Echoes
I am writing reviews of all three novels in the Invisible
Tower trilogy. In this review of the first book, I will introduce the
trilogy and review Book One: Echoes.
The trilogy tells the story of Bronson Bodine and the mysterious spy organization he belongs to: the Invisible Tower. There is a manifesto for agents, but it remains unclear sometimes if there really is an Invisible Tower, or if the Invisible Tower is in the heads of its members. This kind of ambiguity characterizes all three books, where often things are not at all what they seem. On the surface the novels tell larger-than-life adventures with aspects of science fiction, fantasy and surrealism. There is also a lot of satire. The manifesto of the Invisible Tower has been written by an espionage mastermind named Eddie Allan, who is Bronson Bodine’s best friend. Eddie is moreover the alienated stepson of John Allan, a mad scientist trying to take over the world. Eddie Allan and John Allan compare to Edgar Allan Poe and his step-father, John Allan, with whom Edgar had a very bad relationship. The theme of dysfunctional family relationships is very important in the trilogy.
Echoes is a collection of stories about Bronson Bodine and his field assistant, Eskimo Nabnak Tornasuk. Set in chronological order, some of the stories are very short—little more than a page—but there are also long short stories and a novella. Bronson Bodine and his fellow spies go on adventures ranging all around the world: the Middle East, the American West, the South Pacific, Antarctica, the Marianas Trench, computer-generated virtual worlds, and so on. The science fiction elements are described in great detail and are very believable. I got so wrapped up in the amazing and “fun” stories that I was sometimes shocked to realize that I was also believing some things that were actually impossible and dream-like. This really is a work of art, and when the surrealism and satire kick in things are so believable that you don’t fully realize how really really bizarre everything is. One moment I was reading a kind of wild spy story, and the next I was looking up from the book and going, “Man, this is really weird!” However weird things get, the narrative has a strong logic suggesting that Bronson and his fellow spies are in control—until the last story, when they return to the “real world” of a civilization in rapid decline. The world is about to melt down.
The trilogy tells the story of Bronson Bodine and the mysterious spy organization he belongs to: the Invisible Tower. There is a manifesto for agents, but it remains unclear sometimes if there really is an Invisible Tower, or if the Invisible Tower is in the heads of its members. This kind of ambiguity characterizes all three books, where often things are not at all what they seem. On the surface the novels tell larger-than-life adventures with aspects of science fiction, fantasy and surrealism. There is also a lot of satire. The manifesto of the Invisible Tower has been written by an espionage mastermind named Eddie Allan, who is Bronson Bodine’s best friend. Eddie is moreover the alienated stepson of John Allan, a mad scientist trying to take over the world. Eddie Allan and John Allan compare to Edgar Allan Poe and his step-father, John Allan, with whom Edgar had a very bad relationship. The theme of dysfunctional family relationships is very important in the trilogy.
Echoes is a collection of stories about Bronson Bodine and his field assistant, Eskimo Nabnak Tornasuk. Set in chronological order, some of the stories are very short—little more than a page—but there are also long short stories and a novella. Bronson Bodine and his fellow spies go on adventures ranging all around the world: the Middle East, the American West, the South Pacific, Antarctica, the Marianas Trench, computer-generated virtual worlds, and so on. The science fiction elements are described in great detail and are very believable. I got so wrapped up in the amazing and “fun” stories that I was sometimes shocked to realize that I was also believing some things that were actually impossible and dream-like. This really is a work of art, and when the surrealism and satire kick in things are so believable that you don’t fully realize how really really bizarre everything is. One moment I was reading a kind of wild spy story, and the next I was looking up from the book and going, “Man, this is really weird!” However weird things get, the narrative has a strong logic suggesting that Bronson and his fellow spies are in control—until the last story, when they return to the “real world” of a civilization in rapid decline. The world is about to melt down.
We Reign Secure
The End of the End of History
The Mystery of the Sky-Shaped Sarcophagus
The Second Book of the Invisible Tower Trilogy is very
political, but the nature of political organization and “political
consciousness”—politicians, news media, institutions, celebrities,
entertainment, education, law, economics, culture, and so on—is very
unclear. The point seems to be that this confused state is very much
like the real world—maybe! In the novel, the military-industrial
complex has taken over society and culture, and rather than government a
number of private corporations (which function like spy bureaus) are in
control, or are anyway fighting for control. People live in an
environment of constant propaganda, competing billionaires, drugs,
electronic “mind control” fields, planned and managed poverty,
environmental devastation, and so on. But however crazy things get, as
in the first novel the narration is fluent and very detailed. The most
impossible situations and people are very believable. Even the mad
hallucinations and delusions of many of the characters are believable.
Meanwhile, Bronson Bodine is the focus of what could be described as a
300-page chase scene stretching from Lake Superior to Niagara Falls to…
Well, I don’t want to spoil anything. Everything that happens in this
novel is suspect—and later in the novel you find out things were not
what you thought they were at first, so describing any plot event in
detail runs the risk of being a spoiler. Things move very quickly, and
to keep things moving (and they do move!) there are plenty of
submarines, fighter planes, hydrofoils, aircraft carriers, commandos,
gangsters, drugs, go-go dancers, pirates, mind-control satellites, fake
news networks, child soldiers, religious fanatics, con artists,
anarchists, commie stooges, fake foods, semi-trucks, motorcycles,
bikers, gun fights, fist fights, and so on.
The Sky-Shaped Sarcophagus
The
blub on the back cover of the novel asks, “Can you solve the mystery of
the Sky-Shaped Sarcophagus?” This question is indeed the crux of the
matter, and the novel is full of “clues” that suggest an answer. The
“real” answer, however, is something like students in a lit class
debating the “real” meaning of Moby-Dick. The mystery and the answer to
the mystery could be anything. Like Book One and Book Two, it is hard
to describe this novel without spoilers. Very simply, Bronson Bodine
and his fellow spies from the Invisible Tower are seeking to preserve
(or re-establish) civilization, but the real meaning of the novel is the
story itself—or the telling of the story. There is a lot of detail,
lots of action and adventure, and the “plot” is very clear, but the
deeper themes of the novel are pieced together in a hallucinatory flow
of impressions, images, historical allusions, comic situations, and
hard-edged satire. There are also a number of rather savage insights
into the human condition that are both frightening and philosophical.
Here the author really demonstrates his literary powers. Like the first
two novels in the trilogy, The Sky-Shaped Sarcophagus makes readers see
and feel, but the novel also makes readers think very very deeply, and
in new ways. The result is pure art.
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