As Far As You Know
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Another Review
We interrupt this dose of fiction to bring you the following special report:
In 1203, a European writer named Irving...or was it Archimedes? Or Anteros? Or Alicia? Or was it Angelo? Anyway, this person wrote a fascinating biography entitled "Achadremenos", a story featuring a failed Prince of Constantinople leading his lifelong friends, a gang of idealistic young blood suckers on quite the Fool's Errand. In the background of this main plot are the servants of the fools...let's call them the Pawns.
Some eight centuries later after the blood of the King has grown both thick and thin, more troupes of Fools audition for the roles of renewing this insane compact. The new Fools have the benefit of hindsight, yet they barely recognize the inscriptions laid out for them by the Pawns. In the process of their quest they discover a world behind the world, a prison for the King who lies within his own mind. They also learn from their abused and noble benefactor that things did not pan out so well for the prior Fools. They become obsessed with this puzzle, and the stakes of the chessboard rise sharply as the young Fools fail to keep what should always be a secret, a secret. It appears that the board is set for its final moves as the Fools face off.
At this point, the story loses focus and becomes more of an intellectual exercise. The reader is asked to pay close attention to many details about nebulous chess strategy, as well as history, politics and the black arts. The book makes little effort to teach anything factual about these subjects, but of course, that is the point. Instead, the author constantly uses tidbits from all of them to elaborate on whatever subject is at hand, in a somewhat grand standing way that is, however, consistent with the personalities of his characters. Although this book presents a unique set of logical and psychological puzzles that are challenging and coherent, I personally found it to require too much imagination for the reward. The only question that remains is: Will Fools follow Fools?
S
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