...it’s not as if I have any outright objection to characters written in that mold...
Okay. I love Harry Dresden, and was beginning to wonder if I should take, "in the Harry Dresden mold," as my cue to stop reading right there.
...all of this could just have easily been imparted through narration or dialogue further down the line.
I think the point to having it up front rather than "further down the line" was to give the reader the feeling they were being let in on the Big Secret from the start, instead of having to figure it out as they went along. Some people will undoubtedly find it far more comforting than having to figure it out as they go along. Given some of them undoubtedly find picking it up later in "narration or dialogue" frustrating. The introduction seems to be written for people who prefer, "Thank God that's out of the way," to "Why the Hell couldn't he have mentioned that sooner?"
It’s just a creepier version of the routine mind-wipes that recur in speculative fiction.
That's not how I see it at all. I see it as providing an actual explanation for how magic in that urban fantasy setting is a Big Secret. While I enjoy a number of urban fantasy stories that never bother to explain how/why normals/mundanes/muggles don't know/can't know about magic, it is nice to hear about an urban fantasy book that actually provides an explanation as to how magic is a Big Secret.
This particular author ... is not only info-dumping something that should be obvious...
Ah, I don't believe it's accurate to say that what the author has info-dumped is "something that should be obvious." It could be an urban fantasy world were magic isn't a Big Secret, or one that doesn't bother to explain how magic is a Big Secret. The author has taken the time to explain upfront that a) his urban fantasy world is one where magic is a Big Secret, and b) it is one in which there is an actual explanation as to how magic is a Big Secret. Neither of those points are ones that a reader should simply know from having, "read urban fantasy before."
...but addressing readers as if we don’t have enough imagination...
And I don't believe he's addressing the readers as if they, "don't have enough imagination." I think he is addressing the readers as if they aren't privy to the exact nature of his world, which they aren't prior to their reading what he has to say about his world. I think it's about knowledge, rather than imagination.
It’s quite another for a narrator to tell me this, point-blank, to my face.
You've already said yourself, "He or she trusts that, by reading this genre in the first place, we have enough imagination to accept this alternate reality." I don't see how the author spelling out how his alternate reality works upfront implies that you lack the imagination to accept it. If anything, I think his bring the reader in on the Big Secret from the beginning, and explaining to them how that secret is kept, are acts of trust. It says, "I don't have to string you along building up to the reveal of the Big Secret, and I can give you the 'how' of the Big Secret upfront, even if I can't give you the 'why.'"
...or to find out if the use of mass mind control to keep the populace oblivious is ever going to be challenged or subverted...
One of the many ways this book sounds intriguing to me, along with it simply being urban fantasy with a leading man in mold I like, is that it raises the question of whether or not he'll get around to why the Pax Arcana is in place. I mean the Pax explains how magic is a Big Secret in his world, but not in and of itself why. Is there a reason for it? Is that reason one that shouldn't be "challenged or subverted?" I definitely find those questions interesting.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2013-06-28 10:07 am (UTC)Okay. I love Harry Dresden, and was beginning to wonder if I should take, "in the Harry Dresden mold," as my cue to stop reading right there.
...all of this could just have easily been imparted through narration or dialogue further down the line.
I think the point to having it up front rather than "further down the line" was to give the reader the feeling they were being let in on the Big Secret from the start, instead of having to figure it out as they went along. Some people will undoubtedly find it far more comforting than having to figure it out as they go along. Given some of them undoubtedly find picking it up later in "narration or dialogue" frustrating. The introduction seems to be written for people who prefer, "Thank God that's out of the way," to "Why the Hell couldn't he have mentioned that sooner?"
It’s just a creepier version of the routine mind-wipes that recur in speculative fiction.
That's not how I see it at all. I see it as providing an actual explanation for how magic in that urban fantasy setting is a Big Secret. While I enjoy a number of urban fantasy stories that never bother to explain how/why normals/mundanes/muggles don't know/can't know about magic, it is nice to hear about an urban fantasy book that actually provides an explanation as to how magic is a Big Secret.
This particular author ... is not only info-dumping something that should be obvious...
Ah, I don't believe it's accurate to say that what the author has info-dumped is "something that should be obvious." It could be an urban fantasy world were magic isn't a Big Secret, or one that doesn't bother to explain how magic is a Big Secret. The author has taken the time to explain upfront that a) his urban fantasy world is one where magic is a Big Secret, and b) it is one in which there is an actual explanation as to how magic is a Big Secret. Neither of those points are ones that a reader should simply know from having, "read urban fantasy before."
...but addressing readers as if we don’t have enough imagination...
And I don't believe he's addressing the readers as if they, "don't have enough imagination." I think he is addressing the readers as if they aren't privy to the exact nature of his world, which they aren't prior to their reading what he has to say about his world. I think it's about knowledge, rather than imagination.
It’s quite another for a narrator to tell me this, point-blank, to my face.
You've already said yourself, "He or she trusts that, by reading this genre in the first place, we have enough imagination to accept this alternate reality." I don't see how the author spelling out how his alternate reality works upfront implies that you lack the imagination to accept it. If anything, I think his bring the reader in on the Big Secret from the beginning, and explaining to them how that secret is kept, are acts of trust. It says, "I don't have to string you along building up to the reveal of the Big Secret, and I can give you the 'how' of the Big Secret upfront, even if I can't give you the 'why.'"
...or to find out if the use of mass mind control to keep the populace oblivious is ever going to be challenged or subverted...
One of the many ways this book sounds intriguing to me, along with it simply being urban fantasy with a leading man in mold I like, is that it raises the question of whether or not he'll get around to why the Pax Arcana is in place. I mean the Pax explains how magic is a Big Secret in his world, but not in and of itself why. Is there a reason for it? Is that reason one that shouldn't be "challenged or subverted?" I definitely find those questions interesting.