The Edge of Reason reminds me of Good Omens and The Passion of Timmy Christ in the sense that they are all books set more or less around the year 2000 and have religious figures such as Satan, Angels and Jesus in a hidden world just below our own. Unlike Good Omens or Timmy Christ in which God is well-meaning if somewhat absent-minded, in The Edge of Reason God, all gods as a matter of fact, are outright malevolent. It is an interesting twist to the genre, however it gave me some initial doubts. I ultimately was satisfied with this book and look forward to reading more from Melinda Snodgrass, especially when I found out she wrote the Star Trek: TNG episode The Measure of a Man, the episode in which Lt. Commander Data is given the legal status of a sentient being. That's a damn good episode.
The plot of The Edge of Reason details a secret war that has been going on since humanity first imagined something greater than itself. There are these beings which call themselves Old Ones who feed off of human emotions and have powers which are...well simply put magic.While it is possible for Old Ones to feed off of positive human emotions such as love and happiness, it is much easier for them to feed off of hatred, anger and fear. As a result the Old Ones pass themselves off as gods (Including the God of monotheism) and encourage religious wars and blood sacrifices, which increase their strength and let the Old Ones enter our world. On the other side is a man known simply as Kenntnis who promotes science and math to push back the superstition and hate-mongering of the Old Ones and allow humanity to expand beyond the boundary of Earth itself. At the center of their shadow-war is Richard Oort, formerly a wealthy socialite of Rhode Island, now a beat-cop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Both sides of the war between science and magic want Richard because he is a paladin, a human completely devoid of magic and a powerful piece in their cosmic chess game. As both a devout Dutch Calvinist and a man who believes in science, Richard is forced to choose the side he believes will best benefit humanity and face his own internal demons.
I personally had some issues with this book, the first one being the overall science vs. religion plot. It is perfectly acceptable to portray gods or God (in the sense of the one true all-encompassing God of the monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam) as outright evil. Even based on citations from the Old Testament a very convincing case can be made that God is kind of a dick. That being said, there are lots of very devout people who are going to be very angry if you go around saying their God is evil. While I agree with the book's universe that the Old Ones certainly do not seem to have humanity's best interests at heart, I feel like they never really get a chance to voice a good argument. The science side of the debate gets to defend themselves and carefully outline why the religion side is bad, but I feel like the religion side's opportunity within the novel isn't as optimized. I also had a slight issue when the book said that all monotheistic religions promoted violence against non-believers because, well, it simply isn't true. Yes, okay, if you look at the Old Testament and the origins of Judaism they are extremely xenophobic and participate in a number of holy wars against non-believers. (I'm looking at you, Maccabees) However if you look at the origins of Christianity and Islam you see that they are very much religions of peace. Yes, both religions get subverted and introduce the holy-war philosophies of Crusade and Jihad, but they are initially religions of peace. I feel like Snodgrass grasped that concept with Christianity, but didn't really grasp that about Islam. I only mention this because I get tired of people grouping all Muslims into the same category with groups such as al-Qaeda which follows an extreme Wahhabist doctrine of Islam and in no way represents the majority of Muslims in the world. If you want a comparison, saying all Muslims are like al-Qaeda is like saying all Christians are like Westboro Baptist Church. It's an inaccurate and unjust assumption and fails to understand the larger picture.
The other issue I have with this book is that it sort of shifts emphasis halfway through. Initially the book is an introduction to this secret war and Kenntnis and Richard gathering friends and allies for a coming conflict with the Old Ones and their human allies. However as we to about halfway through the focus of the book shifts from this expanding war to a character arc of Richard. In the end I actually ended up liking Richard's character arc and came to see him as a deep and realistic character, but the shift in focus was so abrupt that I found it hard to adapt. In the end I wasn't as mad about it as I thought I would be and the character development is very well done, but I felt the transition could have been handled better.
Overall I actually liked this book. It's a little rough around the edges and has a few teething issues, but I liked it. Richard is a well-written character and I enjoyed watching his arc unfold, and the plot is pretty good as well. I definitely recommend this book for fans of urban fantasy, however if you're uber-devout please don't get offended. I definitely will be getting to The Edge of Ruin, the sequel to The Edge of Reason when I get the chance.
-Kalpar
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