Revisionary Discussion Post
It’s been three weeks since Revisionary [Amazon | B&N | Indiebound] came out.
This is your official post for talking about the book, asking questions, or just yelling at me for turning Gutenberg into a sixty-foot-tall cyborg.
It should go without saying, but there will be spoilers in the comments!
My thanks as always to everyone who bought a copy or borrowed from the library or a friend. Huge thanks as well to those who’ve posted reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and elsewhere. (It all helps.)
Michael
February 23, 2016 @ 2:36 pm
I enjoyed it greatly, it was a great conclusion to the series. I had hoped Ponce would have stopped by to cause grief, but it makes sense why he doesn’t show up, and what is he going to do for an encore when he’s already turned Issac into a newt?
CyberLizard
February 23, 2016 @ 2:47 pm
He got better
David F.
February 23, 2016 @ 3:43 pm
I loved it. My only question is, “Why the Toronto Zoo”?
Jim C. Hines
February 23, 2016 @ 4:26 pm
I think it was the San Diego zoo in the first draft, but given the number of libriomancers I’d set in the world, I was getting too many of them who just happened to be from the U.S. So I bumped him north of the border.
Kiwi
February 23, 2016 @ 5:00 pm
When i started writing, i started with: I don’t really no what to say… but i end up with oh my god there was so much that made the book special!
I always loved the book references, especially when i have not only heard about the book but have actually read it. So i jumped up and down a bit at the Lykanthropos Stroudus, because Bartimäus is one of my favourite books.
I liked it better, when you didn’t name the book/movie behind a reference, because i always saw the book as a big game of “will i recognise the next one”. But i think it’s better the way you did it in Revisionary, because it doens’t exclude people from understanding the joke!
I loved the idea of Jason. I just love how normal stuff like this is handled. It’s just there, no one is making a fuss about it. I think if there where more books handling LGBT like this, people might actually start to get used to it (not that i know anything about lgbt-literature!!! so maybe there are more books like it).
It was good to see Jeneta again. To see that she is getting better. I like her XD
Nidhi didn’t stood out to me before. But I missed her very much at the end of the book! o.O
I really thought Isaac would die in a computer! I would have loved to know more about how it all worked… like how did that psychic echo work? Was the second Isaac another copy? Which copy did get back into the body or was it the original? How exactly did Talulah do it? sooo interesting O.O
OH and is Talulahs mental connection from a special book?
It’s so sad that it’s over… Thank you for writing these awesome books!
Sally
February 23, 2016 @ 8:01 pm
Apparently there were ninjas cutting onions in my room when I was reading Isaac’s speech at the end. Can’t explain my eyes otherwise.
I’m sad it’s over but glad we got to have it and it’s good it didn’t drag on too long.
Thanks!
wanderthe5th
February 23, 2016 @ 10:16 pm
I also liked the *character* Jason, and how other people interacted with him like anybody else… but the way the exposition on his transition was framed really bugged me.
Applying female pronouns to a trans* person before transition and male pronouns after — or vice versa — is not a neutral stylistic choice. It’s got an ugly history and plenty of trans* people find it hurtful, myself included. (When members of my family used to refer to me in the past with the incorrect, pre-transition pronouns, well. That’s by far the most painful thing I’ve ever heard from a loved one.)
I’ve spoken with other trans people who feel that’s the correct way to refer to them, so that stylistic choice isn’t wrong. I think it’s an alright way to introduce a character’s transition for a general audience, and I definitely found it appropriate for Isaac as a narrator. While I personally wish it was written differently, I don’t necessarily think it *should* have been.
I’m just bummed out that I loved this book, the characters, the ways it surprised me, how it wrapped up a series that has meant so much to me… and yet my lasting impression of Revisionary is remembering how ill I felt reading the passage introducing the character who was there to represent *me.* Oh well.
But as I said, overall I loved the book. I think my favourite part was actually the conversations with “Gutenberg.” How they went from feeling context-less and kinda mysterious to being integrated with the rest of the story, and how near the end of the book, looking back they add a ton of depth to Isaac, make Gutenberg’s perspective more understandable, and generally give a lot of ideas to think about. They were really cool.
