Novelty's DOR Review - Chapter 20

[Novelty]

This is dedicated to the lolo on these forums. Him and his wooden horse.

 

I had to challenge myself to find one good thing about this chapter to write about. Well, that's not because there aren't any in the chapter, there is a whole load that I could have chosen from. I find myself strangely drawn to the bad points in the chapter, like a moth to a flame...

 

First off though, the chapter picks off where it left off in 19 - about Sean. Although the break-off point here is not as abrupt as the one between 18 and 19, it nevertheless seems a little bit awkward to me. Perhaps it's the price of the unwieldy break between 18 and 19.

 

I had thought for a long time that Dan has been incapable of surprising me in this storyline. Chapter 19 proved me wrong when Dan brought back Sean into this time line. This allows Dan a lot more flexibility than he would otherwise have in the plotline. Now that we know that there aren't just one, but three Dark horses in the storyline, things can get interesing, and hopefully unpredictable.

 

One of the few things I enjoy reading about are Davey's conversation with Reagan, with the exception of the earlier few chapters (I think they were 4 and 6?), where Reagan was rather stiff towards Davey. This one here though was no different. In fact, it demonstrates the growth of the relationship between Davey and Reagan in this time line. Compare this conversation to the one in 13? (or was it 14?) where they talked about the AIDS detention centres. That was clearly a conversation between superior and subordinate. This was one between close friends who respect each other.

 

I wondered though why the scene between Davey and his father was included in this Chapter. If feels a bit out of place to me, almost like a filler. Don't get me wrong, the interaction and the conversation was priceless, but in the overall scheme of things would it matter? Wouldn't this be better with the "Battle of Taiwan" treatment? I don't know, I guess I'll have to read future chapters to determine the answer to those questions.

 

If you were hoping for more meteorological phenomena/metaphor in this review, you're going to be disappointed. There's none. I'm also not going to say anything about the scenes with the Modesto families until after I've read the next chapter, so expect that in the review for 21.