Pollen

Rating:
Summary: A Rational Vurt
Review: This is absolutely one of my top 10 books, a much more thought out Vurt, but with the same vivid style. This all follows in the path of Giles Goat Boy and Gravity's Rainbow.

Rating:
Summary: Not my favorite book by Jeff Noon
Review: This is the third Jeff Noon book I've read, the others Vurt and Nymphomation both taking place before this one. While I enjoyed the vivid writing style of the book and the expansion on the shadow theme from Vurt I was let down by the characters which didn't feel as fleshed out as in the prior books. The character of Boda, in particular, which is an enigmatic ball of love and hate, really showing the most emotion of any character in the book, never has the reasons behind her emotions revealed. The mystery behind her character was the main thread that grabbed my interest through the beginning of the book and the lack of resolution of that mystery left me dissatisfied. This isn't meant to discourage any potential readers as overall the story is well paced and immensely imaginative. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Vurt but urge anyone who hasn't read any of Jeff Noon's work to start with Vurt or Nympohmation first as a good deal of the background as well as some minor characters draw from these books and benefit from some prior exposure.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointing sequel to a great book.
Review: What a disappointment! I loved Vurt, especially in the Books-On-Tape reading, and I was looking forward to learning more mysteries of the Vurt. This book revealed very little that was new and abandoned its hip-slang narrative voice that made Vurt such a pleasure, in favor of narration by a middle-aged Shadow-cop with little sense of humor. When I finished reading Vurt, it seemed like Jeff Noon's inventiveness was boundless. After finishing Pollen, I felt his imagination had been exhausted long before the book ended. Too bad!

Rating:
Summary: Another wild ride through the labyrinthine mind of Mr. Noon.
Review: Where Vurt was a mouthful of literary sherbet, Pollen is an Indian curry, not nearly as dazzling but rippling with a host of flavours that last long after it's been swallowed. With Pollen, Mr Noon's obsession with the dream-reality interface reveals to us even more disturbing facets of his uncontainable imagination and incorrigible fetishism. A book to push the frontiers