Text 6346, 274 rader
Skriven 2006-08-20 11:40:00 av Robert E Starr JR (7076.babylon5)
Ärende: Invoking Darkness, by Jea
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The events of the end of Season Three and beginning of Season Four are
seen through the eyes of Galen, the emotionally traumatized
Techno-Mage, in the final volume of "The Passing of the Techno-Mages"
trilogy.


THE PLOT

As the Vorlon/Shadow War wages on, the Techno-Mages remain cloistered
in their hiding place, determined not to involve themselves. Galen,
emotionally scarred by the death of his beloved Isabelle and by the
horrible realization of the source of the mages' power, elects to
keep himself away from the others. He assigns himself to the
observation dome, avoiding contact with the other mages while watching
what goes on in the galaxy the mages turned their backs on.

He watches as Sheridan pushes Kosh into a confrontation that ends with
the Vorlon's death ("Interludes & Examinations"). He watches as
Sheridan discovers the Shadows' aversion to telepaths, and uses that
information to score a minor victory ("Walkabout"). He watches as the
Shadows' influence continues to spread, and fears that for all his
progress, Sheridan's efforts are doomed to failure.

What he doesn't watch is his back. Galen doesn't realize that the
Shadows' tendrils have seeped even into the hiding place. When a
betrayal leads to tragedy, Galen discovers that Morden may have
lingering influence on the remaining mages... and that rogue
Techno-Mages Elizar and Razeel may have possession of Galen's
devastating Spell of Destruction.

With a lethal safeguard against having his Tech nullified again, Galen
leaves the hiding place on a final mission, a mission from which he has
no intention of returning. He is to find three targets: Morden...
Elizar... Razeel. His mission: assassination!


THE GOOD

Much of my review for "Invoking Darkness," the third and final entry in
Jeanne Cavelos' Techno-Mage trilogy, will recall my review of
"Summoning Light," her previous entry. That's because this book's
strengths are very much as that book's were... and its weaknesses are
much the same, as well.

The book as its strongest when it's dealing specifically with the
Techno-Mages, probably because the Techno-Mage material gives Cavelos a
lot more narrative freedom than when she has to write inside and around
TV episodes. The best sustained portion of the novel is Part One, set
in the Techno-Mages' hiding place. The details of how the mages are
surviving, and the ways in which their culture is failing, are
genuinely interesting and nicely detailed. Galen's character
development, given the events that occurred in the first two novels, is
convincing. I believed his self-isolation, his rigid discipline. The
way he was using that discipline to take refuge from life seemed
entirely consistent with the character we first met in "Casting
Shadows," and even fit with the character we will meet down the road in
"Crusade."

There are several memorable moments in this passage of the novel.
Galen's conversation with Elric, in which his mentor tries and fails
to draw Galen out, is a very effective moment. I felt very bad for both
characters reading this sequence. Galen, of course, is hurting in the
wake of a second trauma - the discovery of the Tech's Shadow origins
- and he is reacting as he always reacts to hurt, by pulling away.
Elric cares for Galen as a father cares for a son, and is desperate to
reach out to him. Galen knows that his self-isolation is hurting Elric,
and despite his feelings of betrayal, he hates hurting Elric... but he
cannot make himself reach out to his mentor. The dilemma is
well-written, well-presented, and makes the reader feel for both
characters.

The mages' situation itself would make for pretty good drama. There
is much tension in the halls and rooms of the hiding place, as the
mages' own natural tendencies toward chaos lead them inevitably into
trouble. The betrayal from within that ends this first part is blamed
on Morden, prompting Galen's mission... but it is, in fact, a direct
extension of the mages' own nature. Their flight was successful;
neither Morden nor the Shadows know where the mages are, or even that
the mages are alive. They are destroying themselves from within, and no
quest to kill an external enemy can possibly halt that process.

That external enemy is set up as being a formidable one, though, and
one worthy of destruction. The sequence in which rogue mages Elizar and
Razeel visit Soom, Galen's former home, and level it is positively
searing. Galen can do nothing but watch helplessly - through the gift
he gave to his friend Fa - as the planet is destroyed, and then as
Elizar and Razeel spring their trap, using Fa to discover Galen's
spell. Razeel reveals a genuinely sadistic side to her nature as she
becomes aware that Galen must be watching, and presents him with a
"special treat" in the spell she conjures for Fa. The only act Galen
can take to stop this scenario is hardly one destined to make him feel
better about himself, or his situation. Indeed, it is likely a search
for revenge for this very moment (along with the killing of Isabelle in
Book One) that leads Galen on his quest in the first place.

