Galveston - Softcover

Stewart, Sean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486816842 ISBN 13: 9780486816845

Publisher: Dover Publications, 2017

Synopsis

"Terrific fun." — Publishers Weekly
"Eerie, enthralling, [and] flavorsome." — Kirkus Reviews
"Fantasy novels don't get much better than Galveston." — Washington Post Book World
Twenty years ago, a flood of magic swept over the island of Galveston. Isolated from the rest of the world, deprived of electricity and outside resources, the residents carry on in two separate worlds: the "normal" half; and Carnival, an endless Mardi Gras celebration populated by minotaurs and other monsters, where the music never stops and miracles abound. But now the community leaders who saved the island from chaos and guard the gates between the two halves are aging and their system is faltering. Sloan Gardner, the daughter of one of the gatekeepers, discovers how to cross between the two Galvestons and becomes a link between a father and son whose destinies hold the key to the survival of both worlds. Can a generation with no knowledge of the world before the flood maintain the barrier between the realms of magic and reality, or will the island descend into anarchy?
A dramatic exploration of such themes as love, friendship, and honesty, Galveston offers a compelling view of life as a game of chance. Library Journal praised the author of this gripping novel as possessing a "brand of magical realism [that] combines psychological drama with otherworldly images to create a rich tapestry that lingers long after the end of the tale."

About this title

Review:

Novels from fantasist Sean Stewart resemble icebergs: four-fifths of their content is hidden, adding psychological mass that is felt, even if not seen. His seventh novel is his best yet.

Galveston, Texas, is an island already rich in history and eccentric characters when, during Mardi Gras in the year 2004, sudden magic floods the streets. The world is changed--divided between the real city, where technology and its products become unreliable and scarce, and the city doomed to endless carnival, where it is always 2004 and there are still such wonders as cigarettes, cold beer, and aspirin. Twenty years later, three major figures hold the city in precarious balance: Momus, the king of carnival and god of magic; Jane Gardner, ex-lawyer and unofficial mayor, fighting to maintain essential services in the real city; and Odessa, angel and arbiter. When Gardner develops Lou Gehrig's disease, her daughter, Sloane, strikes a desperate bargain with Momus, and the delicate balance is destroyed; cataclysmic change ensues.

Stewart is at his considerable best when he focuses on character. He is able to make metaphor concrete using symbols that, in lesser hands, might be considered simplistic and clichéd. The author is less sure, however, when he attempts to paint a grander canvas: the hurricane towards the end of the book is not strictly necessary, and it flings the novel around a curve that it was perhaps not meant to follow. Despite this, the book has much to offer, with tips on poker, herbal medicine, and island survival to augment the powerful themes of loyalty and luck gliding beneath the surface. --Luc Duplessis

About the Author:

Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author Sean Stewart has written several novels and is Creative Director at Microsoft's Xbox Studios.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0486816842
• ISBN 13: 9780486816845
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432