Wonderful, wonderful story. Absolutely sank below the surface of it every time I picked this book up. ( )

This is possibly one of the lowest marks I have ever given to a book that I've read. Because there are so many books and so little time I'm usually careful about which books I pick to read so my reads skew to the high end of ratings. I was drawn to this book by a Big Idea post Max Gladstone did one John Scalzi's blog "Whatever". In that post he described the camping trips his family used to take across the USA during the summer and how he used his memories of those trips to start working on this books. I'm a fan of road trips personally so I thought a book about a magical road trip would be right up my alley. I was wrong.

Five college friends discovered a way to move from their worlds to alternate worlds and for a year or more after graduation they travelled through these worlds. All the worlds they found were damaged; some had no life, some had no humans but had dinosaurs, some had a residue of humans who had survived some apocalypse and were mostly monsters (think Mad Max). Zelda and Sal were lovers but the other three, Sarah, Ramon, and Ish, were just friends. They discovered that they each had a talent that could be used to fight "rot" which is what they called the sickness infecting the worlds. But somewhere something went wrong and the four had to leave Sal behind. The other three went on to new careers and lives but Zelda stayed on the road fighting rot and trying to get Sal back. Every year on the anniversary of Sal's loss Zelda would go to the Bronx where Sal's mother lived and try to talk to her. Mrs. Tempest always refused to open the door but on the tenth anniversary she was out of the apartment and Sal's young cousin, June, came out to talk to Zelda. June looked very much like Sal and was just about the age Sal had been when Zelda first met her. June wants to help find Sal but Zelda refuses to take her but when she leaves New York June has tagged along and Zelda agrees to her company. In Philadelphia while looking at the Liberty Bell the rot comes through the crack in the bell. Zelda fights it off but gets injured. She has written to Sarah, Ramon and Ish to ask them to meet at the place in Montana where they had last seen each other. By the time June and Zelda get there Zelda is very sick from her rot injury. There was a cowboy in a white hat that they had encountered along the way who obviously did not want them to succeed in their quest. The others also encounter this figure. Sarah, now a doctor, manages to treat Zelda and when Ramon and Ish turn up in their very special car they go back on the road. From then on, in my estimation, the story dissolves into one horror show after another. I did something I never do which was skip about 80 pages and just read the last 20. Even the conclusion was unsatisfactory. ( )

Just over ten years ago, five college friends discovered something extraordinary. They called it “spin.” A mathematically derived force that allowed them to hitch rides to alternate earths and perform magic-like feats of improbability. For two years they had adventures in these “alts.” They got to see dinosaurs. They saved the day in villages across hundreds of worlds. They even met princesses and royalty. Then they failed, a friend died, and the fellowship broke up. Ten years later, Zelda needs to get the band back together to save the world.
Max Gladstone’s “The Last Exit” has a premise that I deeply love. The heroes are not wet behind the ears kids on their first journey into the big wide world. No, they are scarred thirty-somethings. Tired and broken by failures and heartache. Their adventuring days are in the past. Now they just want to live their lives as doctors, tech millionaires, and mechanics. They’re heroes that are burned out but know they need to do something to fix their mistakes.
Gladstone’s characters are a delight. They’re not witty or charming like main characters in fantasy novels tend to be. Instead, they’re realistic while still being likable. Even though their interpersonal drama is toxic you can see how they were once best of friends and a friendship that strong doesn’t just end, even after a ten-year gap. You find yourself rooting for them, and praying that at the end of it all they can just get some therapy.
I don’t want to spoil anything in this, because honestly, it is a story that needs to be read. No description could ever convey what actually happens here. What I do want to say is that this book is the perfect millennial book. Yes, it sounds corny, but this book captures the feeling of the millennial generation. Not the “everything is awesome and memes” feeling. No, this is “when we were teens we watched 9/11 happen live on television at school and everything got worse since” type of millennial.
The story goes out of its way to play into that generational trauma. These broken adults were once idealistic teens. They were promised what we all were, a glowing future, a better world. The internet was bringing everyone together and soon world peace would be within our grasp. The economy was going up and that massive college debt you were taking one would be nothing compared to the salaried career your degree assured you. Captain Planet was cautioning the dangers of pollution, but we Planeteers could stop global warming by turning off the sink when brushing our teeth!
Then we entered into a forever war. The economy had a once-in-a-lifetime collapse, twice. All the internet has allowed us to do is be jerks to people across the planet. Deregulation and industry seem to ensure that the next generation won’t have ice caps. The characters here embody that feeling. The feeling of stress, betrayal, failure, and fear. Their journey through the alts is less about saving the world than just being able to do something that makes a difference. It’s heartbreaking and struck a chord in my cynical heart. Especially when they bring a teenager along with them who still believes that the future can be better.
For that, I love this story. Yet at times it also made it hard to read. Yes, there’s hope here, but it is distant and hard-won.
The prose at times is dense, jumping back and forth from the present to the past, and relying heavily on metaphor. While at times it caused me to have to pause and reconsider what I just read, it is beautiful. It enhanced that sense of loss and nostalgia that the characters are going through.
I recommend this book to anyone who feels a little hopeless about the world right now. Who feel that things should have been better. Read this, feel your feelings, and take hope. ( )

So, when I started this novel my expectations were rather high, and I thought that I was in the right frame of mind to get the most out of it (I want pure, bracing, gloom out of my cosmic horror). Having wrapped it up I find myself counting the issues with this story. Don't get me wrong, I can respect Gladstone's seriousness of intent, and I think that each individual chapter is impeccable from the quality of the prose, but I have doubts as to whether this all really aggregates into a successful novel. This is not to mention that the machinery used to drive the plot forward can be a little too obvious, that some of the symbolism is a little too heavy handed, and that I have questions about worldbuilding. Should you then read this novel? You should probably give it a try if dark fantasy or Max Gladstone are already flavors you enjoy. ( )

dense angst. close to the end, and the angst is so thick, it's almost unreadable. sad, as the book started with such promise ( )