When I first joined Twitter, I made sure to follow Neil Gaiman, author extreme and god of all that is fantastical. Almost instantaneously thereafter, I was followed by someone called Joseph Devon. I was unused to the abrupt familiarity of Twitter early on, but he explained that Amazon.com likened his works to Neil's, and that people who enjoy books by Neil Gaiman might enjoy books by Joseph Devon. Fast forward to about a month ago, when he tweeted that he had some extra signed copies of his book "Probability Angels" and wasn't sure what he was going to do with them. I told him I was interested in reading it and so he graciously sent me a copy for review.
Boom. So there we are.
"Probability Angels" is an action movie wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a self-published softcover. It's one of those stories that is almost too big to pin down on the page, and it's one of those stories that throws you into the deep end of the pool without instructions and it's all you can do to turn the page as you mutter "Wait, WHAT?" and continue to search for answers.
It is a complicated story, with complicated characters, but it is exciting and, at parts, deeply fascinating. It is so complicated, however, that even upon finishing the book I am not sure I could clearly explain to you the exact plot. Suffice it to say that the characters in the story are all dead. They have died (more or less) and are now acting as agents of change and catalysts to the living. They are called testers; they travel by appearing and disappearing at will, and they 'push' the living souls to do or not do certain things. Some are more powerful testers than others, and some are just newbies, barely starting out. Matthew, the protagonist, is a student of the very old, very powerful Epp (who, once upon a time, was a Roman slave) and along with other students Mary (whose true former identity is still a mystery to me, though I have some thoughts) and Bartleby (who is something of a hothead -- literally) finds himself in the midst of what might be a kind of metaphysical rebellion of Epp's enemies (Hector, Gregor, and Nyx, who want to destroy Epp and create chaos).
There are also zombies from time to time, and difficult choices being made both in the past and the present.
I have been told there is a sequel about to be released, and all I can say about that is that I hope there are more answers to the questions of the first book. In a moment of pure honesty, one of my most enormous pet peeves is when authors create questions and stir feelings and uncertainties in their readers, and then straight up decline to provide any hints of answers to those questions and uncertainties. Example: "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire. The man spends hundreds of pages with zero character development and tons of mystery, and by the end of the book you have no idea what some of that was about. He wrote a sequel, "Son of a Witch," and not only do some of the original questions not get answered, but he creates even more questions that he neglects to even hint at answers to. It is a very, very frustrating state of affairs. Does that mean that the story behind "Wicked" isn't good? No. It's a good story. It's poorly executed, but it's a good story.
Here, with "Probability Angels," I feel a similar twinge of nervousness at not having answers. I suspect that if I re-read the book, I might get some of those questions settled, but I really hope that the sequel is more decisive. The story of "Probability Angels" is intriguing, and the action and scope of the tale is fascinating and breathtaking and all good things regarding the abstractness of time and humanity and all sorts of great thoughts like that. But for me, it bordered on unsatisfying regarding the amount of questions I still had at the end.
I do not mean to say that I only enjoy books that are neatly wrapped with a bow at the end, or only books that are precise in their question-and-answer patterns. I really enjoyed reading "Probability Angels" and I won't say no to reading the sequel. I think Joseph Devon has a great vision for epic, action-packed stories, and some of his characters resonated as just being so damn cool (Kyo and Epp, for starters, but I definitely want to know more about Mary). I also would say that I think as far as protagonists go, Matthew serves a specific purpose for this story and it is not the role of the-character-we-all-care-about-the-most. For me as a reader, this is a definite case of supporting characters overshadowing the 'main character' for reader's attentions. Epp is cool as hell, first of all, and Kyo -- once you read through his very dramatic samurai backstory -- is phenomenally interesting and heroic. Matthew is marginally interesting at the beginning, but until the climax of the story he remains marginally interesting. It's almost like partway through, Devon made Epp and Kyo the main characters instead of Matthew. Granted, it's very important the reader understand Epp and Kyo's backgrounds, but I didn't have strong feelings towards Matthew, at least not the same way I did for Kyo and Epp.
Bottom line, Laaaadies and gents? Joseph Devon's epic "Probability Angels" is a fascinating read, and I truly enjoyed it, but if you want more answers than there are questions, or you want to be able to latch onto the protagonist start to finish, or if you want a straight, linear timeline of any length, this might not be for you. If your mind is open and you love unsolved mysteries of the universe, however, give this one a try.
Joseph Devon, I thank you for the book and salute you for being a self-published author and an awesome Twitter friend!
-Lady Aly
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