Another chilling scene occurs near the end of the novel, as the true
source of the Tech is revealed. The tech literally comes from lethal
Shadow technology that feeds on their living prisoners, sapping them of
all life force and mental energy, until nothing is left of the host
save for a lifeless shell. As with "Deathwalker," the question is
raised: what are you willing to sacrifice for this level of power? The
Circle's apparent answer at the end of the novel, as they reprimand
Galen for his actions, indicates that Kosh's solution to the
Deathwalker problem was probably the right one.

Finally, I enjoyed the overall arc of the trilogy with regard to the
Techno-Mages. The trilogy is titled, "The Passing of the Techno-Mages,"
and the awe-inspiring power of the Order from the beginning of the
trilogy has decidedly diminished by the end. Compare the new Circle at
the end of "Invoking Darkness" with the Circle at the beginning of
"Casting Shadows."  Gone are the larger-than-life figures. The severity
of Blaylock, the wisdom of Elric, the compassion of Ing-Radi, the sheer
power of Kell. The only member of the original Circle to survive is
Herazade, the weakest and most self-serving of that bunch. The new
Circle is made up of people who are too young, who have no real respect
for tradition, and who have no apparent commitment to serving their
people. Of the new Circle, only the affable Federico inspires any trust
or confidence at all in the reader, and "Fed" simply isn't a
sufficiently strong or imposing character to sway those on the other
side of an argument. The Order has closed in on itself, and has become
as stagnant and inward-looking as the Vorlons and Shadows... only
without a Lorien to save them.


THE BAD

I suspect it is no accident that "Casting Shadows," the first book in
the "Passing of the Techno-Mages" trilogy, was also the best book.
"Casting Shadows" benefited from not having to intersect with episodes
from the television series; a quick reference to the Shadow attack in
"Chrysalis" was about the extent to which that book wove in and out of
Season One events. As a result, Jeanne Cavelos was free to weave her
own tapestry. She had a shopping list to work with, of course. She had
to set up the mages to flee; she had to set up Galen and Morden as
opposites; she had to show the events leading to Isabelle's death.
She did not, however, have to try to make any of the mages key
characters in episodes that originally had nothing to do with them.

The strongest parts of the trilogy's previous book, "Summoning
Light," and of this book are those chapters centering only around
Galen. Similarly, the weakest passages of this novel are those that try
to make Galen a key player in events we have already seen. Simply put,
the new material frequently doesn't mesh with the material from the
television series. While there's nothing as blatantly "off" in
this novel as "Summoning Light's" attempt to crowbar a major
spaceship explosion into an episode that simply had no place for it,
Cavelos' efforts to match her narrative to the television episodes'
narrative create some problems all their own.

The most aggravating problem caused by this is that of diminishing the
series' regulars. In the midst of his labyrinthine scheming during
"And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place," Londo took time out to be a
comical buffoon, cowering before Galen as the Techno-Mage infiltrates
his quarters and threatens him, all as part of a transparent
manipulation to get Londo to lead Galen to Morden. Season One Londo was
rarely this easily cowed or used; late Season Three Londo certainly was
both braver and more cunning than this.

Londo's couple pages of weakness are relatively minor, however,
compared to the offenses committed against John Sheridan. In my review
of "Summoning Light," I noted the irony that John seemed to be
Cavelos' favorite character, and yet he was the character Cavelos
most undermined. That irony is heightened here. It turns out that
virtually everything Sheridan accomplished in late Season Three/early
Season Four was a direct result of Galen's intervention. Left to his
own devices, Sheridan evidently would have failed miserably and died
permanently - and pointlessly - on Z'ha'dum... if he had even made
it that far.

I did complain in my review of "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding
Place" that the scene in which Sheridan figured out the Shadow attack
pattern seemed generally to be too easy. I actually liked the basic
idea; John was tense, and given a moment of relaxation, his mind
unclenched and allowed the pattern to emerge. I felt the execution was
off, though, as both he and Delenn suddenly see it instantly (I still
do feel the execution fell down, in that scene; if it had been that
obvious, somebody would have noticed it at some point).

