Review of Molten Flux by Jonathan Weiss

It happens. Interviews with the author indicate a person who is reasonably articulate or potentially more. No major red flags lurk in one- or two-star reviews. The description sounds interesting, even on the third independent check. And yet a book can still disappoint.

Wait. Let me start again.

It's a Mad Max scene where massive metal cities rove the deserts, scavenging scrap and warding off gangs of bandits who pressgang people to join the ranks of the molten dead. A young man is thrown into a fire in the opening pages, and after must use his wits and strength to navigate uncertain situations. Pace is controlled: the world is not revealed in gusts of author impatience; Weiss takes his time peeling back the layers of this world, gaining reader interest in the process. And tactile description exists. More later, but effort is put into bringing the reader into the world. All in all, Molten Flux would seem a delight.

It's a challenge.

Molten Flux is a Brandon Sanderson product—not a clone, a product. Writers have seen Sanderson's unbelievable success and said I can do that. Weiss appears one of them. And why not? Sanderson doesn't do anything special. It's meat and potatoes for the masses. He makes it look easy because what he does is easy. And Weiss follows suit.

Molten Flux is escapism. That what you want? Go for it. It's what Weiss has on offer. The issue is the escape lacks the substance to make an impression lasting longer than the time it takes to turn the final page. The reason is the size of Weiss' brush. It's too wide. He paints in too broad strokes. Characters that have the potential to be human are painted in 1D, stereotypes filling roles rather than singular story elements. This in turn makes dialogue a largely expected affair. Stereotype A should say X, and they say X. Settings are likewise presented at low- to mid-level detail. Granularity does not often show its face, often preventing the reader from fully existing in the novel's imagined world. It's an impression, at best. (Sanderson anyone?)

Molten Flux, like the Sanderson novels I've read, manages to hit that uncomfortable spot between YA and adult. It's not daring or edgy enough, nor does it assume a level of reader intelligence, to be fully adult. The characters, though adults (or on the edge of adulthood), present the emotions of teens, expressing them in overt, dynamic fashion, nothing subtle. And the morals are big and obvious. To be fair, Weiss does a better job of introducing bits of gray here and there. It's just not enough to deliver a tone the reader understands is real, adult morality.

To be fair, Molten Flux is a degree better written than the average Sanderson novel. The prose is as basic, but Weiss does not waste reader time. There are no shitty similes or repetitive exposition.

In the end, Molten Flux is a story that should be a movie or graphic novel, not a novel. The prose does not deliver the level of detail—character and setting—the story needs to fully succeed. It only partially succeeds. Sharp imagery and realistic characters would have given the novel the edge to come alive in the reader's imagination. As it it, the novel doesn't know whether it wants to be YA or adult. It can be escapism for readers who don't mind the mid.