READ ALONG VS. READ ALONE

Regarding Song of the Mysteries by Janny Wurts: a masterwork of this level requires attention, active participation, and patience to really enjoy what the work has to offer. It’s taken me a couple of weeks to get into the right head space to attempt a review. I needed to let it sink in. I needed to talk about it with my peers and the author to allow proper digestion of the work. Complete dissemination of the information contained within is not something that would come to me in a flash. Not only do I have to look back through a weighty tome, but I have to reflect upon a whole series of these that go back ten other volumes, and three years of reading and discussion.

That last word requires a digression, so I apologize in advance. This is the first time I’ve finished such a momentous series where, through discussion with others, I’ve dissected and took notes of every part of the long journey. I have a written journal of abbreviated events and a video journal of in depth discussions. I’ve begun to ponder upon what effect this level of dissemination had upon my reading journey. Did it improve my reading pleasure, or detract from it? Most likely the answer is somewhere in the middle, a shifting list of pros and cons that remain malleable by necessity.

Prior to read-alongs and you tube book discussions, I would read a book or a series and finish it with barely a thought as to how the beginning related to the end. Sometimes, I would have an aesthetic reaction in the form of some epiphany, where I realized that what I thought I was reading was beyond my initial assessment. My view points changed upon completion. Sometimes I realized that I did not read what was on the page, but instead, inserted my own biases on the words and came to conclusions unrelated to the text. Discussions have allowed for outside input to inform and influence my own inner dynamic. I am no longer reading in a vacuum. Is this a better means of reading enjoyment, or worse?

I can’t actually answer that question because I don’t really know. I only have situational biases to base my opinion on, rather than anything empirical. But, let me present these situations, and we’ll see if any of this can make sense.

The three series I’m going to talk about are ones I am very familiar with, though I may mention others. We’ll start with The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. These books I first read as a young man and found them fascinating, yet difficult to get through. My language skills were not yet of a proficiency to match the text. Some of the deeper meaning of the passages were beyond my ken and some of the mature situations beyond my experience as a person. But, I still enjoyed the fantastical setting and ideas. They stuck with me. Later in life, I re-visited the first 6 books (just prior to the release of the Last quartet), and I was amazed at the depth of character and themes running through it. I was older, obtained skills in writing and analysis, and had a better understanding of human nature through experience. I realized that these books were written for a more mature, seasoned audience. Not that my younger self couldn’t enjoy them, but my older self would have a greater perspective on what they were trying to achieve. I would then move on to searching for something else along these lines.

Enter Malazan Book of the Fallen. This series challenged me in many ways. It took me a very long time to read the series the first time, about seven years. I read one or two books a year, taking my time with them, trying to let them really sink in. Why? Why did I do that? Any other book that came out or that I came across during these times (pre-covid), I would read, move on to the next one, and keep going. I started questioning what I was reading. I started to wonder, what was I missing?, rather than, what was I missing out on? I finished all the available Malazan books (including Esslemont) and I questioned what I understood about it. It was first time I realized that there were other things happening on the page than what the narrative was strictly telling me. It was the first time I was determined to re-read a series immediately after finishing it. It was the first time I got something new out of re-reading something, not because of a lack of life experience as with Covenant, but because the narrative itself invited such re-examining. It was built that way. Just like many books in the classic literary tradition. Except, in my humble opinion, better, because this literary work has dinosaurs with swords for arms.

Anyway, Malazan led me to seek out others’ opinions. The opinions of strangers. Something no other work had done. I wanted to see if other folks felt the same. I wanted to see if anyone had done any research on this. It led me to Wikipedia, which led me to Donaldson’s essay about epic fantasy as necessary literature, which led me to you tube, which led me to the concept of read-alongs.

Enter The Wars of Light and Shadow. I saw an interview with Janny Wurts and what I heard led me to believe that this could be another work that I could hold the same kind of reverence for. I read the first book, loved it, wrote and filmed a review of it. From there I was invited to join a read-along for the rest of the series. The read-along has intrinsically changed the way I approach the books I read for them. But none more so than this long, epic fantasy series with deep thematic elements and high literary acumen. This led me to look into every aspect of the writing in order to bring something to the table when the discussion happened. The discussions brought out more details and more insights into the work, then took it to another level when the author was involved.

I was getting so much input, I started to wonder if those insights were beginning to detract from my own enjoyment of the story. After much thought, I realized that was not the case. I was enjoying the act of reading just as much as I always did. I was enjoying having an additional impetus to continue reading, even if I wasn’t in the mood. (I’ve always been one to rise to the challenge of an “assignment”.) And of course, I really loved having others to talk to about the things I’ve read. I’ve made a few good friends through this process and I plan to keep them 🙂

But, the one thing I will admit to missing is the slow process of figuring things out for myself. For a few decades my reading journey was mostly a solitary one. The exceptions were reading for school and the occasional book I could talk my brother into reading. When I first started reading for fun, I was reading fantasy. I had no aspirations for my favorite genre beyond entertainment. It wasn’t taken seriously by any media I was privy to at the time, or even acknowledged. I wondered about the Covenant series, because it felt very deep and “literary” to my young mind, but I figured it was just the exception to the rule. Then I went to university to learn about this “literary” stuff. I read a lot of great stuff. But what I learned, was there was a bunch of cultivated nonsense going around. These “classics” and “literary” books I was told are the greatest and was asked to study were, indeed, great books, but to my mind, they weren’t any better than Donaldson’s stuff. Then when Malazan came along, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was right. Fantasy literature got a bad rap. I’m digressing from my digression. Sorry.

The point is, I started to wonder about how I would have reacted to The Wars of Light and Shadow if I didn’t have my hand held, figuratively. I was given expectations. I was informed to read on and find out in regards to certain questions brought up in discussion. I was exposed to the theories of others and even privy to the personal insights of the author. These forewarning triggers had nothing to do with how I absorbed the text or how I appreciated the prose, but they did temper self-discovery on some level. Is this a bad thing? In my recent discussions on the Covenant series with someone new to the series, am I doing the same hand holding for them? To anyone reading Malazan for the first time, is the bombardment of book tube content also too much?

I don’t have the answers. I’m not sure there is one. I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this series and really enjoyed all the discussion I had with the friends I made along the way. I wouldn’t give that up for anything and I plan on keeping the discussion train going. It’s too much fun! I sat down to write a review of Song of the Mysteries and this popped out instead. What does that say about where my thoughts are?