ok. i did actually get enjoyment out of the experience of reading this book i just dont think it really works, as a book. i am always happy to see roz being the Main Character and Miles' prose is so spooky and hammy and good hes a lovely horror writer. reminds me very much of John Langan and Grant Morrison (Doom Patrol era). the atmosphere he writes is very tasty very lovecraftian. there are ofc a bunch of other writers on this series trying to do cthulhu mythos inspired shit but its mostly focused on the Big Monster aspects and isnt all that committed to the actual horrory horror part. Lawrence Miles can really DO that stuff. and clearly enjoys doing so.

the big roadblock here is that the central premise of the whole story, the big piece of cosmology that gets introduced of the dichotomy between 'Reason' and 'Cacophony', not only is a really weak dichotomy (which, like, sure im willing to suspend my disbelief) but they keep running into points where the defining line is Not Clear and the characters remark on it being Not Clear. but then zero effort is ever made from either the characters or the writer to make anything of the fact that it doesnt really make sense to say the two ideas are mutually exclusive opposites. so like youre actively destroying my suspension of disbelief. for nothing, i guess. which sucks cuz the "these two things are not actually opposed" angle could have been SO good here. but instead its like "yeah weird that these are supposed to be the two opposing forces of the universe when the distinction is so ill-defined and murky, but i guess thats just how it is".

theres also a really stupid, wildly sexist, pseudo-bioessentialist thing going on in here that adds nothing and is equally muddy as the other dichotomy going on. I've read a lot of truly dreadful old genre books, i can handle misogyny, but i draw the line at the misogyny not making sense in context. you're trying to tell me Roz is more naturally aligned with the forces of illogic and instinct than Chris is...? theres one or two other smaller ideas that are Fun but don't really work within this canon at all too.

i think this idea of a force that had to be banished from the world for the sake of Order, even though its not any worse, just different and not easily controlled, is actually done a lot better in the like... three paragraphs in the last chapter of Sky Pirates where they're talking about the Charon. it's way better executed and not wishy washy about its own premise.

Also very "fun" to compare the Sky Pirates! take of "the choice to return to the status quo was made for us a long time ago and now were seeing the proof that this was a pointless and cruel choice made by a people terrified of not being gods anymore" vs. this book that's more like... "well. everything went back to normal, and we didn't particularly learn anything about the world. but we don't have to worry about that anymore. yay!" the choice is barely rationalized and only serves to make chris realize he maybe can't trust the Doctor, which is a character beat we already did in Head Games.

completing my compliment sandwich: i think this is some of the most solid Roz Character Development Content ive seen actually. feels more substantial than some of the previous attempts. just straight up being faced with what her place in history is if she doesnt start making more of an effort to change, while seeing how much better she is already. her ghost of christmas future moment.

overall i think this book structurally is just kind of busted and poorly thought through. but the prose and cosmic horrory bits are excellent, and id love to soak my brain in them. Lawrence Miles does some great insane otherworldly stuff, predictably. uhh. 3/5 or something.

Don't make me tap the sign ⬇️

"But I didn’t and still don’t like making a cult of women’s knowledge, preening ourselves on knowing things men don’t know, women’s deep irrational wisdom, women’s instinctive knowledge of Nature, and so on. All that all too often merely reinforces the masculinist idea of women as primitive and inferior – women’s knowledge as elementary, primitive, always down below at the dark roots, while men get to cultivate and own the flowers and crops that come up into the light. But why should women keep talking baby talk while men get to grow up? Why should women feel blindly while men get to think?"

-- Ursula Le Guin