Jim C. Hines
February 24, 2016 @ 10:10 am
Isaac’s virtual backups were all destroyed, but when and if I get to self-pubbing some follow-up stuff in this world, I definitely want to explore more of Kiyoko Ito and her abilities. As for how Talulah was able to get in and help the “real” Isaac escape, well, she’s a *very good* hacker 🙂
Talulah’s telepathy comes from a book, yes. I don’t specify which one. There was actually a running joke in an early draft with Isaac trying to guess which book she’d gotten her powers from, but that didn’t make it into the final version.
Avilyn
February 24, 2016 @ 1:38 pm
I really enjoyed the story, and consequences of magic becoming public; especially the scene with the FBI in the beginning.
My initial thoughts (hopes) with the Gutenberg dialogues were that they were between Johannes and Ponce deLeon. I really really missed Ponce as a character in Revisionary, especially since I felt there would have been a great deal of character growth for him after Gutenberg’s death. But perhaps there’s a future novella for that down the road? I hope. Pretty please. 🙂
Kassie
February 24, 2016 @ 1:43 pm
First things first: I LOVED this book! It’s hilarious…and thrilling…and the perfect end to the series!
Second is a nit-picky tiny little thing that is stuck in my head as a possible mistake to be fixed in future editions. I can’t find it now, of course, but I remember reading the angry letter that Toby wrote to Isaac after he realized that Isaac could have healed Lex after her accident and didn’t. In it, Toby refers to his own son as “Lex’s brother” even tough he is writing to Lex’s uncle who certainly would have know who he was talking about if he had used the brother’s name (which, of course, I can’t remember at the moment). However, that is a tiny insignificant detail compared to the total awesomeness that is the rest of the interaction between Isaac, Toby, Angie, and Lex (and, in deed, the rest of the book)!
Jim C. Hines
February 25, 2016 @ 6:09 pm
I hope so too!
Ponce de Leon would be laying low with everything going on in the world, but he’s still out there. I’ve got a different book that’s currently kicking my butt, but I’m hoping to do more in this world eventually 🙂
Dave
March 1, 2016 @ 2:45 pm
Like everyone else who’ve posted here, I’m sad to reach an end to this series. I happened upon Libriomancer at my local library sometime after Codex Born had come out, and quickly devoured both. When Unbound came out, I reread the first two before reading it. When I found out about Revisionary, I reread all three previous books before picking it up. Each time I read the stories, I find new things to love. And I think of more books that I’d love – or be terrified – to reach into. I wish we’d gotten to see more of Gutenberg and Juan together – they made a great couple.
One thing I saw as a somewhat conspicuous absence in this book: at the end of Unbound, Isaac tells Babs that he can re-lock the dangerous books. In Revisionary, it doesn’t seem like he’s locked anything. I expected him to resist doing that, but I’m very curious to know how he’s dealing with magical Doomsday weapon books – for example, Sergei Lukyanenko’s Twilight Watch, which includes a way to turn any normal person into a super-wizard.
M Stenseth
March 2, 2016 @ 10:20 pm
One of the most fantastically inventive series I’ve had the pleasure to read. Mr. Hines, Sir: Awesome work. For the record, may I suggest you don’t stop at 4 in the Magic Ex Libris series. C’mon, you know it will just bubble up inside of you and need to get out.
Jim C. Hines
March 3, 2016 @ 7:54 pm
I’m hoping to self-pub a few additional things in this universe, yes 🙂
Jim C. Hines
March 4, 2016 @ 11:07 am
I’ve been thinking about your comment a lot. What you’re saying makes sense, and I’m not sure what else to say except to thank you for telling me. I’m sorry that part was hurtful to you.
The Gutenberg parts were a lot of fun to write. I loved that Gutenberg was finally in a place where he wasn’t carrying all that responsibility, which allowed him to relax a little and be more of a smart-ass.