This afternoon, I finished the last few pages of the fourth installment of the series, Deathstalker Honor.  Last week, when I realized I only had a few hundred pages to go, I began scouring all of my local bookstores in a vain search to locate the fifth installment; as it turns out, bookstores only stock installments one through three.  I'm guessing this means that most people lose interest in the series pretty quickly.  Ultimately, I broke down and ordered the rest of the series--four more books--on Amazon.com and, since then, I've been savoring those pages like fine wine.
 

What makes the series good is its plot.  It has, without qualification, the best plot of any new series I've read.  Green provides an exciting blend of humanity and technology, lots of well-paced action, original--and believable--plot twists, and intrigue.  There's a satisfying amount of variety, as well; he switches deftly from conflict to conflict.  I really got into the trials and tribulations of his universe.  Especially since some of my old standards have deserted me lately, it excited me to discover another really absorbing series.

His characters, unfortunately, are more plot vehicles than anything else.  They're more in the Terry Goodkind school than the George R.R. Martin; Goodkind's characters all chew the scenery while worrying about how to save the world, and Martin's all act out of self loathing.  Here, Green's heroes are all survivors of a mysterious "madness maze," which endows all who survive it with ever expanding magical powers--that, fortunately, change to suit the circumstances.  Actually, I think it's a testament to Green's writing ability that the series is still interesting.  He manages to exploit his heroes' powers while maintaining the integrity of the conflicts they face.  Never once does he use them as an "easy fix."  In fact, when they're not in the throes of existential angst over the changing nature of their humanity--which is a little Our Bodies, Ourselves--they're surprisingly believable.  My issue is that Green concentrates on what his characters experience almost to the exclusion of his characters themselves.  He never fully reveals their inner lives, only gives us brief glimpses.  Resultantly, their moments of doubt, internal conflicts, and even their love affairs are static.

The most serious issue I have with Green's writing is, well, the writing itself.  Often, it's so florid that it obscures what it's trying to illuminate.  He reminds me of a precocious teenager, anxious to test out his new vocabulary.  Moreover, adding insult to injury, Green tends to reuse phrases.  I think every single character has a "death's head grin" on every single page.  If it were a drinking game, then I'd be dead by page ten.  If he could learn to get away from catch phrases, cute phrases and "meaningful" comparisons--rosaries hanging off of hips like guns, rain falling like tears, and worse--I think he'd be a good writer.

The thing is, he's not.  This series is good, and I really do recommend it--but it's Green's obviously incredible imagination that separates him from the average eleventh grader with delusions of grandeur.  Ultimately, the only litmus test that matters, when it comes to defining "good" is, do you want to continue to read this book?  Do you care if you ever see it again?  Far too often, so called "good" writers leave us with series that we're convinced we should like--"hard reads" that leave us feeling vaguely inferior.  Here, the fact that I'm a better writer than Green only increases my enjoyment of his work.  I give the series a solid B.