So I just picked up Kiernan's _Threshold_ because I realized it had
been a while since I'd read any decent horror and Kiernan seems to get
some buzz these days for her stuff. Definitely very atmospheric and
she's got that whole Lovecraftian aura of dread down pat. But I'm not
sure Kiernan is for me; I don't mind stuff not being completely
resolved and I don't mind magical realism type stuff (see thread about
Hyperion) but this one just left me scratching my head.
Needless to say, spoilers for the ending.
Am I to gather that when Chance and Deke broke through the wall in the
water tunnel to where the dark things were from that they somehow gave
Chance the, uh, chance to literally change her past and avoid going in
to the tunnels with Elise and Deke in the first place? What the ****?
Was there any basis in the novel for either she or the dark ones
having that sort of power? Messing with their perception of reality,
sure. But actually altering the very fabric of space and time in a
truly major fa****on, apparently without a whole lot of effort? Really?
And if they can do that, what the hell are they afraid of a bunch of
humans for? Something that can do whatever it wants, whenever it
wants, however it wants, is basically godlike. So what's with all the
fear of being discovered? What are we going to do, use harsh language
on the things?
I don't see how this fits with the apparent level of power displayed
in the rest of the novel. It struck me as almost literally Deus ex
Machina.
I think it has to do with my number one pet peeve in
fiction/television/movies being the "rest button" kind of ending in
which the preceeding story is rendered mostly moot. Crichton, I'm
looking at you.
Also, as a secondary point, are we supposed to have been able to
deduce exactly what happened to Chance, Elise, and Deke in the tunnel
at the beginning beyond the broad strokes we are presented with that
they stumbled over the baddies?
I knew I was in trouble with this book when somebody (Dancy? Elise?)
in one of the hallucinations said that some stories don't have ending
and some don't even have answers.
Am I missing something? Or is Kiernan, perhaps, not for me. I love
the atmospherics but I can't stand deus ex machina. Wheee, let's just
change the past and make none of this ever happen. Don't pay
attention to the fact that there was no indication that this is
possible until it happened. And definitely do not think about the
fact that any entity capable of such godlike feats should not, not,
not display the level of concern over puny humans that the entities in
this novel displayed.
-David
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