2012: The War for Souls

Whitley Strieber, self-proclaimed alien abductee, here writes interdimensional fiction of planetary invasion amongst parallel worlds. A writer possessed by his words finds his writing actuating an alternate earth in which a planetary invasion is taking place only to realize his earth is also in jeopardy. Curious concepts which leave too many incongruities and unanswered questions to be recommended.

By Whitley Strieber, 2007

2 Stars

In previous works, such as Communion Transformation Whitley Strieber recounts his personal experiences with alien abduction. This work of fiction builds on the interdimensional musings of his “nonfiction” pieces to submit a triad of parallel worlds. Briefly, a species descended from dinosaurs, unhindered by mammalian evolutes becomes the dominant life in an alternate reality but seeks to break through and subjugate parallel earths to sustain their decadent and depraved lifestyles. Wylie Dale, an author in “our” version of earth, becomes possessed by his latest novel-in-progress: a story of an alternate earth being invaded by interdimensional beings. Wylie comes to realize his life, and the life of his family, is deeply entwined with his counterparts in the invaded earth. Stemming invasion in his own dimension while seeking to assist those in the invaded earth, Wylie comes to grips with his own role and finds a self he never concieved of.

The book has its redeeming moments. The language throughout is of high caliber, although at times it appears Strieber seeks vocabulary over metaphor. What I enjoyed the most was reading an author’s work (Strieber’s) on an author’s work (Wylie’s) as it literally comes alive for him. Strieber certainly enjoyed writing this and his own jubilance shines in the juxtaposing Wylie’s life to his living, breathing protagonist, Martin. There were also some very emotive passages dealing with transformation of self not by the shedding of skin, but rather through the enveloping of one’s self in the moment. His words on this eloquently illustrate the true meaning of zen. And then there’s my favorite little gem of his regarding the importance and foundation of this state:

“Love is the great treasure, it is what we come here to feel, and every bit of it that can be taken must be taken, because it isn’t like the other acts of life. Most everthing is forgotten in death. The names, the facts, the achievemenets, the failures, all are left behind. But love is not left behind. Jacob’s Ladder has another name in heaven. It is Love.”

Now, to burst the love bubble. Let me be frank. The story itself is intriguing, the characters entertaining and believable, and the general concept of what’s occurring something of great potential in a sci-fi novel. Strieber fails in execution, however. The whole story felt exceedingly rushed, as though Strieber realized he had to wrap up the text quickly and in a flurry of keystrokes devoid of back-checking literally crapped out the last few chapters under intense squeezing in such a way that I couldn’t help but laugh and pinch my nose simultaneously. Unfortunately the story is plagued by gross inconsistencies and gaps which seem to accumulate exponentially as the story progresses.

Although the narration repeatedly ATTEMPTS to convince the reader that the invaders specialize in a single type of technology, and are actually technologically equal, or even inferior, to humans, Strieber gives you every evidence to the contrary. The invader’s weaponry is fantastic. Their engineering, on unprecedented scale, is manifest through the “lenses” used to transit billions of their species across parallel universes. Their terraforming ambitions and genetic manipulation of creatures to generate human-terrifying monstrosities further amplify this disparity.

Being an interdimensional tale, Strieber goes to great lengths to explain the interdimensional connections and how “gateways” between them form at specific loci. Nevertheless, true to form, he contradicts every one of these explanations. There are several examples of gateways being formed de novo. In addition, it appears that small gateways can be called up on demand at multiple locations simultaneously, without the large “lense” gates the bulk of the first third of the book explain.

The biggest laugh came when Wylie discovers his own TRUE identity, making for the most contrived set of scenes I have ever read. This is lobbed like a grenade at the reader in the last few chapters of the book, an element intended to surprise. As his memories return, they are crammed down your throat without any mastery of the medium, like M. Night Shyamalan’s chintzy wunderblunder Lady in the Water.

Overall, I’d call it just a read. It had a beginning, some action, and an end. Strieber’s conclusion is sloppy, at best (whatever happens to General Samson, ‘eh?). It’s like Sauder DIY Furniture: shiny fake veneer over crappy particulate-wood that disintegrates quickly the more it’s handled. I may read another of Strieber’s books (The Grays , based on its reviews) but probably not. C’mon, Strieber, even James Rollins can wrap up his tales believably!