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A review by pastathief
Numenera - The Poison Eater by Shanna Germain
3.0
I really think that this was a good start for the fiction line based on the Numenera tabletop RPG. It has enough of the feel of the world to be satisfying to people looking to flesh out their understanding of the game's setting, but really didn't focus on being a tie-in product. It stood alone as a novel in its own right fairly well, although I don't know if it's one I would have chosen to read without the relation.
Taken on its own rights, this is a good, enjoyable, but not great fantasy story with sci-fi elements. The focus is definitely on the characters and their bonds. That said, with a couple of exceptions, most of the characters don't seem to go through much of a development arc. Also, the end seemed rushed, both in that it came very quickly and in that most of its epic nature, promised for the whole book, happens off-camera. It leaves possible hooks for a Poison Eater II, but part of me hopes they leave it as it stands. And occasionally I think the author over-estimated my ability to follow her train of thought, which is surprising in that it's usually quite the opposite. Where I'm used to being sledgehammered with an idea until even people near me get it by osmosis, in this book there were many conversational points where the main character decides that the subtext of a conversation was so clear it didn't need to be said, whereas whatever it was, I totally missed it. Sometimes this came across as social sophistication that was over my head, but more often it just felt like a lack of rigour and hand-waving where perhaps there was nothing to back up a turn that had to happen.
Lastly, what character development did happen felt a little like going 0-100 on 0 seconds flat. Like, the character was at point A, and then was just at point B, with nothing in between. So it didn't always feel natural to me.
Nonetheless, the world is rich, and the book had a lot of atmosphere. And it did manage to not feel entirely like a tie-in product. I think if you're a fan of Numenera and looking to flesh out your experience of the world, it's a no-brainer, but for people outside of that, maybe pick it up if you really need something to read or if you can get it inexpensively. I enjoyed it, but I don't feel a need to buy copies for all my friends.
Taken on its own rights, this is a good, enjoyable, but not great fantasy story with sci-fi elements. The focus is definitely on the characters and their bonds. That said, with a couple of exceptions, most of the characters don't seem to go through much of a development arc. Also, the end seemed rushed, both in that it came very quickly and in that most of its epic nature, promised for the whole book, happens off-camera. It leaves possible hooks for a Poison Eater II, but part of me hopes they leave it as it stands. And occasionally I think the author over-estimated my ability to follow her train of thought, which is surprising in that it's usually quite the opposite. Where I'm used to being sledgehammered with an idea until even people near me get it by osmosis, in this book there were many conversational points where the main character decides that the subtext of a conversation was so clear it didn't need to be said, whereas whatever it was, I totally missed it. Sometimes this came across as social sophistication that was over my head, but more often it just felt like a lack of rigour and hand-waving where perhaps there was nothing to back up a turn that had to happen.
Lastly, what character development did happen felt a little like going 0-100 on 0 seconds flat. Like, the character was at point A, and then was just at point B, with nothing in between. So it didn't always feel natural to me.
Nonetheless, the world is rich, and the book had a lot of atmosphere. And it did manage to not feel entirely like a tie-in product. I think if you're a fan of Numenera and looking to flesh out your experience of the world, it's a no-brainer, but for people outside of that, maybe pick it up if you really need something to read or if you can get it inexpensively. I enjoyed it, but I don't feel a need to buy copies for all my friends.