Midnight Lamp (Bold As Love book 3) by Gwyneth Jones
01/12/2003 . Source: Tomas L Martin 
pub: Gollancz. 326 page enlarged paperback. Price: £10.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-575-07471-X. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check
out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk
and www.boldaslove.co.uk
Gwyneth Jones won the Arthur C. Clarke
in 2001 for her novel 'Bold As Love', a peculiar mix of 70s rock homage,
cyberpunk and urban fantasy.
In that volume, British
civilisation was overthrown by environmental 'Green Nazis' and a surprising man
defeated them to become king...flamboyant rock star Ax Preston aided by his lovers,
Sage Pender - the infamous music programmer Aoxomoxoa - and folk singer Fiorinda.
 In
the second novel in the series, 'Castles Made Of Sand', the trio
rallied together to defeat Fiorinda's father, a twisted mage in
the body of an Irishman.
In
'Midnight Lamp', another title taken from a Jimi Hendrix song, Ax, Sage and Fiorinda
are invited to Hollywood by the president of the United States, supposedly to
make a film of their exploits during the British revolution. But it turns
out that the president needs them to help stop another super-powerful mage, a
'Fat Boy' amped up by government weapon research and brutal sacrifice. At least,
I think that's what it was about.
There's a lot of backstory to this
series, which is dragged into 'Midnight Lamp' a lot like excess baggage. Having
not read the previous parts of Ax's saga, I struggled to get into the setting
for long periods at the beginning. There's a lot of meandering in the plot-line
and none of it feels all that essential to the overall series, except the twist
at the very end, which seems quite tacked-on, despite its importance.
That
said, there's a lot of nice stuff here, too, and the quirky threesome's characters
are explored expansively. Ax feels very much like the late Jimi Hendrix, a misunderstood
genius given more respect than he thinks he deserves. Sage, recovering from near
death is humble, and Zen and Fiorinda is the spark that ignites them when she
goes missing half-way through the book. The adventure through Hollywood,
where 'virtuals' have replaced live-action movies, often throws up a cool idea
or technique and the cameo appearance by an ancient Robert Redford is an inspired
touch that made me laugh out loud. The timid AI car given to the characters by
the movie studio is another deft touch.
Great ideas and neat passages
dot this book liberally but the story skeleton behind it is sorely lacking. I
got the feeling there was a good story in here but that still didn't help me know
what was going on half the time. Jones spends the first half trying to help first
time readers get into the characters and in doing so loses track of the story.
By the time the important events actually start, there's not enough time
to fill it all in satisfactorily, leaving this as not much more than set-up for
the next book in the series. Tomas L. Martin 
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