Jeff Offringa’s Journal

I’ve always disliked the “Deus ex machina.”

For those of you who don’t remember your high school English classes (or have a little too much orc blood in you), the term come from ancient Greece, and literally means “god from the machine.” Put another way, it’s when the plot of a story is resolved by something outside the story – nothing that the characters do, but from some higher power or outside source, or even some hokey plot device that comes in from left field to save the day.

In ancient times, the term literally meant what it said. A crazy noise and a flash of light (or the like) symbolized a god sweeping in to save the hero from peril – a peril that the mortal couldn’t solve. Today, however, you generally see something contrived come in to save the heroes when the writers create a big bad so powerful that the heroes can’t possible defeat it.

The first example I ever had of this was “way back in the day.” I was in tenth grade when Next Gen Trek gave us one of its best pair episodes – the first Borg two-parter, “The Best of Both Worlds.” I remember this because it was a season ending cliff hanger, and I spent the summer wondering how it would turn out. Would Picard die? Would Riker get command of the Enterprise? Add in that the second half premiered the same weekend as the only Star Trek convention I’ve ever gone too, and it is forever stuck in my mind.

The problem with that episode wasn’t obvious until the end. The Borg mowed through Star Fleet like it wasn’t there, one cube destroying 40 ships at the Battle of Wolf 359. Nothing could stop them. Even our heroic crew was getting their butts kicked. Until… Data puts them to sleep.

Huh? What? Really?

I was incredulous as a teenager, and I still am now. The problem was simple: Once you’ve created a bad guy that incredibly powerful, what can defeat it? Oh, right. Nothing but the Deus ex machina.

I remember feeling cheated by that. Not because Data came up with the idea, but because I couldn’t help but think “The Borg are this bad ass race that has mowed through the best Starfleet has to offer, and their defeated by being put to sleep? So you’re telling me that they have absolutely no defenses against this? How stupid are they?

Or, another example: Jeff Goldblum’s computer virus loaded into the alien mainframe in “Independence Day,” where, conveniently enough, the alien computers use Macintosh OS’s. See my point?

This is why the series of books I finished reading a week or two back was so disappointing in its ending. The series in question, Peter Hamilton’s “Night’s Dawn” trilogy, is the series that made him famous; I’m not sure if it was his first series or not, but they were best sellers.

And it’s looooooooong. Like, 4000 pages of a trilogy long. Spanning the galaxy, with really cool cultures and technology, it is a thrill ride. And the truly weird part about it is the metaphysical side of it, for the series is more Science Horror than Space Opera in many ways.

I came to Mr. Hamilton a few years back – after the series I’m talking about was out of print, and I only found that Orbit books had republished the series a few months back. So, even though there are some spoilers here, they’re for a series 15 years old.

Now, saying that, the series is simply too massive for me to describe in a short review, so I’ll stick to a couple of my impressions. The first is that, like Hamilton’s later books, he builds a truly impressive and creative universe. Truly unique cultures, and lots of ’em. Yet that is both a strength and a flaw: It’s too big. Too many planets, too many characters. Too much everything; this is why the series is 4,000 pages long.

I read a comment in an Amazon review that explained this fact. Obviously, I can’t say if this is true or not, but it does make sense, and that is that he originally wanted the story to be about just his main character (starship Captain Joshua Calvert), but the publisher told him to add to the story.

True story or not, the series suffers from that decision. There are lots and lots of side arcs and plot lines that add to the length – and, truth be told, to the richness of the story, – but there are also many more plot lines that don’t. Had he focused on his main character and not spanned the galaxy, the story would have been tighter, and made more sense.

That leads me to my second point: the aforementioned Deus ex machina. Hamilton’s story is so big, and his over arching evil force so powerful, that you’re 3900 pages in and thinking “How the heck is he going to wrap this up in a hundred pages?”

Then it happens. I won’t say way what, suffice it to say that the ending leaves you scratching your head going “Huh! Really? Well, at least it’s a happy ending.”

After finishing the books, I read the review I mentioned above, and I thought about it: Everyone complains – including the multitude of reviewers who, like me, enjoyed the books despite the hokey ending – about how it ends. “Great series until the ending. I felt so cheated. Almost ruins an awesome series.”

All of that is true. But as I thought about it, I realized something: Had Mr. Hamilton focused on Captain Calvert exclusively, like he (purportedly) originally planned to do, the series is not only both shorter and better paced / plotted, but also makes more sense. It becomes a tale of metaphysical discovery – with a lot really, really cool races and tech and battles along the way. It the “Deus ex machina” doesn’t seem quite so contrived.

Yet… Mr. Hamilton does love his doorstop books. I’m not sure why; I just know that his books average 800 pages or so, and the new one I got for Christmas checks in at just under a thousand (and requires a deadly weapon license to keep on your nightstand). But I will keep reading. Yes, Mr. Hamilton’s later books also resort to contrived plot devices to tie up the story. OTOH, his stories are just so darn good!

In other words, if you get a chance to, and like galaxy spanning SF, pick him up and give him a try. Just be aware that the stage hands might have to make the machine work to tie up his otherwise excellent stories.