Driftwood (Marie Brennan)

Driftwood
Marie Brennan
Tachyon Publications
Fiction, Fantasy
*** (Okay)

DESCRIPTION: Driftwood is where worlds go to die, though many refuse to believe it. From their first appearances at the Edge, bits start disappearing from them - a city here, a sun there - as they slowly drift and shrink, bumping up against other doomed worlds on their way through the Ring and the Shreds to the ultimate doom of the Crush. Survival is only possible through trade among the constantly-changing races and worlds and cultures, but eventually everyone succumbs... or, at least, almost everyone.
The people of Driftwood call him Last, and whatever true name he had was lost ages ago along with whatever remnants of his home world and birth species were sucked into the Crush's oblivion. Somehow, though, he persists, taking work as a guide now and again, or - more often lately - hiding out from those who would seek his wisdom, for surely, if anyone knows a way to defy the inevitable doom of the Crush, it must be the man who appears to have cheated Death itself. But even legends may have their breaking point, and it's possible that Last has finally reached his.

REVIEW: I've been reading and enjoying Brennan's Natural History of Dragons series, so when I saw this title as I was searching for new audiobooks to listen to at work, I thought it would be a fairly safe bet. Unfortunately, this book has a couple serious issues that prevented me from enjoying it nearly as much as the adventures of the dragon naturalist Lady Trent.
The first problem is that this book, which really feels more like a series of vignettes and short stories with a rough frame device, is supposed to be about the broody, enigmatic Last... a character who is so broody and so enigmatic that I couldn't begin to connect with him, not helped by how Brennan deliberately keeps the reader out of his head. He's a fringe character in every tale, a lurker around the edges, a meddler of uncertain motivation (save a general resentment at having to involve himself in the affairs of others at all, coupled with a contradictory urge to meddle) who appears and melts away at random, and though he's supposed to be a tragic figure he comes across more as sullen and brooding. I have a limited tolerance when it comes to sullen and brooding characters, for all that they're so very popular, especially when I'm not given any other insight into their character, any other hook or reason to enjoy exploring a world with them. And yet everyone in the book, every culture and character, almost literally (and actually literally in a few instances) worships the ground at his feet. There's even a prolonged sequence where people are wondering if he's finally died and left them for good that reads for all the world like a fan forum talking itself through a potential series cancellation or character death, trading favorite fanfic and speculating on the validity of various rumors and even dealing with a persistent troll... a fandom I am not a part of. How did he earn this fervent devotion? What did they see in him that I didn't?
The second problem stems off the first. Driftwood is a world composed of dying worlds. From the moment they pass from the outer Mists, they are inevitably doomed to crumble, shrink, and decay, to fade and ultimately to be forgotten. Every story, therefore, has at its core a brooding knowledge that all is mortal, all is dying, all defiance or attempt to stave off the inevitable is the height of foolishness or hubris. It becomes hard to care about the worlds in these stories or the people in them, most of whom are flailing valiantly yet foolishly against an oblivion they can literally watch unfolding around them... and, on top of that, they move at a pace that makes a glacier look supersonic, repeating themselves in their angsty obsessing over impending extinction. It might not have been so bad had there been a story to care about and focus on, but there is no real story here, just several fragments drifting along to nowhere.
In the end, this is a case of failed potential. There's a setting - a multitude of settings, really, in the many worlds of Driftwood. There are also characters that I kept hoping to connect with. But the whole was saturated by its own nihilistic overtones and the fact that there just plain isn't a story underneath it all.

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