Nevertheless, even with the execution being less than ideal, at least
John did solve his own problem! Now, even that dignity is taken away
from him. It turns out he's napping in the war room, and Galen comes
into the room, projects himself into John's dream, and reveals the
solution to him. John Sheridan is made into a useless figurehead so
that we can see just how smart, special, and important Galen is.

This continues into the events of "Z'ha'dum," the episode that
remains (along with "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum") the definitive
showcase for the character of John Sheridan. There have been times in
the series where John Sheridan has not worked for me as a character.
Recalling the last of the series from my first viewing, there will be
more such times in the future. However, this was an episode where John
Sheridan not only came to life, but became transcendent. My heart
shattered for him as he came face-to-face with what had been done to
his wife. The scene with Morden and Jeremiah, where he verbally fenced
with them while his eyes took in every detail of the room, thinking at
a million miles a second, was superb television - even though the scene
amounted to just four people in a room, talking. By the time Sheridan
plunged into the abyss as the Whitestar crashed through the skylight,
bathing the home of the Shadows in its destructive light, the mythic
overtones had absolutely been earned.

But now it turns out that John Sheridan is an idiot who doesn't even
pause in his plan to consider that Z'ha'dum might have planetary
defenses. Left to his own, faulty plan, Sheridan would be dead or a
helpless captive. Fortunately, his savior, Galen the Magnificent, is
there to destroy The Eye of Z'ha'dum (despite the fact that The Eye
is perfectly operational just one television episode later...), thus
disabling the planet's defenses and allowing John's half-baked plan
to work.

Then it turns out that Sheridan cannot even claim credit for being the
first human to meet Lorien. Galen the Great gets a moment with Lorien,
during the period where John would still be unconscious. It's just a
brief scene, a couple of pages. It lasts just long enough for Lorien to
agree to save Morden as well as Sheridan, and to congratulate Galen on
his enormous wisdom. By this point, I was starting to think I should
have rooted for Elizar, after all...

Finally, there is the issue of the epilogue. This epilogue gets to
elevate Galen still further, by showing how much he has grown over the
course of the trilogy. To an extent, this is acceptable. The character
should grow from the sheltered youth we met in "Casting Shadows."
However, Cavelos goes too far. We are presented with a Galen who is a
cross between Yoda and Kung Fu's Master Po. Every word he speaks or
thinks radiated with wisdom. All his issues have been completely dealt
with. He still gets a little annoyed thinking about Isabelle's death
or the Circle's corruption... but he deals with it by reflecting that
the universe probably had no more control over that than he did.

So Galen is absolutely at peace with himself in early Season Four. So
what happens to him over the next five years? My recollection of
"Crusade" is that the character was anything but at peace. In fact, I
seem to recall the Galen of "Crusade" as being a mess - something very
close to an emotional cripple, in fact. If he's at peace now, what
happens over the next few years to set him so far back again?

Anyway, whatever trauma Galen experiences off-stage between the end of
this book and the beginning of "Crusade," I am grateful for it. The
Galen of the end of this book would have been an absolutely
insufferable character to have effectively held the second lead in even
a short-lived television series.


Looking over what I've put under "The Bad" perhaps gives too damning
an impression. "Invoking Darkness" is not a bad book. Compared to the
last "Babylon 5" book I reviewed, the execrable "Personal Agendas," it
positively shines. The first third or so of the novel, set in the
Techno-Mages' hiding place, is extremely gripping. The rest of it is
quite readable. It only seriously falls down in the closing passages,
as Galen is elevated a little too far, and a little too much at the
expense of the series regulars.

Given how good "Casting Shadows" was, the remaining two books in the
Techno-Mage trilogy can't help but seem a bit of a disappointment.
Perhaps this book and "Summoning Light" show the potential pitfalls of
trying to weave a new narrative on top of a pre-existing one.
Considering how successful the trilogy was when it stuck to its own
territory, rather than poaching the preserves of episodes from the
television series, it would probably be best if authors of any future
"Babylon 5" novels stuck solely to telling their own stories.


My Final Rating: 6/10.

Next Up: A final trip to the comics, and a final farewell to a face
from the past - "In Valen's Name."
                                                         
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