Pollen by Jeff Noon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm already a big fan of Jeff Noon and this novel has solidified it for me. Any problems of sheer enjoyment I might have had in the one that precedes it, in Vurt, has disappeared.

Maybe it's because I've learned the world and maybe it's because the pacing has improved a great deal and we're not forced to ride the storm of dreams from the PoV of a junkie.

This is more of a detective novel, quite similar to Noon's later novels.

It still showcases the world of dreams, a doggy world, men and women of shadow, androids, and plant people. :) It's still weird fiction, but it's also literary. I've never seen Persephone become a bad guy. And so many literary characters (and movie stars) dragged out of the dream to walk reality. :)

For something that was written '95, it has all the spirit of Gaiman's Sandman and the spunk of the best metafiction and the verve of what is now called the New Weird. :) He's definitely on the forefront of it all.

But how did I like this novel? It was fun and above all, super imaginative. For all of you who bemoan the lack of creativity in novels these days, I would direct you here. :)

It's all about sex and lust and sneezes and cabbies and the Law and going down into Hades and it's also about half-zombies and doggie nature. :) It's fascinating as hell. :)

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