Review of Gogmagog by Steve Beard & Jeff Noon

Johnny, where's that soapbox? Get it out. We've got an important message needs repeating. Seems it's not getting through. Little to the left... Ok there, good. <umph> Listen up, readers out there. Style matters! Where so much fantastika these days gets filtered through Clarion workshops or MFA writing programs before arriving at our eyeball-tips, we're losing sight of how voice, tone, style, mood, verve and other aspects of technique matter to story. Like a fingerprint, a reader used to be able to pick out a writer by their style. These days it's rice vanilla soup. Style matters! Thank you, that's all. Time to get down now, back to my hearth and quilt...

Speculiction does indeed harp on about the importance of style. As we get closer to AI novels on bookshelves, style is the one thing that humans can cling to as their own. Dear ChapGPT: please write a book in the style of David Mitchell. I'm not sure that (today) it could. But it could 100% write a book in the style of Martha Wells, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and many, many others. I don't discredit these writers' imaginations or success, only that their writing lacks a certain spark, an intimation the writer knows that you know that they know this word is being used because... This is all a long winded way of saying, Jeff Noon and Steve Beard's 2024 novel Gogmagog will likely not show up on bestseller lists, but if mood and style are as important to you as imagination and story, read on.

Gogmagog is the cantankerous tale of cantankerous Cady Mead. A tough old bat, she is an irascible, foul-mouthed, pipe-smoking sloop captain with a mysterious past. Though retired and in her cups, she is one day convinced to help transport two strangers downriver to the city of Ludwich. The river alive with creatures both real and ethereal, Cady knows it's only her knowledge and experience which can get the boat through the toughest spots and avoid the most dangerous hazards. What she doesn't count on, however, is the unexpected appearance of one of her oldest enemies haunting the river.

Gogmagog is a dark, fantastical river adventure whose spotlight is constantly being stolen by the leathery but lovable Cady Mead. Noon and Beard keep the tale proportionate, subtle, and paced, and they ensure the ebb and flow (sorry) of story always have the flavor of that something indescribably British. Diesel engines, robot servants, the spectre of a dragon, plant magic, a splash of lore, and a misty river carry the day, with Cady's character the beating heart. And rather than a grand clash of armies or revelation of a massive conspiracy to cap things off, they close with a... showdown. You can discover with who.

I read a fair number of audiobooks. With all the commuting I do for kids, schools, work, karate, gymnastics, etc. etc., I can even say audiobooks save my life. The most brilliant part of Gogmagog may in fact be Matthew Lloyd Davis' performance. It's phenomenal. I read a few sample pages of the book online, but they didn't have the pop, the panache, the bardic layer of story Davis delivers. The reader feels like they've walked down a half-flight of steps into a dingy pub. A grizzled mariner sits at the bar, nursing a pint and telling the story of Gogmagog while the mist swirls outside the windows... The fact I so rarely comment on the audiobook performances I consume will hopefully be some measure how good this one is.

There are a couple things I would be critical of. Gogmagog is about fifty pages longer than it needed to be. There is simply too much going on in the body of the plot. Imagination and fantasy are great, but in too great a quantity and with little to root them, it can lead to unstable story. Gogmagog reaches this at the three-quarters point. One fantastical thing has been happening after another, to the point anything can happen. For some readers, this will be exciting. What's next? For me I reached the point of: nothing is interesting if anything is possible. To each their own, but... the climax is not as climactic as it could have been due to the overindulgence of scenes prior. In other words, the climax fails to stick out as much as it could have. It feels like more like the next scene rather than the scene to close things. To be clear, the novel didn't need a big bang to finish. But a small one, one with proper escalation peaks and valleys preceding would have made it a touch better.

In the end, Gogmagog will not win my novel of the year. But it did leave a mark, which is more than most novels these days. In our world of ubiquitous, mediocre fiction, it sticks out for the edge Noon and Beard give their characters and how they infuse scenes with mood. There are occasional scenes which feel superfluous, but overall the book moves with confidence. It knows what it wants to be, chugging through the river spray on diesel engines, tentacles and ghosts grasping at the bow. Thank you, Johnny.