some very nice flashes of inspiration sprinkled throughout, didn't cohere very well at all as a narrative whole. And I say that as, generally speaking, a fan of Baker. Mileages vary, and all.

Kate

Kate wrote on April 5, 2005 at 11:48 AM:

Trent, I grant that "narrative whole" is not the strength of the book, which I tried to suggest by noting the three-novella structure and its movement in tone. (Also, I should've noted that it starts a little slowly.) But for pulling off the climax of the third part, and for making me giggle like an idiot in many places, I'll forgive a *lot* worse structural problems than _Anvil_ had.

Trent

Trent wrote on April 5, 2005 at 4:18 PM:

I freely grant the "giggle like an idiot" part (as in, I share the same reaction); creating those bits is one of Baker's real strengths. We have a difference of opinion about what she managed to pull off in the third section--my memory is hazy, but I do recall thinking of it as being the weakest section of the book.

Aaron

Aaron wrote on April 6, 2005 at 3:04 AM:

Well, speaking as someone who found The Garden of Iden fairly boring, I quite liked Anvil. It didn't always hold together well, and I thought the attempts at humor were a bit affected at times. Beyond that, I don't think it was beautiful in the way that Bridge of Birds was. But, all that aside, as Kate said, it was fun, and I like that.

Kate

Kate wrote on April 6, 2005 at 10:05 AM:

Aaron, I would definitely agree that it's not at all like _In the Garden of Iden_, and I don't remember _Sky Coyote_ well enough to say if it's like that. I'll get back to reading the Company books one of these days, when actual answers are forthcoming.

clew

clew wrote on June 1, 2005 at 8:47 PM:

I have a Theory as to what _Anvil_ is About. I think Baker's writing the mythology that the West Coast, maybe just California, might have had had it developed endogenously (sic?): no distinct Old World, but the same West Coast we have now.

pdtillman

pdtillman wrote on April 30, 2006 at 5:26 PM:

Hi, Kate:

AOL to your ANVIL comments, and AOL to clew's alt-california theory.

Quoting myself [at http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/anviloftheworld.htm ]: Near-perfect light, funny fantasy-California adventure stories.

I don't think anyone else here has commented yet on Our Kage's multi-Smith tour de force here: the protagonist and at least six other unrelated characters are all named "Smith". Homage to Thorne Smith, a Baker favorite -- but all the Smiths are well-drawn and distinct, a welcome contrast to books with characters who have different names but all sound alike.

We miss you at rasfw!

Happy reading--
Pete Tillman

Kate

Kate wrote on April 30, 2006 at 9:37 PM:

Pete: I didn't even remember the multiplicity of Smiths until you pointed it out, so yes, it works very well indeed.

I miss rasfw too, but I've had to admit that I simply don't have the time for it any more. Alas.

Kate

Kate wrote on November 16, 2006 at 10:07 PM:

I re-read this because I've been staring at it on the bookshelf for weeks as I do stretches on the floor.

I have nothing to add except the paragraph I was unconsciously mimicking in the review:

"Smith just shook his head . . . . He supposed that benign heavenly beings who incarnated into the flesh with the purpose of defeating worldly evil knew best how to go about their divine jobs; but surely there had been a better way to do it than singling out a Lord of Evil, marrying him, and forcing him to behave himself? Let alone bringing a lot of highly unstable and conflicted children into the world."