posted
What I will say about the shiftin first persons is that I got used to it. I did not like it, though. The first time it happened, in particular, several chapters in, I was so shaken that I set the book down for several days.
Since journal entries were involved, it was OK....I could accept it. But at the end, when the POV shifted one last time to the brother (Actually, I never thought the end should have happened...but a topic for a different threat.) I though that the author chose poorly when it came to POV. IMHO, there was nothing this first person account did that a third person limitd account could not have done better.
You hit on my biggest problem with the book, as it happens. In general, I liked it.
posted
While it was a bit of a jump when Maree's POV was introduced, I did appreciate getting her explanation of the Witchy Dance. I think it helped to have Rupert deciding against her, while the reader is seeing events from her POV and understanding why he should go with her after all. So I decided I liked how the POV was done. At the end, the shift to Nick's POV was a bit artificial, to tie up loose threads and explain anything that needed explaining, but it didn't turn me off. I had figured out that he wanted to be a Magid, so that wasn't really a surprise.
I haven't written much in 1st person POV, so I also looked at the book as a way to learn how someone does it, including multiple POVs. I have read books where usually the POV alternates chapters, instead of here where it clumped. I don't think there is a quality issue - Jones did it to fit the story, and so for me it worked.
posted
Considering that the shift was journal entries I was able to live with it. The last chapter..... I agree with Christine, 3rd person would have been better. It was my biggest complaint about the book. Although I did read it in 3 days.
posted
I have never had a problem with 1st person pov. The Stainless Steel Rat series was first person, never had a problem. But the first shift sort of threw me for a moment. And I'll agree the last part was boring. But even though I have a few other little issues with it, I did enjoy it.
posted
The shift in first person didn't bother me a bit. I've read other books where the same thing bothered me more. I think one was Fredrik Pohl's Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (or another one in the Heechee series). It may even have shifted from first to third to some other first, and did it without any explanation at all. That really bothered me.
I'll tell you what the author could have done that I think would have improved it for a lot of people. Every single chapter should have had that little box saying where the "file" came from. That would have been a constant reminder, as well as a strong indication that not all the chapters were going to come from the same source. Sort of like Dracula. (Actually, that's another one where it jarred me more than here, but only because it ended one voice in a real cliff-hangar, and I had to suffer through quite a number of pages of Mina Murray's journal before things started to get interesting again.)
[This message has been edited by rickfisher (edited June 23, 2004).]
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